Gyutae Park is an Internet entrepreneur and professional search engine optimizer. This post originally appeared, in a longer form, on his blog Winning the Web.

What’s the best frequency that will yield your blog the maximum results?

It really depends.

First you have to establish the type of blog you want as well as your goals for it. For example, a news blog selling advertising space will have a much different posting schedule than a personal branding blog or a blog used to generate leads for products or client work.

In this article, I’ll explain the three most common posting frequencies (multiple posts per day, one post per day, and a few posts per week) and the pros, cons, and optimal situations for each.

Multiple posts per day

Writing multiple posts in a day is optimal only for multiauthor news-type blogs that sell advertising space to sponsors.

Pros:

• People will keep coming back for the latest news and content – maximize content and page views
• Great for SEO [search engine optimization] keyword opportunities
• More likely to attract high quality sponsors

Cons:

• A lot of work that’s difficult to keep up with especially for one blogger
• Content quickly gets lost in the date-based format of most blogs
• Articles lack depth and focus – less likely to get links and exposure to each individual article
• Difficult to spread marketing over multiple articles

Best for:

• Big news blogs that have very large followings and sell adverting space to related sponsors

One post per day

This blogging frequency is probably the most versatile and I’d recommend it to everyone looking to grow their blogs-especially those just getting started.

Pros:

• Consistent posting pattern encourages readers to check back daily
• Gives bloggers the ability to write in-depth articles about a single topic rather than just report on news
• Good balance between content quality and posting frequency

Cons:

• Some bloggers might still have trouble keeping up
• Requires consistency and strong work ethic
• Difficult to come up with new post ideas, especially in niche topics

A few posts per week

This works best for blogs that already have established readerships and want to focus on quality in-depth articles, blogs used to promote products and services by showcasing expertise, hobby blogs on specific topics, and bloggers with limited time.
Pros:

• Do less work and maximize results
• Focus on quality, which will result in more traffic, links, comments, and exposure
• Posts are featured on the home page for a longer period of time

Cons:

• Readers are less likely to check back for new posts because of the lack of rhythm
• Inability for bloggers to keep up with the latest trends and news in the industry
• Less content mean less channels for distribution (SEO, links, social media, etc)

For me, I started off writing multiple posts per day and got burnt out fast. I switched to a once a day schedule and that worked great to build my readership and establish myself in the industry. Once I accomplished that, I changed to a few posts per week to focus on high quality and to free up my time for new projects.

Posted in Framing content in print and on the Web, Marketing and promotion, Technologies for publications and Web content