Whom are you blogging for?
Friends, perhaps more than any other blogging tip I have to offer, this particular piece of advice is only relevant to those of us who are blogging with an eye to increasing our subscriberships. In other words, if you are primarily blogging for yourself, rather than for potential readers to take notice of, then this particular blog post will not be relevant for you.
I really cannot say this enough ~ some of my favorite bloggers, whose blog posts I make it a point to always read, put almost no effort into increasing their subscriber counts, and that’s fine. Writing primarily for one’s self suits many bloggers perfectly.
The WordPress Reader
Huh?
In my previous “blogging tips” post, I mentioned the WordPress Reader. If you don’t know where to find it, take a look at this image:
The Reader is your portal to other WordPress blogs
The WP Reader is the most effective way of finding other bloggers on WP whose blogs may interest you; and, of course, it’s how they are most likely to come across your blog too. There are multiple ways of searching for blogs in the WP Reader; that’s something that I encourage you to explore.
When you do a search for blogs in the WP Reader, it will produce a chronological list of blog posts with the most recent posts at the top of your screen. The posts will look something like this:
Interactive links in the WordPress Reader
In addition to providing you with bloggers’ names and user icons, as well as the titles of blog posts and their respective featured images, the WordPress Reader also provides you with ways to interact with other WordPress bloggers. These include sharing, commenting, and liking their blog posts, as well as following their blogs:
This is all very straightforward, of course, but these interactive links are not available for all blog posts. In some cases, you may find that other bloggers have chosen to deactivate these links for their blogs (which I advise against), but this is not the focus of this particular blog post.
In other cases, you may come across a blogger who posted several blog posts simultaneously (or in close succession to each other), and the WordPress Reader will automatically group those posts together. It looks like this:
So… ask yourself – do you want to make it easy for other bloggers to interact with your blog posts?
I can tell you, from my professional perspective as somebody who works in online communications, that very few people are likely to click more than once (if that) on a particular webpage. Therefore, you are reducing the likelihood of your posts receiving shares, likes, and comments by posting a lot of posts in quick succession.
Also: more is not more
It’s generally true that maintaining consistency in one’s blogging schedule helps build an audience; but regularity is not the same thing as posting a lot.
When I reflect upon this issue, I primarily consider it through the eyes of a reader, rather than a blogger. There are a number of bloggers that I follow, and I try to show them my support as much as possible. They are all interesting to me, and I have formed personal connections with them, but my free time is finite.
So – given my limited schedule – my priority is to “spread the love” as widely as possible among the bloggers that I follow. In other words, if a particular blogger has uploaded many blog posts in a short period of time, I will probably end up skipping most of those blog posts in favor of pieces that were published by other bloggers. Wouldn’t you?
Given all of the above, I personally aim to post at least once daily on the Skeptic’s Kaddish, but almost never more than thrice daily; and I always make sure to allow for intervals of at least several hours between my blog posts.
What are your thoughts?
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
I’m really glad I have found your blog and the incredible human that you are behind!
Regarding blog post timing, I completely agree with your strategy : I actually do the same.
Though I would add about daily posts that I tend to keep them short. Even… almost short enough that you can read them straight into the wordpress reader, without having to click on the ‘continue reading’ button – readers can enjoy the post without an unecessary time-consuming manipulation. Longer articles can then be posted weekly and still stir the interest.
Great tips you gave there! Thanks for sharing.
Laurence
💓🙏🏻 Laurence 🙏🏻💓 ~ I agree with you! Given that we all read so many posts from so many blogs, longer posts often go unread anyway..
~David
In my experience, the more things I post the more views I get. However, I have a small audience, and I tend to post very short poetry like Haiku and Tanka. I have posted up to 30 Haiku in a day. When I post that much, I tend to get 1/4 fewer views per post, but to me it is worth it for the greater overall views and interactions. I think that mine is a special case because my posts are very short and therefore bingeable, and I don’t believe that there would be much benefit to writing multiple long posts per day.
For sure, Richard. No advice can be completely universal, I think.
Years ago, I read WordPress’ advice for new bloggers, and they said the same thing you do about blogging regularly. And I tried to follow those rules for a while, but I could never get more than about 20 views per post no matter how much effort I put into it. If I put 5 minutes into a post, I got 20 views. If I put 5 months into a post, I got 20 views. Eventually, I just ignored all of the best practices of blogging, and that is when people started noticing my blog. I still get somewhere around 20 views per post, but I get many more likes and comments. I don’t know if the interest I have gotten recently is sustainable or not. I guess I will just have to keep posting daily and see if it ever goes anywhere.
Thanks for the tips☺️
My pleasure, Sahiti
❤
David
Thank you i really appreciate this
My pleasure, Evan!
Yours,
David
David,
I just read all three of your blogging tip posts. So far, I’m doing most of the same things you’re talking about. I post daily, but not more than twice in a single day. The one thing I don’t use are headings, but my posts aren’t usually longer than four or five paragraphs (Yoast always wants me to add headings). I blog for myself as part of my writing routine, but I do want more people to see my work. One of my personal joys comes from seeing your like every morning on my post from the night before. I appreciate the love, and I’m looking forward to more tips!
Steve
I’m so glad, Steve. That’s very kind of you to say, and I appreciate your feedback.
Sincerely,
David
Such a valuable tips😊!!
I’m glad you think so 🙂
-David
Well done
thanks!
Aha, I’m just discovering the WordPress reader recently and you know what it is actually quite enjoyable.
I appreciate you distinguishing the difference between posting regularly and posting a lot, I definitely made the mistake of treating the two as the same in the past, and I’m always trying to improve on that.
Really great written and informative post, I appreciate it mate!
I’m really so glad that this is helpful – that’s why I wrote it!
All best,
David