Updating a Blog

Birol · Nov 20, 2005

[I posted this just before the forums went down for the move. Reposting now to restart the conversation.]

How often does a blog need to be updated in order to maintain regular reader interest? Is there such a thing as too much? How long between updates is too long?

Dawno · Nov 20, 2005

I think I wrote something thoughtful before - but I'm a bit out of steam tonite so I hope someone else can take up the slack!

jessicakes · Nov 20, 2005

I am pretty sure that the more you update, the higher your traffic will be (as long as they are high-quality, readable posts).

Take a look at misssnark.blogspot.com -- she's only been out there for a few months and is already amazingly popular, and she updates several times per day.

MarkPettus · Nov 21, 2005

I notice my traffic dips considerably if I go longer than a week, but I write a very non-newsy blog.

Some blogs (Jill Miller Zimon's Writes Like She Talks is a great example) need to be updated several times a day, but like hers, they are very news-heavy.

aka eraser · Nov 21, 2005

How do you count your traffic? Do you need to install something? I can't see any number thing on mine. Or are you just relying on the number of comments to estimate how many folks have read it?

Dawno · Nov 21, 2005

There are a number of tools. None of them are exact, but I like Site Meter. The trick is being able to paste the html they give you at the site into your template. I'd be happy to help via email if you're interested.

I have a couple other tracking tools on my blog down in the sidebar. Browse and let me know if you'd like to add any of them.

maestrowork · Nov 21, 2005

Mac introduced me to tracksy. It's free and pretty good. I don't really notice any differences in traffic whether I update the blog a few times a day or once a week. But if I post a link on some Internet board that is popular, sometimes I get a sharp spike (e.g. I posted a like on an HBO board and I got over 140 visitors that day).

I don't have a lot to say and a lot of updates. So I guess I'll have to settle for not being popular....

Dawno · Nov 21, 2005

what's the link to traksy?

Marilyn Braun · Nov 21, 2005

Stat Counter

I have StatCounter on my blog - it's an invisible counter and it's great. I don't like seeing obvious tracking and I really don't like it when a site shows me what IP address I'm coming from. I find that creepy.

I try to update my blog, if not every day then every other day. My traffic does tend to go down if I don't post more frequently than that. However, I didn't have internet access for a week and once I was back online, one of the days during that week, showed the highest stats I'd ever had at that point.

My traffic is fairly consistent. I'd like to have more traffic but, beyond having my link on various royal websites, and commenting on royal message boards that allow custom signatures, I have no idea.

I also try to keep my blog as current to what's going on in the world of British royalty, because usually people are searching for that. Prince Charles' wife Camilla wore a tiara and it was a BIG deal to people. I wrote an article on the tiara and its history and my stats have never been higher than that 2 week period where people were searching for it. I still have people searching for the tiara but it's not as high as it was then.

Richard · Nov 22, 2005

Stats-wise, I like Mint (www.haveamint.com), and that's what's running on most of mine.

With blogging, I'd say that regular is usually better - unless you don't have the material. A whole slew of useless posts is a major turn-off. And of course, if you have a fairly technical audience, they're much more likely to use RSS feeds, which makes it much less important than if you've got folks manually visiting your site on a daily basis.

Marilyn Braun · Nov 22, 2005

Useless posts???

Richard said:
Stats-wise, I like Mint (www.haveamint.com), and that's what's running on most of mine.

With blogging, I'd say that regular is usually better - unless you don't have the material. A whole slew of useless posts is a major turn-off. And of course, if you have a fairly technical audience, they're much more likely to use RSS feeds, which makes it much less important than if you've got folks manually visiting your site on a daily basis.

I'm curious. Can you define what a 'useless post' is?

Richard · Nov 22, 2005

Filler. Half-arsed posts with no real reason to exist. Exactly what that means to an individual blog is going to vary, depending on subject and style - a diary tye site, for instance, has much more leeway than a company blog - but a post that you've just thrown together to reach an arbitary quota (comedy search engine results are a common one) is usually going to be the starting point.

maestrowork · Nov 22, 2005

I agree. It depends on the nature of your blog. Some blogs are all chat and journal stuff and it's good for those who enjoy reading what someone's day is like. But I tend to stay away if there's a high quota of fillers such as "I ate an egg today and it was good. Drink more coffee. See ya." There are only so many hours in a day. When I visit a blog, I want to learn something or at least be entertained. Otherwise, I have better things to do (such as *gasp* writing my novel...)

