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I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails lately about blog posts. People keep asking when I publish them in order to get the most exposure. There’s been many studies done on this concept ranging from the best time of day to post to the best day of the week to post – and some of the findings are pretty interesting. I’ve always been of the school of thought that good content will always find a way. By that I mean when I write a post – I publish it. Whether it’s 3 AM on a Saturday night or 9 AM on a Tuesday morning (which is supposed to be the best time). With just a quick look at some of the most popular posts on Shoemoney.com, I have found that most of them were posted in the worst possible times with lots of grammatical errors.
I have seen many people try to coordinate a blog post with embargoes so nobody can talk about it until X time. They try to publish the post at the perfect time a day to make sure that they get the top seeders on Digg and Sphinn and Reddit. Sure, the article is posted at the most optimal time and yet the post goes no where. Why? Because the content sucked from the start.
So write good content and it will find its way.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2414 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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{ 137 comments… read them below or add one }
As partial owner of a large news blog, I can say that we are always analyzing our data to find out the best times of day to post material. for us early morning posts seem to do better than any other time of day.
Interesting – is this a blog that pulls data from others, or is it all original articles??
Not sure.
I would assume so…
I think it would be because people are just getting into work, and therefore do a lot of surfing.
People do seem to surf at the beginning and end of the workday. Posting in the middle of the night so the post is there all day would work.
Thats a good strategy!! I think people are bored at the start of the day, hence the morning postings
YUp tested and proven.. agree with this..
I’ve found that this does work, but I still agree with what Jeremy said.
Hi Tushar! I agree that the 1st thing in the morning ritual in most workplaces these days is to switch on the computer and download emails, do the check on blogs and news channels and the like. There is another spike around lunch time and then one just before hometime.
You’re right about that. It’s weird, alot of times the stuff that is raw and published in haste is the stuff I find gets the most views.
I normally wait until mid-day so that the west coast will be up already. Based on what you and shoe wrote, i think that im going to ditch that idea of waiting. thanks
I don’t think that would make a big difference because if the west goast gets up then the Asian countries are going to start sleeping.
Depends on what region you’re targeting, right?
Exactly right – best way is to target the broadest audience, but then you encounter the language barriers
That is correct. Europe and Africa is another zone, halfway betweeen the US and Asia, so in the true global sense traditional timelines aren’t all that important any more.
Well, Im a wedding photographer so most of the base will be here in the states. Now I do travel over seas for weddings and now matter when you put up a post someone somewhere is going to be sleeping. It is a question of who your customers are and when they are going to be looking.
The fact of the matter is that if people like your posts they will return anyway. You just have ton offer consistence in the quality of post and how regular the posts are put up.
Thanks you very much, good content – a lot of hosts!
As the complete owner of a tiny new blog, I really don’t have the time to find out what time of day would be ideal for posting. I just try to focus on getting the content and the structure right, have other people read it for spelling errors, and having my posts be regular. But then again, I just try to make my posts timeless, especially since my blog is young and traffic is relatively minimal.
Thats the best and only way to start – focus on your content and your readers, and slowly the word will spread and you will have a sizable traffic base@!!
It is all about good and compelling storytelling. If your content is unique and special (or perceived to be so) you are well on your way to success. Just keep it up and don’t forget to adhere to SEO basics so your content can be found.
Lol is this a parody?
Even from your avatar I detect sarcasm.
But yes, content is key.
LOL! It took me a minute to realize parts of your post were satire.
I target organic SE traffic, so it really does not matter when I post, only that I do.
I don’t do ‘trends’ blogging like others do.
AL
Good point. Gotta be consistent.
Hey there, Allan! Visited your blog, most interesting. Us South Africans don’t need to stress about snow killing our kikuyu lawns. I do volcanic rock dust and other natural and organic soil ameliorates and have worked with turf grass a lot. Have you tried mycorrhizael fungi as an inculant?
In any case, this is hardly the right place to talk organics, I will mosey on down back to your blog again….
What do you mean by trends blogging here?
Some good writers never get read because they do not know how to game the system. They write some of the best content but do not know all the SEO bullshit.
