Publishing 2-4 times per week provides the best content marketing results in terms of both traffic and conversions.<\/p>\n
This is the answer according to the data we have seen from multiple studies, as well as much of our own client work across more than a dozen client websites in mostly B2B, some B2C and e-commerce, and across companies large and small.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s start by looking at the cold, hard facts \u2013 the data on blogging frequency.<\/p>\n
Quick Takeaways<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cGreat things are done by a series of small things brought together.\u201d ~ Vincent Van Gogh<\/p>\n One of the things I learned early on in my career is that small things, done consistently can add up to great impact. Think about anything you might want to achieve in your life: becoming rich, losing weight, training for a marathon. All of these things are achievable with small changes applied consistently over time:<\/p>\n Content marketing is the same. Start by publishing 1-2 great articles every single week for a year and you\u2019ll see massive changes.<\/p>\n To understand how the frequency of blogging impacts its effectiveness, it\u2019s always a good idea to start with data. HubSpot looked at blogging data from over 13,500 companies to try to answer this question. The results they provided are pretty straight forward in linking frequency and increased traffic and leads. Let\u2019s dig a little deeper.<\/p>\n When you are creating your content marketing plan, a key element is how often you will publish blogs<\/a>. You may think you can just pick a number randomly and that will be enough. Blogging frequency, however, is a bit more complex than that.<\/p>\n According to the data, companies that published 4 blog posts per week or more received 3.5 times the traffic compared to companies that blogged less than 1 times per week.<\/p>\n Image source\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n So, that\u2019s a sound argument for being very prolific on your blog. However, there are other factors that the research looks at related to the size of the company and the differences between B2B and B2C businesses.<\/p>\n Next, HubSpot broke down some data points based on company size.<\/p>\n For companies with 10 or fewer employees, they drove more traffic with around 11 blogs per month versus those that published less than 11. Those that published more than 11 blogs a month had almost three times the traffic than those publishing only one blog a month and twice as much as those that wrote two to five posts a month.<\/p>\n For companies that have 11 to 25 employees or over 200 employees, the magic number was again 11. When they published more than 11 posts per month, they received 3.5 times the traffic versus those that only blogged once a month.<\/p>\n Companies with 26 to 200 employees that publish more than 11 blogs a month had about two times the traffic compared to those that only had one blog published.<\/p>\n The blogging frequency of B2B companies<\/a> versus B2C companies<\/a> was also reviewed. The research presented that for B2C companies, there was a consistent correlation between the number of posts and traffic to the site.<\/p>\n The results for B2B companies was more complicated. The data did show a positive association between frequency and traffic. When looking at companies that only blogged six to 10 times a month, they only had a slightly larger traffic pull than those that published one blog post.<\/p>\n The real difference was when the companies published 11 or more blogs, which drove the traffic to the site three times more than those only blogging once.<\/p>\n Creating great content is the attraction for leads. While the quantity of content<\/a> has been shown to be associated with higher traffic, the quality of the content matters as well. Let\u2019s look at the findings and how they affect leads.<\/p>\n PS \u2013 Check out this case study<\/a> that shows how we helped one company double their leads!<\/p>\n Overall, companies that published 16 or more posts a month had 4.5 times more leads generated versus those that published four or less. Then the study breaks down the lead potential by company size:<\/p>\n Companies with one to 10 employees and 11 to 25 employees: The best return for these size companies on leads was publishing 10 or more blogs a month. At 11 or more, they were able to generate twice as many leads as companies publishing only six to 10 blogs.<\/p>\n Companies with 26 to 200 employees: Blogging at least 11 times for these companies produced about 2.5 times the leads than those publishing three or fewer blogs.<\/p>\n Companies with over 200 employees: The ideal number for this size company was six or more blogs monthly. For these companies, they were able to capture 1.75 times more leads than their counterparts that only wrote five or fewer blogs.<\/p>\n Overall, both B2B and B2C companies attracted more leads the more blogs they posted. B2C companies posting 11 or more blogs per month received more than four times than those that distributed four to five blogs.<\/p>\n For B2B brands, the differences were smaller but still relevant. For those blogging 11 or more times, they received 1.75 times the leads versus those blogging six to 10 times a month and around 3.75 times more than those blogging three or fewer times a month.<\/p>\n Next, the HubSpot report looked at the total number of blog posts<\/a> of the companies and how that influenced traffic to their sites. Overall, more blogs did equal more traffic. The key amount was around 400 blogs. If a blog had more than 400 total posts, it received approximately twice as much traffic as blogs with 301 to 400 posts.