when it comes to blogging: how much is too much?

I have been nudged twice this week about ‘posting too much’. (You can read one of the comments on this post.) I believe in keeping my blog fresh. And sometimes I just happen to stumple upon A LOT of cool stuff at once. Plus, my readers send me link tips. How can one resist to post?

Regarding the Blog Discussion Panel I will be part of at the AIGA NEXT conference, it raised a question: When do readers start feeling entitled do give such feedback? Should they be? And when does a blogger have to listen to it? Is there such a thing as upsetting your audience with too many posts? When it comes to blogging: how much is too much?

25 Comments leave a comment below

  1. Nonsense. Post more!!

    If people can’t filter information themselves, then their mechanisms are broken, not yours.

  2. I check your blog often becuase I know that there is something new to look forward to pretty much every day. Don’t listen to them.

  3. Well, I just recently discovered your blog and I really do enjoy reading your post. I also think that you do post a lot of new stuff.
    I read so many blogs each day that I often do not read blogs that have too many new posts.
    But then your posts are very cool and short. So it is easy to read them.
    And I also think that people should be able to filter the posts according to their likings.

    Keep on posting as long as it is cool stuff. ;)

  4. I certainly noticed you were on a tear lately, but more power to you (and more good stuff to read for me).

    Personally, I might keep a few spare posts that are not time-sensitive in draft mode in case of a slow day, a sick day or a day where I get busy with other things.

  5. Throughout my day Ill have a few slow times between classes and such. I like how you update all the time cause then I have something new to read constantly. Don’t listen to nay-sayers.

  6. It seems like you have been posting a lot more lately, and I always worry about missing something great, just cos you always post really fun stuff (although Reader really helps manage what I’ve ‘missed’). I personally was curious if you had increased post numbers in some way related to increasing numbers for The Deck or something like that.

    But as has been mentioned, they are always short and easy to digest quickly, which is a huge plus for multiple-posts-a-day. Either way, I love your blog and appreciate all your time and efforts on it!

  7. Hey Swissmiss,

    very interesting post. My answer to your question would be:

    1) As always it is a matter of how YOU like it, think there is a LOT of cool stuff? Than post it. On the other hand is all that stuff so COOL after all?

    2) As for the audience: I personally try to follow “never forget about the little man”! On the other hand I don’t nearly have as much traffic as you do. But it’s kind of my mantra about the little guy, because guess what… I’m one of them :)

    3) As for me personally – I got your blog through a Via: somewhere. For me it’s too much to follow up every post so there are three (kind of four) pieces of information I follow for my decision whether to click from my NetNews feeder to Safari:
    a) headline
    b) picture
    c) source
    d) intuition

    Hope I gave you some helpful insight.
    Cheers Vik

  8. I think the only concern is that by posting 10+ posts a day, you set a certain level of expectation. If you drop down to 1-2 posts/day (like most other blogs?) some users may be disappointed. Considering your posts aren’t news related or time sensitive, I say go ahead and hoard some links for those slow days (like weekends).

    Something technical to consider is to examine how easy it is to browse your archives. A reader who misses a few days is missing out on a ton of content — make it as easy as possible to access it.

    Still, I don’t think you have to worry. You have a loyal reader base and it’s only going to grow when you speak at AIGA. By the way, I’ll give you $5 if you mention my blog!

  9. It’s very simple: if there are too many posts for someone shouldnt they just stop reading the blog, unsubscribe or take a break?

    There’s no gun raised to anyone’s head here.

    I think the person has every right to get in touch with you though (commenting is a public medium after all) just as you have every right to shrug your shoulders and keep doing whatever it is you feel like doing.

  10. I really find it funny how other people are telling you how to update your blog…after all its yours, not theirs. If they have a problem with it they are not obligated to visit it!

    For some reason people think they are entitled to tell you what to do, just because they read your blog. Why do people care so much? Its a blog, not the end of the world (but it is a great blog lol, looooove it).

    And c’mon now really too many posts theres no such thing lol!

    Personally i love the amount you posts, theres always something neat to see, and its inspirational for my projects sometimes (im a student in graphic design) so i applaud you!

  11. Don’t change! :)

  12. As someone who blogs both professionally and personally and has had articles published on blogging, I think posting 10-12 content-heavy items in a day is overkill.

    But clearly your niche is design and graphic-laden (in a good way!). Giving people 10 or 12 things to look at in a day isn’t near as grueling as giving people 10 to 12 pieces of content to digest.

    (I’d also like to add that feed readers make digesting new content super easy…get with it, people!)

    Keep up the great work. You provide me with a handful of short breaks during my day and great fodder for my own two blogs.

    Cheers,
    Megan

  13. I don’t think there is any problem with posting too much- especially now with the Google Reader. It is so easy to keep track of all of my favorite blogs.

