Consistency is quite possibly the most important element of everything you do. As a blogger and a marketer, your readers crave consistency. They need it to relate to your brand and trust you. That trust is essential to your growth and your success.
Think about 3 of the blogs that you read most. How often do they post new content? How often do you read their blog? If they posted one post a day for two days, then posted two weeks later, posted at the beginning of the next week then didn’t post again for a month, would you visit their blog regularly? You may find some value in their content, but you wouldn’t know when to return.
I built pcbdaily on the reliance that we would have new content on a regular basis. Many of our 15,000+ readers returned daily to find out what was happening in Panama City Beach. Our traffic was high considering the super niche topic we discussed because we gave our readers a reason to come back and come back often. But, it wasn’t always this way, though.
When I first started pcbdaily in 2006, I would scurry every weekend and Monday to get three or four posts up for the newsletter that went out every Tuesday morning. Naturally, we would have huge spikes in traffic that day, then it would piddle off the rest of the week. Then, I realized something.
What if I gave my audience a reason to come back every day? If I wrote it, would they come? The answer was yes. Within one month of dedicating to posting one post a day, I saw a 50% growth in traffic. Within 6 months I was breaking 20,000+ unique visitors a month. Consistency directly resulted in more traffic. If you give people a reason to come to your site, they will come to your site as often as you give them reason to. If you want your readers to check your site first thing everyday, make sure they have something new for them to look at first thing every day.
So, how does this convey to marketers? Think about all your favorite brands. When you see a red aluminum can, you think Coca-Cola. What about FedEX? The letters always look the same with that iconic arrow between the E and the X. A good brand drips with consistency. We, as consumers need that consistency to trust the product. We need to trust the product to feel good about using it. And, we need to feel good about using it, or we’ll find something else that will fill the need.
What about commercials on TV? The ones that stick with you, that drive you to purchase the advertised product, the ones that have a resonating message are all consistent in one way or many. Do you remember the Bud-Weis-Er series of commercials? What about the Gieco Caveman series? Consistency, man. Consistency.
Are you consistent in your efforts? Can your audience rely on you? What are you saying about you and your brand through your actions?
Post your comments about ways you are consistent and experiences you’ve had where consistency has paid off.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree that consistency is really important! I’ve had a couple of blogs in the past where I lost steam and started posting less and less often, and the traffic and comments definitely reflected that.
Another benefit to staying consistent that I find is that when I create a schedule for posts, and stick to it, each post that I publish gives me a feeling of accomplishment and actually helps me stay motivated to do the next one. Consistency feeds itself… and so does laziness!
Thanks for sharing! I’m a “fan”, by the way. Looking forward to your content.
Consistency in blog posting is key.
It helps to do a “Publishing Calendar” that looks out at least a month, better a quarter, best 6-12 months on the basic topics you’ll cover.
I also use “Press This” to save Drafts on relevant posts and research. Once a month, based on the topics I plan to post,I’ll do Edit: add Images and keyword tags, Do layout of the post, etc. Usually the week before, I’ll go in and do final edits, and finally day before, the very last edit.
All this helps in writing stronger posts around a tighter content theme, keeps your traffic and SEO steadily building… and takes the stress out of posting, freeing you up to work on other projects.
I view my blog as a means to an end. I look to leverage all my blog content into other formats, such as e-books, webinars, consulting and training with clients.
{ 1 trackback }