Then you have allot of crappy blogs always at the top of the search because they know how to game the system. It is a shame and I put part of the blame on the search engines.
It’s the truth – but the good blogs have to step up and learn SEO if they want to become the top blogs!! You can’t do it any other way
WordPress has an All in One SEO Pack…..Another great reason to migrate…..
I believe it has more than what the All in One has to offer.. SEO Effort is constant and ongoing..
Let’s not forget that some of these crappy people are also into blackhat techniques so it’s no surprise that they’re at the top of searches.
I get many great writers who submit good articles to my niche blog yet no one reads my blog and Google treats me like a red headed step child.
What is your URL? I’ll go and have a quick look-see and maybe can give you a few pointers.
maybe so but how many subscribers and visitors are you getting. Who you get for write a post or the quality of the content isn’t much help here
I never coordinate my blog posts with a time slot, I post them whenever I can. Should I have a set time?
Same here.
Sometimes as late as 11:35 PM.
There is no need to set a time of time but try to be constant with your posting schedule..
It is not about the content, it is how you get the content seen for the better or worst.
All right! For some weird reason your previous comment doesn’t click. A slight technical glitch there. You need links, pure and simple. Posting comment on blogs is a good way to get them, make sure that you are posting comments on blogs that are reasonably closely related to your industry. Also get your friends to review your blog on StumbleUpon (I just did
) and just keep at it.
Well, if you use Wordpress, your content will show up in Google search in no time.
I agree – look at USAToday and NYT, they publish their online stories at 4 in the morning.
That said, do you ever preschedule any posts? Say if you know that you’re going to be busy at a conference or vacation? It seems like some posts may be prescheduled (not a bad thing at all).
They probably publish them in the morning to syndicate the online posts with their offline publications.
I completely agree – thats the beauty of a blog, in that it is not constrained by time. People will come to look at your blog at all hours of the day, from various time zones across the globe.
As long as you have good content up, it will yield good discussion!!
Hmm thats true to a certain extent only. Your popularity is a big point when it comes to discussion. Shoe or John can write a “Hello Good Morning” and still get 100 comments while you can easily get 100 defames for that.
Well yea – but thats just because of how big they are – and a hello good morning isn’t really good content either hehehe
Thats exactly my point! hehe..
I agree completely, in fact, I’m getting ready to do this in a few days! (launching my blog)
I too agree that timing of posts is not that important as to the content.
There’s just no way of getting right a bad content.
I disagree a bit. Look at Bankaholic.com. No real original content. The guy just copy and pasted bank deals from Bankrate.com on to a blog format. He gets ranked high because he knows how to manipulate the search engines. Then Bankrate.com buys him for 15 million. Look at his blog now, the content has dropped off now that he is rich. My hat off to Mr. Wu for figuring out how to scam the system and con Bankrate.com.
Look at Icanhascheezburger.com (the dumbest fad to date imho). The owner copied/ripped off the original cat image that set the craze in motion and 7 months later sold it to some investors for 2 million.
I think the internet is stupid and you have to come up with something stupid to succeed. Time for me to dumb down.
I guess we should create more useless money making sites
Thats a shame, but he made his money – I guess it is up to bankrate to ensure he continues to provide good content though
When I check out the commenters here blogs I laugh. None of you have an original bone in your body. You throw out the same canned money making crap that is a dime a dozen online. You post some lame image of some dude climbing a mountain, etc. It looks like you all bought the same e-book and copy it to the letter. It is so sad and pathetic. You goobers will never succeed, Period!!!
Grow a brain and originality or expect to keep your jobs at McDonalds or Wal-Mart!
Check out mine – I rule lol
Pretty bold comment for someone that doesn’t know EVERY SINGLE commenter personally. You need to sit down somewhere.
I didn’t realize that Johns Wu was ripping info.
Question: Why do you only allow comments that agree with you most of the time?
His staff moderates, but approves most of them. If you disagree it will get posted.
None of my comments on here have ever gotten moderated, so I don’t know what you mean.
Usually they get through instantly.
Tushar, that is because you say what he wants to here and always agree with everything he posts. You are a great PR responder, a yes man, or as we use to say at work, a brown noser.
