How often should I post?
This is a very common question with newbie bloggers. At the beginning of the blogging exercise, a newbie understands (even without being taught) that irregular posting is likely to be of no good. What advice will give someone who wants to have a posting schedule?
Posting, is a combination of various stages that involves developing an idea, doing some research, writing an article and publishing to a blog. For one to finally decide on his/her posting schedule, these stages have to be taken into consideration. Let’s try to outline some of the factors that influence the way one writes and publishes articles to a blog.
Inspiration
This sounds obvious, but you will never give it much importance until you go against it and face the circumstances. When you are not inspired, you are not inspired. Period! I will never encourage you to force things out. Don’t try to write if you are not inspired to write at that particular moment. If your schedule says you have to post everyday and for some reasons, you get up on Monday and you don’t fee like posting, please let it go. If the same thing happens on Tuesday and Wednesday, I will advice you to still stay cool. However, I consider three days to be the limit. On Thursday, you really need to do something. Silence for four days can be very bad for your blog’s health.
To solve this problem of inspiration, I will strongly advise that your write as many posts as possible the day you are inspired to, unless you are dealing with a serial topic.
Time Management
Time is a very important aspect when blogging is concerned. It is impossible to have a fixed schedule n life because responsibilities and obligations are not always evenly distributed. At times, the workload is so much that we can’t find time to have a cool head and make a post. Writing when you are too stressed up can lead to many grammatical, spelling, formatting and technical errors in your post. If you initially planned to post everyday but on Friday, you have much to do and can’t find time to post, what do you do? You rather not post on that day than post at 2:00AM when you are already tired and worn out.
Patience
Yes, patience!
Why would you be patience and remain calm when you have stuff to post? Simple! You are listening to your blog and your readers. Take for example that you posted on Monday you realize that the post of Sunday is still very active and you still have many people commenting. Won’t you consider leaving it at the top for one more day before the next post? That works for me.
Urgency
At times, you have already followed your schedule for the day but suddenly, a hot topic comes up that you find it very important to discuss with your readers instantly. If I were in your shoes, I won’t allow that discussion die down simply because I don’t want to post again. I will exceed my schedule if and when necessary.
Schedule
We have been using the word schedule over and over. What actually is a posting schedule? Some people don’t follow any particular schedule and just post as the content and inspiration come. They may post everyday, or even once a week.
Looking back at the definition of a blog, it stresses the phrase “regularly updated”. How do you insure that your blog is actually regularly updated? Just making a posting schedule and trying hard to blog by it solves the problem.
When drawing up a posting schedule, it will be wise to consider your normal day to day activities. If your job and home chores give you enough time to post twice a day, fine. If you choose to post everyday or four times per week, that’s still fine. On the worst scenario, consider posting twice per week.
We said due to unforeseen circumstances you might not be able to follow your schedule. In such a case, I advice you stay cool. However, fate can play a very dangerous game on you at times. Just consider the following situation: Monday you are too busy, Tuesday you are not inspired, Wednesday you don’t have internet connection, Thursday your PC breaks down, Saturday you feel discouraged by the bad posting week, you normally don’t post on Sunday because…Oh my! A whole week and not even one post? What do you do in such a situation?
What Else can I Do?
Writing an article is the most important but NOT the only means by which a blog can be updated. When you can’t find time or you are not inspired to make a standard post, why not ramble a bit or give your readers some announcements or talk to them about some personal stuff? Why not visit them, read and genuinely comment on their articles and at the end of the comment, you leave a personal not? Why not discuss with them on your Shoutbox? Why not try to do all those tweaks you have been thinking about on your theme if you are not inspired to write?
Conclusion
Whatever your positing schedule is, and whatever unforeseen circumstances come into play, I will advice you not to keep your blog dead for more than three days. You will be killing her!
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9 Comments Received
August 22nd, 2008 @4:22 pm
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
Very well said again, Uncle Che! What’s running in my head has been eruditely expressed here in this post.
As much as we so want to regularly update our blogs, unforeseen factors may come in our way. I have experienced having no connection for 5 days. But that didn’t prevented me from writing. I would usually write down everything that comes to mind in random at MS Word or Notepad and when my connection is back, it’s ready for publish.
But then again, scheduling is also important. SOme articles readers may find very interesting and I would love to keep it at the top. But since I am into paid reviews, it just wouldn’t work. Beating deadlines would usually take its toll on me that sometimes I ran out of things to write and my blogs just gets so darn boring!
All in all, you were able to capture in gist the essence of post frequency and the importance of scheduling them.
August 22nd, 2008 @7:15 pm
I can feel the loudness of the claps right at this end and it is making me very happy.
Well, just wrote from my mind and experience. Whenever I am inspired to write, I don’t tale chances. I use that opportunity to write. At times I prefer saving the post as a draft or saving in MS Word as you said. One thing I am thinking of is “posting in the future”. I can write let’s say 2 articles today and set the publishing date of the second one a day ahead. Blogger will automatically publish it when that day comes.
It is always good to make allowances for dark hours.
August 22nd, 2008 @9:59 pm
Uncle Che have tagged you again, Please visit my blog
August 22nd, 2008 @11:45 pm
Blog contents and scheduling are two of the most important aspects of blogging. But both are also the hardest aspects of blogging to tackle. As you said, you can’t write if you are not inspired to write. The article will come out dry and lifeless. There are some people who really have the knack for writing. To them, writing is of second nature and so easy to accomplish. I agree with you that in moments of inspirations, one can write several articles to compensate for the dry days. Thanks for the post. God bless you always.
August 23rd, 2008 @2:08 am
I think you should post just when you feel inspired. In spite of that, if you try to write something when you feel bad, lazy or simply without inspiration, you won’t be successful on what you do.
I have written a post related to this one, titled To Post Or Not To Post Frequently… Feel free to check it out.
August 23rd, 2008 @4:43 am
Great post!
When I have tons of ideas, I usually write multiple drafts just so that I remember to finish it next time.
When a hot topic comes, I usually re-arrange my schedule, so that posts that are hot will be posted earlier than the others
August 23rd, 2008 @7:56 am
@ VIDHYA IYER
Thanks so much for the tag. I will be right there. I love tags
@ MEL AVILA ALARILLA
Just imagine what a dry and lifeless article can do t your blog. Ha ha ha.
It will be better you had no post than having the worst in the blogosphere. I think forcing it out has never been the best way out.
@ MR JAVO
I read your post. That was a very good write-up. I also love the way you ended it by advising people to take some time off and do some interesting stuff when they don’t feel like posting.
@ MICHAEL
Yeah. I also buy the idea of posting the hot topics first. I also recommend that the hot topics should be left on the front page for a little bit longer than usual.
________________
I thank you all for your presence. My internet connection is getting better. The providers say they will complete the maintenance today. So, from tomorrow I am back with full force. Hehe…happy!
August 25th, 2008 @5:12 pm
Wonderfully explained. *Thumbs Up!*
My opinion:
Like Javo said, I also believe one should post when inspired and have the energy to do so. I usually do not post when I feel like my energy has been drained away during the day by work. But then when I re-gain inspiration, I come back and try to give my best.
But obviously the downside of this approach is (like I have experienced), your blog lose traffic which is lethal. But then again its a personal choice and you should have the trust that you can do better to catch up real soon.
Wishes,
- Wakish -
(http://wakish.info)
August 25th, 2008 @10:39 pm
Yeah, Wakish.
You are right. One can lose some traffic if the posts are not flowing consistently. But then, I belieev a bad post will cost you more than no posting at all. :d
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