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Determining what time of day to publish a post can be important. I have always tried to post as early as possible in the morning. Anywhere between 8:30 am to 11:30 am.
The problem is, what time is it when I publish. If I post at say 9:00am here (Eastern Daylight Time), what time is it where the reader is reading? I have people from all over the world visiting and hopefully reading what I write.
The rule of thumb is to write for your readers. But, I have not heard of any suggestions on when to publish for your readers. When to put your content out on the web for best exposure.
You need to look carefully at your Statistics to get any idea of when people actually come to your site. Now, this doesn’t take things like RSS feeds and Blog Directories into consideration. But, knowing when people are more likely to visit is a good way to determine what time to post.
Each morning I go through E-mail and see comments from readers from (what to me is) the night before. To them it may be after work, before work, lunch time. To me it is early morning. So, is it really important to think of the time you publish or is the consistency more important.
In my humble opinion, I think it is much more important to post on a consistent basis. The time of day (your time) will always be the same, and so it will be to your readers. As long as they know when to expect something from you, they will know when to visit your site.
Do you think the time of day should be a major consideration? Do you think consistency is more important? When do you post, and why that time?
5 Comments
“I have not heard of any suggestions on when to publish for your readers. When to put your content out on the web for best exposure.”
I believe Darren Rouse from ProBlogger did a post on this subject several months back. Bottom line seems to be consistency more than anything else.
I’m not convinced of the importance as yet, mostly due to bloglines and similar. When posts come in, I read them. I’m sure others have a similar mindset (comments?)
Thank-you for the reminder, as I imagine, even with bloglines at the back of my mind, when I switch to full time I’ll pay closer attention.
Hey Cat,
Thanks for stopping by.
The main reason I wrote this post was a feeling of guilt sometimes when I post later than normal.
I know that with all the RSS and Blog Dirs people will get it when they want it.
I agree, consistency is more important than the actual timing.
Joe
ps this is right before I go to bed!?! What time is it where you are?
J.
Joe – as you know I’m totally random. I just post whenever I a) get the urge to post, b) have something to write about, and c) have time to write. Sometimes this is in the evening, sometimes in the morning.. Consistency for me is trying to post every 2-3 days or so. For my blog at least, I don’t think the time of day is as important.
Hey Jesse,
If you noticed, your comment was at 4am my time.
I don’t know what that means, but I guess random works for some and not for others.
You always have good information on your blog, so it is worth the wait for most of us.
Joe
Hey Cat,
I stopped by Liz’s blog today and found a really good example by Lorelle on why to consider what time of day and even what day to post for best results for page views etc.
Check it out http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/06/15/when-is-the-best-time-and-day-to-post-on-your-blog/
I think it may help make a decision.
Joe