As well as providing customers with helpful advice and nurturing their brand loyalty, a cleverly planned blogging schedule is an important element of search engine optimisation (SEO) and could help to push a business website to the top of sites such as Google and Bing. Put simply, a blog could help to significantly increase the amount of traffic on your website, thereby pushing up leads and conversions. What’s more, this hugely profitable task is amazingly cost-effective, particularly if you are blessed with talented, quick-working writers on your marketing team.

Whilst blogging is clearly a crucial part of running a profitable business in today’s digital world, however, many marketers and small company owners struggle when it comes to deciding how often they should be posting blog posts. Will too many blogs harm your strategy by overwhelming customers with information? Is there a minimum number of articles you should be posting on a regular basis? Should you be opting for quantity over quality or vice versa?

Ultimately, there is no simple answer to any of these questions, as every company has different requirements. Certain industries, for example, may not attract the kinds of demographics who are likely to read blogs on a regular basis. The effectiveness of blogs may also depend on the size of a given business. To help you hone your blogging strategy and come up with a posting schedule that suits the needs of your business, we’ve come up with a comprehensive guide below to get you started.

Posting lots of content is preferable to posting only a little.
Generally speaking, businesses who publish more content on their blogs drive more traffic than those who do not. According to a fascinating study by HubSpot, companies who release blog posts 15 times or more per month attract five times more traffic than those who do not blog at all. Of course, this does not mean that you should be posting 20 blogs per month if you do not have a particularly internet-savvy customer base. However, it does demonstrate the overall value of posting regularly and shows that companies who blog frequently tend to enjoy the highest levels of web traffic. Over time, this traffic will start to pay off as the company’s SEO ranking improves, driving leads, conversions and profit in its wake.

Ultimately, you have nothing to lose from posting articles regularly. You may want to start slowly, using your resources carefully to test how many readers you draw in on a monthly basis. If your blog starts to gain traction, it may be worth pushing up your posting frequency to somewhere between 15 and 20 times a month.

Blog on consistent basis

Consistency is very important if you want to gain a loyal following of customers and build your brand. If you publish high-quality content on a certain day of the week, for example, your audience will eagerly anticipate your latest blog post and help to build up a certain buzz around your company name. It is also worth noting that search engine algorithms tend to favour websites that are updated regularly. As well as looking unprofessional, sporadic posting may drive your site down the rankings.

Do not sacrifice quality for quantity

Whilst you do not need to turn every blog post you put out into a Pulitzer-prize-winning masterpiece, it is vital that you deliver high-quality content that reflects the aims of your brand. Posting poorly spelt, offensive or badly researched content could seriously harm your brand’s reputation and dent your profits, particularly if it is subject to scrutiny on social media. To ensure that your blogs are always valuable and work towards enriching the lives of customers, we suggest trying to generate content that adheres to the following checklist:

1. It has a clear purpose and includes interesting, timely or surprising information that site visitors will enjoy reading about.
2. It has an engaging title that will encourage people to click through to the blog.
3. It is well researched, and all sources/data are properly cited with appropriate backlinks.
4. The post includes a call to action.
5. The content has been proof-read by an eagle-eyed colleague.
6. It is based around the performance of previous content. If certain topics have proved very popular in the past, try to build on this success.

If your blog posts fulfil these quality markers, search engine algorithms will start to see the value in your website and start to push it towards the top of their rankings.

Don’t forget to factor the needs of your audience into your schedule

As we’ve already mentioned, it is vital that you consider the needs of your audience when coming up with a blogging schedule that works. Timing is key in the world of digital marketing, and you will need to consider what are the best parts of the week and the most appropriate hours of the day to release your content. In other words, you will need to ascertain when your key demographics are most likely to be active online. If you own a leisure business, for example, people may be more likely to look at your content on the weekend. If you own a B2B company, on the other hand, Mondays may represent a good time to post as people are likely to be feeling fresh, well-rested and ready to absorb new information. Ultimately, the best way to work out when to post is to monitor the performance of your blog, using data analytics to come up with an evidence-based plan.

Be realistic

If you own a small business without a dedicated content writer, it is probably unrealistic to schedule in 15 blogs per month. Aim to publish as much as possible, always remaining vigilant to ensure that quality is not compromised in favour of quantity. Remember that there are other important aspects of digital marketing such as paid advertising, social media, email marketing and website optimisation that must also be attended to. If your blogs prove very successful and you start to see increased profits, you may want to start thinking about hiring a dedicated writer or outsourcing content to a professional agency.

Reach out to PupDigital today

We know that as a business owner you're likely extremely busy. Writing 15-20 blogs per month might seem an impossible feat. We recommend that you focus on quality, consistent blog content, even if it's only one post a month. The key is to start writing, and to write consistently. If you need help with your blogging strategy, PupDigital is here to help. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us to discuss your requirements.