One of the most common email questions I get is, “How many posts should I have on my blog before I do promotions.” I’ve received ReviewMe requests from blogs with just two posts before so it would seem that you can’t start promoting soon enough. However, the question itself is wrong.
The question you should be asking is not how many posts you should have, but when you’ll be able to maintain a constant posting frequency. If I were to give you a set number, say 20 posts, many bloggers will try to hit that number and then start promoting and forget that they still need to keep adding new posts.
Instead of trying to hit some magic post number, work on a getting to a constant posting frequency. Since this blog has gone “pro,” I have never had a day where there was no updates. Even before this blog hit the big time, it still average over 1 post per day. To me, not updating a blog is like not breathing. If you stop breathing, you die. The same thing happens to a blog if you stop updating it.
Make a goal to update your blog a set number of times per day/week and stick to it. Once you get on a constant posting habit, then you can start promoting your blog.
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Excellent advice as usual John. Keep it up. I do agree with you for the fact that you need to update your blog on a constant basis. Once, you’ve done that then you can promote it.
I was debating this exact thing over the weekend. I didn’t have too many posts (6) to start with, but I knew once I did do the launch I would have to update it on a daily basis. Since I have another site to maintain that brings in descent amount of income, I want to be sure I maintain quality with both.
I launched with that technorati train that has been going around…that brought the first site of traffic.
The posts must to be original too, so the traffic will run even you post just every two days.
John, that’s a VERY good point. Regular posting is critical. It’s tough to do, but it really pays off in the end (see my post on The Importance of Being Regular for specific results).
One thing I’ve heard a lot and said myself at times as well is “It’s easier to blog every day when you’re making money off it”. In my experience (and I would guess yours as well, John) you have to blog every day (or whatever your set schedule is) before you can start making good money off it. Even still, I struggle with it at times as well. There are lots of reasons this blog is so successful and your determination in sticking to constant updates is one of them.
I sometimes feel I’m overposting with 5 or 6 a day
i think its ok to overpost rather not to post
There is no such thing as overposting!
I don’t think you can post too much…. I like having tons of post to read everyday.
As long as it’s original content, how could you post too much?
I agree. I’m just starting out and I’m enjoying posting thus far. The site still needs a lot of work, but I agree that consistency is going to be key.
I haven’t posted on my blog for a while since my surgery. I just haven’t the mind set and the pain usually keeps me on the couch/bed anyway.
Once I overcome the pain I hope to post more. But I don’t think I would promote my blog too much as it is because I don’t have a niche yet. I talk about whatever is on my mind or whatever I find interesting. Though I try and stay relatively near the same genre of topics
You could use some guest bloggers to keep your blog running. I’m sure you can find a lot of people willing to write on your blog’s topic.
By the way john, i can’t post in Firefox at your site, only in IE … weird
i’ve email you on this, but no response. i guess u get alot of emails hur
I’m replying to you in Firefox right now. Are you running the latest version?
yup latest firefox version.
i guess i’ll have settle for IE to post here
I’ve used both Firefox 1.5.* and 2.* with no issues posting. Check your javascript settings. The posts use an AJAX type script so that might be an issue?
Yeah, I’ve been using the latest version of Firefox, too; looks OK on my end.
I think it is a problem with your browser. I use Firefox and it works.
I also think that frequent posting is important. You can do it once a day, several times a week or once a week. But it’s important that you can keep the frequency on the long run.
This is a timely post. I was contemplating the same thing with my newest blogging adventure. The question was, do I have enough content to launch. But because I will do daily updates…sometimes multiple updates a day I felt it was a good time to launch. The new site is Jane May Blogs”
Fitting huh
I use firefox on the site with no problems.
That’s some very sensible advice John. It is true that some of us tend to do things in phases. Phase 1, write blog posts, phase 2, promote blog, phase 3 profit. But it’s just not that distinct. You have to do all three all the time.
I use firefox as well.
Idk though, too many posts can cause a post overload! Maybe scare people away
I try and post on my blog atleast two-three times a day!
Or use Timestamp, which works for a lot of blogs like John’s here, and it could do the posting for you. All you have to do is constantly generate your content.
Timestamp is great. I also use it a lot, especially that I don’t feel like writing everyday, or I go on trips and I have no internet there.
What about getting some practice with a service where you can select your reviews immediately…instead of waiting for people to come to you? PayPerPost? Thoughts, John?
Firefox gives problems if there´s a proxy on the intranet. Try this.
I waited until I had 10-12 articles to start promoting my site.
I agree with John, frequency is important. If you are not a “pro” like John you may not have the time to post every day, but try to keep your frequency as constant as possible.
This is definitely good advice. I feel like I can’t breath when I don”t post at least 3 posts a day.
If people stressed on purely numbers, quality may be sacrificed in the process. Think long term, think efficiency AND frequency — then maybe after all that’s been taken care of you can think about promoting your site.
Yes, I think regularity is a point that should go with providing quality content. I’ve just started a blog and I managed to get a few subscribers by posting every day. I don’t think I’d get them with just three posts a week, though in some exceptional cases it is effective.
I waited till I had about 25
I post 3 times a day on geek news and technology. Hopefully once I get visitors and readers they will participate. However really I have joined a couple of boards leave comments but with 3 posts a day I waited about 2 weeks before promoting.
It would be interesting how many days of not posting are necessary before one regular reader leaves the site for good.
The thing is, even readers have very valuable time; they can’t keep coming back only to HOPE for new material. Let’s face it, we all have generally short attention spans; we crave for something new and exciting each day. It would be blogger’s suicide not to take advantage of this…demand.
All the sites I read post at least every other day. Steve Pavlina only posts 3-4 per week but he posts awesome stuff every time. He posts the least out of all the blogs I read.
This post is very smart, and legitmate. I approve. I think that people should really take this to heart.
I would promote right off the bat. I just wouldn’t do any paid promotion until I had at least 50 posts.
But who wants to visit a site with 1 post? I wouldn’t.
I found that my subscriber rates were much better when I posted regularly, but also had a solid 10-15 article foundation! Hopefully this helps.
-Sam from Market Matador