How often should your business be blogging?

Once an hour?

Most of you will file this under G for ‘get real’. Yet there are some sites out there (such as TechCrunch) that post new content every twenty minutes or so. Obviously that requires some serious dedication and a crack team of writers. But relax. It’s really not necessary to create all of that content unless your website is a bona-fide news source counting your monthly uniques in the hundreds-of-thousands.

Once or twice a day?

If you are disciplined, it’s possible to update your blog once or twice a day. But does this really give you time to create content of any value? Or are you just busting yourself to recycle the same stories that your reader could find on hundreds of other websites? If you have enough unique, quality content to post once a day then go for it, otherwise don’t waste your energy. There’s enough white noise out there. And you’ll need some extremely brawny writing muscles to avoid burnout.

Two or three times a week?

This is more like it. A steady stream of juicy content, freshly pressed with style, confidence and swagger. But beware. You risk overwhelming your reader if they receive email updates every time you post. If you have enough fresh ideas to post every few days or so, consider preventing your subscribers from receiving alerts for every new post and send out a weekly email with a summary of your new content instead.

Once a week?

For most businesses, once a week is the sweet spot. It gives you enough time to draft genuinely engaging content, digesting any significant news in your industry or creating an educational piece that your readers will find genuinely valuable. Remember up top we talked about the balance between spamming your reader and staying memorable? This slots you nicely between the two. 

Once a month?

Hmm. An appealing option if you’re busy. Even more appealing if you’re lazy. But not really viable in the real world. It’s just not frequent enough. You won’t need us to remind you that digital media moves fast - light-speed-fast. It’s easy to get left behind when you’re only posting once a month.

There is, however, an exception. If you are creating deep-dive, high-value, niche, long-form articles, unlike anything your reader will be able to find anywhere else, then once a month is fine. Articles like that require research, TLC and lots of time.

When it suits you?

No, no, no.

If you need convincing, go back to the paragraph above about the importance of a publishing schedule.