    I usually find great things in huge batches, post a lot, and then I will go a few days with only one post. It all depends on what I am finding. But then again, my blog is more of a personal wishlist.

  14. You don’t post too much. I manage all my blogs in Google Reader, so it’s not a big deal if you post once or 50 times per day. Everything you post is worth looking at. I also don’t believe in that post-before-lunch garbage.

    I agree with Gordon. For the people who say “Oh I read a lot of blogs, so I can’t read ones who post too much.” Um, what’s your goal? Isn’t the point of reading blogs in the first place to gain quality information? If a blog is high enough quality for you to read it, wouldn’t more be better? For example, I read every single post of swissmiss. If I see 15 posts waiting for me in reader I’m excited. For Consumerist, not everything is applicable to me, and they post quite a bit. If I am short on time, I am not afraid to mark all as read or just skim. I stopped reading blogs that only give me 1 good post out of every 5-10 (good meaning interesting to me).

    I don’t want to miss out on something because of some squeaky wheels. Post as much as you want to!

    I also don’t believe in honoring frequency expectations. Stay fresh, of course, but for those of us using Reader and NOT visiting a website, it’s nbd if you skip entirely or post a ton. I’m not going to be inconvenienced or disappointed in the least if you don’t post three times by 8 am. I don’t care. I’ll get it when you post it.

  15. I think people feel like they are consumers and therefore entitled to guiding your process in a way that suits their needs/wants. I actually think that this is a larger problem, especially due to American consumerism, wherein people feel they are consumers of EVERYTHING and therefore entitled to direct, guide, or expect that people (who provide a variety of services, many of which are not under the control of the consumers who use them) cater to their preferences.

    Honestly, swissmiss, I love your blog and if you didn’t post as many times as day as you do, I’d be sad, forelorn and without a sense of style.

    Thanks for keeping me hip (and reminding me of my fantastic year spent in Basel…go Switzerland!)!!

  16. What a silly comment. S/he must be a very lazy person.

    Post what you want, when you want.

  17. I think people complained becuase they love your blog. If they had not cared a bit, they would have unsubscribed right away.

    I don’t agree with the argument that if one is not satisfied with something, he should just walk/go away. If so, when we watch bad movies/TV programs/designs, we should just stoping seeing or hearing them. Easy but nothing would change; no improvement, and actually we don’t do that.

    Personally when I see too many posts up in my Google Reader, I will just click ‘mark all as read’. I feel like I am overwhelmed with information these days. Blog used to be a good way to get concise and personal views on events and specific topics, but in no time it is getting more like spam with the same coverage (e.g. iPhone/ new iPod) everywhere and lengthy prose.

    Anyway, don’t get me wrong. I like your blog. To me, no more than 10 posts per day is okay.

  18. There is never too much of this blog.

  19. Please don’t cut down on posting. I think I would go through withdrawal if you do!

  20. If people are civil there ought to be nothing wrong with voicing ideas, even about content or posting habits. It doesn’t of course mean that the suggestion has to be followed. The comment you linked wasn’t rude – it was more of a compliment than anything.

    Now maybe they had had a hard day and felt like shooting the breeze but it’s just an opinion, whether or not your style of blogging is easy to skim through and is more likely one of the last sites that warrants editing suggestions or not.

    Perhaps it could generate an idea? Underconsideration (just to take a quick eg. from my memory) publishes a best-of quipsologies weekly I think. That’s actually a perfect little nutshell in some busy weeks. I’m not suggesting that you should do this or even a similar variation, but feedback offers an opportunity, even if the basic idea seems a little unreasonable, to give some thought as to what/how/why regarding posting frequency and content.

    But then again, a weekly best-of isn’t actually a bad idea.

  21. Miss Swissmiss!

    I adore your posts! I come here every morning to check out your fresh good news! Sometimes less is more, but not in your case!
    Kisses from Portugal!

  22. Your posts are pretty much all brief enough for me to know whether I’m likely to be interested (most of them, though less so on the baby-stuff!), so keep it up, I look forward to you ‘waking up’ each afternoon (UK time).

  23. Swissmiss

    Don’t change one bit! We are all adult enough to monitor our reading capacity. Your job is to provide the info. We can filter how much we can handle at one time.

    You’ll never please everyone – that is just not possible. To prove my point, I would love to see more baby stuff on swissmiss (sorry Greg!). And please, don’t start a newsletter or a ‘best of’ – it just doesn’t seem like your style.

    K

  24. Swissmiss

    Don’t change one bit! We are all adult enough to monitor our reading capacity. Your job is to provide the info. We can filter how much we can handle at one time.

    You’ll never please everyone – that is just not possible. To prove my point, I would love to see more baby stuff on swissmiss (sorry Greg!). And please, don’t start a newsletter or a ‘best of’ – it just doesn’t seem like your style.

    K

  25. You’re posts are quick and easy to read, post all you want!