The Importance of Timing with RSS and Forum Postings
I know references to WMW threads get up some peoples noses (cos they cannot access them), but this one about when and how to post is interesting . The thread starts with the thought
According to worldtime.com, it is 6:40am in San Francisco at the time I start this message. Why is that important? Because it means that a majority of the hardcore internet professionals on this planet are either showering right now, or already struck in traffic jams. In other words, they are logged out right now.What the heck has this to do with forum building? Well, just like you can optimize webpages so they rank high in search engines, you can optimize forum threads so they "rank high" with the targeted audience.
Optimization #1: Who is my audience?
Optimization #2: Catchy phrases, which fire up curiosity
Optimization #3: Getting people involved
Optimization #4: Give your thread the occasional bump
Optimization #5: Clear, structured text
Its fairly clear to everyone that even spammers no longer work weekends (I apologise if any of you are working on a Sunday). So if you want to make a point that you want people to notice, you probably want to avoid Saturday or Sunday, and not make it till 10 am PST on Monday.
I noticed Nick was holding back on anything major on the Google Toolbar for that very reason
LOL - I just commented somewhere ...
... on the inverse: i.e. a spammer (albeit a subtle one) picking exactly the right moment between mods' (around the globe) nap times. But the best of spammers are of course stepping up, disguising themselves as good resources for business info (on a Tuesday morning).
Fridays and weekends are perfect for the fun stuff though.
Sunday nights..
are actually pretty busy - particularly here on occassion but there are patterns to the weekdays themselves aswell as the hours:
Monday: Lots of people online, but not much posting
Tuesday: Less than monday, but more posting
Wednesday: Things start to heat up - lots of posting and reading
Thursday: Hottest day of the week for new posts and discussions
Friday: All hands on deck! Drunk posts alert!
RSS and Timing
If you post a lot, as we do here - typically 10+ items a day on the main RSS feed then you need to really get your timing right for the important posts.
Quite often i have to jig the date on a particularly good post that just got posted at the wrong time and bump it up on the RSS so it looks fresh (rss spamming? heh..)
There is definately an art and a science to timing with RSS and forums type posts in general - particulary if you want a great discussion - gotta check the hourly logs and work out when the "critical mass" times are...
You can tell
You can tell on many SEO forums exactly when UK members go to lunch, when they leave the office and when they check in after supper. You can also tell when the work morning starts on the East Coast of the US - all by the amount of postings and traffic to the forums.
Yeah
I have much of my day scheduled around those times Brad :) Have even had to move dinner down an an hour to be finished in time for the uk'ers getting home and walking the dogs when the US has stopped their morning posts heh...
Australia and NZ too.
>I have much of my day scheduled around those times Brad.
Ditto. I try to start my days at about 5:00 AM because I like reading what the UK and Euro members are posting. (Plus the SE news starts breaking around then.)
You can also tell when Australia and NZ members start coming online. Not as big in numbers but many have a lot of influance with me so I notice their posts.