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So you’ve started a blog. How exciting! You’re doing something new, learning how to write articles, and building a unique platform to showcase your work, demonstrate your expertise, and grow your brand.
But as you’re getting started, you might be wondering about questions like:
- How many articles should a blog have to get traffic?
- How many blog posts per week should you publish?
- How long before your blog gets traffic?
Here, we’ll help provide some context for you so you can set reasonable expectations for your blog’s performance and better work toward the success you’re looking for.
<div class="tip">It's not easy generating high-quality content consistently. Produce publish-ready blogs with our team of SEOcontent writers and editors through our content writing services.</div>
The Stats Behind Successful Blogs
In the past, blog posts could show up on search engine results pages for a given query or keyword within days. But Google’s algorithm has since changed.
Today, the Google Sandbox effect keeps many blogs from appearing in search results for several months. How long before a blog gets traffic? Many bloggers find that it takes three to six months before they start seeing significant traffic on their blog.
Producing quality content and posting more articles can minimize this waiting time:
- The more posts you publish, the more topics you cover. When you cover more topics, your blog can answer more search queries.
- Well-written posts that provide value rank higher than low-quality content pieces that address the same keywords.
But how many articles should a blog have? To launch a blog that brings in meaningful traffic, we recommend starting with at least 10 to 15 posts.
Publish consistently after launch; one study found that having at least 24 blog posts can increase traffic to your blog by 30%, and having more than 50 posts can lead to a 77% boost in traffic.
In general, longer posts are better—both for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes and for your visitors. Studies suggest that blog posts that consist of about 1,600 words or take about 7 minutes to read are most reliable for keeping readers on blogs. Longer posts also get more shares and likes. Just be sure they’re actually helpful to readers—not meaningless fluff. Taking the time to research keywords in advance and produce quality content will be worth the traffic you build.
The Five Factors That Drive Blog Traffic
There’s more to blog traffic than simply publishing enough posts. To run a successful blog, keep these five factors in mind.
1. Website Integration
If you already have a website, your blog should be part of it. While it might be quicker to publish your blog posts on a different platform (for example, Medium) and connect it to your main site through a subdomain, putting your blog on a separate website isn’t great for SEO.
Make your blog a part of your main website from the beginning. This will make it easier to connect your blog posts to the rest of your web content—and vice versa—and ultimately help you rank higher in search engine results pages.
2. Content Quality
Your blog posts should provide value. That means, depending on your brand, your blog should educate, inform, or entertain.
The rule to live by in the blogging world is quality over quantity. It’s better to publish just a few well-written, helpful blog posts per month than it is to publish short, repetitive, or filler content more frequently. If you can’t write quality content, you won’t provide value to your readers. If you don’t provide value, there’s little chance your content will rank well in search results—no matter how many times you mention a specific keyword.
3. Publishing Schedule
Publishing content regularly is important. But how many blog posts does that translate to per week?
Many people publish one to three posts weekly when they first start their blog. Some writers publish more frequently once they’re more established and have the time and funds. But you don’t have to publish every day; only one in five bloggers actually posts more than once a week.
More important than how much you publish is how consistently you publish; you’ll build more credibility if you post regularly than if you post frequently but randomly. With a regular schedule, readers will get into the habit of checking your blog at the same time every week—publishing a new post every Tuesday is better than publishing a new post on a random day each week.
4. Social Media Presence
Organic search engine traffic is valuable, but you don’t have to rely on it entirely.
Use social media to promote your blog, find an audience, and boost your website traffic. Use hashtags and engage in conversations to share your posts directly to folks who care about your answers the most. You’ll generate more traffic and encourage more engagement from your readership.
5. Edge Over Competitors
No matter your niche, there will likely be at least a few other bloggers writing about the same topics as you. They’re your competition.
If you want to establish and maintain a following, you’re responsible for providing something better than what your competition can. This means posting more frequently, posting better content, or promoting more effectively.
Finding your edge over the competition is a must if you want your blog to succeed.
3 Launch Strategies for More Blogging Success
If you’ve just launched a blog and/or are looking for ways to build more traffic, here are three strategies to help you see success sooner rather than later:
Publish Your Posts Immediately
It’s best to start publishing your posts before inviting people to become readers. This strategy, where your blog goes live without being promoted, is known as a soft launch. It's different from a hard launch, where a site and all its content go public on a specific day and time.
