How Often Should You Blog?
Remember that Tootsie Pop commercial with the owl?
“How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
1……2……3…….CRUNCH!
3!
So, how many blog posts does it take to make a sale?
1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…..yep, keep going.
While I’m sure there’s some blogger on the planet who can claim to have gotten a lead or made a sale after 3 blog posts, for the rest of us hard-working mortals, it takes more than that. Lots more.
Wanna know how many?
20.
Where did that number come from, you may wonder. Well, in order to identify lead generation best practices, the awesomely geeky folks over at Hubspot did a statistical analysis of their 1400 clients who use inbound marketing tactics. Lo and behold, those companies who use blogging started to see a jump in new leads after the 20th blog post.
And get this…the number of new leads really took off after the 50th post.
3 reasons why more blog posts = more leads:
1. Companies that have blogs with that much content make an impact on the search engines. Google, Yahoo! and Bing et al have more pages to index and even more keywords to associate with them.
2. With lots of posts under your belt, other sites are more likely to link to you. Your blog/website is seen as a steady source of fresh and interesting content and worth linking to. And those inbound links are like gold!
3. The more content you have on your blog, the more reasons visitors have to return for more. And the more you’re “in front” of people, the greater the likelihood they will take the action you want them to take – download a form, join your opt-in list, make a phone call, send an email, or buy your product.
So for those who wonder how often they should post, think about the 20-post and 50-post mark. If you’re blogging once a week, which should be your minimum, then it’ll take you 5 months to reach that first critical threshold.
If you continue to post consistently at that pace, then you’re looking at about a year before your blog gets some traction and starts to perform in a way that supports your overall marketing.
Of course if you want quicker results then you have to look at publishing more often. If you haven’t reached your 20th post yet, then set a due date to complete it. In fact, take out a sheet of paper and brainstorm on all the topics you can write about to get you to that magic 20! And set a reward for yourself for doing it! Ice cream? Manicure? Happy Hour with friends?
Do the same if 50 is your goal.
How many more posts do you need to publish to get to 50, and how will you celebrate when you get here. Let us know!
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Finally, I consider Hubspot to be a premier source of online marketing information, tools, resources and services. You could literally spend weeks going through all of the tutorials and free information they provide. I’ve learned a TON about online marketing, social networking and blogging for business from them. I highly recommend checking out what they do.
In the interest of full disclosure, Breakfast Blogging Club does not use their platform…yet. But when we’re ready, we will.
Blog on!
Comments
4 Comments on How Often Should You Blog?
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Mike Klassen on
Tue, 18th May 2010 12:52 pm
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Cheryl on
Wed, 19th May 2010 9:08 pm
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Lloyd Lofthouse on
Thu, 8th Jul 2010 7:02 pm
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Cheryl on
Fri, 9th Jul 2010 10:54 am
Good article.
I sometimes wish I were more like Seth Godin who has something every day… something interesting.
I think I could probably have something every day, but I’m not at that point where I think it would really be great quality.
I do wrestle with the idea of throwing in lots of little, quick posts between longer ones. I don’t want those longer, deeper articles getting pushed off the front page too soon.
While I haven’t always been able to stick to this, I do shoot for at least one article each week. Usually it’s an idea I’ve been mulling over for a number of days.
Hey Mike,
Whenever I dive into Seth’s material, books or blog, I always feel inspired and come away with new ideas and ways of thinking. When it comes to his blog, I’ve often wondered how he does it – if he has a system, and what resources he utilizes.
When it comes to posting, consistency with great content will be your ticket to success. Those longer, more thoughtful posts are great. Just be sure to visually arrange them so they’re easy to read online – short paragraphs, headers, bold significant words or phrases, using bullet lists and numbers.
And I’m the same way when it comes to mulling over topics. I keep a file on my computer that’s strictly for blog post ideas and drafts.
Thanks for your comment. Hope to have you back again. Cheryl
True, the more proper posts a Blog has while building an expert platfrom, the more interested traffic shows up. For example, I write a Blog about China and will have 500 posts up by July 13. Sales for my novels, which are about 19th century China, have increased dramatically since I launched the Blog on January 28, 2010. Sales have leaped by 1000%.
But it is a lot of work–like a full time job.
PS: I’ve been wanting to attend one of the Blogging Clubs meetings.
Hi Lloyd,
Thank you for visiting our blog. And congrats on the success of your book sales!! That’s fantastic news! I hope other authors who run across this post and your comment will take a lesson from your blogging play book.
And your iLook China blog is an amazing resource for many things China.
Cheryl
