How Often Should You Blog?

Content is the heart of any content marketing program. Blogs are a large part of this content. Blogs can help you to attract new clients by answering their questions and offering insight on their problems.

Consistency is key to content marketing success. It really does matter how often you blog. How often should you blog?

The best results in terms both of traffic and conversions are achieved by publishing 2 to 4 times per week. This is the conclusion based on multiple studies and our own client work with more than a dozen websites, both B2B and B2C. We also have extensive experience working with large and small companies.

Let's begin by taking a look at the hard facts: the data about blogging frequency.

Quick Takeaways

• 
  As a rule, the more you blog, you get more traffic.
  
• 
  11+ posts per month is a magical number. It results in a noticeable rise in traffic for both B2B businesses and B2C.
  
• 
  The more content you have on your blog the more leads and traffic you get.
  
• 
  Your publishing frequency should be aligned with your content goals. Take into account the resources available for content creation.
  
• 
  Professional writers can help you create blog content that is timely and relevant to your audience. This allows you to produce content on-demand, without any investment of your time.
  

Data is the best way to start

It's always a good idea start with data to understand the impact of frequency on blogging effectiveness. HubSpot examined the blogging data of over 13500 companies in an attempt to answer this question. They found that linking frequency, increased traffic, and leads are the most important factors. Let's dive a little deeper.

A key aspect of your content marketing plan is the frequency you will post blogs. It may seem easy to pick a random number and think that this will suffice. However, blogging frequency is more complicated than that.

The data showed that companies publishing 4 or more blog posts per week received 3.5x the traffic than companies posting less than one blog post per week.

This is a solid argument to be prolific with your blog. The research also considers other factors, such as the size of the company or the differences between B2B businesses and B2C ones.

Is company size important?

HubSpot then broke down data points based upon company size.

Companies with 10 or less employees drove more traffic if they published around 11 blogs per month than those with less. Companies with 10 or fewer employees had more traffic if they published around 11 blogs per month than those who only publish one blog per month. They also received twice the traffic from those who wrote between two and five posts per month.

The magic number for companies with 11 to 25 employees, or more than 200 employees was 11. They received 3.5 times more traffic when they published more than 11 blog posts per month than those who only posted once per month.

Companies with 26-200 employees publish 11 or more blogs per month, which is about twice the traffic of those who only have one blog.

B2B vs. B2C

We also looked at the blogging frequency of B2B and B2C businesses. Research showed that B2C companies had a strong correlation between traffic to their site and the number of posted posts.

B2B companies had more complex results. Data did reveal a positive correlation between traffic and frequency. Companies that blogged only six to ten times per month had slightly higher traffic than those who published only one post.

It was 11 blogs or more that made the difference. This drove three times as much traffic to the site than those who only blog once.

The Impact of Monthly Blog Articles on Leads

Great content attracts leads. Although content quantity has been associated with more traffic, quality content is just as important. Let's take a look at these findings and see how they impact leads.

Company Size and Frequency. Lead Generation

Companies that published 16 posts per month generated 4.5 times as many leads than those who published only four. The study then breaks down lead potential by company size.

Companies with between one and 10 employees, or 11 to 25 employees. The best return on leads for these companies was publishing 10 blogs per month. They were able generate twice the number of leads than companies publishing six to ten blogs.

Companies with 26-200 employees: These companies had 2.5 times more leads when they blogged at least 11 times than those who only published three blogs.

Companies with more than 200 employees: Six blogs per month is the ideal number. These companies were able capture 1.75x more leads than those who only wrote five blogs.

B2B and B2C

Both B2B companies and B2C companies drew more leads if they had more blogs. B2C companies that publish 11 blogs or more per month receive more leads than those who distribute four to five blogs.

The differences in B2B brands were smaller, but still significant. They received 1.75x more leads from those who blogged 11 times or more than those who blog six to ten times per month, and 3.75x more than those who blog three or less times per month.

How does the true effect of blog traffic and total number of blog posts?

The HubSpot report next looked at how many blog posts were created by the companies and how they influenced traffic to their websites. More blogs equals more traffic. Around 400 blogs was the key number. A blog with more than 400 posts received twice the traffic of blogs with 301-400 posts.

Although 400 blog posts might seem daunting, if you publish consistently between 10 and 15, you will see that this is not impossible in a few years. Blogs that have more than 400 posts are more likely to be those that have been around for some time. This data is a strong reason to not delete older blogs. You can update your blogs as new information becomes available.

