6 Blog Tips to Maximize Your Traffic
When is the Right Time to Hit the Publish Button?
Most of us want to see more traffic and comments on our blogs. All too often we are left scratching our heads and wondering if we’re just talking to ourselves into a closed microphone …
HELLO! Is there anyone out there?
Sound familiar? That can be a lonely and frustrating experience, and a reason why so many of us end up abandoning our blogs.
There are exceptions of course, such as arrogant a-listers who intentionally turn comments off to shut out the noise (i.e. us) so they can hear themselves preach, but that’s another story.
For a long time I struggled with why at times traffic and comments can be so high that I can’t keep up with it, and then there are times when it’s almost non-existent.
At first I thought it was probably due to the popularity of a post. That made sense I guess … if the post sucks then why should they comment.
But then I looked at other blogs who sucked worse than mine and yet they were still getting comments (and traffic I assume). Hmm.
Then I noticed that despite some of my posts being Dugg or Stumbled, the number of comments were not commensurate with the number of hits I was getting. It just made me go hmm even more.
So then I thought it might have something to do with my style of writing that endears readers to leave comments (or not). But that didn’t make sense either because I’m still the same writer that I always was, or at least, I think I am…
Anyhow, I reasoned that it might help if I left open-ended questions at the end of my posts, and for the most part it does work, but again — not always.
So why the inconsistency? There had to be another reason that was escaping me. So I’ve been analyzing my blog statistics a little closer to see if there might be any trends that could help shed light on this perplexing dilemma.
After closer scrutiny I noticed some trends that could be affecting my blog traffic as well as the number of comments that I’m receiving. So I thought I would jot these trends down and share them with you:
1. I’ve noticed that traffic and commenting on this blog is slower on weekends. So I’m assuming that my readers are too busy going out for dinner, socializing and carrousing, spending time with family, or visiting the local pub (which also reminds me that I need to get a real life beyond my blog).
But I was doing it just the opposite. I was writing most of my posts on the weekend and very little during the weekdays.
Duh!
2. Alternatively, peak traffic and commenting seems to happen more on weekdays between Monday through Friday (with Saturdays being the slowest day). Again, that’s probably because of reasons mentioned above, and also because readers are blogging at work behind the boss’s back.
Don’t worry I won’t tell ;-)
3. So given these observations, from now on I’m going to leave the weekends for tweaking the template or pruning my archives, and post mostly Monday through Friday.
You can of course still post on the weekends, but my advice is to keep the best ones for the weekdays when your traffic is at it’s peak.
4. The best time that I’ve found for publishing posts is in the morning hours Eastern Standard time U.S., when people are rising and going to work.
My largest demographic for traffic seems to be coming from the U.S., and the rest is a toss up between Canada, India, the UK, Netherlands and Scandinavia, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America.
This won’t be easy for Blogger users who have no way of scheduling posting in advance like Wordpress can. (The rumour is that might change in the near future).
That totally sucks, and means that Blogger users will have to stay up later or get up earlier to hit the publish button. It’s also one more reason why I’ve moved over to Wordpress.
5. Of course your traffic stats may tell you a different story, so you will have to adjust your schedule accordingly.
6. So my advice is take a closer look at your traffic stats, and you should be publishing your best posts in the morning of your target demographic, and on the days when your traffic is busiest.
Makes sense don’t you think? After all, what have you got to lose?
Of course there are other blog tips to consider like the quality of your content and your writing voice but that will be another post.
* This post has been recently updated
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The ability to schedule posts within WordPress is an absolute beauty. There have been a number of times when I’ve been inspired to write something at the weekend but, as you say, the traffic levels tend to drop and your post gets buried in the Monday morning RSS avalanche so I’ve timestamped the post to appear on the Monday lunchtime.
One other thing to consider, particularly if you’re writing something you hope to get some Digg or Stumble lovin’, is to schedule the post to publish somewhere around 5am GMT. The reason being is that you’ll hit the AsiaPac areas at a reasonable time (late afternoon/early evening), get Europe as they’re waking up and logging in and, if you’ve done it right, your post will already have traction by the time North America wakes up.
Another reason I need to move to WordPress, I think. I would love the ability to schedule posts.
I’ve just recently stopped posting on weekends, trying to time my posts to coincide with my heaviest traffic, which is smack dab in the middle of the work week.
I generally work on my personal blog M-Th, and leave Fri-Sun for maintenance, reviewing stats, research and other small things. So I usually don’t post anything new on the weekends due to the slow down in traffic. But…I’ve seen with one of my other sites that visitors actually increase over the weekend. Crazy how that works, depending on the site.
