You’ve really gone off track. I say this because I’m seeing discussions popping up about micro-media, going smaller, blog burnout and the like. This discussion confuses people whose heads aren’t so far down in the blogosphere that all they can hear are the muffled sounds of the rest of the world going about their business.

“You mean we should blog less?”, they think. “I thought we were taught by the pros to publish early and often.”

Before your ears start to burn I want you to stop for a second and remember why you post to a blog. Remember the messages that you’re trying to convey. If your goals revolve around throwing up x number of posts per day then you’re wasting your time from the start. I’m talking about business blogging here. Perez Hilton and other gossip bloggers probably feel differently.

In business, quality of information will always beat quantity in the long run. Trying to subvert that rule only leads to headaches.

More than likely you are blogging (which is really chronicling) in order to convey a certain message. It may be news about what’s happening with your company. It may be opinion or analysis on things that are relevant to your industry. It could be about a lot of things. Whatever they are you shouldn’t be on a quota for posting volume. Your ultimate goal may be more abstract like extending your brand or creating a deeper connection with your customers. Again, quality wins over quantity.

Post when you have something to say. Post when something relevant occurs. Many blogs I read are starting to become like the boy who cried wolf. They post half a dozen times per day and half the posts are news that I read in the Wall Street Journal or on other blogs. These people are simply posting to keep pace with others. Don’t get caught in this trap.

I read some blogs that post a couple of times per month and I’m very excited to see something new. The quality of the content is usually high. Those who post more often and on a regular schedule tend to have posts that repeat discussions and news obviously being talked about elsewhere. I think that some people who post a lot do so out of insecurity that their rankings will drop in Technorati. Guess what? Those Technorati numbers are all about vanity and less about the content that people are really looking for. Don’t worry about them.

My message in a nutshell is this. Post when you have something to say that is original and meaningful. Post to your blog when doing so satisfies the goals that you have set out to achieve by creating this very public diary in the first place. But for heaven’s sake do not convince yourself that you have to post as often as the blogger-izer or some of the other imaginary jukebox heroes of the blogosphere.

Do short posts if the situation warrants. Create long posts if it fits the situation. Don’t get caught up in imaginary rules created by people to suit their needs. This is a digital notebook folks. The real rules of grammar, punctuation and the like still apply. But you learned that stuff early on. Yes, you are a blogging expert and probably don’t even know it.

As in anything else, remember your reason for doing it. If the content is high quality then you will gain fans, and probably a few trolls too, no matter how often you post something.

And those of you who are yapping about having to change your style of communication, hear this. You don’t feel the need to change because there is some great shift in the digital consciousness. You need to change because you’ve gotten yourself away from the core of your mission and thus you feel all out of wack.