New from Matt McGee: How Often Should I Blog?

In This Issue...

The tweetable answer to the “How often should I blog?” question is this:

Blog as often as possible, as long as you’re writing content that offers value to readers.

But obviously there’s more nuance involved in answering this question, so let’s dive a little deeper into the benefits of regular blogging.

My Usual Advice: Two Posts per Week

When I began working with Dr. Cynthia Bailey way back in 2008/09, I encouraged her to aim for at least two posts per week. With the exception of a few vacation breaks, she’s done that and her skin care blog is now driving traffic, product sales and earning her interviews with trusted outlets like USA Today, Glamour, Self and other big-name media publications.

Why two posts per week?

Regular publishing helps get bloggers in the habit of writing.
Regular publishing helps get readers in the habit of reading.
Regular publishing of quality content, in my opinion, helps create a sense of trust and authority in readers.
Regular publishing helps search engines get in the habit of crawling and indexing.

That last point is important: I’m a believer in the concept of “training the crawlers,” especially when launching a new blog or website. By getting search engine bots in the habit of making regular visits to your website, you’ll be able to get new content crawled and indexed much faster than, say, a site that only adds new content once every month or two. I wrote about this in one of the earliest articles on this blog:

Training the Crawlers

If Dr. Bailey was able to post three articles per week (instead of two) without sacrificing quality and without interfering with the regular demands of being a small business owner, I’d encourage her to do it. I believe that there’s no such thing as too much quality content on a blog or website. (More on this at the end.)

Exceptions to the Two-Posts-per-Week Rule?

blog Obviously not all small businesses are the same. Two articles per week is my usual advice, but some SMBs might actually want to publish more.

Small restaurants or food trucks might want to post every day, sharing updates about what items will be on the day’s menu and/or where the truck will be and when. (A lot of food trucks use Twitter and Facebook for shorter posts like that, but they can also be shared on a company blog.)

Other SMBs may want to post regularly during a week when there’s some local news or local event related to its customers or industry.

Other small businesses may decide to publish less often, and that’s okay, too.

All other things being equal, less content probably means less website traffic, fewer inbound links and less of the regular benefits that a blog brings. But one great blog post a week — or even one per month — is better than none.

Whatever the Amount, Make Sure It’s Quality

Last point: Don’t publish crap just because your editorial calendar tells you it’s time to hit the “publish” button.

Quality content doesn’t mean that every blog post has to be epic. I’ve said before that blogging a variety of article types is important, and not every blog post needs to be a “home run.”

Whether you aim to blog twice per week or once per month, make sure you’re publishing quality, helpful content that offers value to your readers.

(Stock image via Shutterstock.com. Used under license.)

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

How Often Should I Blog?

Advertisement: Local Presence for National Brands
Local Market Launch delivers business listings management and local presence solutions for national brands, multi-location businesses, franchises, and local SMBs through a growing network of channel partners, including directory publishers, newspaper publishers, broadcast media companies, digital media agencies and certified marketing representatives (CMRs).
http://localmarketlaunch.com