Importance of consistent blogging
When I started blogging again on this site, I tried to make it a goal to write at least once every two days, if not every day. Why, because I read this article on Problogger about the importance of consistent blogging. I also found a similar article on MonkeyBlogger. I’m not going to go into details about why you should post consistently because I believe that those two sites already do a good job of summarizing that for you. What I will go into is what happened to the traffic on my site when <sarcasm> I didn’t post for *gasp* 4 days. </sarcasm>
The first thing is that my traffic didn’t decrease immediately. As a matter of fact, it went up for a day before returning to the average number and going down again. I’ve posted a screencap of the stat for my site for your viewing conveniences. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the fact that the traffic was high during the weekends, or if something else triggered the increase in traffic.
However, the evident fact is that my traffic did decrease eventually. I still dropped my entrecard, I still returned comments, and I still commented through despair regularly, so the only cause for this drop in traffic is the fact that I slacked off for a couple days, which worries me because I’m going to be gone for 3 weeks from tomorrow, so God knows what’s going to happen then. Also, not only did my traffic drop, my topsite rank dropped as well (I didn’t check my Alexa or Technorati ranks).
So to save my site (and maybe yours) from drowning, I’m here instead of packing for Taiwan. Now you’re probably wondering, does that mean I have to post everyday? The answer is no. I know it might sound like a contradiction to everything I mentioned earlier, but consistent blogging doesn’t always equal blogging many times a day. It means blogging consistently every two days, every three days, every week, or whatever your pace is. Of course, you don’t have to be on mark every time, but fluctuating from 2 posts a month to 15 posts a week is obviously a no no. Try to make a goal of posting at least # times a week, but if you don’t reach it, it’s ok. What’s even more important then blogging consistently is blogging with quality. I much rather read 1 good post a week than read 5 poo posts a day. TheMadHat has a good article on this.
Since I’m trying to build up the content of my site, I make an effort to write more often. It can get tedious because sometimes you run out of topics to post about. But as I continue blogging, I’m beginning to find that there is a lot you can write, from reviewing your must-have makeup item to ranting about stupid people you encounter online. And believe me, you can write a poo load on the latter 
So what’s my conclusion? Find a blogging schedule that works for you. Don’t pull out your hair if you don’t always meet the dateline. Don’t force yourself to churn out 10 mediocre posts just because you feel like you have to. Quality > Quantity any day. 
Khayte says:
Oh gaah, now I realized how important is consistent blogging. And yes, your hits decreased on the 27th. Way too far from 24th-26th. I’ve learned a new tip too. Thanks Mimi!
Rebecca says:
hmm any reason why you like the alias mimi? it’s strange because one of my best friends sister always calls my friend mimi… is it like a taiwanese girl thing i’m not aware of lol
and yes, i’ve noticed dips in my visits too when i don’t blog consistently
Mimi says:
Khayte: Glad I could be of help
Rebecca: Mimi is the name of one of my favorite anime characters, and that’s what my best friends used to call me (it was some anime obsession thing). But yeah, apparently my friend’s mom, who happens to be Taiwanese, had that nickname as a child o_O Maybe it is some Taiwanese girl trend? lol
Babyjen says:
lol.. yeah for me its important to be consistent in blogging so that your readers won’t get bored on the same page or post that they are seeing. =)
take care!
-xoxo-
Katy says:
Actually sometimes I feel like people who blog TOO much is a pain to follow.. especially when most of the posts are of quality, but show sloppiness and you know that the author is just “throwing something out” their for his/her readers. So I def. agree with you on the quantity > quality.
Sometimes I have the urge to post multiple times a day especially when my head is swarming with ideas but I try resist and save my post for the later just in case I run out of things to say.
Katy says:
Oh hey sorry one more thing, what plugin is that you are using for followup comments via e-mail? I’ve been looking for one that’s compatible with 2.3.2 because I don’t wanna upgrade yet!
Amber says:
Thanks for the tips
I’m going to read the site!
Marieke says:
Consistent blogging is important indeed, although it’s sometimes hard to blog when you have nothing to rant/tell about..
Also, I found that being a true commenter at despair doesn’t neccessarily get people to comment back either. Most of the time the people that ‘have to’ comment me, don’t even bother.. But yeah, that’s some other story – I suppose
Sara says:
Oooh thank you for the tips!
Regina says:
For some reason, my traffic is dropping to. :/ I try to blog about 3-4 times a week. Some times I blog too much, sometimes too little.
Mimi says:
To Babyjen: Exactly. The last thing I want is for my readers to find me boring :/
To Katy: Yeah, posting too much can be hazardous to your blog’s health too. But I know what you mean; sometimes my head is just swarming with great ideas, so I write them all out, but I only publish one and save the rest as drafts. Then I just publish them one by one when I have nothing good to write about
All the plugins I use can be found Domain >> Credits. Hope this helps!
To Amber: No problem
To Marieke: Yeah, the commenting system at despair is, well, despairing (no pun intended). But I still try and comment in hoping that maybe they’ll be nice enough to return the favor :/
To Sara: No problem
To Regina: Try commenting other people back or replying to your comments. Or maybe try to give your post topics more variety?