Content marketers need to generate traffic and leads. So, it’s essential that our content reaches as many people within our target audience as possible.
There’s an optimal time and day you should be publishing content on your blog. With this information, you can schedule and plan your larger content pieces in advance, knowing you were doing everything to maximize its exposure.
How Much Blog Content to Post Per Day & When to Post It by @ChrisBoulas
Below, I’m going to share a few Kapost-specific findings as a result of an A/B test we ran, and how we use this data to inform our content marketing strategy.
In a second post later this week, I’ll show you how you can conduct the same type of analysis based on your own historical data.
Methodology
- The conclusions below are based on Unique Visitors from blog posts between January-April 2014. Traffic was measured solely on the date the blog post was published.
- Times are published in Mountain Standard Time (MST)
Conclusion #1: Publishing 2 Posts Per Day Yields More Traffic Than 1 Post
This first one may seem obvious. More content = more traffic, right?
Right. Blog traffic increased by an average of 63% on days when two posts were published versus one. However, perhaps even more interesting is that on two-post days individual posts received, on average, 24% less traffic than on single-post days.
How This Data Informed Our Strategy
“On two-post days individual posts received, on average, 24% less traffic than on single-post days.”
When we want to drive as many people as possible to an individual post, like when launching a new content pillar campaign, only one post is scheduled for that day. On these days, more traffic to a single post trumps more overall traffic to the blog.
However, because we have overarching traffic and conversion goals to meet, we post two posts a day at least two times per week to drive more visitors to the Content Marketeer.
Conclusion #2: Maximize Traffic by Publishing Posts Early in the Day
During January-March (Q1), we published posts inconsistently and during a wide range of hours (between 8am and 5pm). As we reviewed the raw data, we found that the 8am time drove significantly more traffic compared to just an hour later at 9am.
To maximize content reach, we needed to get more specific.
We wanted to validate these results by running an A/B test. In the month of April, we tested three different publish times: 6am, 8am, and 10am. The test confirmed the power of publishing early in the day.
6am posts drove 30% more traffic than 8am posts, and 70% more traffic than 10am posts.
It should also be noted that this mirrored our social media data. Earlier posts drove higher clicks and engagement on social channels, which are significant traffic drivers for Kapost. Combined, these insights provided a powerful argument for early posts and promotion.
How This Data Informed Our Strategy
Most of the traffic to our blog is to specific posts. This is due to the high volume of traffic that comes from social channels, and our promotions rarely link to the homepage of the Content Marketeer.
With that in mind, we began posting articles 6am, with social promotions scheduled early in the morning then throughout the day. On two post days, posts go live at at 6am and 6:01am. This gives us an opportunity to promote both articles early in the morning, and drive more traffic during our highest engagement times on social.
The only outliers to these time slots are newsjacking posts, which are often unplanned and rely on a fast turnaround whenever news breaks.
Conclusion #3: Tuesday and Wednesday Receive More Blog Traffic
When we analyzed how days of the week performed against unique visitors to the blog (not limited to individual posts per the above conclusions), we noticed Tuesday and Wednesday receive more traffic relative to the rest of the week. Before working on this analysis, I would have guessed that Monday would produce more traffic than Wednesday, so this finding was a surprise and presented a clear opportunity to plan for larger content pieces and campaign launches.
How This Data Informed Our Strategy
To take advantage of high traffic days, important articles are most often scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday. This includes content campaign launch posts, or articles that contain calls to action we want to push more heavily.
Conclusion Takeaways
Based on this data, we’ve been able to increase traffic to blog posts by publishing two posts per day rather than one, and publishing them early in the morning, preferably no later than the 10am hour. This analysis is updated on a monthly basis, ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to drive traffic, convert visitors into leads, and drive business.