Time to explode an unfortunate bit of “conventional wisdom.” I’ve heard and read many people’s perspectives on how to do blogging right. There are about as many views on this as people expressing them. However, one common theme I hear mindlessly repeated is that it’s important to blog daily – if not several times daily.
For most blogs and most bloggers, I think a daily posting schedule is counterproductive. Here’s why…
(UPDATE: On June 13 I published further thoughts on this topic…)
EVERYONE’S ALREADY ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Yes, it’s true – there’s already far more content available than anyone would ever have time, energy, or interest to read. There’s no way we can keep up with what’s out there. A quantity-focused approach to publishing (including weblogs) only worsens the general sense that we’re drowning.
Quality trumps quantity. The only reason anyone should publish anything is that they have something worth saying – something that their target audience will probably value. Each blog posting should offer inherent significance and unique value. Without that, it’s probably just noise.
Don’t overestimate your own importance. There already are lots of good blogs out there. Even if yours is one of the best, do you honestly believe most people want to read your blog every single day – let alone several times daily? Probably not. That’s not meant to be an insult. Rather, I’m trying to lighten your load. Don’t squander your time and energy pushing out an endless stream of mostly drivel. Wait until you have something significant to say, then say it well.
Don’t worry about search engines. When I hear people advising bloggers to post daily, usually the justification is that this will boost your blog’s search engine rankings and attract more traffic. This may or may not be true. However, more traffic does not necessarily mean you’re communicating effectively, serving your target audience, or meeting other goals.
Think carefully about why you’re blogging, what you really want to achieve. The clearer you are in your own mind about your goals, the more purposeful and meaningful your blog will become. If you blather, you’ll only undermine your own credibility and annoy your audience. I doubt that’s what you’d hoped for.
Quality content attracts attention and fosters good relationships. Over time, inbound links and lively public discussion creates sustainable and constructive online traffic. That should be one of your goals. Who cares how Google ranks your site, as long as your target audience is hearing you and considers/discusses what you have to say? Get your priorities straight.
So just relax a bit. Listen more, read more, comment on other people’s blogs more. Participate more fully in the public conversation. Take a day off from posting just to get used to the feeling, and don’t apologize for it. Don’t treat blogging as a compulsion. Your audience will thank you for it. Trust me on that.
Hi – long time lurker, first time commenter: Please allow me to say you’ve got your priorities all mixed up on this one. Timing of posts is not the issue; quality of posts is.
If you’re able to churn out informative, entertaining, relevant posts on a daily basis, go for it! But posting for posting sake? Forget it.
Thanks for your comment, Peter. I think we’re actually saying the same here.
I agree that if a writer really, truly can churn out first-rate content every single day without fail, then daily blog posts might work fine for that blog. This is why I included “usually” in the title to this article.
However, such ability is extremely rare, in my experience. Practically nonexistant.
The vast majority of blogs I’ve seen where the author posts every single day inevitably include a lot of mediocre crap: simple links with no meaningful observations or commentary, pointless blathering, etc.
Frankly, there’s so much content out there, we all can do without that kind of noise.
I agree with you that posting for posting’s sake is a lousy idea. Which is why I think it’s counterproductive for almost any blogger to commit to a daily posting schedule. Aim for high quality with every post. If you can do that most days, fine. If you occasionally have to skip a day (or a few) to maintain that standard, don’t sweat it.
- Amy Gahran
Oh, so well stated, Amy! I can’t tell you the number of times I am slogging through my aggregator, looking at these “link entries” that consist of “here’s a neat article: LINK” or similar, and just grit my teeth and long for real writing, actual opinions, and valuable insight into whatever they’re interested in talking about. Sheesh. Thanks for saying what needs to be said!
I agree wholeheartedly with you, Amy, and have just posted on my blog to that effect (http://bettercomms.blogspot.com/2005/06/amy-has-it-right.html).
Content is King on my website and will now be also on my blog. The ‘search engine’ argument is also a waste of time — does no-one think that Google et al will change their algorithms to compensate for the skewing of the search results that blogs are currently creating?
Wow — thanks for supporting me on this, Dave and Lee. I appreciate that especially since I respect the work that both of you do quite highly.
To be clear: I’m not entirely opposed to mentioning links. However, I find it more useful and generally easier to segregate my links for recommended reading onto my del.icio.us page, where people who are interested in such linnks can find them easily. That not only has its own feed, but it leverages the value of being connected via tagging to the entire del.icio.us system. To me, that’s a more valuable way to make connections by offering links.
- Amy Gahran
Amy: I certainly agree that mindless, heedless quantity doesn’t do much for anyone. But I think it depends upon your audience and goals, so “most bloggers” is probably overstating things a touch.
A couple thoughts:
(1) I’ve never actually seen the search engine angle presented when someone suggests daily blogging. Most folks (in my experience) suggest daily posting because constantly writing makes you a better writer, and because it helps ingrain the process of blogging in your life.
(2) I depend upon many bloggers for their minimally annotated linkposts. In fact, that’s some of the most vital, important stuff in the blogosphere. And I generally don’t want to bother with subscribing to a dedicated linkblog feed. I’m interested in the whole person, from their Deep Thoughts to something as simple as “this caught my eye”.
Personally, I think that each blog has its own merits. After all, there are people with varied reasons for blogging. Personally, I use my blog as: a personal journal, a message board, a place to air out thoughts that are of a varied nature (political, religious, cultural, etc.) and every once in a while I find out that people drop by my blog and I don’t even know them in real life. I started blogging so I could share my thoughts with my friends who live in various parts of the world and also to get feedback on things work on: fiction, poetry, personal projects. I suppose there is indeed information overload but as I said, each blog has its own following.
However, there are people who seem to be overly conscious about having a following. Now that I think is something that has to be studied carefully. After all, not everyone puts comments on blogs all the time so some people whine about not getting any feedback, etc. I find that sad and, if carried to an extreme, irritating.
Anyhow, I like the points that you have raised because it makes bloggers more conscious about what we write. =)
It’s a relief find the kind of opinion that Amy Gahran, from Contentious, presents on her posts Why Daily Blogging Usually Is a Bad Idea and Yes, Daily Blogging Really IS Usually a Bad Idea. I felt much better after read that, but not at all, I still…
I applaud you for scolding bloggers who think they “must” post daily or several times daily. Of course, it depends on the blogger, the purpose of the blog, the target audience, etc.
But to “post” just to “improve writing skills” is silly. That’s what spiral notebooks are for. To force yourself to post daily, and to then post a bunch of ill-considered, trivial, irrelevant writings is just decreasing your blog’s overall value.
Very Important: if blog posts pile up, several times a day, and the posts are “essays” (not like Instapundit, Robot Wisdom, or other extremely brief link logs, listing URLs with little comment)…
…it gets to be too much to swim through. Almost nobody is so bored they’re going to check your blog several times a day. I have done that with The Red Couch, because I was posting comments, and wanted to see what reactions I’d get, NOT because there were mulitiple postings each day.
Valuable content is so important.
Thanks for doing your part to decrease the drivel.
Nice work, Amy!
Well said as usual, Amy! “Drivel” is exactly why I no longer read many blogs.
What you write is so true. There’s too much noise already out there. But sometimes it’s stronger than you and you have to post anyway … perhaps also because you think if you wouldn’t people would lose interest?
This is great. I don’t feel so lame now. I can’t count the times I have read that daily posting is something you must do if you want to keep your blog alive. But now I see the light. Posting just to post something does not seem that logical as I previously thought. Great post!