The Curse of the Daily Post

When faced with the myriad Content options that users have when they surf the web, many bloggers feel enormous pressure to update their blogs on a daily, consistent basis. But is this truly a productive practice? Today we take a look at one theory.

Over at Markting Profs Daily Fix, Eric Kintz has a piece entitled "Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore" Kintz's piece is lucid and disarmingly well-reasoned. Step by step, he lays out why frequent posting is hurting the credibility of blogs and online content in general. I'm particularly impressed by his closing, which states (in part):

If you want to be a top 50 Technorati blogger, you will most probably still need to post several times a day. But for the rest of us, we should think seriously about the added value of frequent blogging. Actually, according to Technorati, only 11% of all blogs update weekly or more. What will matter more and more is what you write and how you engage, not how often you write. As the blogosphere matures, the measure of success will shift from traffic to reader loyalty. As Seth Godin says in his post, "blogging with restraint, selectivity, cogency and brevity (okay, that's a long way of saying "making every word count") will use attention more efficiently and ought to win."

This idea seems obvious, but not very prevalent in today's blogosphere. I have seen mountains and mountains of blogs that have succumbed to the curse of the daily update and often the results are not pretty. It's far more important to spend time cultivating a community through insightful updates and commenting on friends' blogs than it is to pump out a half-hearted post every day. Simultaneously, though, you should try and let your readers know when they should expect an update, lest they lose interest. Blogging in this fashion (i.e. for yourself) is a delicate balancing act that takes time to get the hang of, but in the end it pays off.

Ultimately, Kintz's piece reminds us of what we already knew all along: Quality is more important than quantity. And if you don't have anything to say, don't say it.

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Reader Comments (34)

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Lars-Christian, October 23, 2007

Personally I agree with the theory. If you want to build a quality blog, and a large following, you're in most cases better of by starting with a lower frequency and concentrating more on the quality of your posts.

If you post 52 quality articles over a year, and spend time promoting and marketing your content well, I'm absolutely certain that you can be more successful than what you would if you posted 365 lesser quality posts and spent less time promoting them.

Of course, if you have the resources, 365 quality articles is probably better, but fact is most one-man-shows don't have those resources.

Tyler, October 23, 2007

I think bloggers feel the need to post daily because of the posting frequency of gossip, news and tech blogs. Unfortunately, unless your blog centers on one of those topics, there is absolutely no reason to jump on the constant posting bandwagon.

Hashim Warren, October 24, 2007

"only 11% of all blogs update weekly or more."

And that's exactly why daily posting is good.

Most visitors will only view one page of your site, then leave. You have no idea what post will attract and convert visitors, so it's best to just throw the spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks.

Dan Schawbel, October 24, 2007

Content creates communication. If the content is poor, there won't be any community built around it, so you will suffer.

Stephan Miller, October 25, 2007

But specifically which types of blogs are you speaking? Are you suggesting that someone that blogs full-time should only post a few times a week and then comment with the rest of the free time available? What about Darren Rowse? Does his daily blogging water down his content?

I think this is an issue of convincing those that are already convinced. You can spout your sources. Daily bloggers can spout theirs. In the end, everyone does what they have been doing.

AZHomesGuy, October 28, 2007

I agree with the theory and appreciate you mentioning it. Quality is the most important element in any post, article, etc. If you can come up with quality work daily great, and if not, write when you can create quality.

Advice Network Writing Contest, October 30, 2007

I think both are equally important. If you have one great post- whooptie-do, you'll get a huge surge in traffic before it slows right back down.

However, if you post regularly, you'll be able to gain a small percentage of readers from each surge into becoming regular readers. Without consistent daily posting, these possible subscribers will look elsewhere.

Suresh -Web Analytics, November 20, 2007

Quality content appreciate by google and reader alway. So to maintain your blog performance you need to posting regularly with good quality content.

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