<\/p>\n Creating 400 blog posts may seem like a difficult number to reach, but if you are publishing consistently in the 10 to 15 range, then you\u2019d see this isn\u2019t impossible over a few years. Blogs with over 400 posts are likely to be ones that have been around for a while. This data also offers a clear reason not to delete old blogs. Instead, you can always update them as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n The study broke down the data for the number of blog posts by company size as well.<\/p>\n Companies with 10 or fewer employees: These brands saw a boost of traffic around the 300 mark. When they had 300 or more posts, they were able to generate 3.5 times more traffic than those with 50\u00a0 to 0 blogs.<\/p>\n Companies with 11 to 25 employees: This size company also received the best results at 300 or more blogs, bringing in 2.75 times more traffic than those with 150 or fewer blogs.<\/p>\n Companies with 26 to 200 employees: 300 was again the right number. They received 1.5 times more traffic with 300+ blogs versus those that had fewer than 150.<\/p>\n Companies with 200 or more employees: Larger companies also enjoyed more traffic with 300 or more blogs, garnering two times more traffic than those with less than 300 posts.<\/p>\n Again, both types of businesses saw increases in site visits when they had 400+ blog posts. B2C companies had 2.5 times more traffic than those with 300 to 400 posts, while B2B companies also had 2.5 times more traffic than their counterparts that had 200 or fewer posts.<\/p>\n The study also looked at the correlation between number of blog posts and actual leads<\/a>, not just traffic. Companies that published 400 or more posts received over three times the leads versus companies with less than 100 blogs.<\/p>\n There were also differences in the number of leads based on the size of the company. Companies with less than 10 employees publishing 300 or more blog posts had 3.5 times the amount of leads than those with fewer than 50 published posts.<\/p>\n Companies with 11 to 25 employees with 300 or more blog posts got more than two times the leads versus those with 151 to 300 posts.<\/p>\n For companies with 26 or more employees, they also had more leads but not as much as smaller companies. They were likely to capture 1.5 times more leads with 300 or more blog posts compared to those that published 25 or less.<\/p>\n In the difference between B2B and B2C companies, B2C companies had the edge, generating 4.5 times more leads when they had 400 or more posts compared to those with 100 or less total posts. B2B companies with over 400 blog posts delivered three times as many leads than those B2B brands with 200 posts or less.<\/p>\n Consistent, regular publishing<\/a> does seem to increase site traffic and leads. This doesn\u2019t mean that quantity is always better than quality. While it is good to have a large library of posts, they still need to be well crafted and be meaningful to your audience.<\/p>\n So, what other data or research can corroborate these findings and add more insight? Let\u2019s look at a 2018 Survey of 1,000+ bloggers from Orbit Media<\/a> with analysis from expert Andy Crestodina, who is an esteemed colleague.<\/p>\n That is the question that Andy tries to answer in his analysis of data. The survey consisted of asking bloggers specific questions grouped into three sections.<\/p>\n For the topic of frequency, we\u2019ll look at the first section, which included these questions:<\/p>\n The data points that are of real interest to frequency relay to question three.<\/p>\n First, Andy notes that blogging frequency has been in a gradual decline over the last five years. In 2014, the most frequent answer was \u201cseveral times per week.\u201d Now, the answer changed to \u201cseveral times a month.\u201d The percentage of bloggers that publish every day has declined by half in this time period.<\/p>\n This decline could be because the survey also found that bloggers spend more time crafting a blog than they did in 2014. Thus, if a blogger spends more time per blog, it would make sense they would publish less.<\/p>\n Here is the full frequency of blogging results:<\/p>\n However, nothing in the data associates fewer blogs with more benefits. The next analysis looks at the percentage of bloggers that reported \u201cstrong results\u201d by publishing frequency.<\/p>\n Overall, bloggers who publish weekly were 2.5 times more likely to report \u201cstrong results\u201d than bloggers publishing monthly or less.<\/p>\n Image source\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The full set of data was as follows:<\/p>\n The data from this study does make some connection between frequency and benefits. \u201cStrong results\u201d could be interpreted many ways and isn\u2019t as exact as the Hubspot research which successfully linked high volume and frequency to site traffic and leads.<\/p>\n This has been an ongoing debate in the marketing community. The data just shared above certainly endorses that quantity is a big indicator of success. Some would argue that with high frequency, there is no way to keep up the quality. That\u2019s a false assumption.<\/p>\n One of the most important things to do is to find a content ROI formula<\/a> that works for your business as far as quantity is concerned. Then once you have identified what type of quantity you need to be at based on factors like your company size, B2B vs B2C, and industry, you have to put a plan in motion to scale content production.