Rookie Blogging Mistake: Posting on the Weekend
Posted on September 29, 2007 by
Adie 
Blogging 
21 Comments
I just realized I’ve been making a rookie blogging mistake. About two week ago, I asked Adie (the owner of this blog) if I could post lower my posting schedule to 3-4 times a week instead of 7 times a week. I asked for this because I wanted to spend time marketing instead of just blogging. He was kind enough to let me start marketing and post less often.
Well, I think so far it’s been a good idea. I did some marketing on StumbleUpon for a couple of my posts and got a bunch of traffic. However, while StumbleUpon has been working out well, I also had a huge drop in traffic. I think a big reason for the drop is because I’ve posting on the weekend.
Oops.
The weekend is when traffic numbers go down. In fact, I think even on Friday traffic goes down. From Friday to Sunday, less people are online.
Many of you bloggers probably already know about the lower weekend traffic. However, for those that don’t, if you’re posting less than 5 times a week, try to make all your posts between Monday and Thursday.
Posting Frequency
I’d like your feedback on my posting frequency. I’ve been writing at least 1400 words a week. If you had your choice, would you like three 400 word posts weekly or seven 200 word posts?
I’m not saying I will do whatever you all want, but I will definitely take it into consideration. I know I can’t write 400 word posts everyday. There’s marketing to be done and that takes time. Also, I don’t write very fast and I need time for my full-time job. And I still want a social life :)
So, if you have time, please leave your opinion below about my posting frequency. Thanks beforehand and also thanks for reading.
Popularity: 10% [?]
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my full RSS feed.You can also subscribe by Email.Related Posts
I read via my feed reader, so in all honesty it doesn’t matter to me. I have my feed reader open all the time, so unless I’m away for a trip, I catch my daily digest even on the weekends.
But posting is down about 50% on most of the blogs I read. Most don’t post on weekends, and to be honest, I don’t blame them. Have some fun. I know I use the weekend to write posts for the upcoming week (or at least brainstorm).
Thanks for the post
I was just sitting here looking at my weekend stats wondering why they had suddenly died. Your post stopped me reaching for the antidepressants :)Thanks for sharing this.
On the question of number of posts, I attempt to post at least twice per day on each of 2 blogs.
http://stuff4restaurants.com/blog2
http://stuff4business.com
Hey I don’t think you are making any big mistake in your blogging business, you just need to plan your time well, plan long term with the priority ranking, I am sure you will be not far to succeeding in blogging business. Keep up your good work friend!
Jack Lan
http://www.lanzijun.com
Hey, you are a free man. You don’t have to write for me, you don’t owe me anything.
Write if you like and don’t write if you don’t like it.
Online business is all about freedom not about HAVING to write since my readers want it. That’s how you lose freedom again. ;)
There are zillion posts out there that I can read instead of yours, don’t worry.
Once you have something really interesting to say, post it and I’ll come check it out.
I’ve heard this before, but I honestly don’t get it.
Why does it matter when you post your articles? People who read by RSS will see the posts regardless. People who visit your site will see your posts regardless. People who search will see your posts regardless. Why does it matter???
Yehuda
I honestly think posting on the weekend is great even if the traffic numbers are often times lower. Who cares if there is lower internet activity on the weekends or not. Whether that is a fact or not, you still have readers. It’s not like the count is 0. You don’t have to necessarily write on the weekend (just timestamp or something if you want the free time), but that shouldn’t affect the fact that you still have readers and posting on weekends is not a n00b mistake.
How would you feel if a news website decides not to update between Friday and Sunday just because traffic is lower during those days… Sure news is more important but it illustrates a very important point, as long as you have readers, you should post rather than avoid it.
I think the point really was that the post has more impact if it’s seen as fresh - so you might as well get fresh posts in front of the biggest audience.
[...] Blogging Expectations Do Busy Readers Dig Deeper Into Our Blogs? Write The Way You Talk To Liven Up Your Blog Australian Blogging Conference and Why I am Happy I am A Blogger Embracing the blogging chaos Finding Your Blogging DNA The State of Blogging Rookie Blogging Mistake: Posting on the Weekend [...]
I’m just starting out on my blog so I’ve started out by posting daily. The only reason I could think of why posting on the weekend would actualyl LOWER your traffic numbers would be if people loaded up their feed readers on a Monday morning and felt overwhelmed by the backlog of posts that they now have to get through.
What I’m doing is posting my best stuff during the week, still posting on the weekdn but posting the less useful posts like link roundups and progress updates. If people just skim over these they wont be missing much.
As a blog reader, I usually like less frequent, but longer length posts. I’d much rather see 3-4 good posts that realyl deliver some value rather than a whole bunch of tiny little posts that just don’t say very much.
Also, I would imagine that longer posts that deliver more value are more likely to get bookmarked and linked to.
The competition for attention is much lower on the weekend, therefore I think not posting on the weekend is a mistake.
I used to post 6 or 7 days a week, but cut back to 5 for a better balance.
Even though traffic certainly dips on the weekends, I found that if I posted on Sat or Sun, it brought in more traffic than if I didn’t. Probably because most people weren’t finding new content elsewhere, so they were coming to my site because I was one of the few with fresh content.
If you can pull it off, it is worth it to post on weekends, but like I said, I needed the time off (as I post this comment on a Sunday! Doh!!) ;)
From a marketing point of view, I guess there are factors that would favor posting in the week days as you suggest. From my point of view, it doesn’t matter because I read your posts whenever I have time.
On the other hand, whenever I have time is typically in the morning when I fire up my laptop at work- and work is preferrably week days. So maybe you have a point there.
Any ways I think it will be hard to measure the difference.
I would not mind if you post even once a month, as far as that post is worth reading it. So, post frequency for you might not matter, while for the blog owner it definitively does matter.
My strategy is to make posts that primarily target social media late Sunday or early Monday and then again on Wednesday/Thursday. I do posts targeted toward search engine traffic on other week days. On the weekend I’ll usually post ramblings type topics or one-in-a-series posts targeted at my small core audience.
Dee, there are some “expert” bloggers who’ll suggest you DO blog on weekends. That’s b/c there’s less to read on popular sites then.
That said, understand that if you dont’ have a popular site, don’t waste your time posting on weekends. I’m being blunt, but that’s my feeling, even for my own sites. Instead, spend your time doing a bit of research and getting ahead on your articles.
Posting atleast once a day would have me coming back more. If a blog has the same post at the top for too long I soon move on and delete it from my favourites.
Id say 200 word posts every day would be the best, as long as theyre about something and have a point, it will keep me coming back.
To be honest a blog that updates 2/3 times a day is the ideal, but then you either need to be a full time blogger or have more than one author.
jouer online poker tour…
Thanks jouer au poker internet pacifique poker regles du poker apprendre a jouer o poker regle de jeu de poker…
jeux de groupe…
All regles du stud poker jeu de poker sur pc jouer au poker on line casino poker texas play free 7 card stud…
gioco black jack free…
As mentioned casino italiani on line macchine video poker on line casino regole baccarat giochi online roulette…
le poker en ligne français…
Da poker regeln blind poker net de poker gratuites débutant video poker online gratis multiplayer poker texas holdem…
juego la ruleta…
Qui video poker pc poker gratuites sans mise cartas de poker gratis poker online casinos descargas paginas internet…