Category: Content Marketing

Knowing the best time to publish a blog post can help you reach more people and boost your engagement whenever you publish a new post.

What is the best time for your new blog post?

Many bloggers prefer to publish their posts at a time when everyone is online. Similarly, some bloggers publish affiliate marketing content when their audience has time to engage with their content and share it with friends. How do you determine what these times are?

The good news is that many brands have already researched this. The bad news is that the results are very conflicting.

For example, consider the recommended time to publish a new blog post to earn social shares.

1. The Best Time to Publish for Social Shares

When they researched the best day to publish posts to enjoy high social shares, TrackMaven found that Sunday works best. In contrast, Backlinko and BuzzSumo found no difference in the number of social shares across the week’s days.

If you’re already confused, prepare to get even more confused. The answer to the best time to publish a blog post for social shares is even more complex.

TrackMaven recommends publishing at 3 p.m., but Shareaholic recommends 9–10 a.m. Furthermore, Shareaholic outlines 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. as the peak time for social shares.

Researchers have also recommended publishing your blog post at other times, depending on your end goal. Consider these times when determining the best time to publish a blog post.

In particular, Shareaholic, BuzzSumo, and Kissmetrics have recommended the best time to publish if you want to attract high traffic, a high volume of comments, and high authority backlinks.

2. The Best Time to Publish for Traffic

According to Kissmetrics and Neil Patel, the best time to publish if you want many page views is Monday at 11 a.m. Similarly, Shareaholic has recommended Monday at 9 a.m.

3. The Best Time to Publish for Comments

According to research by Kissmetrics, the best time to publish your blog post is Saturday at 9 a.m. EST if you want high engagement.

4. The Best Time to Publish for Backlinks

Kissmetrics also recommends publishing your blog post early on Monday or Thursday morning if you want to attract backlinks. According to their study, you can earn these backlinks as early as 7 a.m. EST.

What Is Truly the Best Time to Publish a Blog Post?

As you can see, if you pay attention to all the research, your head will spin before determining the best time to publish a blog post.

Here at Kontely, we like to present confusing data in infographics or graphs to make it easier to understand. However, these recommendations are too contradictory for us to simplify, even with the magic of an infographic.

We aren’t going to put all this contradictory information in one place. However, the least we can do is find some common elements in these research results. From what we can see, it seems that:

• Monday morning between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. is an excellent time to publish if you want to attract traffic
•  9 a.m. to 5 p.m. is the peak time for generating social shares
•  Off-peak times like weekends are the best time to publish if you wish to high engagement

In addition, according to “The Science of Timing” webinar hosted by Dan Zarrella:

• 80% of blog readers read blog posts in the morning
•  Conversely, 60% of men will read a blog post in the evening compared to 50% of women

In other words, Zarrella believes that if your target audience is men, you will have more page views in the evening.

This might seem like a simple solution to our problem. However, you can’t just slot these times into your blog editorial calendar without trial and error to determine if they work for your brand.

The Best Time to Publish a Blog Post for Your Brand

Let’s be honest for a moment here. We could have done the research and then given you one magical time to publish all your blog posts from now on. Even if we do that, many factors come into play when finding the best time to post your content.

The optimal time prescribed by one researcher may not work for your brand, industry, or target audience.

So, instead of trying to arrive at one magical answer to this question, we’d like to help you figure out the best time to publish a blog post specifically for your brand. To do this, we’d like to shift your focus.

We won’t consider the answer to this question as a single optimal time. Instead, let’s admit that there are many ways to optimize the timing of your blog posts. How do you optimize this timing?

1. Publish Consistently

Nailing the timing might be a big deal to you. Even so, publishing blog posts consistently is far more critical than publishing them at the right time. If you publish consistently, then you can also:

2. Build Trust

Blogging consistently builds trust with your target audience, who slowly rely on you as a source of valuable information.

Once your readers know that you publish on specific days or several times a week, they will start coming to you to check out your new pieces. This will happen even when you haven’t told them there is a new blog post. Reading your blog will become a natural part of their daily or weekly routine.

People who rely on you to educate and entertain them are more likely to become long-term customers over time.

3. Boost Your Organic Traffic

Blogging consistently is also good for your SEO ranking on Google. If you’re committed to posting consistently, then Google will recognize you as a source of consistent information. As a result, you will rank higher in the search results when someone searches for a topic you’ve written about.

4. Build Brand Awareness

By improving your SEO ranking on Google, you also improve the chances of people stumbling upon your blog. If more people stumble upon your blog, then more people will know who your brand is.

So, what does it mean to post consistently?

According to a study by HubSpot, brands that publish 16 (or more) times each month get 3.5 times more traffic than those that publish 0 to 4 times monthly. That translates to 4 posts each week.

However, it’s essential to consider your team size before you commit to this blogging schedule. It might be unrealistic for one person to write four blog posts each week if they also have other responsibilities.

If you have several content creators, it’s easy to divide those 16 blog posts among them. However, most brands only have one blogger. In this case, 2-3 blog posts a week might be a more bearable workload for them.