Same here…..
Why Shoemoney’s Blog is Popular
- readers hope he will give away a secret on how to get rich online
- they hope to get something for free
Why Shoemoney’s Blog Sucks
- 5% useful information, 95% useless filler
- a sounding board for the guy to masterbate his overly huge ego
- most of the regular commenters are either there to kiss his ass to get link exposure for their websites or they are really stupid people
I agree a lot with you
HAHAHAHA
I assume that you are not John Chow
You sound a tad jealous there buddy! There is immense value to be had in that 5% you’re carrying on about! Jeremy is telling his story, compellingly so, and who are we to judge him?
For someone that doesn’t like Shoe, you’re spending a lot of time on his blog. All you’re doing is giving him hits, so he pretty much has the last laugh. Think before you do things.
I agree, I’ve stopped caring what Google things or Alexa, as long as all three of my readers like it – I’m good.
Honest but poignant. More truth than most of us would ever admit.
Your site says you have 32 readers
in those 32 readers many of them could be feed bots
sorry it’s now 35 readers including bots.
Thanks for noticing ;D
Thats the spirit! Write for your readers and not google.. or anything..
I do have quite a few bots that crawl my site, so it may be that half those numbers are bots. Either way, I’m not writing for the bots.
hahaha, you got a point and you are 100% right, content is king as everybody knows and it doesn’t matter when it was published. Personally I don’t care about what time is it to publish a new post, as soon as the article is done, it has to be published.
The content will always speak for itself… Since many of my own readers are email subscribers and have day jobs, I find it best to publish “whenever” BUT set the email to be sent between 6-7PM at night… when they have finished dinner and are checking email one last time for the night.
M
Great article, and I have to agree with you that good content will always find a way.
BTW:
Your post title is: Good Content Finds Always Finds a Way
Did you mean: Good Content Always Finds a Way
no… you missed the point of the post.
Lol, I was wondering when I posted that question if that was supposed to be your point, but then I was like “That’s way too deep for a blog”.
Killed hehehe
I wouldn’t think timing would count that much because people are always filtering through. It’s also funny how much stuff makes it to the top of Digg that has absolutely no value….
It does help when you have a site as big as yours, Shoe. No matter what time you post, your stuff gets read.
For a smaller site though, or one that is just starting, there may be a strategy that helps draw people in for the first time.
Although, you’re right…once they are there, if the content is terrible, it doesn’t matter because they’ll never be back.
hogwash
. I started writing good content when I had no visitors.
Thats how its done!!
I’ll never understand why some people wait until they get a lot of visitors to start writing good content. Makes no sense.
There may be optimal times but they would be different for each blog/niche. Testing would bare that out.
However, more powerful and useful is to train one’s readers. Set the expectation. Posts can come anytime, or use WordPress and schedule each post. Then the readers may know to expect at that X time of day a the next post. Also, any additional post beyond that would get attention as being out of the norm. Another useful tool.
I find that the best method – write good posts ahead of time and schedule a couple a day – quality AND quantity!!
I propose this question to the readers here: How many of you are making enough money blogging alone (no job or other businesses) to support yourself and a family if you have one at a middle class level?
If so, how long did it take you to achieve this.
Please, honest answers only, not BS just to promote your site as a blogging expert.
I post in the morning since most people are active around that time.. especially on twitter.
Twitter definitely because its a live thingy but blog is timeless..
I dont go as far as to strategically time clicking the publish button. When I finish a post I post it. I also dont go for writing 50 posts and placing them all into a auto-post schedule. Should I? Maybe .. but I don’t.
I think it’s better if you do have like 50 days in advance (well, maybe not that extreme), but it’s really hard to do.
I get too excited .. when I think of something to share I feel the need to share it right away.
specially if most of the traffic is from search engines its always OK to post anytime and the you can announce new post on twitter etc when there is peak time.
yes, getting on digg requires co-ordination with correct time..
research !!
Personally, I don’t beleive in the “best time of day” to publish, just because the internet is accessible to people around the world. It’s just impractical to say “tuesday @ 9am” is the best time, because that could be 4am in your geographically targeted visitors?
