How Often Should I Post On My Business Blog?

Posting to your small business blog can be an issue because it takes away from other essential needs of the business. But if you are looking at your blog as a marketing tool, it does have importance. It is a part of your business just as much as anything else that you do.

Remember a business is built on the little things that you do. If you neglect one small area that can have a much larger effect in other areas. Neglecting to post on business blogs consistently is a business sin and should be corrected.

The question becomes, then, how often should you post to your blog if this is critical to your small business?

It would seem a time span may be the best answer, but really it is not. Some people will conform to a schedule and make themselves post every two days, weekly or bi-weekly because that is what they have determined to do (or have been told to do). But, this is not the best path.

It may seem that organizing your blog posts and sending them out in set intervals is a good idea, but here are some drawbacks you may want to keep in mind: 

• Repetition. Sometimes an action repeated at regular intervals becomes tired and predictable. Business is supposed to be predictable to a degree, but what keeps it interesting and fun? Freedom of expression will make your blog feel fresh.
• Lack of Subject Matter. If you have a set time too close together, you may post whether you have anything to say or not.
• Missed Opportunities. Because you have built expectations with your readers to post in set intervals of time, you may miss something an opportunity to post on an event that happens outside of you constraints. (If you do have a schedule, you can always add additional posts about such events).

Ask yourself, "What is the goal of this blog?" Believe it or not, that is important as far as frequency of posting goes. If you are posting without a clear directive, you will not understand when you have the right content to post or when it is the right time to post.

So, let's talk about correct timing.

Content

In writing blogs, content should be king (or queen depending on who you are and what the content is). Blog posting frequency actually depends on having something to post that your readers need and want more than any other factor.

If you have been posting for a while, your readers have begun to expect a certain amount of information, your personality and value from your posts.

If you are new to blogging, then you want to draw new readers to your business blog. This only happens when those people find some value in your posts and take their decidedly precious time and visit you. Don't muddy that up by lowering expectations. If a new reader sees that you are only blogging periodically, they may not return to read future posts.

Thousands, maybe millions, of blogs exist. You are competing with those similar to yours... online newspapers, and other sources of information. People can get helpful information anywhere, but your quality content only comes from you. Make sure that it is rich (full of meaning) and that it is worth your reader's time.

Interest

This goes along with content but it is separate. You want to keep your readers coming, so post about things that interest them and do it in an interesting way. Maybe there has been some big event whose content you can relate to your niche. Just rehashing a story does nothing for your blog or business. Tell the audience how the story relates to you and why you have decided to post about it. But, mainly, don't make it boring.

People have a lot to pry their eyes away these days with all the leisure and business activities that can engage them. Many people are constantly on social media because they want that type of content; it is also a great way to disseminate information to a select group. Video games, television, outdoor activities (to a lesser extent these days) and others forms of distraction take people away from your blog, unless they are interested enough to put aside other things to read it. So, post stories of interest when they come up and make your post catchy. This will make your audience want to read more in the future.

Engagement

This may sound a bit like interest, but there are ways that you can engage your readers that you may not have thought of. Staying with the topic of posting frequency, this means that you need to be consistent. Your readers will come to trust you and if you take a two month, unexplained hiatus, they will trust you less. This does not go against my advice regarding not setting a schedule. No, this means that you need to make sure and keep up with your readers' expectations.

If you want to become a part of your audience's routine, you need to have valid content that interests and engages. Your audience will be more engaged if you don't completely abandon them.

Consistency

If your audience has come to expect a blog post from you either daily, weekly, monthly or whenever it may be, make sure you give them what they want. In other words, don't blog just to be blogging because you feel like you should be on a schedule... blog to give your readers what they have grown to be accustomed to. It is a great way to keep up their trust in the, "know, like, and trust," factor that we all know is so important in online content marketing (actually, in any type of marketing).

Remember that the first rule is always the best - Always make sure that you have adequate blog content that is worthy of a post. Then make sure that when you do post, that you are interesting. Third, ensure that you post enough to keep your readers engaged and "with" you. And fourth, make sure you are blogging consistently based on your audience's expectations no matter how often you decide to write.