Shirt Auction Update – Bid is currently at $2525.50 !!
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.
- Comment Likes 
- Comment Dislikes
January 9, 2009 at 3:47 pm
You are definitely right. I used to aim for the “perfect time”, but then I realized that it’s worthless.
David
January 9, 2009 at 11:24 am
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.
December 28, 2008 at 9:34 am
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?
January 3, 2009 at 8:14 am
If you have an archive, then there should be no need for reposts.
December 25, 2008 at 7:20 am
And your good content also find itself getting copied on many blogs, with a probable backlink to you
.
December 24, 2008 at 6:50 am
lol, who cares about the time? It’s always 10am somewhere on planet earth, so…
January 3, 2009 at 12:11 pm
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
December 24, 2008 at 4:42 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 8:51 am
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
December 23, 2008 at 5:53 am
I think you have to promote your content even though it is high quality content.
December 23, 2008 at 8:46 am
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….
December 24, 2008 at 5:03 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 5:50 am
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
December 23, 2008 at 4:02 am
Ohh..The Shirt Bid update price is interesting 2525.50
December 23, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I think it’s Zac Johnson that bid that much.
I hope he wins.
December 23, 2008 at 4:00 am
Thanks for the tips…very important..
December 23, 2008 at 1:51 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 1:29 am
Wrong venue, but check this out:
http://blog.affiliatesummit.com/2008/12/22/new-platinum-pass-winner-twitter-contest/
December 23, 2008 at 1:23 am
Hey Shoe – You should do another round of questions! I’ve got a couple
December 23, 2008 at 12:19 am
One more thing Shoe….You really have a good hold on the contents………I made this assumptions after I read your Title…lol…
December 23, 2008 at 12:17 am
Yes.Shoe..The quality of the post matters and not when you publish.Good,interesting post will always be read
December 23, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Couldn’t agree with you more
December 22, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I definitely agree that good content always bears fruit in the long run
December 23, 2008 at 1:51 am
you are full of shit
December 23, 2008 at 12:41 pm
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.
December 24, 2008 at 5:02 am
I don’t think “Build it & they will come” is BS. At least when it comes to blogs.
December 22, 2008 at 10:35 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Well said , the only matter would be post it fast , if it’s in the news
December 22, 2008 at 10:23 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 9:58 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 9:20 pm
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…
December 22, 2008 at 8:11 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Good tip.
December 22, 2008 at 7:30 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 6:40 pm
yes, getting on digg requires co-ordination with correct time..
research !!
December 22, 2008 at 6:25 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 5:55 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 8:18 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I get too excited .. when I think of something to share I feel the need to share it right away.
December 22, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I post in the morning since most people are active around that time.. especially on twitter.
December 23, 2008 at 7:37 am
Twitter definitely because its a live thingy but blog is timeless..
December 22, 2008 at 4:25 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 4:06 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I find that the best method – write good posts ahead of time and schedule a couple a day – quality AND quantity!!
December 22, 2008 at 3:45 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 3:47 pm
hogwash
. I started writing good content when I had no visitors.
December 22, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Thats how its done!!
December 24, 2008 at 4:58 am
I’ll never understand why some people wait until they get a lot of visitors to start writing good content. Makes no sense.
December 22, 2008 at 3:45 pm
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….
December 22, 2008 at 3:17 pm
BTW:
Your post title is: Good Content Finds Always Finds a Way
Did you mean: Good Content Always Finds a Way
December 22, 2008 at 3:48 pm
no… you missed the point of the post.
December 22, 2008 at 6:03 pm
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”.
December 23, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Killed hehehe
December 22, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Great article, and I have to agree with you that good content will always find a way.
December 22, 2008 at 3:02 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 2:58 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I agree, I’ve stopped caring what Google things or Alexa, as long as all three of my readers like it – I’m good.
December 22, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Honest but poignant. More truth than most of us would ever admit.
December 22, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Your site says you have 32 readers
December 23, 2008 at 4:04 am
in those 32 readers many of them could be feed bots
December 23, 2008 at 4:06 am
sorry it’s now 35 readers including bots.
December 23, 2008 at 8:45 am
Thanks for noticing ;D
December 23, 2008 at 7:36 am
Thats the spirit! Write for your readers and not google.. or anything..
December 23, 2008 at 8:44 am
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.
December 22, 2008 at 2:50 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I agree a lot with you
December 22, 2008 at 11:15 pm
HAHAHAHA
December 23, 2008 at 12:25 am
I assume that you are not John Chow
December 23, 2008 at 3:40 am
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?