I use Pivot which has an option to schedule posts as well. I use it instead of Wordpress simply because I still haven’t finished the “five minute installation”! Me and mySQL don’t get on!
Interesting that everyone seems to favour a different publishing time. It all comes down to what your stats tell you and the demographic that you are going after.
I might experiment with Mike’s schedule just to see what happens. Thanks Mike. Always full of great ideas.
Kathy and Sean, just having the ability to schedule posts over a holiday would be nice wouldn’t it.
Susan, higher traffic especially on a Saturday is really surprising.
Thats what I have been noticing on my blog. More traffic on M -F
As usual, you’re right on topic. You may have noticed I have been slipping on my blogging. I had no idea that “this” would take on a life of it’s own. It is an excellent venue for sharing but can consume a lot of time.
I no longer check stats or depend on comments to keep mine going. There is no rhyme or reason as to why people don’t comment or when people read it. It’s just there and everybody and their brother has a blog now. It is incredible how time consuming it all can be.
I still love reading yours!
Keep ‘em coming.
Like Ticha, I’ve given up trying to figure it out! I blog when I blog, and if someone shows up and wants to make a comment, great! If not, that’s ok too! BTW, I’ve noticed you haven’t left a comment on my last two posts! Heh heh! (This is my weird humor in case you don’t get it!)
Right now I’m focusing on porting my blogs over to Wordpress. So I have a lot work ahead of me and not much time for visiting other blogs.
But I will get there when I can. So good to have you back again Kuanyin.
Thanks Tica.I really enjoy your blog as well. Especially the pics and the every day life you portray in Costa Rica. It’s like a mini vacation for me.
Thanks Bloke. I posted “Escape to…” with you in mind. Drop by and check it out my photos of Manuel Antonio National Park.
Will do.
Thanks for the tips, appreciate the advice, and i’m sure you’re right about the timing of a post. But i’m currently travelling in the some of the worlds more off beat countries- Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan- i’m happy just to find an internet connection that lets me upload a few snaps and a couple of words!
Great sight though, i’ll keep looking you up (when i find a connection thats not dial-up!).
Dan
Hey Dan, you be careful on your journey there. Thanks for dropping by and the comments. Keep in touch and let me know how things are going.
…BB
I agreed traffic is usually low on the weekend. I noticed too.
People read blogs during the summer???
After one year of blogging, there are too many unknown variables in determining how traffic and comments are related to my blogs.
For example, one post can have 300 visitors and no comments in a day whereas another post can have 30 visitors with 27 comments. Based on the time spent at each post, both posts appeared to be equally important to my visitors.
I used to stress over stats and comments or the lack of comments and used to follow the path of a Blogaholic as noted in your previous post until I relearned the secret of Blogging fun for me was writing the post.
Last summer I wrote weekend posts. This summer weekend posts are scheduled in advance so I can enjoy the global warming before another ice age hits us during the winter.
Debbie Dolphin’s last blog post..Lighthouse Restoration Initiative Election
I agree entirely Debbie … if you are just blogging for fun. But if you are a professional blogger then checking your stats is a good place to start. Also, like I said at the end of the post “there are other things to consider like the quality of your content and your writing voice but that will be another post”.
Btw, I even write posts in the summer
Blog Bloke reply on June 20th, 2008 12:52 pm:
Sorry to say, a little disappointed here BB. Doesn’t this fall into the land of obvious? Aren’t just about all non-ecommerce businesses including blogging better M-F?
Btw, another update might be in order, I believe Blogger now has the post-date feature
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..7 Turbo Writing Tips
Sorry to disappoint bro. I’ll try harder next time
It seems to me that could also be said for about 99% of the crap that you read on all the other copycat blogs about blogging don’t you think. Don’t forget — what is obvious to some might also be a secret to another. Regarding Blogger the last time I checked it was still in draft but I could be wrong since I’m no longer using it.
Blog Bloke reply on June 20th, 2008 7:47 pm:
LOL OK perhaps “disappointented” was a little harsh. I know you’re right. After all, my primary audience is the new to semi-new also, so a lot, if not most of mine is OBVIOUS also lol…to us that is.
I dunno, it just seemed ultra obvious to me. Weekends traditionally being “time off” and all.
This is so not coming out right in text so I’ll stop, feel free to completely disregard lol.
Regarding blogger - yea I think I heard it maybe month or two ago from BloggerBuster?
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..7 Turbo Writing Tips
Traffic on my blog decreases to some extent in the weekend. So I don’t publish much in the weekend days.
Anil Gupta’s last blog post..Keyword Elite amazing keywords tool from Brad Callen
Jun 24th, 2008 at 9:09 am
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