Bloggers often think that posting daily is the key to getting regular traffic. They scramble to fill their blog with content every day, even multiple times a day. If you’re a full-time blogger or have a ton of free time on your hands, you might be able to post quality content every day and be successful.
But if your time is limited, posting just to fill the space isn’t as effective as posting high quality content every few days. So if you have a full-time job or other obligations that keep you from being a full-time blogger, here are some reasons why it might not be best to publish every day:
1. Rushed posts are lower quality
Although some people work best under pressure, writing under pressure every single night after a long day at work can be draining. You’ll rush to get it done so you can actually have some free time, and rushed posts mean lower quality. You won’t have done all the research you should have, and you’ll turn out shorter posts that won’t give your readers information they didn’t already know. This could hurt your credibility as an expert in your field.
2. High quality posts get more traffic
If you’re a part-time blogger scrambling to get a post out every day, your readers might find your content, think “yawn” and click the back button. But high quality content will get dugg, stumbled, twittered, and has the potential to be viral. Your viewers are more likely to become addicted readers who check back often and watch for you in their RSS readers. You’ll get more traffic than a few high-quality posts than daily mediocre posts.
3. More frequent posts get fewer comments
Once you establish a readership and a subscriber base, you should give your audience time to digest what you’ve written, especially if it’s a post you’re really proud of. The most recent post will front and center, and is likely to get the most comments while it’s there, so you should give your post time enough time to get a discussion going before it falls lower and lower on your homepage, under possibly lower-quality posts.
Remember, even though you might be thinking about your blog every day doesn’t mean that your readers are; we all have busy lives, and there are some days when there just isn’t time to check out every blog in Google Reader. So if you write one or more times a day, and your reader still only have time to write one comment, that means you’re missing out on comments that you could have gotten if you spread out your posts.
4. Daily posts create more pressure for you
First of all, it’s important to be passionate about what you’re writing. You’ll be more likely to burn out quickly if you don’t really care about your blog topic. But putting that pressure on yourself to get a high-quality, fully-researched, polished and edited post published every single day, you can burn out even if you DO have that passion, because you’re blog will turn into a constant brain nag. I personally write 3-4 blog posts a week, with two long and insightful posts, and one or two reviewing social media applications. But when I start focusing on maintaining traffic by posting posting posting, I feel the excitement fading into “ugh, when am I going to make time for this?”
5. Frequent posts mean losing subscribers
Seth Godin, a very popular blogger, calls this phenomenon RSS fatigue. If you post every day, even multiple times a day, and start cluttering people’s inboxes and RSS readers, you might seem spammy. And even though that’s not your intent, acting spammy will make people resent the amount of clutter they have to delete, and they will end up unsubscribing. Instead, let your audience look forward to long, high-quality posts just a few times a week.
6. Posting too frequently means less interaction
If you spend all your time writing, writing, writing, you’ll miss out on the community aspect of blogging. Being active in the blogging community is essential for generated traffic. You should make other bloggers aware of your existence, so they might link to you, ask you to guest post, or even guest post on your blog. Other bloggers will also reference you in their posts if your content is unique and in-depth. But if you spend all your time posting, you might end up speaking to an empty room. And without some decent inbound links, your page rank won’t be as high, so you won’t be able to depend on Google searches. Also, you want to leave some time to interact with the people who do stop by your blog. If someone writes a comment, you should continue that conversation by commenting back.
7. Your target audience wants to hear from the experts
When choosing a topic for your blog, and each time you make a post, you take your target audience into consideration. (Right? RIGHT??? You should!) But these people want to hear from the experts, who will write in-depth coverage on the topic they’ve put the time into researching. If you don’t have the time to provide in-depth coverage in the half-hour of free time you have at night, you’ll be wasting your audience’s time instead of helping them. Give yourself time to do the research, cover all the bases, and edit your writing so that it’s easy to understand.
8. Constant blogging leaves little time for promotion
Promoting your blog isn’t as easy as just digging, stumbling, and furling your own content. You should spend some time per week researching forums and communities for people that have asked questions to answers contained in your blog posts. You should write them an answer that’s not a simple copy-and-paste from your blog, but leave a link to the article you’re referencing. This will give you tons of credibility, so it’s important to reserve some time for this, even if it’s only a couple hours per week. Forums end up in Google searches too, so someone in the future looking for the same answer will also see your response.
