ProBlogger: How Many Posts Should a Blogger Post? [Pros and Cons of Daily Posting]

How Many Posts Should a Blogger Post? [Pros and Cons of Daily Posting]

Posted: 13 May 2013 08:46 AM PDT

Almost every time I do a Q&A at a conference I’m asked this question – How many posts should I post?

The frequency of blog posts is something that gets talked about a lot and there is no perfect answer for all blogs – but here are a few thoughts on the topic.

The Pros of Daily Posting

I’ve heard many people answer the ‘how many posts’ question with the suggestion that you should aim for a daily post.

While I will name some reasons why this may not be ideal below there are certainly some benefits of posting on a daily level including:

Daily Posts Can Help You Get into the Groove

I’ve had a variety of approaches to blogging frequency over the years and I have to say that getting into a daily blogging frequency has helped ME, as a blogger, make writing part of my daily workflow.

I find that if I post less often than ‘daily’, writing begins to slip off my radar as I fill my day with other tasks – and once I stop, I find it hard to get going again.

The more you practice as a writer the better you get (hopefully)!

Daily Posts Help with Reader Expectations and Engagement

It is amazing how readers will adapt to your posting frequency and will even look for your content to be published at certain times. I find that the less you post – the less engaged your readers will become.

Of course this also depends on how and where else you’re engaging with your readers. For example if you’re tweeting every day, answering comments every day and answering emails every day then this will certainly increase engagement.

I guess more regular content builds your brand also (if the content is good content).

The Negatives of Daily Posting

There are definitely some positives with daily (or at least a higher frequency of) posting. However there are also some costs including:

Blogger Burnout

Perhaps the biggest danger with setting your posting frequency levels too high is that you run the risk of burning out as a blogger.

Posting something new, engaging, compelling and helpful every day over several years can, over time, begin to feel like a chore – particularly if you have competing pressures of life (family, work, social life etc).

Reader Burnout

There is a fine line between giving your readers too little content to be engaged and overwhelming them with too much content to be able to digest it all.

I subscribed to a blog recently that I thought would be great to follow but they posted so many posts per week that it was too much and so I ended up reading none of it.

Some topics and styles of blog will sustain a higher frequency of posts than others. For example, some technology blogs have been posting 10-20 posts a day for several years – but their posts are usually short, sharp and easy to consume (and they are read by content hungry, tech savvy readers).

Decreases Reader Engagement

Related to this, I’ve noticed when I slow my posting frequency down that comment numbers often go up.

Fewer posts means that your most recent post sits on the front page of your blog longer which increases the chance of people seeing, engaging with and even sharing it.

Traffic might be lower overall to your blog – but hopefully each post will be read more!

Advice on Posting Frequency

Ultimately you need to decide what is right for you as a blogger. Your blog posting frequency should come out of a variety of factors including:

How much time and energy do you have for blogging? Remembering that there are other tasks that need to be done on top of writing
How much time do your readers have to read content? How thirsty are they for content?
How big is your topic/niche – how much is there actually to write about on that topic?
How long are the posts you write and how much time do they tai to complete?
How old is your blog? (sometimes in the early days it can be good to have archives that are a little fuller so there’s more for new readers to explore)
How much do you have to say right now? Most bloggers go through bursts where they just naturally have more to write.
Is the quality of your posting suffering because you’re posting too often?

Keep in mind that over time your posting frequency may change. For example, here on ProBlogger I have been as high as 18 posts a week but these days we’ve slowed to 5-6 (with a change in the length and focus of the posts). Slowing our blogging frequency down has led to a higher engagement, higher quality of posts (at least that’s our intent) and steady (if not slightly higher) traffic.

Also remember that YOU as a blogger are probably a lot more worried about your posting frequency than your reader. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves as bloggers. Slowing down to increase quality of your posts and to look after yourself won’t be the end fo the world!

The last piece of advice I offer is to aim for regularity rather than daily. Readers will adapt to your posting rhythm and they will begin to expect that what you do one week is not too far different from what you do the next. So be consistent.

Here on ProBlogger we never switched from 18 posts in a week one week to 5 the next – it’s ebbed and flowed very gradually over time.