Blog posting frequency

Q. When starting a new blog, is it better to roll out content slowly or to load it up quickly with lots of posts for readers to discover?

A. The focus of any new blog (or any established blog, for that matter) should be on the quality of the content rather than the number of posts. Yes, you want readers to have plenty to look at when they arrive. But think of it this way: when you come upon a new blog, which would you rather have: 10 informative, well-written posts or 30 thrown-together half-baked thoughts?

For a new blog, my recommendations are:

Two well-crafted posts per week. These are posts that have one or more of these components:
1. A primary point, supported by examples
2. Clean, clear, tightly-edited prose
3. One or two quality links out to other blogs, relevant to the point or topic of the post
4. Photo or other illustration
5. Overall tone of being informative, helpful, or thought-provoking (or all three)

Two ‘quickie-posts’ per week. A quickie post is something “short and sweet” that you add to the blog not because you’re in a hurry, but because it meets your blog’s mission and is interesting or especially timely, but doesn’t require a fully crafted post to be useful to your readers. Examples might include:
1. A video or photo
2. A thought-provoking question or “stray thought” you want to throw out there (try creating a poll or short survey)
3. A great quote or snippet from another blog post (be sure to give proper credit)
4. A link to a post on another blog you found especially compelling

This formula, 2+2, creates the sense that your blog is regularly updated but shouldn’t stretch your ability to maintain it.