9. Reserve time for blog tweaks and SEO
Even though content is king, it’s important to reserve time to tweak your blog. Maybe you’d have less bouncing traffic if your popular posts list was higher in the page. Maybe you’ll make more profit if you move your google ads below the sponsored ads. Maybe changing your bold font to header tags will improve your SEO. Maybe you can improve your brand by making a logo with Gimp (shareware equivalent to Photoshop). You should give yourself some time to experiment, design, and tweak, because it’s so important to catch and hold your audience’s attention.
10. You should still have a life
As passionate as you are about your blog and your topic, you should still make time for life! We all have other hobbies, errands, and people who want to spend time with us, so it’s important not to throw everything else away because you’re addicted to getting traffic.
If it is your goal to turn your blogging hobby into a career, it will require a serious time commitment. And because you’re juggling so many obligations, learn to use your blogging time as effectively as possible, and this means not rushing posts all the time. There’s more to blogging than your blog itself.
I’d love to hear your opinions. How often do you post? How does that compare with how often you WANT to be posting? And how much time do you spend in the blogging community?
This collection of points about the topic does a solid job of convincing the reader that it is a good idea to post every so often. One of the points that stands out is that of leaving readers time to respond to the article, and to each other. If items are continually rushed through, people may miss out on some items that would have been noticed, if a little more time was given before moving on.
Armen Shirvanian’s last blog post..The Importance of Knowing How Things Work
This collection of points about the topic does a solid job of convincing the reader that it is a good idea to post every so often. One of the points that stands out is that of leaving readers time to respond to the article, and to each other. If items are continually rushed through, people may miss out on some items that would have been noticed, if a little more time was given before moving on.
Armen Shirvanian’s last blog post..The Importance of Knowing How Things Work
Great points. I’ve seen many a blogger try to bite off more than he can chew. They start a blog with the best of intentions and post 2 or 3 times a day, but they quickly burn themselves out and give up. You have to pace yourself…be the tortoise.
Mike Collins’s last blog post..Your Blog Is Doomed To Failure
Great points. I’ve seen many a blogger try to bite off more than he can chew. They start a blog with the best of intentions and post 2 or 3 times a day, but they quickly burn themselves out and give up. You have to pace yourself…be the tortoise.
Mike Collins’s last blog post..Your Blog Is Doomed To Failure
I appreciate your post today so much! Iam new at blogging and I really love it and I was always told post…. post… post… in all the tutorials I read. I do write quality things but I feel pressure to pump out 3 or 4 stories a day. Now, i’m convinced I need one or two good ones a day. I already participate in the community but never thought of forum. I saved this post for future reference.
Thanks again!
I appreciate your post today so much! Iam new at blogging and I really love it and I was always told post…. post… post… in all the tutorials I read. I do write quality things but I feel pressure to pump out 3 or 4 stories a day. Now, i’m convinced I need one or two good ones a day. I already participate in the community but never thought of forum. I saved this post for future reference.
Thanks again!
As a blog reader, or lurker, I think it’s important to have a good balance. If you only have long detailed posts, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes I like a break and a short notice about something newsworthy in the industry can do that. I am, by no means, an experienced blogger, but one thing I like about WordPress is the ability to save drafts and have posts published at later dates. So, I can work on a higher quality post as time allows over a couple days. And if I have too many shorter posts queued up, I can space them out as needed.
drivelocity’s last blog post..Using Twitter to Propose Marriage?
As a blog reader, or lurker, I think it’s important to have a good balance. If you only have long detailed posts, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes I like a break and a short notice about something newsworthy in the industry can do that. I am, by no means, an experienced blogger, but one thing I like about WordPress is the ability to save drafts and have posts published at later dates. So, I can work on a higher quality post as time allows over a couple days. And if I have too many shorter posts queued up, I can space them out as needed.
drivelocity’s last blog post..Using Twitter to Propose Marriage?