Remember, quality is always better than quantity. Writing two or three excellent blog posts is better than writing four sloppy ones.

If you want to publish 16 blog posts a week but have a small team, then guest posting is a good option.

5. Post Time-sensitive Articles Immediately

Sometimes, you have a time-sensitive article to publish. For example, you could have written a review of the newest iPhone or a blog post related to recent news.

You can’t wait for a prescribed time to arrive before publishing your blog post. If you do that, you risk losing readers to competitors who’ve published their content before you. By the time you publish your blog post, your target audience will have gotten their information elsewhere.

If your blog article contains breaking news, you should publish it immediately. This will help you engage your audience while they’re still interested.

6. Profile Your Target Audience

Do you work in the B2B industry? If so, publish as many weekly blog posts as possible.

A B2B target audience will engage more with your content during the week. This is when they’re looking for solutions to their business problems, so you should capitalize on this time.

You should take time to develop a B2B content marketing strategy to effectively convert this B2B crowd into paying clients.

7. Pay Attention to Changing Seasons

Changing seasons affect the type of content your target audience wants to read. For example, people devour blog posts about vacations and travel during the summer. Similarly, people will look for more educational material if there’s a massive conference in your industry.

In the same way, people will be more open to informative content during the week. On the other hand, they will want more entertaining content when trying to relax at the end of the week.

8. Find Out What Works for You

Above all, you need to find out what timing works best for you to optimize the timing of your blog posts.

Relying on the peak times recommended by Kissmetrics and BuzzSumo is a good idea. On the one hand, adopting these times will help you reach large audiences. On the other hand, you’ll be competing with hundreds of different brands who are publishing at the same time.

In other words, if you publish during peak times, your content might be drowned out by all your competitors. Ultimately, your target audience might never see your blog posts if this happens.

For this reason, it’s essential to figure out what works for your brand. You can do this in one of two ways:

9. Trial and Error

You can publish content at different times and then analyze the metrics to determine the best times. You can use tools like Google Analytics or Ahrefs to measure your website traffic and engagement with your content.

10. Analyze Your Data First

Alternatively, you can measure your website traffic first, then determine what times will work best in the future.

11. Prioritize The Time You Share

The time when you share your blog post on social media is more critical than when you publish. Different social media platforms have different recommended times for posting. However, finding out what works for your social media audience is still essential.

What Is the Best Time to Publish a Blog Post for My Brand?

As you can see, there is no one answer to this question. Many factors, including the content of your blog post, your target audience, and your industry, will influence the best time to publish your blog post.

Instead of trying to find one magical time, it’s better to find out how to optimize the timing of your blog posts. With the tips above, you’ll find many optimal times for publishing posts in the future.

Whether you’re a solo blogger or part of a team, staying organized and focused is crucial to success as a content creator. A clear plan can make multiple tasks, deadlines, and creative ideas manageable. That’s where a blog editorial calendar comes in handy. It’s not just a tool; it’s your trusty sidekick in the ever-evolving world of content creation. Let’s dive into why a blog editorial calendar is essential and how you can tailor it to suit your needs.

Why Is a Blog Editorial Calendar Important?

Picture this: You wake up on a Monday morning, ready to tackle the week ahead. But as you sit at your desk, you realize you have no idea what to write about for your next blog post. Panic sets in, and before you know it, you’re spiraling down the rabbit hole of writer’s block.

Does this scenario sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. Many content creators need help with consistency and staying on track with their content schedules. That’s where a blog editorial calendar swoops in to save the day. How?

1. Consistency Breeds Success

Consistency is the backbone of any successful content strategy. Whether you aim to attract new readers, engage with your existing audience, or boost your SEO efforts, publishing regular, high-quality content is vital. A blog editorial calendar keeps you accountable and ensures you’re consistently delivering valuable content to your audience.

2. The SEO Advantage

Ah, SEO – the holy grail of digital marketing. It’s no secret that ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs) can improve your website traffic. But here’s the catch: Google loves fresh, relevant, dated content. By planning your blog posts, you can strategically incorporate keywords, optimize your content, and increase your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Read Also: How to Use SERP Analysis for Keyword Research and Content Creation

3. Team Collaboration Made Easy

If you’re part of a content team, you know how challenging it can be to keep everyone on the same page. With multiple projects in the works, communication can quickly become chaotic. A blog editorial calendar provides a centralized hub where team members can cooperate, share ideas, and track improvement, fostering a sense of unity and purpose.

Read Also: What is a Creative Brief in Content Marketing?

So, What Should I Include in My Editorial Calendar?

It’s easy to think of your editorial calendar as a regular calendar. However, if you do this, you will be disappointed with the results.

Certain non-negotiable elements exist for this calendar to work well for you and your team. Here are the sections you absolutely must include in your calendar for it to work:

1) Blog Title

Your blog title should be laid out to help focus your writing. In addition to highlighting the title for each post, it helps to have a brainstorming section where you and your team can add title ideas as they come to you.