Company Size & Total Blog Posts

The study also provided data on the number of blog entries by company size.

Companies with 10 employees or less saw an increase in traffic around the 300 mark. They were able generate 3.5 times as much traffic if they had more than 300 posts than those who had 50 to zero blogs.

Companies with between 11 and 25 employees also had the best results with 300 blogs or more, which brought in 2.75x more traffic than blogs with 150 blogs.

Businesses with 26-200 employees were able to get 300 visitors. With 300+ blogs, they received 1.5 times as much traffic than those with fewer than 150.

Companies with more than 200 employees also enjoy more traffic from 300-plus blogs. This is two times the traffic of companies with fewer than 300 posts.

B2B and B2C

Both types of businesses saw an increase in site visits when they had at least 400 blog posts. B2C companies saw 2.5 times higher traffic than companies with 300-400 posts. B2B companies saw 2.5 times the traffic of their counterparts who had 200 posts or less.

Total number of blog posts that are related to leads

This study looked at not only traffic but also the correlation between blog posts and leads. Companies with 400+ posts received three times more leads than those with fewer blogs.

The size of the company also affected the number of leads. Companies with fewer than 10 employees published 300 blog posts or more had 3.5 times as many leads than those with 50 posts or less.

Companies with between 11 and 25 employees who have 300 or more blog entries received more leads than those with 151-300 posts.

Companies with 26 employees or more had more leads than smaller companies. With 300 blog posts or more, they were more likely to capture 1.5x more leads than those with 25 or fewer.

B2B companies generated 4.5 times more leads if they had 400 posts or more than those who had 100 posts or less. B2B companies that have over 400 blog posts generated three times more leads than brands with less than 200.

This chart shows the correlation between conversions, traffic, and frequency.

What does all this data mean?

Site traffic and leads are increased by consistent, regular publishing. However, quality is more important than quantity. Although it's great to have many posts to choose from, you still need them to be well-written and relevant to your audience.

What other data and research could be used to confirm these findings? Let's take a look at the 2018 Orbit Media Survey of 1000+ bloggers with analysis by Andy Crestodina (a respected colleague).

What makes some blogs more successful than others?

Andy attempts to answer this question in his analysis of data. The survey asked bloggers questions that were divided into three sections.

• Length, Frequency, and Time
• Measurement and Process
• Content formats, original research, and promotion

We'll be looking at the first section of the article, which contained these questions.

• What length is your average blog?
• How much time do bloggers devote to an article at home?
• How often do blogs get published?

To answer question three, the data points that are most relevant to frequency relay to Andy. Andy first notes that blog frequency has been steadily declining over the past five years. In 2014, “several days per week” was the most common answer. Now it is “several months per month.” This has resulted in a half-decrease in the number of bloggers who publish every day.

The survey found that bloggers spend less time creating blogs than in 2014. It would be reasonable to publish less if a blogger spends more hours on a blog.

Here are the complete frequency of blog results:

• More than Daily: 2%
• Daily: 2%
• A week, two to six posts: 18%
• Weekly: 21%
• Multiple times per month: 23%
• Monthly: 15%
• Monthly: Less than 5.7%
• Periodic irregularities: 15%

But, there is nothing to indicate that blogs that are less popular have more benefits. Next, we will examine the percentage of bloggers who reported “strong results” through publishing frequency.

Bloggers who publish weekly are 2.5 times more likely than those publishing monthly to report “strong results”.

The complete set of data was as below:

• More than daily: 68.8%
• Daily: 62.5%
• Two to six posts per week: 42.5%
• Weekly: 32%
• Numerous times per month: 23.1%
• Monthly: 17.5%
• 12.9% – Less than once a month

This study shows a connection between frequency of visits and their benefits. The “strong results” can be read in many different ways. They aren't as precise as the Hubspot research that successfully connected high frequency and volume to site traffic and leads.

Qualitative vs. Quantity vs. Quality

This is a topic that has been a constant debate within the marketing community. This data clearly shows that success is measured in quantity. Many would argue that high frequency is a guarantee of quality. This is a false assumption.

It is important to identify a content ROI formula that is suitable for your business in terms of quantity. Once you have determined the quantity you need based on factors such as your company size, industry, and B2B vs. B2C, it is time to create a plan to scale up content production.

