My Blogging Trifecta: Content, Consistency & Interaction.

My biggest challenge when it comes to blogging is that I’m inconsistent when I post new content. Sometimes, I go weeks without posting anything new, and there’s times when I post 2-3 times per week. I never have a problem with what to blog about; it’s always about when I’ll find time to write and publish.

At any given time, I have about 30-40 posts under “Drafts”, but few graduate to the “Published”. Here’s the thing about me: I’m not a very good writer. I know this about myself and it was actually the main reason why I started to blog again (because I wanted to practice and get better at writing ). So, I imagine I tend to take longer than most people when it comes to writing out blog posts.

Anyway, I was tackling some “work stuff” earlier this afternoon and the question of consistency when it came to publishing new material kept coming up. I couldn’t help but relate it to my own blog. How important is it to publish regularly? How often should a blog, wanting to create its own community, publish new material? Is quality really more important than quantity?

Naturally, I went for my keyboard because I have several bloggers and even more social media folks on Twitter. I knew at least a few would have an opinion on the topic, but didn’t anticipate the feedback I received. (The original version of this blog had screenshots of the tweets. Unfortunately, I could not recover them.)

The response that I got was overwhelming. Wow. It got a bit tough to keep up with the replies, I’m not gonna lie! Good thing I posted this during my lunch hour… :).

It was interesting to hear that while most people thought that great content will always prevail, there were obvious concerns when the blog isn’t consistent with publishing new material.

Nicole mentions that if you don’t post at least once a week, people will forget about you. A scary thought, but I can’t say I totally disagree. I mean, the more you see a link, the higher chance that you would visit it, right? (Or so I’ve read). On the other hand, a few of my favourite blogs don’t post too often, but the material is always on point each time. And then there are those blogs who publish daily, but have lower quality material (Not trying to offend anyone, just a matter-of fact: It’s tough to put out superduperamazing posts every day). Sure, more posts probably equals more views… but is that what you want? Personally, I’ve always been more concerned on how much time people spent on the blog.

Enter the age-old question of quality vs. quantity. Some prefer to have more posts, while others a once-a-whenever consistency. Of course, at the root of this topic is always the WHY. Why does this person blog? Hmm…

After conversing through all the replies I got, along with face-to-face conversations with my colleagues, I came up with this trifecta (Highly doubtful I’m the first to ever think about this, but I’m always so pleased when great ideas come along, I thought I’d share it with you. ):

The Blogging Trifecta

Content, indeed, is King. Even if you post material consistently, if it’s sub-par, you will not be “successful”.
Consistency doesn’t necessarily mean daily; it may not even mean weekly. But the key is for your readers to know when to expect new material.
Be more than just content. Interact. Awesome content, even when posted consistently still won’t garner a strong audience. Interaction is up there on the totem pole. As Justin pointed out (above), content is everywhere. It’s hard to weed through all the noise and personally, I prefer to read blogs that inquire and interact instead of just broadcast.

This post was mostly for me, kind of like a “Lessons I Learned Today” type of post that I thought I’d share with you.

Do you agree with my conclusions? Do you have your own “blogging trifecta”? What would your answer have been to my original tweet, had you read it at the time? And while we’re at it, if you blog, what are the main challenges you face?

SO many questions! Feel free to comment below!

~XXXO,
M.

The Blogging Trifecta

Content, indeed, is King. Even if you post material consistently, if it’s sub-par, you will not be “successful”.
Consistency doesn’t necessarily mean daily; it may not even mean weekly. But the key is for your readers to know when to expect new material.
Be more than just content. Interact. Awesome content, even when posted consistently still won’t garner a strong audience. Interaction is up there on the totem pole. As Justin pointed out (above), content is everywhere. It’s hard to weed through all the noise and personally, I prefer to read blogs that inquire and interact instead of just broadcast.