How Often Should You Blog? Tips to Build an Effective Posting Schedule
Source : How Often Should You Blog? Tips to Build an Effective Posting Schedule
Published On : September 18, 2022 at 10:17AM
By : Ankit Singla
How often should I publish blog posts?
This is a question that millions of new bloggers ask.
In this post, we’ll let data – along with your own blogging goals – show the answer.
Let’s get started.
What the Blogging Industry Says About Post Frequency
When building an ongoing content strategy, it’s always advisable to look at what the “experts” are doing.
A 2021 survey published by Orbit Media Studios tried to identify correlations between certain practices and blogging success.
Here are a few takeaways:
How frequently do bloggers publish posts?
As a whole, the blogging industry is publishing posts slightly less frequently than in previous years. Only 16% of bloggers are publishing multiple posts per week, whereas 22% publish once a week.
Interestingly, bloggers who publish posts frequently are more likely to get “strong results.”
How often do successful bloggers publish?
59% of bloggers who publish at least once per week report better results. In contrast, only 21% of bloggers who publish monthly achieve the same level of success.
Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that publishing more frequently is good for your blog.
This checks out with data from other studies.
For example, data from HubSpot reveals that posting 3-4 posts per week can help small blogs gain traction. In the same report, it is said that blogs can raise brand awareness by publishing at least 1-2 times per week.
So, does that mean you should also publish multiple times per week to be a successful blogger?
If you can consistently publish multiple posts per week, that’s definitely a plus.
But there’s one key ingredient that you should never forget when measuring the best posting frequency for blogs: content quality.
The Role of Content Quality in Blog Post Frequency
Andy Crestodina, co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media Studios, wrote something interesting in the study mentioned above.
According to him, there’s “virtually no overlap” between bloggers who post frequently and bloggers who spend 6+ hours per post. That means bloggers who publish multiple times per week aren’t necessarily creating top-quality, long-form articles.
Data suggests that 33% of bloggers who spend 6+ hours get better results than those who write content faster.
Furthermore, it is shown that bloggers who write more words per article consistently outperform those who write less.
30% of bloggers who write 1,500-2,000 words per post report great results. 36% of bloggers who write over 3,000 words have similar showings.
Remember, it’s easy to publish multiple pieces of content per week if you only write weak, incomplete articles. But if you’re dead-set on creating compelling, quality, long-form articles, you probably need more time to finish your next piece.
Related: 41 Helpful Blog Post Statistics and Key Takeaways (for 2022)
The key takeaway here is, focus on consistency rather than frequency.
It doesn’t matter how many posts a day or month you can churn out. What matters is, you’re consistently publishing comprehensive, quality posts that make readers come back for more.
That’s the golden rule that marketing experts like Mark Schaefer live by.
The Importance of a Consistent Blog Posting Schedule
When I say consistency, I’m not just talking about content quality and attention to detail.
That includes having a consistent writing and posting schedule.
Allow me to walk you through the benefits of doing this:
- You can make blogging more sustainable – Setting a time for blogging throughout the week will help you develop a sustainable writing routine. Soon enough, your mind and body will be conditioned to maintain a high level of productivity during work hours.
- Readers will know when to come back – There’s a reason why you get excited whenever the next episode of your favorite show is about to air. That same anticipation will allow you to build recurring traffic, especially if readers know they can expect top-notch content.
- It allows you to plan and adjust your schedule ahead of time – Full-time bloggers often struggle with non-work-related commitments, like caring for children or buying groceries. With a set blogging schedule, you can make time for those activities without disrupting your daily workflow.
- It can help you get distractions out of the way – When you know when you’re supposed to be writing, you can preemptively get rid of potential distractions before you start. You can address all urgent emails, have breakfast, tidy up your desk – anything to make sure you’re fully focused.
- You can focus on the big picture – Having a blogging schedule allows you to set, measure, and optimize your long-term goals. It can be about the number of blog posts, email subscribers, or recurring traffic you have.
As you can see, a consistent blogging schedule ultimately affects content quality and productivity. Both, in turn, will have a positive impact on the reading experience of your audience.
Keeping readers happy is the key to building relevancy, authority, and presence. All three will help you build a successful blogging brand and make money.
Now that you understand the benefits of a blogging schedule, let’s talk about building one.
How to Create a Successful Blog Publishing Schedule That Works for You
First things first, you need to set up your blog editorial calendar before you build a blogging schedule.
A blog editorial calendar is basically a list of planned blog posts with a predetermined publishing date.
It can be done with a simple spreadsheet tool like Google Sheets, which also comes with a useful calendar template.
An editorial calendar makes sure your daily blogging efforts all push towards your long-term goals.
It also adds a sense of urgency, which is always a good thing for a blogger’s productivity.
To use your editorial calendar, use the buttons below to switch to the current month.
