Hi Friends,

If you are a blogger or a small online business owner, have you ever wondered what is the ideal frequency for blog posts to maximize your return?

Let’s face it, if you are like me, who writes a blog as a side hustle on top of a 9 to 5 job and raising a family, time is not my friend! While being advised to blog daily, I also found myself spending hours on keyword research, writing quality content, and doing competitor analysis, which all takes time.

So what is the ideal frequency for blog posts? What is the best length for a blog post? and if you have to choose between quality and quantity, which should you prioritize?

Believe it or not, the answers to your questions have changed drastically over the past 5 years! According to 2019 Annual Blogging Survey from Orbit Media, there has been a huge change in the landscape of blogging and content marketing including things like the frequency for blog posts and the length for each blog post.

The annual survey is part of a 5-year study that collected data from over a 1000 bloggers. The survey monitored the trend of a few key attributes that can potentially lead to “strong results” from blogging.

Note: “Strong results” is self reported data. It’s based on the goals of an individual blogger. It’s a combination of traffic, engagement and revenue.

Here are the general trends from the 2019 Annual Survey:

• Bloggers are spending more time on a single piece of post – close to 4 hours per post.
• They are also investing more time and effort on writing longer and detailed articles – 1236 words on average per post.
• As a result of it, bloggers are posting less frequent on a monthly basis.

How Long Does It Take to Write A Blog Post?

Bloggers are spending more time on a single piece of post.

In 2019, it takes on average 3 hours and 57 minutes to write a single blog post. This is up by 65% from 2014.

In fact, the increase in writing time has been 2 to 4 minutes every year since 2016, however, from 2018 to 2019, the bloggers are spending nearly 30 minutes more on a single piece of blog post. 

Is there a reason for that jump? in other words, is the extra time and effort spent on each blog post paying off?

38% of bloggers who spend 6 hours + on a single piece of post reported “strong results” from blogging.

What is the best length for a blog post?

Bloggers are investing more time and effort on writing longer and detailed articles.

In 2019 survey, the average blog post is 1236 words long. This is 53% more than it was 5 years ago.

Breaking down by range of words per post, the percentage of bloggers who are writing 1000 words or fewer are declining over the years. On the flip side, more and more bloggers are writing over 1000 words per post.

What is really interesting is that, there is a tipping point in 2018 that more and more bloggers are writing longer and richer content (>2000 words) than those who write short snack size content (<500 words).

Does longer and richer content lead to better results? A whopping 55% of bloggers who write more than 2000 words reported “stronger results”

What is the ideal frequency for blog posts?

So at this point, the data has helped to make sense of why I’ve been struggling so much to keep up with 2-3 posts per week not to mention daily posting. Writing a high quality content takes time!

If more and more bloggers in 2019 are focusing on writing long rich content, are they publishing less frequently as a result?

Yep, you guessed it. There has been a steady decline in bloggers who publish 2-6 posts per week category. On the other hand, more and more bloggers are posting 1 per week or several per month.

What’s also interesting is that, although there is a small percentage (4%) of bloggers who write a blog daily, in 2019, there’s a jump in daily blogger category.

So how does blogging frequency correlate to traffic, engagement and revenue?

• The bloggers who post 1 article per month, 23% reported on getting to stronger results.
• The ones who post 1 article per week, 32% were getting stronger results.
• 67% reported on getting stronger results from those bloggers who post daily.

The higher the publishing frequency, the stronger the results, up to 1 per day.

It seems to be a point of diminishing return once the frequency goes beyond 1 post per day. Phew, thank goodness! If you are like me who struggles with time, that’s one less thing you and I need to worry about =).

Bloggers posting daily get the best result, but keep in mind, there are only 3% of bloggers who can keep up with the daily posting schedule. So if you are part of that 3%, all the power to you!

On the other hand, for the rest of us part-time bloggers, are we doomed for success?

• Yes, if you are looking for a get-rich fast route. There are other ways to make money fast …
• No, if you love blogging and have the patience while putting the effort in, you will eventually start to generate profit from it. Don’t believe me? Check out 5 top inspiring bloggers income report

So my friend, if you are still with me here and ready to roll up the sleeves…

Here are some actionable strategies for you:

• Do not compromise content quality over quantity. If you want to prioritize between quality and quantity, I’d say QUALITY every time. Remember, Google rewards not just the clickthrough rates but also how long does reader stay on your page. Focus on writing helpful articles to your targeted audience.
• Consistency is key. Bloggers who post more consistently are getting stronger results. Identify what is the frequency that is realistic to YOU to produce high-quality content and stick with it! This also includes being consistent at doing a keyword search, title creation and editing etc. If you are new to blogging, it may take 1 or 2 weeks to produce a piece of high-quality content. I’ve been there, that is TOTALLY OK! You will eventually get better and more efficient.
• Focus your time on keyword search, title creation, and post content. Being consistent in doing keyword searches prior to your writing, creating eye-catching titles with the keyword phrase, and editing your article post writing is SO important to the success of your blog. Bloggers who put effort on all these reported much stronger results.
• Try to aim for 2000 words per blog post. While there is still a small percentage (11%) of bloggers who write 2000 plus posts, the group is growing year-on-year. This is where you can get ahead before everyone else catches on.
• Once you mastered writing high-quality content, then you can start pushing yourself 1 step further by adding one more post per week or per month. This will help to double the traffic and money of what you are already getting. Remember too much too fast, will lead to burn out. You are here for the long run, so increase your intensity gradually.

Here are 4 ways to help you increase your frequency:

1. Have a list of blog post ideas ready to go. I plan my blog content every 3 months, usually around 1 or 2 themes. This generally takes 1-2 hours, but trust me, it will save you SOOO much time later down the road.

2.  Batch your keyword research and title creation. I do all my keyword research and title creation along with the 3-month content planning. Jaaxy is my No.1 keyword searching tool. 

3. Do your research and outline from your smartphone. If you commute to work or have 30 minutes during lunch break, rather than browsing on social media, do your research for the next blog you are going to write. You will be amazed at how much you can get done!

4. Hire freelancers to do the research and 1st draft of your blog posts. OK, this is a bit out there… A high-quality freelancer will cost you about $150-400 for a 2000-word post, but for an AVERAGE freelancer on the same piece of work will be $30-50. 

The idea here is to pay for one or two average freelancers to do the research and write draft posts for you, then you can use them to perfect a higher-quality post. Sometimes, you can even spin one paid draft post to several blog posts. While this is an efficient method to increase the frequency for blog posts, the watch out here, is do NOT rely on the freelancer to write for you all the time.

Well my friend, I hope you found the answer on what is the ideal frequency for blog posts? and what is the best length for a blog post? 

While the statics are helpful, my advice to you is to focus on CONSISTENCY and HIGH QUALITY CONTENT.

If you find this article helpful, please feel free to leave your comments and/or questions below.

Chloe x

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