“How often should I write a blog post for my website?” has been The Question to ask since blogging began. The answers to this question vary and should because it really depends upon your goals and the niche or audience that reads your blog. Most that ask the question just want a quick answer and there isn’t one. Ultimately the question is asked because the person wants their blog to be successful. There is a certain logic in thinking that if I produce X amount of good quality blog posts then my blog will be successful. There are many factors that make for a successful blog and, combined with the updates to search engines and online social landscape, the success of a blog becomes somewhat of a moving target. Although there is a core structure to effective blogging, some of what worked in 2006 for bloggers isn’t going to necessarily work today. The good news is there are guidelines below that will help get you on the right track with how often you blog. By using the points below as a guide and then adjusting to your specific audience, you can determine an effective answer for how often to blog.
The easiest answer to this question is if you can blog at least once a day, you should. Most don’t have that much time to dedicate to blogging and yet do want some success. To measure success, at a very basic level, a blog is effective when it brings in the right traffic. (A quick side-note: you shouldn’t expect that just because you write enough blog posts you will automatically get traffic, it will still need to be optimized and promoted). There is also a nice balance between enough content and other time commitments in your work week. To get and maintain a steady stream of readers, you will want to write at least once a week. If you write more, you will see additional benefits but if you write less, your blog won’t generally be a strong addition to your overall online efforts (whatever they may be).
Image via Wikipedia
The harder question to ask is, why are you blogging in the first place? What are your goals? To write just for the sake of writing won’t get you were you need to go. When you review those goals and the benchmarks for their success, you may find an entirely different answer than the one above. To get an idea of how much blogging some of the professional bloggers do (such as those behind Wired, ProBlogger, Gizmodo, Engadget, etc.) take a look at the book Blogging Heroes by Michael A. Banks. Banks does an interview with 30 of the world’s top bloggers and the answers are not only insightful but contain over-riding themes (such as how often they blog and how much online content they read). Consider the varying perspectives from Hubspot, SEOMoz, ProBlogger, and Gigaom that offer quick answers to the same question of how often to blog.
W3 Markup is one of the leading providers of PSD to HTML coding services, and they have offered to give away an awesome package to 2 readers of the Vandelay Design Blog! The first prize winner will receive $500 in credit for W3 Markup’s services and the second prize winner will receive $400 in credit.
W3-Markup offers PSD to HTML services, plus implementation with popular content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, as well as e-commerce platforms like Magento and Shopify. They have an impressive client list that includes Smashing Magazine and Mashable.
The pricing for W3-Markup’s services is determined by the number of pages to be coded, desired turnaround time, and CMS implementation. Services for coding HTML emails is also offered. They can complete orders as quickly as 1 business day if needed. Multi-page discounts are available if you need to have more than 1 page coded.
Been thinking about using Twitter but have avoided it? Here are 3 compelling facts from online data to consider.
Although more people use Facebook than Twitter, they each have a different type of audience. As a social platform, Twitter has some very compelling facts to start using it (facts are from Hubspot’s 100 Awesome Marketing Charts):
Union Street Media on Twitter
Think of Twitter as not just a social media tool but as a search engine. Twitter provides a ton of exposure to people needing answers that can provide. Being a regular resource means that you will be there when they are ready to commit to a purchase.
The Greater Boston Association of Realtors® (GBAR) and Union Street Media, a leading provider of websites and internet marketing services for the real estate industry, are pleased to announce a new partnership to help GBAR members generate more business online and save money in the process.
Any self-identified GBAR member that signs up for a new website with Union Street Media will receive the first month of web services for free.
“With over 90% of home searches beginning online according to the National Association of Realtors®, it is important that our members are focusing their marketing efforts on the web,” said John Dulczewski, GBAR Executive Director. “We want to help our members get a high performing, easy to use website at an affordable price and feel that Union Street Media is a great partner for both us and them.”
Union Street Media offers three website packages: Enhanced, Premium and Custom. Enhanced is perfect for savvy self-starters who want to leverage Union Street Media’s powerful property search system, while saving money by inputting content themselves. Premium includes a Project Manager that helps every step of the way, a series layouts which are customized to the clients’ brand, development of a custom site map, layout of internal site pages, implementation of a mobile-friendly version of the site and sold property search. Custom sites include all Premium capabilities and are developed from scratch to meet specific branding guidelines of larger offices.
Advertise here with BSA
Pligg CMS has gathered a lot of attention in recent years. It runs on a PHP/MySQL backend with support for custom templates and modules. But it is still so hard to find an updated Pligg gallery with working links!
I have personally worked on a few projects and would highly recommend checking out the demo to see if you’d want to try it out. For Internet marketers Pligg works similar to Digg, but most webmasters will focus on a specific niche. If you can build a few accounts and connect within the community these websites are perfect for building backlinks and a bit of traffic, too. Check out the gallery below and let us know your thoughts in the post comments.
The website industry moves so fast, that keeping your website aesthetically and technologically fresh is a no-brainer. There are also personal and branding reasons that could force a re-design, but making good design choices with good SEO in mind can be a challenge.
Union Street Media Web Developer Evan Briggs comments:
“The web is constantly evolving, so it’s important that your website is evolving with it. When contemplating an redesign, consider the rewards: it establishes your web presence, keeps your brand fresh, and most importantly, your users engaged. “
Web users are savvier and search engines have helped drive up improvements, which is their M.O. For website owners, paying attention to how to keep visitors engaged on their site and finding a way to rank well is symbiotic.
We’ve had the privilege at Union Street Media of launching several new real estate websites.
www.byselrealty.com
New England Land Company has been a long time Union Street Media client. Being one of the top producing offices in Vermont, they draw a lot of attention. They wanted to update their website after recently being purchased by a larger office not native to VT. The website needed to reflect the new brand but still show their Vermont roots and let clients know they haven’t changed.
www.lisameyer.net
Lisa Meyer, a Century 21 Jack Agent is tech savvy and understands how the Internet has effected the real estate industry. She needed a website that had easy to use search tools so site visitors could find what they were looking for quickly and efficiently. Through an easy to use content management system, she is able to reveal her expertise and success in Vermont real estate while showcasing her specific market of Waterbury. The site design reflects Lisa’s connection to Vermont with photos of scenery and biking.
www.c21baribeau.com
85% of the agents we work with tell us that they need to get better at social media and technology tools.
I am super excited to be bringing Agent Reboot back to Boston this year. We have been traveling around the country, bringing Agent Reboot to 24 cities this year and the feedback has been phenomenal.
Agent Reboot Boston
October 26, 2011
Hynes Convention Center
After seeing the value of using Twitter, what about the content? Even if it is only 140 characters per tweet, coming up with content every day can become a chore. Here are some solutions for keeping tabs on news worthy items, compiling interesting ideas, and organizing the content for effective timing.
Keeping tabs on news worthy items to feed your followers or respond to can be time consuming. Here are three tools that make it easier to find news worthy content:
Google Alerts: Google Alerts makes it easy to get updates on particular keyword phrases. If you are new to Google Alerts the easiest way to start is by brainstorming search phrases, checking the results until you are happy, and adding the alert.
Twitter Search
Having an arsenal of quality fonts is essential for web and graphic designers. In this post we’ll feature 30 serif fonts that are free to download. Browse through the fonts that are featured and when you see something that you would like to use, click on the links to be led to the source where the font can be downloaded. As always when you are using freebies, be sure to check the terms and conditions to verify on what types of projects it can be used.
You may also be interested in: Vintage Fonts Thin Fonts Script Fonts
Droid Serif
Search Engine Optimization
