How much should you be blogging?

Call it the great blogging debate. Should you post short, topical posts at a high frequency like multiple times a day? Or is it better to post in-depth posts with only the most highly-targeted information less frequently? The answer lies somewhere in between.

What you want are quality blog posts in a quantity that drives traffic to your website, converts that traffic into leads, establishes your brand as an authority and drives long-term results.

Blog frequently.

Frequent blogging really does drive traffic. It also improves SEO and fosters a connection with your target audiences. HubSpot and Moz ran concurrent experiments to determine the optimum number of blog posts for each of their sites. HubSpot found its sweet spot was four posts per day. For Moz, its admittedly unscientific findings suggested that posting less frequently than once a day (the pre-test norm) resulted in a drop in traffic. Doubling its norm resulted in slightly higher traffic.

HubSpot also learned that the more blog posts a company publishes per month, the more traffic it sees on its website, and the more inbound leads it receives. A company that publishes 16 or more posts per month receives nearly three and half times more traffic than a company that publishes four or fewer monthly blog posts. To establish the ideal frequency for your own company blog, you’ll need to run some tests of your own, but it seems clear that the more, the better.

A company that publishes 16 or more posts per month receives nearly three and half times more traffic than a company that publishes four or fewer monthly blog posts Click To Tweet

But no matter how much you post, always keep your audience in mind. Content strategies should help create valuable ideas to cultivate your audience. Blogging about random topics just for the sake of blogging more, isn’t going to get the job done.

How long should your blog posts be?

There is no perfect length for a blog post. Instead of trying to adhere to specific word counts, focus on getting your message across in a descriptive – but concise – way. In other words, the number of words it takes for you to make your point is the length your blog post should be. This brings me to my next point…

No one blog post will double sales.

While it’s no secret that in-depth posts may perform better in search engines, every post on your company blog doesn’t need to be an analytical or in-depth long-form piece. Quick and easy blog posts can be enormously effective. As long as you provide your audience with valuable information that addresses its needs, helps it achieve its goals, or clears up any confusion it may have, your site will be rewarded with visitors that convert into leads.

There’s no such thing as too much testing.

Google changes its search algorithm 500-600 times per year. That means you need to analyze your site traffic, subscribers and leads on a continual basis to see what works best for you. What keywords are driving the best (most qualified) traffic and leads? Google Analytics can be a good place to start. You can use it to:

  • Create your own SEO dashboard.
  • View organic search traffic.
  • Measure the quality of SEO traffic.
  • Assign monetary values to organic traffic.
  • Identify slow-loading page times.

Frequent testing is one of the most effective ways to make significant improvements to your online presence.

What’s working? Focusing on content that performs.

Once you’ve reviewed your Google Analytics and analyzed page performance, look for patterns within your blog content.

Which keywords and blog posts are driving the most traffic and converting quality visitors into leads? Those are the topics you should focus on writing more about. Performed properly, these tests give you concrete proof of what changes you can make to drive more traffic – and conversions – to your site.

Getting the most bang for your blog buck.

Make sure you’re getting as much out of your company blog posts as you should. After all, if you’re taking the time to write great content, you should maximize its value. Share blog posts across your social channels to get more bang for your buck. Just be sure to switch up the messages you use when sharing – make each tweet, post or share distinct from the others.

Over time, you’ll find the quality vs. quantity debate is replaced by what really matters: does your audience like what you’re writing, and does it convert them to buyers and loyal customers?

Laura Elizabeth Saunders

Laura Elizabeth is a strategic dynamo, especially when it comes to implementing inbound marketing strategies. She also enjoys doing research, writing and media relations works for a variety of B2B clients.

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