December 24, 2008 at 4:53 am
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.
December 22, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Question: Why do you only allow comments that agree with you most of the time?
December 22, 2008 at 3:34 pm
His staff moderates, but approves most of them. If you disagree it will get posted.
December 22, 2008 at 6:03 pm
None of my comments on here have ever gotten moderated, so I don’t know what you mean.
Usually they get through instantly.
December 22, 2008 at 11:02 pm
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.
December 23, 2008 at 3:37 am
Same here…..
December 22, 2008 at 2:34 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I guess we should create more useless money making sites
December 22, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Thats a shame, but he made his money – I guess it is up to bankrate to ensure he continues to provide good content though
December 23, 2008 at 1:15 am
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!
December 23, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Check out mine – I rule lol
December 24, 2008 at 4:51 am
Pretty bold comment for someone that doesn’t know EVERY SINGLE commenter personally. You need to sit down somewhere.
December 24, 2008 at 4:51 am
I didn’t realize that Johns Wu was ripping info.
December 22, 2008 at 2:17 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I agree completely, in fact, I’m getting ready to do this in a few days! (launching my blog)
December 22, 2008 at 2:04 pm
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!!
December 23, 2008 at 7:36 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Well yea – but thats just because of how big they are – and a hello good morning isn’t really good content either hehehe
December 24, 2008 at 2:15 am
Thats exactly my point! hehe..
December 22, 2008 at 1:59 pm
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).
December 22, 2008 at 3:18 pm
They probably publish them in the morning to syndicate the online posts with their offline publications.
December 22, 2008 at 1:51 pm
It is not about the content, it is how you get the content seen for the better or worst.
December 23, 2008 at 3:35 am
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.
December 24, 2008 at 4:47 am
Well, if you use Wordpress, your content will show up in Google search in no time.
December 22, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I never coordinate my blog posts with a time slot, I post them whenever I can. Should I have a set time?
December 22, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Same here.
Sometimes as late as 11:35 PM.
December 23, 2008 at 7:34 am
There is no need to set a time of time but try to be constant with your posting schedule..
December 22, 2008 at 1:48 pm
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.
December 23, 2008 at 3:16 am
What is your URL? I’ll go and have a quick look-see and maybe can give you a few pointers.
December 23, 2008 at 5:55 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 1:45 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 11:13 pm
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
December 23, 2008 at 3:13 am
WordPress has an All in One SEO Pack…..Another great reason to migrate…..
December 23, 2008 at 7:34 am
I believe it has more than what the All in One has to offer.. SEO Effort is constant and ongoing..
December 24, 2008 at 4:46 am
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.
December 22, 2008 at 1:43 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Good point. Gotta be consistent.
December 23, 2008 at 3:06 am
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….
December 23, 2008 at 7:33 am
What do you mean by trends blogging here?
December 22, 2008 at 1:40 pm
LOL! It took me a minute to realize parts of your post were satire.
December 22, 2008 at 1:34 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 11:12 pm
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@!!
December 23, 2008 at 2:58 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 7:31 am
Lol is this a parody?
December 23, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Even from your avatar I detect sarcasm.
But yes, content is key.
December 22, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Thanks you very much, good content – a lot of hosts!
December 22, 2008 at 1:17 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 2:23 pm
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
December 22, 2008 at 3:20 pm
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?
December 22, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Exactly right – best way is to target the broadest audience, but then you encounter the language barriers
December 23, 2008 at 2:34 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 5:52 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 1:08 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Interesting – is this a blog that pulls data from others, or is it all original articles??
December 22, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Not sure.
December 22, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I would assume so…
December 22, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I think it would be because people are just getting into work, and therefore do a lot of surfing.
December 22, 2008 at 4:08 pm
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.
December 22, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Thats a good strategy!! I think people are bored at the start of the day, hence the morning postings
December 23, 2008 at 7:30 am
YUp tested and proven.. agree with this..
December 24, 2008 at 4:43 am
I’ve found that this does work, but I still agree with what Jeremy said.
December 23, 2008 at 2:32 am
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.
December 23, 2008 at 4:03 am
It depends on country also..
December 23, 2008 at 7:38 am
Of coz..they can’t be surfing during work right? lol..
December 23, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I read that said companies lose like $15 billion in productivity every year due to worktime surfing.
December 23, 2008 at 8:19 pm
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.
December 24, 2008 at 2:16 am
Wow thats really a big snowballed sum..