I know that If I post everyday, I feel like my laptop keys are glued to my fingers. I just don’t see how people have a lot of time to do this. I just started and I am overwhelmed to be blogging all day/night. I feel like I can’t get anything else done. So, I am trying to read more than post so that I can learn what to and not to do. I really like your site, It has given me a lot of ideas and information to be a better blogger/writer.
thank you
http://www.sheilaonetheweb.com
http://www.skepticalbeliefs.com
Sheila’s last blog post..Real or Fake Tree?
I know that If I post everyday, I feel like my laptop keys are glued to my fingers. I just don’t see how people have a lot of time to do this. I just started and I am overwhelmed to be blogging all day/night. I feel like I can’t get anything else done. So, I am trying to read more than post so that I can learn what to and not to do. I really like your site, It has given me a lot of ideas and information to be a better blogger/writer.
thank you
http://www.sheilaonetheweb.com
http://www.skepticalbeliefs.com
Sheila’s last blog post..Real or Fake Tree?
Hey Diana
You’ve pretty much summed it up everything there is for me to add anymore. I second the notion that quality is more importance than quantity. Of course, if we can have the best of both worlds without feeling burnt-out, that’d be perfect.
However, it’s almost impossible in a single contributor environment. I can attest to it that my subscribership improve when I post less frequently as cited by Seth Godin.
Yan
Blog for Beginners’s last blog post..Duplicate Content: Penalty or Policy?
Hey Diana
You’ve pretty much summed it up everything there is for me to add anymore. I second the notion that quality is more importance than quantity. Of course, if we can have the best of both worlds without feeling burnt-out, that’d be perfect.
However, it’s almost impossible in a single contributor environment. I can attest to it that my subscribership improve when I post less frequently as cited by Seth Godin.
Yan
Blog for Beginners’s last blog post..Duplicate Content: Penalty or Policy?
Great post Diana.. Really like the 10th point.. =)
Erwin Tan’s last blog post..Unleashing The Niche Genius In You
Great post Diana.. Really like the 10th point.. =)
Erwin Tan’s last blog post..Unleashing The Niche Genius In You
I have a relatively new blog and I thought your post was excellent advice for me. BTW I also now am a subscriber too. Thanks
Sales Fairy’s last blog post..Seven Deadly Sales Sins
I have a relatively new blog and I thought your post was excellent advice for me. BTW I also now am a subscriber too. Thanks
Sales Fairy’s last blog post..Seven Deadly Sales Sins
That last one is by far my favorite. It could go on so many other lists too.
My “friend” posts in his livejournal like 5 times a day and no one I know ever reads his posts. It’s so much better to NOT post every little thought that passes through your brain. And I’ve found that people that don’t post that much, I read the entire thing word for word.
So basically, yes. you’re right.
That last one is by far my favorite. It could go on so many other lists too.
My “friend” posts in his livejournal like 5 times a day and no one I know ever reads his posts. It’s so much better to NOT post every little thought that passes through your brain. And I’ve found that people that don’t post that much, I read the entire thing word for word.
So basically, yes. you’re right.
Having two jobs, and still blogging, creates the need to become even more effective.
I agree, there is no way that I can actually blog every day. If I did, my wife would divorce me. So, i have to use time wisely, and be happy by posting 2 articles to my Social Media Blog, and one or 2 to my political opinion blog.
Only by reducing the amount of posts, I can produce the quality needed to sustain my readers.
Joe’s last blog post..Internet Marketing Fundamentals
Having two jobs, and still blogging, creates the need to become even more effective.
I agree, there is no way that I can actually blog every day. If I did, my wife would divorce me. So, i have to use time wisely, and be happy by posting 2 articles to my Social Media Blog, and one or 2 to my political opinion blog.
Only by reducing the amount of posts, I can produce the quality needed to sustain my readers.
Joe’s last blog post..Internet Marketing Fundamentals
Thank you everyone! I’m happy to see you found this post useful.
@Nina – I’m glad you don’t feel as much pressure! I checked out your blog and it’s impressive. I can definitely understand how writing about celebrities can really put the pressure on since people do want constant gossip updates, but as long as you provide more in-depth coverage than your competitors who just brush the surface, you’ll be providing readers with something unique.