Let’s say you want to publish a post on Friday, January 8th.
Simply click on the cell for that date and type the name of the post.
Pro tip: be sure to format cells to wrap text. This will make sure your blog post titles won’t overflow out of cells.
The date you select is essentially the deadline for your post.
That said, be sure you set a realistic date to ensure content quality.
How long is too long to write a blog post?
Excellent question.
Allow me to answer it by showing you how to set achievable deadlines for blog posts.
For more information, refer to my guide on how to create a blog editorial calendar. Everything you need to know about planning blog posts, scheduling, and tracking tools are there!
How to set the appropriate deadline for each post
To make sure you’re giving yourself enough time to finish a post, you need to do two things.
First, you need to set a target word count.
Based on industry best practices, you may assume that anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 words should be your target. However, a better strategy is to check the top articles for your chosen topic and
For example, suppose you want to write a post about cooking brown rice.
What you need to do is use Google to inspect the top articles for that topic. Just enter a relevant query like “how to cook brown rice.”
The next step is to look at the top blog posts and measure their word count.
Simply copy the blog post’s text, paste it into a word processor, and check the word count from there. But if the blog you’re checking doesn’t allow users to copy text, use a tool like WordCounter.net.
All you have to do is enter the post’s URL and click ‘Count Words.’
Within seconds, the tool will show you the post’s complete word count. As a bonus, it’ll also include a list of keywords you can use when creating your own version.
Keep doing this until you get the average word count of the top three Google results. In relation to the example above, the average word count of the top results is 2,104 words.
That’s your target minimum word count.
Once you get that done, it’s time to figure out how much you can write per day.
This, of course, depends on each person.
Some bloggers are comfortable producing 2,500 to 3,000 words per day. Others, however, can only sustain writing up to 1,500 words per day – five days a week.
Let’s say your average writing speed is 2,000 words per day.
That means you should be able to finish your post in a little over a day.
With that out of the way, head to your blog editorial calendar and set your new post’s deadline.
Tips when setting deadlines for posts
- Try to exceed the average word count of the top posts – Ideally, your post should exceed the word count of the top articles for your chosen topic. Just try to avoid writing fluff and focus on adding actionable, valuable information.
- Give yourself an extra day – It’s a good idea to give yourself a grace period of one day for contingencies. After all, creating a great blog post isn’t just about writing – it also involves hours of research, optimizations, and editing.
- Don’t forget to take days off – Trust me, writing and publishing blog posts seven days a week is slow torture. To avoid burnout, take 1-2 days off each week to recover your creative juices.
- Set reminders – Use your phone or desktop calendar app to set reminders when your deadline is just a day away. This makes sure you don’t miss deadlines and stay consistent with your posting schedule.
- Notify readers about your next post – Once you can confidently publish posts on time, you can tell readers when your next post will go live. Promote it via your blog and social media channels to build anticipation.
Filling up your content calendar
A blog editorial calendar only makes sense if you have multiple blog posts planned in advance.
Consider spending at least an hour researching content ideas, setting a target word count, and scheduling deadlines. By then, you should have at least a month’s worth of planned posts.
With the example schedule above, you’ll be publishing around two posts per week.
That’s good.
Even better, your schedule is not based on a target blog post frequency. Rather, it revolves around building quality content.
Coming up with blog post ideas requires a strategic approach. To learn the ropes, read my list of 25 strategies for generating blog post ideas.
Tips for completing your content calendar
- Aim to write long-form, comprehensive posts – While it may take longer to write comprehensive guides, the payoff will be huge. Long-form articles with 3,000+ words can bring in more traffic, get more backlinks, and rank higher in search engines.
- Combine related topics into one post – To write longer posts, write about related subtopics into a single post rather than publishing separate articles. You can check out my guide on blog post structures to help you with this.
- Spy on your competitors for content ideas – To get results with your blog faster, look at your competitors’ top-performing posts and prioritize covering those topics yourself. Always remember that the goal is to create a much better version – not just another dull and generic copy.
- Don’t be afraid to make adjustments – If you’re about to miss a deadline, look ahead on how it will affect the current month’s posts. You can also write more words in a day or work on rest days to get back on track.
Organizing your weekly blogging schedule
Great – you can now plan a month’s worth of blog posts effectively.
The final step is to plan a sustainable weekly writing and blog posting routine.
Creating an editorial calendar will help you manage your blogging goals. Creating a weekly routine, however, will help you manage your time.
You can organize your weekly routine using any app that lets you create tables, like Google Docs and Microsoft Word.
Notion also has a weekly schedule template you can use to plan your blogging routine:
You can do this with their free plan, so I suggest giving it a whirl while you’re at it.
Here’s what a basic blog writing routine looks like:
The goal of a daily blogging routine is to make sure you have time for your blog and everything else.
