Blog today. Blog tomorrow. Blog the next day. Is blogging driving you a bit nuts? We understand. At 11outof11, we work with plenty of people who struggle with the frequency of blogging.

The key question, of course, is: How often should I be publishing new blogs?

Let’s take a closer look at how you can take advantage of consistent blogging to increase your Google rankings and organic traffic, while keeping the workload within reason for your business. It’s all about finding the right balance in your content marketing strategy.

The More Blogging the Better?

Generally speaking, the more content you publish the better. Google’s algorithm and ranking system gives preference to websites that produce a constant stream of fresh content. 

So theoretically, if you published a new blog post every hour, you’d be the most popular website on the planet. But it doesn’t work that way. Google is really looking for a blend of consistent posting and natural user behavior. If you really posted something every hour, it would look suspicious, like you may even be a bot.

And let’s face it: You probably don’t have the time or manpower to produce numerous blog posts per day. Doing so would drain your resources. Plus it would almost certainly annoy your audience.

This means you’re really shooting for the frequency sweet spot. This is an ideal rate of posting that hits all the right points: It makes Google happy, meets your ranking/organic traffic goals, feels right to your audience, and is reasonably possible to accomplish within the constraints of your organization.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

How do you find the blogging frequency sweet spot? That’s the magic question - and a vital question to answer as you develop your online content strategy. It can take months or even years of trial-and-error to find the perfect publishing schedule.

So to save time, let’s look at some best practices. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you determine how often to post.

Google Ranking/Traffic

According to research from Hubspot, companies that post 16 or more times per month get about 3.5 times more traffic than companies that don’t. That’s a post about every other day, which is a lot more than most people realize is needed. 

And if you’re only posting on weekdays, that means you’re trying to fit 16 posts into 20 days. Whew! That’s a lot of content to create. You might need a ghostwriter or content marketing specialist to help you with such a large task.

From Google’s perspective, the best way to get a high ranking for any individual blog post is to ensure it’s SEO-optimized. Google recommends researching keywords, checking your Google Analytics, and tweaking your content based on your site traffic to ensure it will attract as much of the right traffic as possible.

Audience Desires

Never lose sight of how much content your specific audience desires. If your blog tends to attract people in the tech sector, they’re probably fairly content-savvy. They might be open to frequent posts, multiple times per week.

On the other hand, if you’re using an email marketing list of busy CEOs, they probably won’t appreciate being bombarded with numerous updates about your zillions of blog posts. They might prefer a weekly digest of new posts, for example.

Keep in mind that blog posts often reach a much wider audience than just your “typical” customer. People stumble upon your posts during Google searches. They run across them on social media. Seize these opportunities to use content to build fresh leads and conversions for your products/services.

Your Company’s Capacity

A small-to-medium-sized business needs a very manageable blog post publishing schedule. But at a minimum, you’ll need at least 4 posts per month to outshine most competitors in an average market. Also, these posts should be around 1,000 words to get the most traction.

So if all you can muster is a couple of very short posts each month, it’s probably time to get some extra help. And that’s why 11outof11 is here - to provide extra content strategy and support just when you need it.

11outof11: Consistent Content Creator

To ramp up your content creation strategy, connect with 11outof11. We’re a full-service online marketing agency that can help you blog more effectively, give your Google ranking a boost, and build a large following of enthusiastic customers.