You have taken the plunge. You signed up with
WordPress and you have written your first article. Now what? Do you
just wait for someone to comment? Do you check the stats page every hour to see
if anyone has read your first article? Your little baby. Your entry into the
World Wide Web?
You might want to start thinking about your next article. And, oh yeah, the
article after the second article you write. The days will pass fast and furious
the first 3 days. You have been storing words in jumbled form in your brain for
weeks, months and maybe even years. They are begging to be released. "Start
writing", they scream from behind the cerebral cortex. (Actually, I don't know
where they are screaming from, I just hear them screaming.)
So, you start your second article and it goes fast and within two hours another
article is waiting anxiously for someone to visit. But, after article five
suddenly the voices stop screaming. They aren't telling you what to write. What
do you do? Is it okay if I skip a day you ask? How about two or three days?
Then you panic. How often am I supposed to write?
No Hard and Fast Rules for Bloggers
Relax. There is no fast and hard rule for how often a blogger has to blog. What
is a good blogging quantity for you may be too many for someone else. How much
time do you have? What other responsibilities do you have? What subject and
what is your area of expertise? Are you doing this full time or just part time?
Do you have a specific reason for blogging?
Just this past week I read two blogs about how often you should blog. One
blogger said you should write at least twice a day. The other blogger was
blogging once a day, but had decided that she didn't have to blog that often.
She decided it might be better to have higher quality writing instead of
quantity. The guy that blogs twice a day is a very critical thinker and has
some of the highest quality writing on the blogosphere. And he does blog often.
I have seen him post 4 different articles in a single day.
But the question is How Often Should You Blog? Blogging is very
personal. It is almost like writing a diary. You think about a subject and then
you want to tell others about it. There is almost an inner ticking that can
only be stopped by you putting information on your blog.
I work a job, do the normal household duties that must be done. Visit my adult
children. Sing in my local church choir. And believe it or not I enjoy watching
some TV. I don't think I watch a lot of TV, but it is time I need to
decompress. Between all that, managing the website and some of the articles I
sell, there doesn't seem to be a lot of time to write.
Write Two Articles a Day
If this was my full time job, there is no question I could write at least one
article and maybe two articles a day, if I could find subjects of interest on
which to write. But, as it currently stands I only have time for about 3
articles a week. I am currently happy with that number. I would like to write
more travel articles and landscape articles. So, I manage to slip one or two of
those in every month.
How often should you blog? Analyze your time. How much time do you have to
blog? What time of day is best for you?
Can you wake up a half hour earlier to get started on a blog article? Is your
best writing time at noon? Do you have to wait until all the children are in
bed before you can settle your mind to write? Every blogger's situation is
different. I don't think I have a specific time of day to write. I normally get
up at 5AM and will write and take care of other business needs. I have written
articles during my lunch hour for my regular job. Then at night after dinner I
will sit down and begin an article.
How Long does it Take You to Write a Blog Article?
How long does it take you to write a blog? This is definitely different for
everyone. How long are your articles? Do you just write a paragraph or two? Do
you research each article and that might take you 4 to 10 hours. Are each of
your blog articles over 2000 words? I have seen all kinds of different article
lengths. If you are doing research and you have a good following of readers;
then you might just want a couple of paragraphs that identify an issue and wait
for your readers to respond.
A well researched article needs more time. Caroline Middlebrook has decided her
readers would rather have higher quality writing than a large quantity of blog
articles. She has a wonderful writing style and a very large following of
readers. Many people have signed up for her feedreader.
I read Michael Martinez, SEO-Theory, everyday. I don't know how much time he
spends researching and writing, but he writes long, well researched articles.
He recommends you write twice a day. I don't know how you can keep up with him.
What Works for You
The key is to find what works for you and the goals of your blog. If you are
looking to build traffic and acquire a large following I recommend you write
everyday. People will get into the habit of reading your work daily. Once you
get the large following you might be able to reduce it to 3 or 4 days a week.
Listen to your muse and start writing. Have a great day!
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