I blog professionally for a living and also employ about five writers to blog for me for a variety of clients so I’ve seen it all and have experienced many blog related problems for myself on my own blog.
One of the big problems that I have experienced is loss of readership in 2007. Readers simply want to keep tabs on blogs that are updated frequently. This past year, my own blog readership has suffered due to my own posting inconsistency. My business grew tremendously in 2007, I had personnel problems, and I posted on a very inconsistent basis on my own blog. As a result my website traffic dropped significantly in 2007 and most of my decrease in traffic came from my lack of blog activity.
It is a very tough thing to keep posting to your own business blog when you are busy or have a limited amount of time. I have seen this first hand. Although I still write my own blog and am working to keep it updated this year, it is tough. This is our value for own clients, we do the heavy lifting for them on their blog. Really I should have taken my own advice shouldn’t I have, and employed one of my writers to ghost blog for me instead of stopping. :0)
Blogging on a consistent basis can be very tough, but it is a time tested fact that good blogging done on a consistent basis will bring a website more overall traffic, improve stickiness, and may add to the authority of a website overtime improving organic placement. This has been my own personal winning combination.
So how do you keep blog subscribers happy?
1. Post on a regular basis
2. Post at a regular time – for me this is in the morning
3. Post at least three days a week – for me I shoot for five, but three should be your minimum
4. Write information that is helpful and targeted to your readers
5. Provide interesting content but not too long or a dissertation. 250 to 350 words is best