How Often Should You Publish Content?

If you’ve been here for any amount of time, you know I tend to harp on blogging (or creating any content) on a consistent basis. Basically, create a schedule that you can live with and do your best to stick with it.

Sounds simple, but the next question at least a few people ask is how often should you publish? And is it better to publish consistently or all at once when you create a lot of content?

As always, it depends, but yes, I have an opinion on this one.

How Many Times Should You Publish Per Week?

One decision you need to make on your quest to blog consistently is how many times per week you want to (ideally) publish content. There is no single right answer to this.

Ultimately the question is this: how often do you reasonably think you can create content?

Right now, on my personal blog, I can only commit to one day a week. Yes, I want to do more, but that’s what I know I can get done. When I can do more, I will.

At Loving BDSM, I commit to up to three posts per week, although I might fall short for different reasons. On this site, I commit to twice per week — one blog post and one podcast episode.

More content is (typically*) better, so yes, publishing every day will yield faster results than publishing one, two, or three days a week. But you have to be realistic about the time you have and what works for you. If you overcommit, you’ll make yourself a stressed-out mess, potentially burn out, and possibly not publish at all — which, of course, defeats the entire point.

*It’s only “better” if the content is good and relevant — both are subjective terms, but if you’re publishing crap just to say you published, you won’t build an audience or grow over the long-term.

Does the Day of the Week Matter?

My own opinion is purely anecdotal, and if you search for this answer on Google, plenty of “experts” have opinions. Posting on a particular day or on the same day(s) each week matter in a few instances:

Look at your own stats to figure out the day you get a lot of traffic — that’s (likely) your best day to publish content. In my experience, Mondays tend to be the most popular days of the week for all traffic. I’ve always assumed it’s because we’d all prefer to read smut rather than work on a Monday. I didn’t choose “Masturbation Monday” just because it was a catchy phrase, y’all.

Publishing on consistent days builds a habit for you. This doesn’t work for everyone, but if you’re a person who thrives on habits and routines, having a day when you know you’re going to write (or publish) helps build the blogging habit that we all need. And remember, the day you write doesn’t have to be the day you publish. Scheduling ahead is a great tool.

Publishing on the same day teaches your readers when to expect content. This isn’t necessarily vital, and it’s a long-term thing, but when you publish on the same (basic) days each week, your loyal readers learn when to expect your content. I never really appreciated this until the first time a reader emailed me asking why I hadn’t blogged on a certain day. (Who knew it mattered?!)

Publishing All at Once or Spread Out Your Blog Posts?

Let’s say you get some time and a bunch of creative energy. You spend a couple of days creating content. When should you publish it? All at once or on a schedule?

This is subjective, but I’m going to suggest that you schedule those posts out over time.

Why? Two main reasons…

1. You’ll publish content consistently for all the good reasons above.
2. You give yourself breathing room in case there’s a lull between this burst of creativity and inspiration and the next.

If you’ve been blogging for more than a few minutes, you already know that work, life, mental health, and a lack of inspiration (or sleep) get in the way of creating content all the time. When you have that burst of activity, I believe you should be strategic about the content you create during it.

The caveat to that is content with an expiration date. Sharing a contest, giveaway, or holiday-focused content? Go ahead and publish that on the best date for it. Yes, even if it means you publish two posts in a day.

Publishing Multiple Blog Posts in a Day

Okay, there’s a massive debate in the blogging world (sex and vanilla) about how often you should publish content in a given day. Some people believe you should never, ever, under ANY circumstances publish more than once a day. The rest of us don’t take it quite that seriously.

Should you publish four or five blog posts in a single day? Probably not, unless you’re HuffPost, Mashable, or some other big website trying to drive tons of traffic every single day. It can be overwhelming for blog subscribers who get an email with every new post. Your content moves down your home page that much faster, meaning some content won’t get the attention it might deserve.

But will the sex blogging gods condemn you to a hell with no Wi-Fi if you publish more than once in a single day? Nope.

My personal limit is two posts per day.

If you’re going to publish two posts in a day, I suggest spacing them out by a few hours (at least) but even that’s a personal preference. After being “yelled” at by a blog subscriber once for too many back-to-back emails (it was a glitch, not a publishing choice), I’m more sensitive to how many emails are sent and when they’re sent.

But people are also in charge of their own inbox. They’ll read what they want to read, when they want to read it. So as long as you’re not clogging up their email, they’ll likely forgive the occasional multiple-post day. And if you consistently publish multiple posts in a day, your readers will learn that’s what you do, and adjust accordingly.

Quality Over Quantity

Ultimately, what matters most on your blog is the quality of your content — especially if you’re trying to inform, educate, inspire, or turn anyone on. If you need several days to create the best content you can, and that means you only publish once a week, that’s perfectly fine. You’re not “blogging wrong” by publishing once a week.

If you’ve got words and thoughts and “stuff” burning in your head, and your sanity depends on you getting it out as often as possible — and you can write as fast as your thoughts and fingers will allow — then publish more often.

In the early days of my personal site, back when I had no plans other than to get all those thoughts out of my head, I blogged nearly every day, sometimes twice a day. Short posts, long posts, lots of links, no links, informative, erotica, random stuff in my head — you name it, I wrote it. Because that was what worked at the time.

Now, I have to plan my blog content very carefully. I might not always know the topic, but I know what day(s) I’ll publish. Reducing the frequency gives me the freedom to create longer content. Although I dream of a day when I can blog nearly every day again — or blog ahead and give myself a break for a day.

What matters most is that you find a schedule that you can live with and build a habit that works for your life. If that means you write everything in one mad rush over the weekend, and let the content trickle out over the week, cool. And if it means you write a little bit each day for a week and publish once, cool.

There’s no single right way to publish content on your sex blog, only the right way for you.

Have thoughts on when to publish blog posts and create content? Comment below or talk to me on Twitter!