Soft launches are a great choice for bloggers that don’t have audiences yet. Search engines like Google will have time to see and index your blog, meaning you can start building search engine traffic before you officially publicize your blog.
Publishing posts right away also helps to increase the amount of content on your blog. Visitors will see that your blog has numerous pieces of useful content, and this can help convert a random one-time visitor into a regular reader.
Wait to Promote Your Blog
Don’t make promises you can’t yet keep. Readers like consistency, and brand new blogs often can’t provide it.
When you launch a new blog, you’ll have to iron out some wrinkles such as:
- Revising early posts.
- Experimenting with and making changes to the blog layout.
- Organizing your posts and webpages.
- Finding the right voice for your content.
- Getting into the groove and determining a workflow that works for you.
While your blog doesn’t have to be perfect on release, waiting before promoting gives you time to experiment and make the changes you need to provide meaningful content to your target audience. Once you finally promote your blog, you’ll have a treasure trove of posts in your content library for readers to enjoy and a regular publishing schedule that will build anticipation each week.
Use Social Media and Email Marketing
Once you’ve published 10 to 15 posts, built a routine for yourself that lets you publish regularly, and decided you’re satisfied with your blog’s layout, you can begin promoting your content.
Social media is an excellent place to start promoting your content. Depending on your niche, consider using popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and even YouTube to promote your articles:
- Post announcements and updates about your blog.
- Post links to your blog posts with interesting snippets or teasers.
- Ask followers to like, comment on, and share your posts.
- Engage in conversation—respond to comments.
- Use your social media interactions to inspire new posts—some folks might comment with questions, and you can answer these with new blog posts!
Social media also lets you personalize your brand, as you engage directly with your target audience on a platform they likely use to connect with friends and family. That said, while social media facilitates more casual interactions, be sure to stay professional and on-brand.
Email newsletters are another awesome way to promote your blog. Build an email list so you can reach folks:
- Send announcements and updates about your blog.
- Compile a list of helpful blog posts you’ve written about a particular topic.
- Send snippets or short teasers of new blog posts with links to your web page.
The goal of promoting your blog is to get your content seen by your target audience. There’s no better way to do that than to interact with folks directly. Social media and email newsletters are both tools you can use to dramatically boost your blog’s success.
Unleash Your Blog's Potential
Knowing how to write quality content is just the first step to running a blog. To find success with your blog, you’ll want to:
- Have 10 to 15 posts published when you officially launch your blog.
- Continue to produce meaningful content for your target audience.
- Commit to a consistent publishing schedule.
- Publicize your blog using tools like social media platforms and email newsletters.
- Follow SEO best practices in your website design and naturally weave in keywords in your copy.
As difficult as it may be, remember that patience is a virtue. In other words, give your blog time before deciding on any drastic revamps or content changes.
This article was written by Compose.ly writer Gabrielle Hass.
FAQs
How many blog posts is good for SEO? ›
Most experts agree that blogging two to four times per week is the best way to see increased traction from your content. This equates to somewhere around eleven to sixteen posts a month, depending on how set you are on the actual times per week you post new content.
How many words in a blog post is best for SEO? ›For SEO, the ideal blog post length should be 2,100-2,400 words, according to HubSpot data. We averaged the length of our 50 most-read blog posts in 2019, which yielded an average word count of 2,330.
What is a good amount of traffic for a blog? ›Try to beat 6% traffic growth, month-on-month. Aim for at least 45,000 yearly pageviews. Get at least 11% of traffic from organic search.
How many posts should I launch my blog with? ›The SEO experts will tell you to launch your blog or website with 20-30 articles. The reason being is that having a large amount of content will help you get out of the Google sandbox quicker. Google will be able to index, understand, and rank your content quicker. You'll see quicker results this way.
How long does it take for a blog to get traffic? ›Blogging is a long-term investment
In most cases, you won't start to see significant traffic to your blog for several months. Some say from three to six months, and others say 12-18 months.
What percentage of blogs are successful? According to a study by Orbit Media, around 75% of bloggers feel that their blogs are successful. By this, they mean that their blog delivered some results or strong marketing results which could include monetary gain or other marketing goals.
