Does Frequent Blogging Encourage Bad Writing?
I’ve been blogging on at least a weekly basis since 2004. During that time, I’ve written hundreds of blog posts… and I’ve read even more.
One thing I’ve noticed is that most bloggers pay little attention to the quality of their writing. To simply publish another blog post is good enough.
It seems to me, in the “daily grind” of blogging, there is more emphasis placed on the quantity and frequency of posting than the quality of the posts themselves. Now, every time somebody has a “brain fart,” it seems they must share it with the world.
Two schools of thought
I’ve observed two different schools of thought when it comes to blogging.
One says to post no less than once per day, and sometimes more often than that. Following this model, you might need to crank out 8-12 blog posts per week.
Certainly, it is possible to blog this often, especially if you derive your entire income from blogging. But I’ve noticed that the quality of posts suffer from such frequent posting. I usually lose interest or pay less attention to blogs like this.
The second school of thought says to post only when you have something of value to say. This means you might post only once or twice or three times per week, but certainly not every single day.
This is much more achievable. Rather than write about every fleeting thought that crosses your mind, you must go deep with the best thoughts, ideas, and personal experiences you wish to share. As a result, you will post quality articles on a less frequent basis.
Are you delivering value
or demanding attention?
The person who posts once or more per day, seven days a week, demands an unreasonable amount of attention from his readers. It is like a person yelling into cyberspace: “See, I have lots of things to say! Look at how important I am!”
The person who posts on a less frequent basis (say 1-4 times per week) is talking in a normal voice. He commands attention based on the quality of his posts and the value of his content.
He does not need to “yell” to keep the attention of his audience. Rather, he attracts readers because he is focused on delivering value instead of demanding attention.
Which model is best?
Personally, I’ve tried both. And I like the second model better. I’m learning that I prefer to write a few quality posts every week rather than a pile of mediocre posts. In my opinion, less is more.
From observing other well-known bloggers, it seems the second model is also what is most effective over the long-term. I can think of a few examples right off the top of my head: Michel Fortin, Christine O’Kelly, Terry Dean, etc.
I personally believe that posting in-depth articles less frequently is better not only for me, but for my readers as well.
Why?
Because interruptions hurt productivity. The more I interrupt you from doing what is required for you to succeed, the less you get done.
Furthermore, too much information
can become counterproductive.
Can you really absorb and apply even 10 blog posts a week? Probably not. If my gut is correct, you’d be doing well to absorb and apply even one blog post a week.
In fact, I believe too-frequent blog posting can transform an ordinary blog reader into a human version of Pavlov’s dog.
Every time he gets a new blog post notification, he starts salivating because that’s what the blog author has trained his reader to do. And so the reader begins to redefine success by how many blog posts he reads instead of taking action to achieve his goals.
Does this mean the “more is better” model of blogging doesn’t work? No. For some bloggers it works just fine. I just personally find it’s not a good fit for me. Which, by the way, is one reason why I haven’t been posting as often lately.
So which blogging model do you prefer? What advantages and disadvantages have you personally observed?
-Ryan M. Healy
