You really can post too much

© May 2019 Anthony Lawrence
December 2005

Most of us have enough trouble keeping up with one or two blog entries a day, but there's always that over achiever who pops out dozens of posts daily.

That doesn't work in today's web.

Blog readers today may visit several other blogs in addition to yours. They scan for posts they want to read, and move on. If you have too much new content, they feel pressure to get to the next blog; they are spending too much time in one place.

I don't know what the magic number for daily posts is. I suspect it's probably two or three. More than that starts to feel overwhelming.

In general, readers today expect "short and sweet". That's one of the things many traditional journalists don't comprehend about the web: the "sound bite" expectatation of television news is also found here. That's not to say that you can't have in-depth articles, but don't do it at the blog itself. Keep them separate and do a blog blurb that links to the more detailed article.

One thing I see at some blogs is a number of small "tip" posts. That works - because each post is just a sentence or short paragraph, you can do a number of them without turning off your audience. You can also consider bundling several of those tips into one post if they are related.

I've had a one post per day schedule for several years now at my primary site; if I had more time I might increase that to two a day, but not beyond. I just don't have time for more than one now ; it's actually four because I do one each for four separate blogs, and that keeps me busy for at least an hour or more.

The one per day seems to work for me, and I see the same at many other blogs. I do think two (quality) posts might be better, and I'd like to try experimenting with that if I can summon the energy and find the time.

Got something to add? Send me email.

---

Have you tried Searching this site?

This is a Unix/Linux resource website. It contains technical articles about Unix, Linux and general computing related subjects, opinion, news, help files, how-to's, tutorials and more.

Contact us