Building a better blog
Three links to advice:
1. When to post: This isn't the worst time to post items on the blog, but it is close. At least according to one study. According to Connecticut software developer Jake Luciani, "between 1 pm and 3 pm PST (after lunch) or between 5 pm and 7 pm PST (after work) are the best times and Thursday is the best day. The worst time to post? Between 3 and 5 pm PST on the weekends -- nobody cares."
2. Dave Caolo on 5 ways to improve your blog. I need to take his advice. I fall down on each point.
3. Darren Rowse on 9 essential questions to ask yourself before you write. No. 8 -- Could I give this post a little more time before publishing to 'mature'? Would coming back to it tomorrow help me to add depth to it? Good idea. See ya.
Comments (3)
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On number 1: I've been watching my blog stats for 8 years now and my own numbers appear to indicate that 7-9 am are the best times to post as most of my traffic comes between 9 and noon EST. In other words, most of my readers are killing time while on the job. I suspect the same is true for the N&R blogs.
My weekend readership is huge. But it could be my blog is the exception that proves the rule.
Time of day posting is something that any profit oriented blogger should study and understand-- most don't have a clue.
On number 2: One needs to remember that less than 1% of Internet users even know what an RSS feed is, much less use a feed reader. Sure, bloggers know what RSS feeds are but too many bloggers only write for other bloggers. Personally, I'd rather aim for the 99% of readers who don't use feed readers and don't consider themselves bloggers thereby using that valued online real estate for something that turns a profit.
On number 3: I've been following Darren Rowse since about the time he started blogging-- one can learn a lot from what he writes but one needs remember the only blog guru is Confuseus of Confuseus.com
Posted on May 4, 2008 8:12 PM
While on the subject of blogging, what has happened to N&R reporter Margaret Banks? I don't recall seeing anything recently that she wrote.
Posted on May 4, 2008 10:53 PM
Margaret has gone here.
Posted on May 5, 2008 7:21 AM