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Is there a best time of day to post?

Posted by metroknow • 3/31/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogging, blogs, Help, Posts, tips, writing

I have been trying to figure out if there is a best time of day to make sure my posts go live. For example, is it better to post at Midnight the day of your posts, or 5 AM? The marketing questions that cross my mind are whether people are more likely to read the post/see it come up on "upcoming" listings when they're surfing the web on their lunch break? Or at night after work? Monday morning or Friday afternoon?

Of course since we're on a global time schedule a good target window may not exist, but on the other hand there are sets of timezones that are obviously more saturated with readers or same-language speakers who may be more inclined to read in their own language (no offense intended).

Any thoughts?

Any ideas on the best times of day/best days of the week, or the worst?

Thanks!
Metroknow
www.almostfit.com

User Comments

3/31/08

offendedblogger

For me, personally, it is best if I post very late at night, or just after midnight since most of my readers hit my blog in the early or late mornings.

[reply]
3/31/08

PetLvr

The best time to post during a day - is the "same time you always post".

People get confused looking at their statistics .. D'uh.

"if I post at 8am more people come to my blog at 8am"
"if I post at 2pm more people come to my blog at 2pm"
>> That's because you are posting them and they see it as soon as you post them - so, this statistic is useless.

The best advice is pick a time and always try to be consistent and post at the same time. People like familiarity and "daily reading" and if they don't see something when they read their Bloglines etc .. then see two the next day (yesterday's and today's) .. some get annoyed - Especially if you are posting 'breaking-news' all the time, but a day late.

The next best advice is to look at your audience. Who is reading it?

E.G... my PetLvr site does more traffic on Sundays and Tuesdays .. I think people not interested in news or tech or business and just have leisurely time to surf the net (sunday for the weekend, and Tuesday after reading everything new from Monday).

On other business sites .. it might be advantageous to post monday mornings because everybody gets back to the office and reads their RSS Feeds. But, there is a lot of them - if you have more than one, you might consider breaking them up .. so, when they finish reading them all and reach the bottom and cycle back up to the list - another post comes.

For kids sites, maybe after school .. or early evenings.

If your site is mostly for Australians, post it on Australian time, not USA or Canada time.

Basically - it's "Common Sense" and "you know what? It probably doesn't matter too much in the end anyway" concepts.

[reply]
3/31/08

metroknow

Thanks to you both -
@Offendedblogger: This is my "feel" for it too - it seems like I don't get much of a traffic spike if I post mid morning or mid afternoon, but late at night seems to have more of an effect the next day. But its hard to decypher.

@PetLvr: The consistent time suggestion seems really true to me as well. I post every other day on average, which is a conscious trade off to improve quality over quantity.

And the "it doesn't matter too much in the end" is probably closer to the truth than anything I would imagine. Probably overthinking it.

Thanks again!
Metroknow
almostfit.com

[reply]
1. 3/31/08
  
  offendedblogger
  
  Actually, I got to thinking and my commenters come during that time for the most part, but I get readers all day long.
  
  I just posted my latest and I'll leave it up until Wednesday but I'm sure most of the comments will come during their usual time, tomorrow morning.
3/31/08

clioandme

I've got readers on a few continents, so it's kinda hard to judge the whole best time thing.

[reply]
1. 3/31/08
  
  Anok
  
  That's my problem too. I get people throughout the (my) 24 hour day...so it's a crap shoot.
  
  I figure that people have me on a feed of some sort - I know I have a few google blog subscribers, some BC subscribers, some Technorati subscribers and atom, e mail and RSS feeds too. So I guess it doesn't matter LOL!
2. 4/01/08
  
  Shiley
  
  Ditto.
3/31/08

Theresa111

I think the best time of day to post is when you feel like writing the most.

[reply]
1. 6/05/08
  
  janeycatte
  
  I'm with you, Theresa.
  Whenever the creativity is coming thick and fast is the best time to write.
  
  Then I schedule my posts for the same time each day.
  Which is usually around 11.30am, for no particular reason.
2. 6/05/08
  
  lordiwanttobewhole
  
  Yes, I agree, for me I have to write when I feel that I can sit for an uniterupted chunk of time and feel inspired. For me, the mornings my brain is just not charged up enough to write anything beyond a grocery list!
3/31/08

whojaybe

Metro - I did a survey a while back and when people read blogs the most often. This will probably help you decide when to post, or post by. www.datmoney.com/2008/03/when-do-your-loyal-readers-read-your.html

But I surveyed various people on BC, forums, personally, etc. But when it comes down to it, you can post whenever you feel...

[reply]
3/31/08

mikeny07

Yeah I get most hits late at night also. Most people don't read blogs in morning. It is more of a late night before bed thing.

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3/31/08

Norski

When you have something to say?

Seriously, Stoneman has a point. The Web is global - and individuals often have a circadian rhythm that's not synchronized with their location.

Since one of my blogs is topical, I try to post on that one ASAP - while the topic is still 'hot.'

[reply]
4/01/08

metroknow

@whojaybe: Thanks for the link - I'll definitely check that out.

@Norski and Stoneman: For sure. I've found for me though that most of my readers (and 90% of my commenters) are from the U.S. and Canada, with of course a sprinkling from all over the world, so I'm trying to be sure that the articles get decent exposure on the "upcoming" lists on places like Digg, etc. -- BUT, I think in a lot of ways it doesn't seem to make much difference. Its kind of a)quality of headline, b)whether you're lucky enough that someone diggs or stumbles you, and then tells their friends, and c) just plain luck of the draw.

Reason this came up is I'm trying to get ahead on my posts so that I can have them automatically post for days in advance, leaving me time to write new ones ;).

Thank you to everyone so far - this is tremendously useful to me!

[reply]
6/05/08

shawnlim

For me the publishing time doesn't really matter.
As long as your content is quality, people will read it even though it is late at night or they will read when they free. At least they won't delete it the moment they see it eh.

Shawn
www.themillionairesecrets.net/

[reply]
8/26/09

CarlLevy

very early or very late ;).

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8/26/09

JamCan

If you have Awstats in your cpanel, you can see what hours most people are reading. Then you can adjust accordingly.

Also I find that those sites every hates such as Twitter and Facebook give me most of my traffic just by posting snippets of my post on them.

[reply]
8/26/09

owlbarn

I recently read about Sitemeter. They seem to offer pretty elaborate statistics. You can find out the time your reader visited your site, from which page, on which page he exited your site. It's worth a try if you like to be on top of your blog' stats. One of their demo pages www.sitemeter.com/?a=samplestats&s=sm1giantbikes&r=8

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8/26/09

LolitaV

when i have recuperated.

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8/26/09

SaNn

I will normally post my blog in the late nite....because at this time...i only got time to do my things.....ie...blogging...

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