Have you ever heard someone say this:
“If you don’t update your blog daily, there’s no reason for people to visit it.”
To that, I say “Ha!”
In reality, as a blogger who’s looking to attract their first few thousand readers, updating your blog daily is one of the worst things you can do.
I’ll explain.
You Don’t Need Content…
If you have less than 1,000 readers, you don’t need content. You need readers.
And despite what those pseudo “experts” tell you, content DOES NOT equal readers.
Look at it like this:
Yes, more content creates more opportunities to rank in search engines and to score social media traffic.
But the sad truth is that those opportunities are almost impossible to capitalize on as a new blogger.
After all, new blogs don’t have links so they don’t rank well, and new blogs don’t have readers so they have no one to share their content.
If Content Doesn’t Help, What Does?
Exposure. Lots of exposure.
When you want your first 1,000 readers, you can write your heart out on your blog and you’ll never get ’em.
(Or, well, you might, but it will take a long time)
However, if you reallocate your time from writing for your blog to working on getting exposure, you can get 1,000 (or even 10,000) readers in no time at all.
For example, back when I launched Social Triggers, it grew into one of the leading blogs about marketing in less than a year.
Why?
Because I made sure my name popped up on every major blog about marketing that I could find.
It wasn’t about the content. It was about my name.
So, How Often Should You Update Your Blog?
In the beginning, a few times a month should suffice.
Then, with all your newly found free time, you should work on getting your name plastered all over related blogs.
How can you pull that off?
1. You can write guest posts
While I’m not a fan of guest posting, this is one of the easiest ways to get your name on a large blog. You give content, the large blog gives you exposure.
(As a matter of fact, if you’re interested in writing about blogging or Thesis, you can pitch me ideas at news (at) diythemes (dot) com).
2. You can invite people to interview you
Interviews are a great way to get exposure. As a matter of fact, I like them more than guest posts because you’re the center of attention… not your content.
(Narcissism aside, being the center of attention usually means you get more traffic).
3. You can land major press mentions
This is tough, but when done using the drafting technique, it’s a cinch.
(The short of it is this: Find who’s getting press in your industry, and see if you can land it too).
Be Careful: When You Update Infrequently…
The idea of updating infrequently is new to most people, which means you may do it wrong.
What should you look out for?
When you take this approach, you’ve got to make sure your blog is geared towards converting visitors into readers.
And that means one thing:
If you go the “old route” of promoting social media profiles and RSS feeds, the exposure will be pointless.
You’ll get hits, but you won’t win readers because email marketing crushes social media marketing.
Luckily, when you own Thesis, building an email list is a cinch.
I wrote a simple tutorial on how to add a feature box to your Thesis design.
If you don’t know what a feature box is, here’s the quick version:
I began promoting the feature box last year, and it took off like wildfire. Everyone started using it because, yes, it’s great at turning visitors into emails.