It's possible to think you don’t have enough ideas for increasing the number of blog posts. Where can you look for inspiration? To expand the content of your blog, there are certain tactics you can use:

• Ask your experts what are the most in-demand topics or what's new and coming.
• Ask your sales team what customers and prospects are most interested in.
• Check out existing research in your field
• Check out what your competitors have to say about it
• Refresh content

These are the best ways to ensure that you have both quality and quantity. There are many blogs that lack value. They are susceptible to SEO stuffing, false narratives and lack of supporting arguments.

Experts keep telling us to make less content, but experts are not always right. Steve Rayson, a Buzzsumo blogger, argues that there is more content in the future.

This strong argument is based on compelling data. The Washington Post publishes approximately 1,200 posts per day. This is far more than any other non-publishing company would be able. Steve thought that this volume would reduce their traffic initially, but this was incorrect. The Washington Post actually saw its web traffic increase by 28%.

Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Post and Amazon chief executive, came up with this new strategy to increase content. This trend is universal. In just four years, the number of Google indexed webpages grew to more than 100 trillion. It reached 130 trillion in 2016. Although the number of Google indexed pages has been removed from the How Search Works Google page it is certain that this figure has increased substantially.

Why is it that more content is the best strategy? Steve makes some arguments that are difficult to dispute that align with the strategy of the Post.

First, the Post and others with a similar strategy still care about quality. Steve points out in his post, that science-related publications are creating more content. Over 28,000 peer-reviewed scientific journals publish more than 2.5 million new scientific papers every year.

Automated content is also a growing trend, including algorithm-driven content. The tools for publishing and disseminating content are now more powerful. The accessibility to the internet and literacy rates are on the rise, which means that more people can access content. Also, it's easier to create content today than in years past. These points are huge factors in creating more content.

Is blogging frequency a sign of success? Are these just data points? Is there anyone with a contrary view?

There is no ideal blogging frequency

This is the assertion of Moz experts, who have plenty of content expertise and experience. We should definitely hear their opinions.

Moz believes that a lot the data supporting higher frequency are misleading. They believe correlation and causation should not be considered together. They argue that frequency is not as important as these things.

• Are the visits that you get from more posts worth it? Although you could get a lot of visitors to your site, they may not be the right buyers for your business and will never convert into customers.
• What industries and sectors do they belong to? It's difficult to determine if they're not in your industry. You probably won't be able to use data from retailers if you are a manufacturer.
• It is important to match your content and goals. It makes sense to increase the number of blogs if you want to increase viewership for a series or drive traffic through writing about promos and events. If your goals are more specific and dependent on seasonality, it might be a good idea to publish less.
• More important than frequency is consistency. Consistency is key if you want to attract a consistent audience. People have a tendency to expect new content from your blog when they visit it.
• It is better to create posts that are more popular and get more attention than just posting frequently. It's okay to have 11 posts with an average view count. If you have fewer than 11 blogs and a few of them get lots of backlinks or shares on social media then your traffic and leads will rise, not just based on the quantity.

These questions and concerns are valid, but they don't support increasing the frequency of blog posts. These are great questions to ask about data. We recommend that you try it out yourself. Listen to industry experts such as The Media Captain.

How Many Times Should You Post?

We've reviewed a lot of data and heard arguments from experts from both sides. Simply put, how often should your posts be made?

It all depends. Your site can be crowded with visitors if you have enough content. You shouldn't just publish more content to make it look better. It is important to align your content frequency with your content goals. Also, consider the resources available to you to create content. It is also important to consider the size of your company and whether you are B2B or C.

For more traffic and leads, invest in content

One thing is certain: you must invest in content. A blog subscription service can help you do this more efficiently. Professional writers will provide relevant content to your audience through a blog writing subscription service. You don't have to invest any time. It produces high-quality content. It is available on demand.

This service offers many benefits. This service will save you time and ensure that your content is written by qualified writers. Your content will be optimized to SEO for better search results. They will also create a content plan for your site, so you don't have to worry about it. You can also expect a fast turnaround and the knowledge that your work is original and unaltered.

A blog subscription service can help you build brand awareness, attract new customers and connect with your readers more deeply. After you have consistently published blog content, you can look at your data to determine the “perfect” frequency for your company.

Our Content Builder Service can help you get more visitors to your website by providing quality content that is consistently published. Contact me for a quick consultation and I will send you a PDF copy of my books. Get started today to generate more leads and traffic for your business.