I set up my blog to be writing-specific. However, I did start to add entries that are not writing-related, such as personal philosophies or observations or interesting links I found.

Dawno · Nov 22, 2005

For anyone interested in looking at tracksy (re my post upthread) the link is (unsurprisingly) tracksy.com

emeraldcite · Nov 22, 2005

thanks for the tracksy link.

as if i had enough trouble pulling myself away from the blog.

now, i'm constantly checking who came to visit.

...

ok, no one in the last ten minutes...

Dawno · Nov 22, 2005

Oh goodie, now I have yet a new way to drive em crazy bwahahahaha!!

Birol · Nov 23, 2005

You should try adding StatCounter, or another counter, in addition to Traksy and then compare the results from both. You'll find they capture different information and sometimes have different visitor counts.

Lady of Prose · Nov 23, 2005

I have site-meter which is fairly accurate. I also put "link2blogs" on my site, and with the account you get a page that gives you stats and ratings.

I'm not really all that concerned with trying to post everyday. And I would like to have a tidbit that would be of interest to at least one or two readers. Lets face it--there are casual, moderate, and academic readers. Individually, we are not going to please them all.

Anatole Ghio · Nov 29, 2005

I think the more important quality of ones blog traffic isn't so much the random traffic one generates by posting a new entry, but the repeat traffic one gets by posting quality entries.

I have gone over a week before posting something new. The traffic dips in the meantime, but the regulars return when I put a new piece up... one I have spent time and energy into making it the best of my craft.

I believe that is more important to post one good entry every 5 days, than 5 mediocre ones every day.

But I have funny notions like that, so what do I know?!

MadScientistMatt · Nov 29, 2005

I've put a Site Meter on one of my blogs (Mad Scientist Matt's Lair), and a Tracksy one on the other (CCDining). It's interesting to compare how the two have such different results. I've found the Site Meter's details to be more useful - for example, I can trace I've received the lion's share of my hits from a single thread in another forum.

Dawno · Dec 14, 2005

To get the conversation back on track - how often do you update your blog and is there a particular rationale behind it or do you just post when the muse pokes you? Is there a blogging muse? Maybe she's a demi-muse...anyway before I hijack my own post...

Since my blog is conversational - I try to keep the conversation going by posting as often as I can.

aka eraser · Dec 14, 2005

I don't see me posting to mine more than twice a week. Between my column and other writing, I don't have a whole lot of other ideas that feel fresh and worthy.

As it is, hundreds of people are getting a weekly dose of me. I don't want them to OD.

That could change though I suppose, if the muse visits often enough with interesting tidbits that I don't think are salable or column material.

MadScientistMatt · Dec 14, 2005

My automotive blog started as a diary for letting people know how I've been coming along on my work on various project cars. It's branched out to include various other automotive technical pieces, power tool stuff, and other news about technology. I have a simple rule with it: If I haven't done anything new with my cars, and I don't have a technical article I intend to give away, I don't update it.

My other blog is even simpler. I update it only when I try a local restaurant that isn't already mentioned on the blog.

In both cases, I try to keep the blogs on topic. I don't want to dillute their content with random postings.

Marilyn Braun · Dec 14, 2005

Dawno said:
To get the conversation back on track - how often do you update your blog and is there a particular rationale behind it or do you just post when the muse pokes you? Is there a blogging muse? Maybe she's a demi-muse...anyway before I hijack my own post...

Since my blog is conversational - I try to keep the conversation going by posting as often as I can.

I try to update it at least every other day. Originally my blog was more satirical and I had a lot of material when Charles and Camilla got married. After that point it became harder to write satirical articles on royalty. It doesn't automatically come to me, and it's harder when I want to write something and I'm trying to force myself to see the funny side. I also find it to be too much pressure to do so. So those type of pieces are only when inspiration strikes. It's the same with my commentary pieces, inspiration has to strike.

That's why I branched out into biographies and information pieces - I don't have to wait for a muse because there's constant material with those things. But I don't want the blog to just be an encyclopedia for royal subjects so I'm trying harder to write original stuff.

It's funny how my blog has slowly evolved into what it is today. I think it was much sillier in the beginning. I would never have expected it to become an outlet for me to research and write about a subject that I love.

mtn_chick · Dec 19, 2005

I just wanted to say about sitemeter - the last time I set it up, all you had to do was put your blogger username and password in. Then they just automatically inserted it into your template. Very easy!

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