If you explore my rss reader you’d discover: A) that I’m an avid blog reader and B) that most blog post activity is exclusively from Monday to Friday. Few articles are posted on weekends which obviously leaves the reading options a bit on the low side.
Being a blogger myself, I found that posting on weekends, when the content saturation is low, had a positive effect on the impact of those weekend posts. It’s important as a content creator to keep in mind that your audience is online at different times with different expectations.
Different audience on weekends
Much like web traffic in the corporate world, everyone thinks “business” Monday – Wednesday and there is drop off as people begin thinking about the weekend. It’s these business-oriented readers who are generally more likely to read informative blogs and news on weekdays than on weekends. But wait, the younger demographics, 30 and under, may be more active online Saturday’s and Sunday’s and thus more likely to read blogs during these days away from work.
My contention is that the audience differing on weekends makes a lot of sense. Our clientele, composed for the most part of SMEs, start-ups and part-time freelancers, works on weekdays. That’s when they need to be ready and informed. Weekends are normally used to disconnect and spend time away from work. And who can blame them? I only occasionally explore the internet for work-related articles on weekends after a solid work week.
If this is true, we’re are left with more casual and sometimes younger readers. It’s important to test your content type, day and time to strengthen your relationship with your community and expand your readership. Logically speaking, if you publish a complex article about market studies or advanced techniques related to your field on a Sunday morning, it might not be read – at least not until Monday morning.
Common weekend articles
Top or best of week
A popular form of weekend content on many large blogs is “Top (particular number) (topic) This Week” or “Best of the week” type of posts that wraps up what happened during the week.
Inspirational
Another common type of article is the weekly “inspirational” post for creatives, which can be a nice addition if your blog is art, design or photography-related.
Mot de la fin…
In the end, it’s best to write articles that you know your audience is interested in reading. There is no “bad” day to publish an article as long as you take your audience into consideration. Who are your readers on weekends and what do they expect from you? If you aren’t sure, simply ask them.