Timing is everything.
There are many instances in life where timing can be responsible for the success or failure of an action. For instance, if you schedule an important meeting at noon, and all of the attendees are hungry, you probably won’t have a very productive session.
The same stays true to content writing. Publish a blog post at the right time and you will get tons of qualified traffic. Publish it when no one is online, and you’ve just got yourself a ghost article no one reads.
The big question is when it’s the best time to publish a blog post? What hour? What day of the week?
Luckily, you don’t have to guess the answer. In this post, we’re going to take a look at six studies that analyze how timing can affect readership:
1. The Best Time to Getting Traffic.
Content writing has taken off. Every day, more than 2 million blog posts are being published. The competition is stiff so you need all the help you can get to stand out.
The folks at KISSmetrics, HubSpot, and Search Engine Land, who specialize in copy writing services, conducted a study and learned some utterly fascinating things about the best time to publish a blog post.
Here’s what they found out:
- If you to get the most traffic, the best time to publish a blog post is Monday, 11 am EST;
- If you want to receive more comments, the best time to publish a blog is Saturday, 9 am EST;
- If you want more inbound links, the best publishing days are Monday and Thursday, and the best hour is 7 am EST;
2. The Best Time to Post for Maximum Shares.
If you publish an article when your audience is not active, you won’t see much engagement. But, at the same time, if you share them during popular hours, you will get lots of visitors and engagement, but your bounce rates will increase as well. So, what’s the solution?
Surprisingly, a study by TrackMaven found that post published during non-peak hours tend to get the most social engagement and shares. According to the study, articles published on Saturday and Sundays received more shares than those published during the week between 9 pm to midnight.
3. The Best Day to Share Blog Posts on Facebook.
BuzzSumo analyzed over 500 million posts collected from over three million Facebook pages and discovered some truly interesting things about the best time and days to share content on the social media network.
According to the study, Tuesday and Wednesday are the most popular days of the week, while Saturday and Sunday are less popular. When it comes to the best time, Buzzsumo found that between 10 am and 1 pm Eastern, posts get the most engagement, while between 11 pm and 2pm Eastern, users are less active.
4. The Best Time for Increasing Pageviews.
There are many content writing tricks that can get more people to read your blog posts, such as adding value to your articles, making your content visually appealing or optimizing your posts. One trick that is often overlooked by content writers is publishing their articles at the right time and day to maximize their pageviews.
One study from Shareaholic found that pageviews are highest for posts that are published on Monday, between 9 and 10 am Eastern. On the other hand, traffic dropped dramatically for blog posts published after 12 pm Eastern.
5. The Best Time for Going Viral.
Only a few content writers seem to know the secrets to viral success. They arise from the millions of articles, videos, and photos shared online and spark conversations.
What makes content go viral? Well, among the many different factors, such as triggering high-arousal emotions or appealing to people’s narcissistic side, timing plays a crucial role, as well.
BuzzSumo analyzed 100 million pieces of content to determine what makes content viral. They found that blog posts that are published on Tuesdays gained more social shares than those published on other days of the week. Of course, date and time are not the only factors that make blog posts go viral. Content length, post type, and images played an important role, as well.
6. Use Your Own Data to Find the Best Time for Your Blog.
The studies shared in this article should give a good idea of when it’s the best time to publish your content. However, results might vary. Your audience might have different interests or habits and what worked for other content writers might not suit your unique situation.
The best way to find out is to test. Look at your internal data and figure out when your audience is most active. Publish articles at different hours and during different days of the week and analyze the results carefully.
With a combination of scientifical studies and your own data, you should be able to figure out the best time to publish a blog post. Over time, you will get to know your readers’ habits and needs so well that you won’t need a study to tell when or how to engage them.
