Bloggingtricks

One thing new bloggers need to understand is the concept of reader expectations. Your blog readers will come to expect something of you. They expect you to blog regularly. Notice I didn't say frequently. In the early days of blogging there was a great deal of pressure for people to post several times a day. But that led to blog bloat - a form of information pollution.

While frequency helps attract an audience, consistency and regularity will hold the audience. Decide how often you want to blog, establish a rhythm and stick to it.

I try to post something everyday to all of my blogs. To cover myself, I promise at least six days a week. Engadget, a popular technology blog, features dozens of posts each day. Some successful blogs like PhotoAttorney.com publish only once per week. Wherever you fall on that time line, let your readers know when updates will occur and stick to your published schedule. What would happen if your daily newspaper just started skipping a day or two?

Whatever you do, don't post when you have nothing valuable to say. Polluting cyberspace with excess information won't help you hold an audience. To ensure regular publishing, hold back some ideas and post them when you hit a dry spell.