<\/p>\n You may think that you don\u2019t have enough ideas to increase the volume of blogs post created. Where will you find inspiration? There are specific tactics to take to expand your blog content ideas:<\/p>\n These are ways to ensure you have both quantity and quality because there\u2019s plenty of blogs out there that have no value. They suffer from SEO stuffing, false narratives, and no supporting arguments.<\/p>\n Yet, we still keep hearing from experts to create less content; but even experts change their mind. In a post for Buzzsumo, Steve Rayson argues that the \u201cfuture is more content.\u201d<\/p>\n He makes this strong point based on some compelling data. The Washington Post publishes about 1,200 posts a day, which is way beyond what any non-publishing brand would be able to write. While Steve initially thought this type of quantity would dilute their traffic, this was an erroneous assumption. In fact, The Washington Post saw its web traffic grow by 28%.<\/p>\n This new approach to increasing content was actually put in place by the Post\u2019s owner and Amazon chief, Jeff Bezos. This trend of more is universal. The number of Google indexed pages grew by more than 100 trillion in four years to 130 trillion in 2016. The number of indexed pages is no longer noted on the How Search Works Google page, but it\u2019s certain that this number has increased significantly.<\/p>\n So why is more content the way to go? Steve offers some points that are hard to argue with that align with the Post\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n First, the Post and those with a similar strategy still care very much about quality. Steve notes in his post that science-related publications are also creating more content. There are over 28,000 scholarly peer-reviewed journals publishing over 2.5 million new scientific papers each year.<\/p>\n There is also the emerging trend of automated content<\/a>, which includes algorithm-driven content. There are better tools available now for publishing and distributing content. Internet access and literacy rates continue to rise meaning more people can consume content. It\u2019s also less costly to create content now than years ago. All these points are a huge catalyst for more content.<\/p>\n But is blogging frequency really indicative of success? Is it all just convenient data to make a point? Who has a contradictory view?<\/p>\n That\u2019s the statement from the experts at Moz<\/a>, who certainly have a lot of expertise and experience in content. So, we should probably hear them out.<\/p>\n The folks at Moz think a lot of the data supporting higher frequency is misleading. They argue that correlation and causation should be totally separate.<\/p>\n Basically, they say that frequency doesn\u2019t matter as much as these things:<\/p>\n So while I agree with these questions and concerns, they don\u2019t present evidence against increasing blog post frequency. Just really good questions to ask about the data. In the end, we recommend you test it out for yourself. And listen to industry experts like The Media Captain!<\/p>\n Well, we\u2019ve examined quite a bit of data and seen arguments from experts on both sides of the issue. So, simply put, how often should you post?<\/p>\n The very easy answer is, it depends!<\/p>\n Quantity does have the ability to get your site hopping with visitors. However, you shouldn\u2019t publish content just for the sake of saying you have more posts. You should align your frequency to your content goals, as well as consider what resources you have to create content. The size of your company, and whether it\u2019s B2B or B2C, also matters.<\/p>\n What\u2019s for sure is that you need to invest in content, and you can do that more effectively when you use a blog writing subscription service<\/a>. A blog writing subscription service is one that delivers relevant content for your audience from professional writers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s high-quality content without any time investment from you. It\u2019s on-demand content production.<\/p>\n There are lots of advantages to using such a service. You\u2019ll save time and can be confident that the writers creating your content are qualified. All content will be optimized for SEO to increase your rankings in search.<\/p>\n Plus, they come up with the content plan for you, which means it\u2019s something you don\u2019t even have to think about. Further, you can expect a quick turnaround and know that the work is 100% original and error-free.<\/p>\n\n
The Rule of Small<\/h2>\n
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Start with Data<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nDoes Company Size Matter?<\/h2>\n
B2B vs. B2C<\/h3>\n
The Impact of Monthly Blog Posts on Leads<\/h2>\n
Company Size, Frequency, and Lead Generation<\/h2>\n
B2B vs B2C<\/h3>\n
Total Number of Blog Posts and Traffic: What\u2019s the True Effect?<\/h2>\n
Company Size and Total Blog Posts<\/h2>\n
B2B vs B2C<\/h3>\n
Total Number of Blog Posts Correlation to Leads<\/h2>\n
What Does All this Data Mean?<\/h2>\n
Why Are Some Blogs More Successful than Others?<\/h2>\n
Blogger Sections\/Questions<\/h3>\n
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Andy\u2019s Notes<\/h3>\n
Blogging Results<\/h3>\n
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Quality vs. Quantity<\/h2>\n
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Should We Create Less?<\/h3>\n
More Content = Better Results<\/h3>\n
The Ideal Blogging Frequency Doesn\u2019t Exist<\/h2>\n
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How Often Should You Post?<\/h2>\n
Invest in Content for More Traffic and More Leads<\/h2>\n