@drivelocity – Great point. Sometimes posts that are TOO long can make my vision blur, and I’m ready to move on. There are some bloggers who post 3,000 word articles every other day, and although that might be effective for them, you’re right, they should break it up with shorter posts every now and then.
@Sheila – Thanks! I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately, too, and I’d consider that necessary research. There are tons of great bloggers out there who are ready to share their wisdom.
@Yan – Having a co-author would definitely make it easier. Maybe I should look into hosting guest bloggers soon.
@Sales Fairy – Thanks for subscribing!
@Sarah – LiveJournal can be hilarious because of all the itty bitty little details people post about their lives every five minutes. I think twitter would be a good outlet for those individuals.
Thank you everyone! I’m happy to see you found this post useful.
@Nina – I’m glad you don’t feel as much pressure! I checked out your blog and it’s impressive. I can definitely understand how writing about celebrities can really put the pressure on since people do want constant gossip updates, but as long as you provide more in-depth coverage than your competitors who just brush the surface, you’ll be providing readers with something unique.
@drivelocity – Great point. Sometimes posts that are TOO long can make my vision blur, and I’m ready to move on. There are some bloggers who post 3,000 word articles every other day, and although that might be effective for them, you’re right, they should break it up with shorter posts every now and then.
@Sheila – Thanks! I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately, too, and I’d consider that necessary research. There are tons of great bloggers out there who are ready to share their wisdom.
@Yan – Having a co-author would definitely make it easier. Maybe I should look into hosting guest bloggers soon.
@Sales Fairy – Thanks for subscribing!
@Sarah – LiveJournal can be hilarious because of all the itty bitty little details people post about their lives every five minutes. I think twitter would be a good outlet for those individuals.
It’s not the regularity so much as the “gurus” are often hawking the same products. I’m losing count of the number of emails I’ve read about arbitrage which I’m sure is great if you have a huge budget for PPC.
I like Seth Godin’s daily posts – he gets to the point and they aren’t advertorial.
Peter Carter’s last blog post..A forex demo shows you how it works before you jump into it for real
It’s not the regularity so much as the “gurus” are often hawking the same products. I’m losing count of the number of emails I’ve read about arbitrage which I’m sure is great if you have a huge budget for PPC.
I like Seth Godin’s daily posts – he gets to the point and they aren’t advertorial.
Peter Carter’s last blog post..A forex demo shows you how it works before you jump into it for real
Hey Diana, This is the second post am going thru from this morning on Part Time blogger, as i’m a part time blogger i have noted down few tips from here. Hope that will work for me.
Shanker Bakshi’s last blog post..Grab Free Custom Built SEO Site
Hey Diana, This is the second post am going thru from this morning on Part Time blogger, as i’m a part time blogger i have noted down few tips from here. Hope that will work for me.
Shanker Bakshi’s last blog post..Grab Free Custom Built SEO Site
I am glad you mentioned it here. I will probably spend some to look for money making opportunity then rushing to post everyday.
Ben Pei’s last blog post..How To Make Money Blogging With ‘Featured Sites’
I am glad you mentioned it here. I will probably spend some to look for money making opportunity then rushing to post everyday.
Ben Pei’s last blog post..How To Make Money Blogging With ‘Featured Sites’
You know, everything you said is perfectly true and while I know I should take time to compose and structure my posts, I don’t have the time other than to do a quick proof read, and even then I find mistakes that I had missed. Maybe when I retire I can devote 100% to my blogging……nah, who am I kidding, I am the perpetual lazy blogger.
Sire’s last blog post..Cool Blog Links Now Live
You know, everything you said is perfectly true and while I know I should take time to compose and structure my posts, I don’t have the time other than to do a quick proof read, and even then I find mistakes that I had missed. Maybe when I retire I can devote 100% to my blogging……nah, who am I kidding, I am the perpetual lazy blogger.
Sire’s last blog post..Cool Blog Links Now Live
Wow, these are interesting tips.
I totally agree with point #3.
Wow, these are interesting tips.
