I know, I know.. I beat myself up daily that its been a month or so since I last posted. Every part of my being knows that what makes a blog successful is fresh, compelling and useful content – and posting once a month is not fresh, compelling or useful. I won’t get into the “reasons” why there has been a lack of posts, one, because if you look at such prolific bloggers like Seth Godin and Brian Solis, there really are no good excuses, and two, it sounds self-serving – and self-serving blabbering does not make compelling or useful content in my humble opinion.
Posting Fresh Content
Therefore, lets turn this ugly faux pas of mine into a helpful discussion on the best practices of blogging. But wait, isn’t there already a plethora of info in the blogosphere on this very topic and freshness is key, right? So, to make this dialogue more interesting, (dare I say compelling?) and useful for young communicators, lets discuss best practices of blogging, keeping in mind one specific element that no doubt relates and applies to everyone today in our hectic, 24/7 always-on world – how do we keep up with posting solid and fresh content while working, going to school, reading, researching and spending time with our family and friends?
Some questions to help guide the comments.
1) When stretched for time is it better to post nothing at all or rushed, mediocre content? Why?
2) Where do you get your inspiration/ideas from and how do you translate them onto the page?
3.) What are acceptable intervals for posting (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly)?
4.) How important is time management here? Strategies?
Thanks and please join in with your comments, suggestions and questions.
Add Conduit for Communicators to your favorite blog reader!
Adam P. Coulter: Conduit for Communicators 
Good post. This is something I’ve also grappled with. I think it depends on what your objectives are and who your audience is and what their expectations are. A professional blog, one that contains info that can help people in their industry, professions, etc., I think should be updated frequently. A personal blog, there’s definitely leeway on how much to post.
When I first started blogging three years ago, I knew it was important to make a serious commitment to it if I wanted others to take me seriously. So I took a disciplined approach and decided to file at least four entries a week for at least the first six months. The goal was to have at least 20 entries each month. That built up the amount of content on the blog and also showed visitors to the blog that it was an active site.
That said, I think once you’ve built up a decent amount of content you should only post if you have something interesting, relevant or worthwhile to say to your audience. Perhaps once a week should be sufficient, unless your topic area is one that generates a lot of interesting posts and observations. But I do think that posting stuff just to post something winds up ultimately damaging your credibility as a reliable expert.
Eleena,
You make some wonderful points here. I would agree that the first step is definitely making a serious commitment to blogging (or anything else for that matter), and by incorporating defined goals/objectives a person is off to a great start. In terms of your point that “posting stuff just to post something winds up ultimately damaging your credibility as a reliable expert,” I think you’re right on.
The same thing can be said for marketers and PR folks who jump headfirst into the latest social network (without listening and observing the culture there first) just because their competition is doing so etc. Posting content or joining conversations without adding value will actually do more damage to the brand/organization than not being there in the first place.
Thanks for stopping by, I greatly appreciate your comments and insight!