Nothing says “I have an outdated business” like a blog that hasn’t been updated in three years.

The quick and easy answer to all of the “how often” questions is: consistently. If you’re going to start a blog, a social media account, or an email newsletter, you need to be consistent with it.

If you aren’t, those auxiliary feeds will work against you. Nothing says, “I have an outdated business” like a blog that hasn’t been updated in three years. So if you’re going to do any of those things, you need to do them, and keep doing them.

If you can’t commit, then don’t start.

Does this sound harsh? Maybe. Is it harsh because we want to be mean? No. It’s harsh because you want your online presence to be a vibrant place that accurately reflects your business. And an online channel that isn’t active makes people think your business is more like an abandoned wild west town with tumbleweeds and less like a thriving metropolis of relevance.

Now that you know what’s at stake, let’s take a look at what it’ll take to get your online presence in that “thriving metropolis” range.

How Often Should I Update My Website?

The impact of regularly updating your website is twofold. First, search engines, especially Google, love websites that are regularly updated. Their bot’s little brains equate active websites with current, relevant websites.

And for the same reason, people tend to equate active websites with relevant websites. If you’re updating your website with relevant, fresh content, it helps give the visitor the sense that your company is current, active, and relevant.

But I don’t have new content for my site. What should I say?

That’s a great (and common) question. If you don’t have business or company news to share, your service offerings don’t change. You still have tons of good options:

• Answer common questions people ask you about your industry.
• Post relevant news related to the products or services you offer.
• Run a special/sale.
• Statistics about your company/industry/service offerings.
• Add/update testimonials.

Most of the items noted above will require you to do some leg work; however, testimonials are a great way to add new content without having to make graphics or hire a writer. You’ll just ask your customers to give feedback, then share it on your site.

Take a look at ToasterTubs for example. Their products don’t change, they don’t have a ton of news because they’re busy building their products. But one thing they DO have are reviews. TONS of reviews. And any time they want to update their site, they add or remove a few toastimonials… uh, testimonials.

How Often Should I Publish a New Blog Article?

Posting a new blog article once a week is ideal if you can commit to it. If you know generating meaningful content is going to be difficult, then try to commit to once every other week instead or even once a month.

If you’ve got a team who can commit to writing posts for you, then you can start thinking about multiple posts each week. You and your team can even begin thinking about writing categories then scheduling those types of posts on specific days.

Blogs are where you can make the biggest splash. Original content is one of the most important and labor intensive-things to create. You have to sit down and write or find someone else to write for you, which can get expensive. But if you have the time or resources to do it right, it can make a huge impact on your business.

How Often Should I Post on Facebook?

There’s a fine line between being relevant and being annoying. Facebook is one of those places where people can tell if you’re just posting to be active. So if you’re going to post, post with intent, don’t just post to keep your account busy.

A great way to keep from losing your mind is to come up with themes for each day. Map out the five-day workweek and assign a theme to each day. Then create post ideas for each theme. The goal with social media is less about pushing your product or service and more about getting people to engage with your brand.

You can use this as a loose template:

• Monday – Fun Fact or Tip related to your industry.
• Tuesday – A resource that will help your visitors.
• Wednesday – News/Trend related to your industry.
• Thursday – Project highlight or case study.
• Friday – Something light and fun.

In fact, this is the exact model we use on our Facebook and Instagram pages.