Today I had the pleasure of speaking with another marketer who happens to specialize in working with investment advisors. As we shared stories back and forth about the ins & outs of projects we’ve worked on and what we’ve come to identify as industry standards, I was astounded to find one particular marketing platform where we have entirely different opinions on the execution: Blogging.

Simply put, when it comes to publishing company blogs she felt that less is more, while I know there’s a sweet spot and many reasons to do it – and the statistics back me up.How many times a month should you blog?

My answer would be; at a minimum; a company needs four blogs per month, uploaded once a week to start seeing the positive impact. However, eight per month, uploaded twice a week is better still. Whereas, the other marketer commented that she sees most investment advisors post once a month.

Why the discrepancy?

Well, it could be that the financial advisors she’s thinking of are driving traffic to their website some other way. Or, it could be that their website is; for the most part, visited by current clients and is not a gateway for new business. Perhaps they view their website as a secondary entity, with their brick and mortar office being the primary selling platform. Regardless of the way they justify it, blogging once a month – or not at all – is a missed opportunity.

To be fair, it’s important to expand on what I mean by “need” and “missed opportunity”.

The purpose of a blog post in SEO terms is to drive more traffic to your website (to help people find you through search engines). But the truth is, there’s more to blogging than just SEO.

Blogging allows clients; and potential clients, to get to know you and your business. It’s a place to expand your marketing footprint and build on your image as an industry leader and source. At its core, each blog post is another opportunity for your prospects to find your business and get to know, like, and trust you – essential components to building strong and lasting professional relationships.

Think business is booming now?

Imagine if more potential clients could find your company online.

Regardless of if they ever drive by your office, see an ad, or hear about you from a friend – they could still find you online. And, if they do find you via a search engine, it’s because they’re looking for something you provide. Information, a service, a product – a solution that fulfills their needs.

When you stop looking at blogging as purely SEO or marketing fluff, you uncover what an incredibly valuable platform it actually is.

Unlike a client meeting, presentation, or live webinar, blogs remain on your site and grow your virtual footprint while building your credibility and offering instant value to potential customers and current clients alike. Blogging allows you to find prospects where they already are (rather than trying to lure them to where you are).

The ROI of a well-written blog post should be measured by more than traffic to your website – though that’s certainly part of the equation. It also offers intangible value that a search engine is never going to show you, but your clients will.

Through finding, reading, and referencing your blog posts, customers can:

• Get educated about industry trends, terms, and topics
• Find immediate answers to FAQs
• Learn about additional services and products you offer
• Stay up to date on industry news that impacts them

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg!

So, now that you know what a blog post can do let’s go back to the question at hand.

How many original blog posts per month does a company need to increase traffic to their website and get the most out of their marketing investment?

When it comes to getting found and driving customers to your site, the answer is quite specific.

According to new benchmark data by HubSpot, companies posting original blog content 16 or more times per month see an increase in traffic to the tune of 3.5 times that of companies publishing 0-4 blogs. But, we can get even more precise than that. In the same above referenced study, you can view the variations in traffic flow by company size and number of posts per month as well.

The main takeaway for businesses of all sizes being – if you really want to drive traffic to your site and boost lead generation, you should be blogging, and you need to post frequently. That’s not once or twice a month, that’s at least once a week, with a greater return the more you post.

Of course, different businesses will have different goals for their website, but if your goal is to grow your business and get found, blogging is a perfect way to do it. All the extra perks are just icing on the cake.