Tag: 2015

The Challenge of Blogging – How often should you post?

VOLUME

The simple answer is more is better.

I am always searching blogging sites, particularly for artist theme sites. Most of the time, I will discover a site where there are only one or two posts per month.

What am I supposed to do with that?

I could visit their blogs 4 or 5 times and see nothing new.

Yes, I could subscribe to the blog site, but waiting weeks for a new postings is not exactly my idea of gripping engagement.

So, once you have someone’s attention, you want to keep it. The only way you can do this is with new material.

PREDICTABILITY

While volume is part of the answer, even more important is the predictability of postings.

Again, returning to one of my favourite sites, Film Riot on Youtube; they post every Monday and Thursday with new material. Sometimes they are late, but at least I know that a post is coming.

If I only check their Youtube Channel once or twice a week, I know there will be something new.

Another blogger I love is Darious Britt. He is an independent film-maker who has two Youtube channels: D4Darious, and Darious Britt.

D4Darious is his original channel and is dedicated to advice on film-making. Darious Britt is about his own independent film-making journey. The quality of his work is amazing and how he presents his information is very creative, but the challenge with both his channels is predictability.

While Darious post frequently, at least once per month, it is very hard to know when. I usually visit his channels when I am finished viewing Film Riots.

Darious’s situation is more like most bloggers where he must work, create his art, and then blog about it.

This is a lot for one individual, and finding hours in the day must be a real challenge.

If this wasn’t challenging enough, the quality of his posts are extremely high, miles better than most bloggers.

Film Riot is different because it is created by two brothers and their friends. In addition, they are building a business around film related activities, so can devote more time to their blogging activity.

VOLUME VS PREDICTABILITY

There are also some bloggers who post almost on a daily basis, but with no predictability. They may have 3-4 posts one day and then nothing the next. If you are visiting every week, there is always something to read, but why post so often?

Twitter can demand this almost hourly flow of posts, but outside of this media, such constant posting is almost annoying for those wishing to follow their sites.

At the end of the day, you want to strive for a steady, predictable flow of material to your loyal followers.
You want to maintain their loyalty despite the huge volume of competing sites.

In Nov 2015, there were 53 million posts, according to WordPress.

Manage WP Blog states that:

* There are about 74 million WordPress sites in 2014

* With 126 million unique visitors to WordPress sites per month

So, if you are lucky enough to get a visitor in this vast sea of blogs and postings, you want to do your best to ensure their loyalty.

Next Time

Next Post: Choosing Your Principle Social Media Platform
Date: Monday, January 11th, 2016.

This is my last Odds and Ends post for 2015. I am taking a few weeks off for the holiday season. However, I will be making daily photographic postings.

I will return with my weekly features:

* Odds and Ends – an artist notebook

* Art Post

* Hamilton Soundscape

Starting the week of January 11th, 2016. Thanks for all your support and don’t forget Art Post 50 will be uploaded this Wed, Dec 16th, 2015.