How long should a 500-word blog post take? ›Some people can turn out a 500-word blog post in 30 minutes — and some people can't even do it in hours. It depends on the writer and how familiar they are with the topic. Freelance writers working in the industry can write a 500-word article in less than 1 hour.
How long should a blog post be for SEO in 2023? ›The ideal length of a blog post is anywhere between 750 to 5,000 words. That's the quick answer, but you can already tell by that massive range that the topic deserves a much deeper look. This blog post will explore the average blog post length in 2023 and how you can stay competitive with your blog content.
How long does it take to write 1000 words SEO? ›We've found that articles of between 1000 and 1500 words in length take at least 4 hours to research, write and optimize for SEO.
What is the 80/20 rule in blogging? ›The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule, states that 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts and activities. When applying this to your blog, you may notice that approximately: 80% of your blog traffic comes from 20% of your posts. 80% of your income comes from the top 20% of your posts.
How much do blogs with 1000 views make? ›
How Much Do Bloggers Make Per 1,000 Views? Monetizing a blog with Google AdSense or another advertising platform may provide earnings of about $2 to $5 per 1,000 page views. A blog that receives 10,000 views per day may generate about $20 to $50 in income.
How many views per day is good for a blog? ›Getting over 1,000 views per day is good for a blog.
If you are trying to monetize your blog, getting more than 1,000 unique visitors every day is an excellent goal – anything below that gets more difficult to monetize. Don't get discouraged if you don't get this right away, though.
It all depends on your audience, the field you're in, and your revenue strategy. You should probably plan to publish about three blog posts per week, minimum, to make money as a blogger. Do some testing to see if need to increase your publishing volume.
What is the average blog post? ›Although your blog post length may vary depending on your topic and audience, it is often best to aim for about 1,500 to 2,000 words for articles or posts. Longer pieces seem to do better when it comes to ranking on SERPs.
How many hours should it take to write a blog post? ›If you're going to commit to creating blog posts, expect each post to take around 4 hours to write. And if you want to produce something with real depth and lasting value, prepare for it to take much longer than that – I often take 6–8 hours to put my content together.
What type of blogs get the most traffic? ›Lifestyle Blogs
Lifestyle blogs are the most popular type of blogs you can find online. They have a variety of readers, interested in topics ranging from culture, arts, local news, and politics. This gives the blogger a wide range of topics to cover, making it easier to plan their content strategy.
- Write more. ...
- Promote with social media. ...
- Write better titles. ...
- Know your niche. ...
- Include photos. ...
- Incorporate keywords. ...
- Incorporate links. ...
- Add social sharing buttons.
- Write about topics people are searching for. ...
- Make sure you're matching search intent. ...
- Build an email list. ...
- Reach out to people mentioned in your post. ...
- Boost important posts with internal links. ...
- Build links. ...
- Promote content in communities. ...
- Create shareable images.
- Total visits. The total number of visits to a blog post is a simple metric that gives a company a lot of information about their efforts. ...
- New subscribers. ...
- Average length of stay. ...
- Social shares. ...
- Page views per visit.
When to Publish Blogs for Links and Comments. For getting backlinks for your blog posts, the study by Kissmetrics suggests that Monday and Thursday are the best days. It further went on to reveal that publishing early morning on these two days around 7 AM will increase your chances of getting the most inbound links.
What type of blogs are most successful? ›
- Health and fitness blogs. ...
- Lifestyle blogs. ...
- Fashion and beauty blogs. ...
- DIY craft blogs. ...
- Parenting blogs. ...
- Business blogs. ...
- Personal finance blogs. ...
- Sports blogs.
The low end for a 1000-word research article is around $75, while an experienced writer may charge closer to $250 or more. Blog article. Less technical articles are often quicker to write, so you may want to charge less. A 1000-word blog article averages around $50 at the lower end and $175 at the higher end.
How much should I charge for a 1500 word blog? ›The average is $175 for a 1,500 word project. When it comes to blog cost per word, this averages just over $0.1 per word. This is the standard blog writing rate for even a beginner to intermediate content writer. Blog writing prices per word are a median of $0.1 per word and an average of $0.12 per word.
How much does a 1500 word blog cost? ›Peakfreelance surveyed hundreds of writers and found that $250 to $399 is the most common rate for a 1,500 word blog post. One surprising thing they mentioned is that 36% of the writers also mentioned they charge at least a 16% extra fee for a ghostwritten article.
