Sharing original content—like a blog post—is one of the best ways to boost your traffic, grow your email list, and make more sales for your business.
These days, though, you’re probably hearing over and over again that it isn’t enough to share content that’s original and valuable. You also have to make sure that your content is fresh, which means that you can’t share the same pin of your blog post on Pinterest every week.
Sharing fresh content regularly sounds really great. And you know it would be valuable for your audience. But as an entrepreneur, you also have a million things on your to-do list every day. So you don’t have time to be pumping out high-quality blog posts multiple times a week.
How do you strike the right balance between publishing blog posts often enough to get results but not so often that you completely burn out?
Here’s how to figure out how often you should publish blog posts.
Want a blog that gives you traffic, email subscribers, clients, or customers? Learn how to craft blog posts that convert.
Download my free blog post template + example.
Publish blog posts consistently rather than frequently
Some entrepreneurs think they need to publish a new blog post every day or multiple times a week to get good results from blogging. But the reality is that unless you have the resources to hire a team whose sole job is to create and promote your blog posts, this kind of publishing frequency isn’t feasible. And it usually isn’t necessary either.
After all, consistency is more important than frequency. It’s much better for your audience and for your standing with search engines and social media algorithms to consistently publish one high-quality blog post every week or every two weeks than to publish four times a week for two months and then be so burned out that you don’t publish again until five months later.
Still not a believer in the power of consistency when it comes to blogging? Stats show that people who publish blog posts consistently get 30% more traffic on every post. They also save an hour when creating each blog post.
Consistent blogging also increases your…
- social media shares
- social media followers
- email subscribers
- sales
Can’t argue with that, right?
What publishing frequency is right for YOU?
Okay, so you get that publishing consistently is what matters if you want results from your business blog. But how do you figure out what that means for your business? In other words, how often should YOU (or your team) be creating and sharing blog posts?
A good goal is to publish fresh content once a week. But before you start hammering out blog posts every Friday, figure out if this frequency is feasible for you or your team.
How do you do this? Identify how much time you need to do these 3 tasks per post:
- create the post (e.g., writing the post, formatting it, and creating images)
- publish the post (i.e., adding the post to WordPress or another platform)
- promote the post (e.g., sharing the post on social media and with your email list)
Know exactly how many hours you need to complete all of these tasks per post. Then decide whether you have enough time to do this every week. If you do, awesome! If you don’t, how many posts do you have time to create each month?
When you’re completing this exercise about how often you can afford to publish blog posts, think about whether there’s a way to free up time in your schedule. For example, maybe you’re spending a ton of time creating and sharing Instagram Stories that don’t get you great results. You might decide that if you put that activity on hold, you’ll have enough time to publish blog posts once each week.
Related: How to create blog posts that Google loves + free blog post template & example
Want a blog that gives you traffic, email subscribers, clients, or customers? Learn how to craft blog posts that convert.
Download my free blog post template + example.
How to achieve your blogging frequency goal
Most entrepreneurs decide on a blogging frequency (like once a week) and try to hit that goal right from Week 1. Sometimes it works to dive right into the deep end like this. But many entrepreneurs end up burning out this way.
That’s why it’s helpful to start slow and gradually ramp up to your blogging frequency goal. This will give you a chance to get into the habit of blogging consistently and to fine tune your content creation process before you have a full load of content creation work on your plate. It also gives you time to gradually wind down activities that you want to discontinue to make time for content creation and other business development efforts.
For example, let’s say that your goal is to publish blog posts once per week. Instead of trying to publish once a week right off the bat, start by publishing twice a month (e.g., every two weeks) for Months 1, 2, and 3.
If everything is going well at the end of Month 3, publish three times during Months 4 and 5.
And if you find that publishing three times a month is manageable, go ahead and scale up to publishing four posts a week during Month 6.
How did it go?
Once you get to the end of Month 6, reflect on how things went over the last six months. Was it feasible to ramp up to blogging once a week? Or did you find that you were maxed out at two or three posts per month?
Remember, consistency is more important than frequency. So if you can blog every week, great! But if you can consistently create a high-quality blog post just twice a month, stick with that. Don’t try to push yourself to publish every week if it’s going to come at the expense of your business, your budget, or your sanity.
Keep in mind that your blogging frequency might change over the history of your business. For example, when you just start out as an entrepreneur, you might be a one-person show. So blogging twice a month might be the most you can do.
But if your business grows and you hire someone to help you with content marketing, you might be able to publish blog posts three or four times a month instead.
Related: The 5 best social media platforms for promoting your blog + free cheat sheet
Fresh content doesn’t have to be new content
The goal with blogging and other types of content marketing is to share fresh content consistently. But content doesn’t have to be 100% new to be fresh.
Here are two ways to create fresh content without always creating new content:
Update old blog posts
One of my favourite strategies for saving time while creating fresh content is to update old blog posts. Depending on what the post needs, you might update the headline, information in the post, SEO, or images.
This works especially well for posts that bring in consistent traffic on your blog over time. And it’s usually important to do anyway for posts with info that can easily become outdated (e.g., a post on best practices for Instagram or a list of top social media tools).
For example, a few weeks ago, instead of creating a brand new blog post, I updated my post on 14 blog automation tools that save you tons of time.
Promote old posts with new social images and copy
You can save even more time by taking an old post on your blog and repromoting it on social media using a new image and new social media copy.
Only a fraction of your audience will see any single post you share on social media. So it’s worth it to reshare your blog posts on social media every few months, especially for the posts that have done particularly well in the past. (Just be sure that you don’t share the same content too often so that you aren’t spamming your followers.)
For example, every time I share a blog post on Pinterest, I create multiple pins so that I can promote the post multiple times.
How often will YOU publish blog posts?
It’s your turn now!
Use the strategy I’ve outlined above to figure out how often YOU should aim to publish blog posts.
Whatever frequency you decide on, make sure it’s a frequency you can meet consistently. And be sure to start slow and gradually ramp up toward your blogging frequency goal.
Want a blog that gives you traffic, email subscribers, clients, or customers? Learn how to craft blog posts that convert.
Download my free blog post template + example.
Great content. Thank you for your help 🙂
Glad you found it helpful, Cristina!