I totally agree with point #3.
Great Post… I was making some of these mistakes myself.
I’ve got 5o blogspot blogs on one account (not all are mine, roughly half are for my small business clients) and I often post with out taking the time to write a quality article.
It’s tempting to grab a digg article, re write an intro and through it up on a blog for some adsense change, but of my blogs that I really care about takes time to write a thoughtful article.
I’ve got some blogs on Addiction Recovery that I’ve been postponing posting to because of what you wrote in this post.
Thanks
David Bruce’s last blog post..Local Internet Advertising- 110 Characters is all you get-
Great Post… I was making some of these mistakes myself.
I’ve got 5o blogspot blogs on one account (not all are mine, roughly half are for my small business clients) and I often post with out taking the time to write a quality article.
It’s tempting to grab a digg article, re write an intro and through it up on a blog for some adsense change, but of my blogs that I really care about takes time to write a thoughtful article.
I’ve got some blogs on Addiction Recovery that I’ve been postponing posting to because of what you wrote in this post.
Thanks
David Bruce’s last blog post..Local Internet Advertising- 110 Characters is all you get-
Hi Diana,
It’s my first time on your blog and I enjoyed your post. I too am a part-time blogger and I do 2-3 posts a week so I could relate well with what you’ve written. I’ve read from successful bloggers who participated in 30-day challenges that they get substantial increase in traffic from doing so. I’m sure they did and probably because they have the luxury of time to post daily. But I reckon there are similar thousands who participated but suffered bad experiences too.Quality is definitely better than quantity for the average blogger.
Peter Lee
work from home ideas’s last blog post..Who Else Wants Free Backlinks To Their Home Business Blogs
Hi Diana,
It’s my first time on your blog and I enjoyed your post. I too am a part-time blogger and I do 2-3 posts a week so I could relate well with what you’ve written. I’ve read from successful bloggers who participated in 30-day challenges that they get substantial increase in traffic from doing so. I’m sure they did and probably because they have the luxury of time to post daily. But I reckon there are similar thousands who participated but suffered bad experiences too.Quality is definitely better than quantity for the average blogger.
Peter Lee
work from home ideas’s last blog post..Who Else Wants Free Backlinks To Their Home Business Blogs
Thanks for writing this post Diana,
I have just started my blog and I thought I had to write everyday or new readers would go elsewhere. I notice that some of the top bloggers publish something everyday but it is difficult for me to do that as I work part time and have other commitments and plus I’d like to have a life outside of cyberspace.
I do think about my blog on a daily basis and whenever I hear someone at work complaining about something I am making a mental note so that I can write about it later on my blog.
I have decided to blog 3-4 times a week and spend some of my time promoting my blog. My blogs almost 4 weeks old and I sometimes think I don’t have enough posts on there but I would prefer to have decent content than loads of poor posts.
Michelle
Michelle’s last blog post..Live Full, Die Empty (Part 1 of 2)
Thanks for writing this post Diana,
I have just started my blog and I thought I had to write everyday or new readers would go elsewhere. I notice that some of the top bloggers publish something everyday but it is difficult for me to do that as I work part time and have other commitments and plus I’d like to have a life outside of cyberspace.
I do think about my blog on a daily basis and whenever I hear someone at work complaining about something I am making a mental note so that I can write about it later on my blog.
I have decided to blog 3-4 times a week and spend some of my time promoting my blog. My blogs almost 4 weeks old and I sometimes think I don’t have enough posts on there but I would prefer to have decent content than loads of poor posts.
Michelle
Michelle’s last blog post..Live Full, Die Empty (Part 1 of 2)
I am so glad I read this! So many others in Internet Marketing recommend that bloggers post every day, and doing it part time that is very difficult, as you said, with all of the other things that have to be done for the blog. now I don't feel so bad that I'm unable to post every day.
I think it's important to know your niche and know what sort of expectations your readers, in general have.
I am going to read this post. I am. But I am also going to question your level of common sense. You put (as many do) a box for me to mark my approval AT THE TOP before I have read a word! Is this common sense?
Haha! Did you notice how there are social sharing buttons at both the top AND bottom of the post?