Does changing the date of a blog post Affect SEO? ›SEO Best Practices: When To Change the Article Date
Only change dates for major updates: "If you make a significant change on the page, its date is a signal for content freshness that will prompt Google to crawl your page again," says Radakovic.
Blogging helps boost SEO quality by positioning your website as a relevant answer to your customers' questions. Blog posts that use a variety of on-page SEO tactics can give you more opportunities to rank in search engines and make your site more appealing to visitors.
How often should you update blog for SEO? ›You should aim to post at least once a week — and at the same time each week. Weekly posts will provide you with content to share on your social media channels, as well as boost your SEO rankings by using target keywords.
How long should SEO take to work? ›It typically takes between 3–6 months for SEO to show results. That's according to the ~4,300 people who responded to our polls on LinkedIn and Twitter.
How long does it take to master SEO? ›Experts say it usually takes one to three months to learn the foundations of SEO and a year or more to master the practice fully. The length of time it takes to learn the basics of SEO depends upon several factors.
How long does it take to grow SEO? ›While it's absolutely accurate to say there's no set answer to how long it takes before you start seeing organic improvements from your SEO efforts, most subject-matter experts agree that it typically takes four to six months: “Generally speaking, websites can see results in 4 to 6 months.” – SEO Mechanic.
What should you not do when blogging? ›
- Don't: Ramble with run-on sentences that just keep on dragging or lengthy texts.
- Don't: Try to cover too many topics at once. ...
- Don't: Use profanity or unprofessional language.
- Don't: Use other people's stuff without permission and credit.
- Step 1: Get an idea. The best ideas combine something you're passionate about with something people need.
- Step 2: Set up your (online) shop. Some people might tell you to continue reading about starting an online business at this point. ...
- Step 3: Create, Promote, Revise.
Expert Tip. Make sure you have five, ten thousand plus visitors a month before you worry about monetizing through AdSense or affiliate marketing. The more you blend the affiliate link in, the more natural it seems, the better off you're gonna do.
What is a realistic blogging income? ›On average, bloggers make around $45,000—with most bloggers earning somewhere between $38,440 to $51,906. However, there are a lot of variables that'll influence how much money you make blogging, so keep reading and I'll explain how to set the right expectations for your blog income.
Can you make 10k a month blogging? ›Do you need millions of visitors to your blog every month? You can make a great full-time income with just a few thousand blog visitors per month. My wife and I make between $10,000 and $15,000 from our blog every month and we only have about 9,000 monthly visitors to our main site.
How much do beginner bloggers make? ›How much money can you make when blogging as a beginner? Finance blog Millennial Money reports that after just two years of building traffic and subscribers, bloggers can make upwards of $100,000 annually. Within the first year, bloggers can make $500-$2,000 per month.
How long is a successful blog? ›Summary of blog time commitment
On average, it takes 2-4 years to build a successful blog. Around the 2-year mark, you should have enough content and a large enough audience to begin experimenting with different monetization methods.
Peak Blog Publishing Times
According to Kissmetrics, the average blog post receives the most traffic on a Monday. You'll also see a spike in traffic on Fridays, but be wary of the weekend. Most of your readers will be busy on Saturday and Sunday, so expect a lag in reading activity.
Risks to Posting Daily
Other times, your blog topic or style simply won't sustain a daily blogging schedule, so your post quality goes down. And readers leave in droves. Posting a lot of content also means that it'll be hard to keep it updated and relevant. It can also make your older content harder to find.
Content with over 1,000 words do better on average in terms of ranking in search for highly relevant keywords. A good benchmark is to write content that's around 1,000 to 1,500 words. At a minimum, blog posts should have at least 300+ words so that they won't be labelled as having 'thin content'.
Should I monetize my blog right away? ›
If you're not approved, then wait until you have at least 100 visitors per day. If you're promoting affiliate products, then start monetizing right away. If you're selling your own products or services, wait until you have at least 1000 email subscribers. This can take up to 6 months, but will generate the most income.
How often do successful bloggers post? ›Most experts agree that blogging two to four times per week is the best way to see increased traction from your content. This equates to somewhere around eleven to sixteen posts a month, depending on how set you are on the actual times per week you post new content. However, this isn't a final tally.