I agree with your initial comment ShoeMoney, that great content will find it’s way ~ it just needs some time
TeenProBlogger
Good tip.
I never really thought about the time you post an entry. That is really interesting. If you have enough subscribers like you do, I bet it really doesn’t matter.
but then you always say you’re content isn’t really in the “helpful” category so i guess its not good content and yet youre getting the traffic…
Just started my first blog ever today. I sure could use advice from you pros how to make money from it. I got laid off from my job, can not find a new one and by reading this blog it seems I can make decent money blogging to get me through these tough times.
Any advice or helpful tips would be so appreciated from you guys in the know.
Thank You in Advance
I think the post times definitely help for RSS subscribers or alerts, but if readers check your blog on a regular basis, then I’d have to agree with you. Good content will spread, especially if you have a good following. I’ve heard through the grapevine you have a few fans, so your posts will get traffic regardless.
Well said , the only matter would be post it fast , if it’s in the news
Couldn’t agree more. You might be able to game the system with a couple crappy posts that get traffic because of timing, but long term, content is king.
I definitely agree that good content always bears fruit in the long run
you are full of shit
You can’t just write content and expect it to convert. “Build it and they will come” doesn’t work on the web.
You have do some marketing at the least.
I don’t think “Build it & they will come” is BS. At least when it comes to blogs.
Yes.Shoe..The quality of the post matters and not when you publish.Good,interesting post will always be read
Couldn’t agree with you more
One more thing Shoe….You really have a good hold on the contents………I made this assumptions after I read your Title…lol…
Hey Shoe – You should do another round of questions! I’ve got a couple
Wrong venue, but check this out:
http://blog.affiliatesummit.com/2008/12/22/new-platinum-pass-winner-twitter-contest/
When you own a big blog, you will definitely see these sort of strategies. I’m sure some people stay online ALL day with alerts on new posts by certain blogs.
Thanks for the tips…very important..
Ohh..The Shirt Bid update price is interesting 2525.50
I think it’s Zac Johnson that bid that much.
I hope he wins.
good point. i wonder what the reactions would be of the people who write long articles on the perfect time just to see their theory dashed
I think you have to promote your content even though it is high quality content.
I think if you let your readers promote it, you’ll find it’s more appreciated. The most I do is send my link out to Twitter land….
Yep. If your readers like what you posted, they will spread the word around about the post online. I see it happen all the time.
Hi,
I blog in the evening about nine pm. I do that because I blog about the days activities when my day finishes. I am new to blogging though, and I had never thought about a good day or time to blog. Plus, I am in Scotland UK, so it’s always going to be ahead of US time. It varies between 5 hours ahead (EST) and 8 hours ahead which I believe is PST.
Good post, very interesting.
Best wishes,
Ruth
Absolutely right. People need to focus more on the content, not the time it should be posted. If it’s good, people will find it & comment/talk about it.
lol, who cares about the time? It’s always 10am somewhere on planet earth, so…
I agree time plays a little factor in anything that the web has to deal with because the fact is the web is global and does not sleep so why should time be a factor. Somewhere in the world is the time you want it to be the only thing is finding that time you want, and why you want that time.
Thanks
Mr. School Fundraising Ideas
And your good content also find itself getting copied on many blogs, with a probable backlink to you
.
What about the blog posts you made when you started blogging? Thet gained very little exposure…Is it better to repost them or what do you suggest?
If you have an archive, then there should be no need for reposts.
You are right with it doesn’t matter what time it is any more with the internet anymore. Because with the internet being global and it can be noon one place and midnight in another so there is some one always on so it may be a minute new to someone and a day old to another.
You are definitely right. I used to aim for the “perfect time”, but then I realized that it’s worthless.
David
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It depends on country also..
Of coz..they can’t be surfing during work right? lol..
I read that said companies lose like $15 billion in productivity every year due to worktime surfing.
Internet is just easy to look busy at the desk. If there wasn’t an Internet, people would still find a way to goof off at work.
Hyped statistic.
Wow thats really a big snowballed sum..