To develop the perfect blog title, start with a popular keyword. Each keyword you use can generate several blog titles.

For example, let’s assume you own a flower shop and run a blog that teaches people how to care for their plants. The keyword “gardening tools” can branch out into many blog titles.

As shown in the Google Trends search below, other related keywords also famous for this search include “gardening tools for kids” and “gardening tools names.”

So, if you start with “gardening tools” as a keyword, you can generate at least two other blog titles. However, your creativity should continue where Google Trends suggestions continue. You can also write a blog post about “gardening tools for the winter,” for instance. Or “easy-to-use gardening tools.”

If the original keyword “gardening tools” is included in your blog title, your posts about gardening tools will likely be recommended by Google to people searching for “gardening tools.”

As you can see, once you start with a focused and popular keyword, the possibilities for blog titles are endless. This is just one way having an editorial blog calendar should streamline your teamwork.

With this brainstorming process, you can wave goodbye to the days when you used to wrack your brain for something to write about. As long as you have a permanent section of your calendar dedicated to brainstorming blog titles, you won’t run out of things to write about anymore.

2) Keywords

Speaking of keywords, each blog post in progress should have a corresponding keyword assigned to it. This helps the author refine their writing according to expectations.

As with the blog titles, it’s also a good idea to have a running list of keywords to add to as you go. Seeing all the keywords you can use in one place helps you avoid writing one article after another with the same keyword, which can get very tiring—both for you and your audience.

Read Also: Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO

If you can see all your keywords in one place, you can offer your audience some variety by switching from one keyword to another as you write subsequent blog posts. You can also increase your domain authority over time by writing about various topics.

3) Blog Post Status

Your editorial calendar should also have a section for each blog title that indicates the status of that content piece. Is it pending approval, or has it already been approved? Is it under editing? Has it already been published?

Read Also: The Best Time to Publish a Blog Post for Your Brand

Highlighting this information will save time and help everyone on your team to be on the same page. If you can see the status of each piece of content, you no longer have to keep pinging your content creators to find out how far along they are in the process.

4) Deadlines

To optimize teamwork, you must include multiple deadlines for each piece of assigned work in your editorial calendar.

You should have approval, editing, and publishing deadlines. Highlight the stages of your blog post before it’s live on your site.

While assigning these deadlines, you should remember that some tasks—like editing—require 2-3 days’ lead time. It would be unfair to write the first draft of your blog article and then expect your editor to have it done within an hour, especially if they’re multitasking.

Be fair with your deadlines so that everyone on your team can do their best work.

5) Links to Assets

Once you’ve written and submitted the first draft of a blog article, it’s helpful to the rest of the team to share any links to media you used within the article. Dedicating a section of your calendar to this will help save time when the final article is being pulled together or repurposed later.

6) Repurposing Opportunities

Summarizing your blog post in a different format, such as an image or video, can help drive traffic to the original post.

After you’ve published each blog post, it can be helpful for the other content creators on your team to brainstorm creative ways to reuse this content for your social media channels.

Deciding how to repurpose each original piece of content can help you add some variety to your social media content calendar template later.

7) Publishing Platforms

So, your blog post has passed through the approval, writing, and editing stages and is ready for publishing.

Where do you plan to publish it?

Once you decide where each content will be published, indicating this on your calendar is essential.

Getting the placement of your content right is crucial to ensuring your target audience sees it after you’ve worked so hard. For this reason, you don’t want any confusion about where to publish your blog post when it’s done and where it will be shared.

Highlighting the platforms in your calendar will help the person in charge of publishing and sharing each piece of content put it in the right place at the right time.

What Types of Blog Editorial Calendars Can I Use?

A few options are available, from DIY content calendars to comprehensive project management solutions. Let’s review the types of calendars you can use with your team.

a) Excel or Google Sheets

Excel or Google Sheets are an excellent option for people who would like to be involved in creating and developing their calendars. Both allow you to get hands-on and create your calendar from scratch or download a pre-designed calendar and adapt it to fit your team’s needs.

Image source: Vertex 42

b) Kanban Board

A Kanban board is a style of editorial calendar that offers users interactive cards that can be dragged to different sections as required. This is an ideal solution for a team of highly visual people. Trello and Asana are good examples of this.

Image source: Book Bumblings

c) Project Management Tools

Sometimes, you should skip designing your calendar and use a comprehensive project management tool to manage your team’s workflow. Editorial calendars help everyone see what stage each content piece is at, the assigned teams, and a priority list of upcoming content.

Once you’ve updated the calendar, it is easy to transition to the writing process using the powerful content editor built in. A project management solution can help you manage all the content for your blogs under one roof.

Putting It All Together

A blog editorial calendar is more than just a tool – it’s a roadmap to success. By incorporating the human element into your content planning process, you can stay organized, inspired, and focused on creating content that resonates with your audience. So grab your calendar, gather your team, and start crafting your next masterpiece. Your readers are waiting.

Remember, it’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. So take your time, unleash your creativity, and let your voice shine in every blog post you create. Happy blogging!