For several years now, I’ve dedicated myself to blogging three times each week.
People sometimes ask, “How could you possibly have time for that?”
The answer is you have time for what you make time for. (Click to tweet that idea.) I make time for blogging. I make it a priority. I committed to posting three times each week, whether I feel like it or not, because I want to grow this community and my online business.
But now I’d like to try something a little different.
Diving into something a little different.
Some popular bloggers say you shouldn’t have to blog often to succeed. They say quality trumps frequency, and you should put your effort into other community-building efforts, like a newsletter and guest blogging, rather than focusing solely on blogging.
I’ve done that, offering a newsletter and guest posting for popular blogs and creating guides and courses and now running helpful webinars for my community. But I haven’t cut back on blogging to make up for creating content in those other ways. Partly because I truly believe frequency and consistency are important when you’re building an online community, at least in the beginning, and partly because I enjoy blogging. I have a lot to say!
But I’d like to give this reduced blogging schedule a test drive. After all, the key to success is experimenting.
Plus, I have SO much helpful information on this site that’s buried. Like this post on how following your dream can help your career and this one on how authors can use social media for book promotion and this one on why you’re a writer, not an aspiring writer. I need to figure out how to bring those older-but-still-useful posts to the surface so newer readers can benefit from them, too.
So for the month of December and possibly January, I’ll only post twice a week — one substantive post, plus my weekly round-up. If I hadn’t mentioned this, you probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I like to use my own experiments as a way for you to learn, too. Come January or February, I’ll see how this has affected my platform, my blog traffic and my sanity. My hunch is that I’ll miss writing as many posts as I usually do, but we’ll see if that actually proves true.
If until now, you’ve only followed my work on this blog, this is the time to branch out. Join the newsletter — it’s my biggest focus lately, and you’ll find exclusive content there you won’t find anywhere else. And my new Facebook page is full of resources you won’t find on this blog, too, resources that will help you make your own luck.
Have you played with different posting schedules on your blog? What works best for you?
I post twice a week and it definitely works well for me.
Maybe I should work out some sort of a schedule for my blog posts… I tend to just do it whenever I feel like it. Let’s see how that influences my traffic and whatnot. Keep your sanity in tact!
Yes, I’d say having a schedule is a good way to hold yourself accountable. It gives you a goal!
I was kind of bummed when I first saw this post because I LOVE your blog and anxiously check my Reader for your new posts. However, I definitely understand why you’re trying to this experiment and I can’t wait to see what comes of it! I’m also really interested to see what day works best for you to post your one beefy post of the week!
Thanks, Jess! I’m really creating a ton of content — it’s just not all HERE, on the blog, but spread out among the blog, newsletter, Facebook, webinars, etc. Cheers!
It’s awesome to see all the additional products you’re putting out!
Earlier this year, I cut down from 2-3 posts each week to just one, to make room for other writing obligations. I was disappointed to see a big drop in hits for a while — BUT, because I put much more effort into ensuring that one post was quality, I started to see a LOT more engagement. I’ve slowly been able to recover the lost traffic, plus maintain that engagement, and take the next step into creating additional products.
Thanks for this report, Dana! I’ve noticed you offer quality content 🙂 Nice that blogging just once/week allows you to do that!
this so called time management..
we can make it if we really want to..
thanks for that inspiring insight.
how to write a book
I feel like this is such a timely post. I have a writing partner and we are constantly (it seems) debating the pros and cons of ‘how much’ to blog.
I’m looking forward to following along while you test out something new for your blog and to learning what works and what could be tweaked!
Alexis,
So glad I found you and your really cool site! Your enthusiasm and passion come through in your writing. I love this post because 3 months ago I committed to blogging, keeping my website up to date, learning to use Twitter (find I really love it!) and diving head first into Social Media. I always knew I had a keen interest in social media in general, but what I’m find is that I think I really “get it” in terms of how it can impact what I totally love…golf and the golf industry. I am a PGA golf professional stuck in a sales job in another industry and I’m working my way back to golf. Here’s how:
So, in a nutshell, I have a big dream that I’m having a blast trying to turn into reality and that is to turn on PGA golf professionals, golf course managers and owners to the wonders of social media and how they can create their own fabulous communities for thier players and businesses. Golf is a bit behind the times and I feel it’s my duty to raise awareness and educate the masses….and to have a great impact doing it! Is it silly to think I can become a leader in thought and action across the country in the golf industry? I think not….
I’m always learning, experimenting, allowing my curiosity to wander, reading constantly and paving a road with my own stuff to see if what I THINK I know already…works. I’m having success with my platforms, generating consistent content with my audience in mind, interacting whenever I can and having fun with the interactions. And my content is just about golf, food and music. My three passions, as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Reading you got me very energized, and for that, I thank you. Keep it going!
Rick
I’m tried 2 a week up to 6 a week.
My happy medium is 3.5-4, with each post around 1,000-1,500 words long. I shoot for 5,000 words a week.
Monthly at best- been spending more time on FB updating on my events and coverage. Fb =weekly, blogs monthly.
Alexis,
I love that you did this post as a research post. I have always aimed to blog once a week, mostly because it was a miracle to get to blogging across childrearing. And I wanted to stay grounded and create quality posts, hoping to sustain over the long haul and not over burn.
The children are all school age, and I still blog once a week and sometimes fall short, but I blog in more than one location. I think staying true to oneself is critical given the pull to give away more and more of oneself. Balance is good. I also loved your most recent post about the two year book project, admitting defeat of a goal you outgrew but learning it wasn’t failure because of tangential growth.
I will be directing my blogging students to your links here. Back mining one’s site is so important…a worthwhile step, thanks for the reminder. Glad to connect with you.