What is the ideal size of a blog? ›According to a HubSpot study from 2021, the ideal blog post length for SEO should be 2,100-2,400 words. That's a lot longer than the 200- or 500-word blog posts most writers or webmasters think is ideal.
How do I get 1000 blog visitors a day? ›- Step 1) Create Great Content For Your Blog. ...
- Brainstorm and research high traffic keywords. ...
- Write a headline to sell people on your article. ...
- Create a top list article around keywords. ...
- Make Sure Your Blog Post Looks Amazing. ...
- Step 2) Search Engine Optimization.
Most bloggers publish weekly or several times a month. Bloggers used to publish more often (two to six posts per week back in 2014), but they now seem to be posting less often with longer content. Bloggers who publish more often see better results.
How long is too long for a blog? ›Your blog needs to be long enough to contain value, but not too long that the reader stops reading it. The sweet spot for a valuable, but still concise blog is between 500 and 1,000 words. That range allows you to explain a topic in enough depth that adds value for the viewer, but is still easily digested.”
How long does it take to get a blog up and running? ›The average time it takes for a new blog to get traction in the search engines is around 3 to 6 months. This is assuming that you're publishing high quality content consistently, and you're out there building backlinks to those articles.
How long should blog posts be for SEO? ›Content with over 1,000 words do better on average in terms of ranking in search for highly relevant keywords. A good benchmark is to write content that's around 1,000 to 1,500 words. At a minimum, blog posts should have at least 300+ words so that they won't be labelled as having 'thin content'.
Do blog posts improve SEO? ›Blogging helps boost SEO quality by positioning your website as a relevant answer to your customers' questions. Blog posts that use a variety of on-page SEO tactics can give you more opportunities to rank in search engines and make your site more appealing to visitors.
How much content is good for SEO? ›According to Search Engine Land, longer content (1,000+ words) tends to help websites show up in search results. Forbes indicates that an average of 600-700 words per page is optimal for SEO.
How to get 1,000 website visitors per day? ›
- Step 1) Create Great Content For Your Blog. ...
- Brainstorm and research high traffic keywords. ...
- Write a headline to sell people on your article. ...
- Create a top list article around keywords. ...
- Make Sure Your Blog Post Looks Amazing. ...
- Step 2) Search Engine Optimization.
Turns out, longer content typically has these elements baked into it. That's a big reason why long-form content ranks better in organic search than short content. According to a HubSpot study from 2021, the ideal blog post length for SEO should be 2,100-2,400 words.
How do I get my blog noticed? ›- Way #1: Use Email Outreach to Promote Your Blog.
- Way #2: Connect With Other Bloggers.
- Way #3: Acquire Referral Traffic.
- Way #4: Write With SEO in Mind.
- Way #5: Guest Post for Other Blogs.
- Way #6: Leverage Social Media (while you still can)
- Way #7: Publish Original Content.
- Way #8: Grow Your Email List.
If you want to boost your SEO, look no further than updating your old content. This is the perfect way to increase the traffic your website gets from search engines, and it's guaranteed to make a huge improvement in how well your content ranks.
What is a good SEO Visibility? ›What percentage Search Visibility should I aim for? You're looking to get around 35% - 45%, as this is generally the average click through rate of a URL in the top position in the search results.
Is SEO score 75% good? ›Below 50 is considered poor, 50 to 89 means you need improvement, and 90 to 100 is good. Below your score report, it will give you opportunities for how to improve your score.
How many keywords should I use per page for SEO? ›It's easier for pages to rank if they focus on one topic, so you should focus on two or three primary keywords per page that are reworded variations. Targeting four or more keywords is difficult because there is limited space in the title and meta description tags to target them.
How do I get unlimited traffic on my blog? ›- SEO optimized content: Write content that the search engine understands.
- Link Building – It works as a trust vote.
- Maintain blog frequency – Regular content keeps the reader happy.
- Capture your audience: Make traffic revisit.
- Social media promotion:
- Avoid unethical ways.
How Much Do Bloggers Make Per 1,000 Views? Monetizing a blog with Google AdSense or another advertising platform may provide earnings of about $2 to $5 per 1,000 page views. A blog that receives 10,000 views per day may generate about $20 to $50 in income.