How often should you blog? If someone tells you that you must blog at least once a day without getting to know your business and your content goals, they’re trying to sell you something. The real answer to how many times a week you should blog depends on what you’re currently doing, the standards in your industry and a number of other factors we’ll discuss below.
At the same time, regular blog posts are a crucial component of your content strategy, and it’s very likely that boosting your blogging frequency will grow your leads and conversion rates. But before you commit to a blogging calendar, check out these facts:
- Companies that published 16 or more blog posts per month average nearly 3.5x more traffic than their peers publishing 0-4 times per month. (HubSpot)
- 91% of the most successful business bloggers post at least weekly, if not more often. (Curata)
- Blog posts remain the most-produced form of content marketing for B2B firms. (Conductor)
With these numbers in mind, let’s look at what you should know before deciding how often to blog.
More Posts In Your Blog Schedule = More SERP Opportunity
This is just common sense, but it’s easy to overlook: the more blog posts you publish, the more opportunity you’re giving Google to check your site. And the more Google checks your site, the more likely you are to rank. Data proves that sites with more blog posts tend to generate more leads.
In an extremely useful post on determining your best blogging frequency, Neil Patel points out that B2B companies with more than 400 blog posts saw 3x more leads generated from those posts than their competitors with 200 or fewer blog posts. The same logic applies for B2C, with blogs offering over 400 posts generating 4.5x more leads than those with 100 posts or less. Those numbers might sound intimidating, but think about the overall point they make – it’s valuable to build a volume of posts on your site, whether you already have dozens or you’re starting to prioritize content writing today.
More Posts = Law of Diminishing Returns?
The other side of this equation is that posting too often can lead to burnout – for you and your audience. If you set a goal of posting every day, you need to commit to making that happen. However, it’s very likely that you have a lot of tasks on your plate each day, and blogging could fall by the wayside, especially if it’s not your favorite task. And inconsistent blogging won't provide the benefits of fast-paced posting or more slow-cooked content.
You also run the risk of taking a serious hit to your quality standards if you force too-frequent posting. When you feel pressured to produce day after day, you may not select topics with the necessary discernment, and it’s likely that your posts will end up being too shallow to deliver results.
The Solution: Find Your Content Marketing Pace
To figure out how many blogs you should post each month, you really need to look at what you’ve done well in the past, what your industry calls for and, most importantly, what your competitors are up to. Ask yourself the questions below before you create your content calendar:
- Can you benefit from longer, less-frequent posts? If posting every day feels overwhelming, what about writing more in-depth posts a few times a week? Research shows that long-form blog posts generate up to 9x more leads than their shorter counterparts, suggesting that even with less frequency, you’ll see better results. Plus, readers have a limited attention span, especially for dense content, which they're more likely to delve into a few times weekly than every day. Start with two high-level posts per week, and see what your analytics have to say about reader response.
- Which past posts delivered the best performance? Review top-performing posts, whether that’s the blogs that delivered the most traffic, the best rankings or generated the most user engagement. What common threads do you see in them? Use this information to identify the topics that are most relevant to your readers and the formats that draw them in. In short, if you have to choose between posting frequently without strategy or posting strategically with less frequency, opt for the latter every time.
- Are you making the most of what you already have? Do you know where 70% of HubSpot’s traffic and 90% of their leads come from? It's not their newest, most on-trend material, but their older posts. That’s why they spend considerable time updating those posts to keep them relevant. Whether you have a host of powerhouse posts you’ve already published or you know your back catalog could use some work, give your older content a second look. That way, you can post less frequently, but still see the leads roll in.
- What’s your competition up to? All of these strategies will serve you well, but here’s the bottom line – whatever your top competitor is doing, you need to do it better and more frequently. Make sure you study the content marketing efforts of the top brands in your field, and note what they’re doing well and what you think they could do better. If they post once a week, you need to post at least twice a week. Do they post once a day? Start working on a strategy to top that. It can be tough to rise above a competitor who’s a content marketing superstar, and it probably won’t be a fast process. But by exceeding their efforts at every turn, you’ll be on the way to making yourself the premier thought leader in your field.
Blogging On Your Own Terms
Instead of asking how often to blog, we need to rethink the question. That's because when it comes to content marketing, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, you need to find a pace that fits your industry, company and time constraints to make you a leading voice in your field.
Do you have questions about defining a content strategy that works for your business? If you’re interested in achieving your goals with a third-party content writing services company, check out our ebook, Outsourcing Content Creation: 6 Essential Questions for Choosing the Right Partner.
About Virtucom Group
Consistent business blogging yields results – more clicks, more subscribers and – ultimately – more conversions. Whether you’re writing an automotive blog, an accounting blog, a healthcare blog or a home renovation blog, blogging for business and content development are useful for any industry. Follow the content writers at the Virtucom Group blog as they share digital marketing tips and discuss website content writing services that can optimize your business blog.
