I’ve been having an internal debate today after reading several blog posts about blogging frequency. What’s interesting is that there isn’t a very strong consensus. However, there are very strong arguments for both sides: less is better, or more is better.
Blogging Less
I think this is the bigger camp. There are good reasons for it. Blogging once or twice a week means high quality blog posts that people will want to read. It also allows the blogger to spend more time doing other things. In my case, it would allow me to spend more time writing my book. The blogger can also spend more time promoting the posts they have done, as well as visit other blogs and comment on them. Also, people will see the blogger as having better quality posts, rather than always making short daily posts that may not have as much quality.
Blogging Daily
There’s another group who advocates blogging daily. And there are good reasons here, too. First, it gives the blogger discipline. They do it, and they become good at maintaining a schedule. It also helps a person improve their writing. If they’re only blogging once a week, they may take more time to actually get into the mood. If you’ve maintained a daily blogging schedule for a long time, you’re always ready to post. You also find your voice. However, you can burn out, get bored, or find that you’re only blogging because you feel that you need to make that blog post.
What do I do?
I blog daily. Twice a day, in fact. I don’t feel tired of doing it. I enjoy it. I always have ideas, and I have plenty of things to say. I wouldn’t say it takes away from my book writing time, because I don’t write blog posts when I’m in the zone. I write them when people are around. I can shut them out for blogging, but not for writing books. Writing twice a day started as a challenge to see if I could do it. But you know what? I enjoy it! It makes me want to write.
But you see, I can’t go down to once a week. That would mean I’d probably only be doing Authors Answer. That’s not the focus of this blog. If I were to reduce my blogging, I’d go down to five times a week. Authors Answer would always be there. I’d also work on one or two other series, including Worldbuilding. And the rest of the time, I’d be blogging about various topics, mostly related to books, book reviews, science, and education. I guess the topics wouldn’t change much at all. I wonder what would happen.
In April, I was blogging mostly once a day. Traffic dropped dramatically, and I had far less interaction on my blog. I love the comments and conversations that go on. This month, I returned to twice a day, and the traffic is better than ever, and the comments are back up to normal. Interesting results.
In the future, things will probably change. As I get more into writing my book, as well as working, I may drop down to five posts a week. I expect a drop in views, but I plan on spending more time going to other blogs. But it’s a difficult decision to make. I enjoy blogging daily. But we’ll see what happens.
What do you think? Which camp are you in? Let me know in the comments below.
I Read Encyclopedias for Fun 