Okay. Let’s talk about how many blog posts you should have when you launch a blog. There are a lot of different answers out there on the net for this questions. So, how many posts do you need to start a blog?
It depends on the type of blog launch you go with.
There are three different styles of launches I am going to discuss with you. We’ll go over all three and I’ll tell you which one is my favorite.
- The SEO Launch
- The Just Do It Launch
- The Ideal Launch
Actually, I”ll just tell you now. Number three is my favorite. And the one that I feel sets you up for success as a new, aspiring blogger.
But I’ll let you decide which one is best for you.
The SEO Launch
The SEO experts will tell you to launch your blog or website with 20-30 articles. The reason being is that having a large amount of content will help you get out of the Google sandbox quicker. Google will be able to index, understand, and rank your content quicker. You’ll see quicker results this way. Or so they say.
But writing that much content will take A LOT of time.
Plus, if you are a new blogger, you might not be good at blogging yet.
Sorry. But it’s true.
Not only that, you might be writing things your audience isn’t actually interested in.
As you blog, you will get better with time. You will get to know your audience and how to better serve them.
This approach focuses only on Google search traffic. Google is only one source of traffic.
You’ll probably end up with 30 blog posts people never read.
When I first launched this site, I had 18 articles published.
About 14 of those were never seen by anyone’s eyes.
Because marketing is just as important as creation.
Some people even go as far as to say 80% of your time will be spent marketing the content you spent 20% of your time creating.
If I had saved those articles for after I launched my blog, they would have been seen by more people.
Even if it was just two more people.
Those numbers would have compounded and gotten more views.
I would have felt excited about my growth.
My recommendation: Don’t wait until you have 30 posts to launch your blog. It isn’t necessary. Waiting to have too many blog posts before you go live will just bog you down.
Don’t risk losing momentum by trying to create a full library. You do not need to have a ton of content to start a blog.
Yes, it will take you longer to rank on Google, but that’s just how the game is played. You’ll get there!
The Just Do It Launch
On the other hand, a lot of blogging experts out there will tell you to not worry about a formal launch. Just start a blog and go live with zero posts.
Just get content out there as you go.
Stop overthinking, don’t be scared. Just start.
While good in theory, I’ve seen too many downfalls this way.
The people who “just launch” before they are ready get discouraged quickly.
No one reads the blog posts they publish.
They are trying to figure out the technical and design aspects of their blog while also publishing content. It gets overwhelming. They wonder what they are doing wrogn.
They don’t have confidence moving forward with their blogging abilities. The feel like they might not have what it takes to be a blogger.
I’m all for moving forward and not getting stuck in the planning and researching phase.
But I do recommend you spend some time setting up your site and doing a formal launch so that you don’t fall into these traps.
You’ll never be ready 100% but going the “just launch” route is risky too.
Luckily, there’s another way to launch.
Somewhere in between the SEO Launch and The Just Do It Launch.
The Ideal Launch
After years of helping and watching bloggers start blogs, I’ve come to prefer this method.
For the ideal blog launch you need a total of 4-8 blog posts. Let me break it down for you.
Ideal Number of Blog Posts for a New Blog
2-4 published blog posts
When you announce your blog to the world of officially go live with it, you should have 2-4 posts published and ready for people to read.
This is enough content to look “official” and let people explore your site.
But not too much content that it gets hidden and never seen.
2-4 articles is also a realist amount of content for you to write as a new blogger.
A lot of people wonder what type of blog posts they should write as their first articles. Your first blog posts don’t have to be anything special or an introduction. Write content that fits inside your blog’s core categories and serves your future audience.
When writing your initial 2-4 articles, try to write one for each of the categories you plan on writing about. That way people get a taste of all the different topics you will be publishing posts about.
Don’t stress too much about these posts being perfect. You can always go back and edit or fix things later. The goal is to actually go live with your new blog!
An additional 2-4 in your drafts, ready to go
Just as important as the number of posts you go live with is the content you will publish after launching. Once you hit publish and go live with your blog – you’re a blogger.
There’s a lot of moving pieces with being a blogger. You’ll need to spend time marketing your blog posts and engaging with your audience.
That is why it is important to have a few blog posts drafted and ready to publish after you launch your blog. Having 2-4 additional articles in your drafts folder will help you consistently publish new content.
Doing this will help you stay ahead of a posting schedule. This way you are not frantically trying to create new content.
Consistency as a new blogger is important.
Your blog will grow as you continue to create and publish new content.
Make sure to have 2-4 post in drafts when you launch your blog. You’ll thank me later.
Publish at least one post a week after that
Once you go live with your blog, you should aim to publish at least one blog post a week. Two if you have more time and you are comfortable with that pace.
As a new blogger, the most important thing for you to work on is building your content foundation and engaging with your audience. When you launch with the Ideal Launch you will set yourself up to successfully stay on top of publishing new content.
Get writing!
There you have it. You now know how many posts you should write before launching your blog. The answer is four. Or, at least four.
- You’ll have 2-4 articles live on your blog on launch day
- You’ll have 2-4 more in drafts (which could help you be a month a head of content!)
- You’ll be ready to publish at least one blog post every week!
Other than 4 blog posts, is there anything else I should do before launching my blog?
Good question.
In addition to writing blog posts, make you’ve gone through all the steps to set up your blog. That way once you go live you don’t have to worry too much about the technical details of setting up a blog. This can easily derail new bloggers too.
A successful launch has the above mentioned 2-4 blog posts, 2-4 more posts in drafts, an understanding of what your blog’s foundation is, and a plan for getting and keeping traffic to your blog.
And then hype.
All successful launches boil down to hype.
If you want a little more support and structure with your blog launch, check out the next Blog Launch Challenge.
The Blog Launch Challenge is a four week group program that will guide you through launching a successful blog!
Thank you for this! I am working on an ideal launch right now. I was just going to launch with an introduction, but the lack of content worried me. This makes a lot more sense. I’d rather be prepared and want to set my blog up for success as much as possible.
best of luck!
Thanks for the nice post. It has been 4 months since I have launched my blog. I did start my blog with just 4 posts but I was hardly ranking for any keyword. But after I started posting with 2 posts per week frequency the google started ranking keywords for me.
According to me, blogging is a time management game where you need to balance between posting and engaging your audience on social media.
Thanks for the awesome blog post, I’d personally prefer to have at least 12 blog post before going live.
12 sounds like a good number too, if you’re up for it!
Great information! Thank you so much for sharing this strategy!
I like this post so much and I will share this post with my all friends because all the details are in this post is brilliant. So glad things worked out!
Thanks Louis!
Love the amazing post, I’d personally prefer to have more before going live.
Thanks Louis! How many posts would your like to have when you go live?