You can structure your days based on the planned posts you have each week. For example, if your goal is to write 2,000 words on Monday, your schedule could look like this:
On the following day, you can schedule your content promotion efforts.
Of course, a routine also helps give you time for breaks.
Making sure you get enough rest is how you can make your blogging routine sustainable.
Tips for planning your weekly schedule
- Plan with your daily, non-blogging activities in mind – When building a weekly routine, I recommend starting with your essential, non-blogging-related activities. This includes taking your kids to school, cooking, taking out the trash, and so on.
- Work on your typing speed – It’s not rocket science, typing faster will allow you to finish your blog writing tasks quicker. Websites like TypingTest can help train your typing speed through skill tests and challenges.
- Allocate catch-up hours – You can allocate extra time for catching up in case you fall behind your daily blogging goals. Of course, you’re free to spend this time on anything else if you finish work as scheduled.
- Try the Pomodoro technique – To improve productivity, start with 25 minutes of solid blogging followed by a quick five-minute break. Repeat four times and increase breaks to 15-30 minutes each – continue until your work is done.
- Write now, fix mistakes later – A lot of professional writers have a nasty habit of proofreading and editing each paragraph as they write. While it can help you create polished articles, constantly looking back and hitting backspace will definitely disrupt your flow.
- Use an automated proofreading tool – Proofreading tools like Grammarly will save you hours from your proofreading process. It works by automatically detecting mistakes while providing suggestions for corrections and improvements.
Bonus: Automate your content publishing
You can dedicate 100% of your time to blog writing if you automate your content publishing efforts.
Sure, the word “automation” may sound intimidating, especially for new bloggers. But with tools like IFTTT and Zapier, you can easily create automated content publishing workflows within minutes.
Automation platforms work by connecting two different apps. Whenever you do something with the first app, the second app automatically does something else.
For example, IFTTT has an available “applet” that automatically shares new WordPress posts to a Facebook page.
To use this applet, click ‘Connect’ and enter the details of your WordPress blog.
In the next step, you need to connect your Facebook account. Simply hit connect, log in to Facebook, and choose the page you want to use.
Finally, you can create a custom caption for each shared post. You can use “ingredients” that correspond to specific blog post elements, like the post’s title, image, tags, and so on.
When done, click ‘Save.’
Congratulations – you have now automated your blog content publishing.
IFTTT lets you use other applets for free, or you can create one yourself. You can explore other applets simply by using the search bar and specifying the apps you want to use.
Setting up automation workflows for all of your promotion channels may take some time. But once they’re done, you can stop worrying about content promotions – saving you tons of time in the long run.
So, how often should you post on your blog?
By now, it should be clear that the answer is it depends.
The best way to determine your optimal posting frequency is to build a schedule around your blogging goals.
It doesn’t matter if you’re publishing daily, weekly, or monthly. As long as you can focus on content quality and finishing on time, your posting frequency is perfect for you.
However, that doesn’t mean you should stop experimenting.
Determining the Optimal Posting Frequency for Your Blog
Changing your blog posting frequency could have a significant impact on your blog’s performance. In order to fine-tune your posting frequency, here are a few strategies you can use:
1. Get your readers’ feedback
Always remember this: every decision you should make from here on out should be made with your readers in mind.
That includes adjusting your blog posting frequency.
Just run a poll on social media or ask your readers to leave comments. Ask them if they want to see more posts or if they’re happy with your current blog post frequency.
2. Go for even longer posts
If you’re comfortable with your blog’s current performance, experiment with longer posts that take longer to create. From there, use tools like Google Analytics to assess how it affects traffic and reader engagement (shares, comments, etc.).
If longer posts improve your traffic, go for even longer posts and assess. Keep repeating this process until you find the perfect post length and frequency.
3. Try delaying posts
Sometimes, delaying posts and publishing them at specific times can dramatically boost their visibility.
According to research, the best time to publish a post is on Monday at around 11 AM. If you want to generate more comments, consider publishing posts during Saturday mornings.
WordPress’s post editor should have a built-in scheduler that allows you to specify the time and date of publishing. You can see the tool upon clicking ‘Publish.’
Final Words
Remember the following takeaways when planning your blog posting schedule:
- Try publishing multiple times per week while prioritizing content quality
- Build consistency to improve your productivity and content quality
- Use automation to save time in the long run
- Ask your audience how frequently they want posts from you
- Experiment with different post lengths
- Publish your content at specific times to maximize engagement
Always remember, blogging isn’t supposed to be easy.
If you can’t commit to publishing frequently and regularly, don’t expect to make money from your blog. There are millions of other bloggers who are willing to put in the extra work to outperform the competition.
The question is, are you?
If you have questions, feedback, and suggestions for future posts, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
Good luck!
For More Go to : Master Blogging
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