By “when” I mean down to the hour of the day. It can make a big difference considering the two largest population regions in America are separated by 3 hours. You also have to consider the day of the week.
Posting a great, compelling (linkbait?) article is most often the best way to drive traffic to your site using social news. You put in all the hard work of an eye catching title, detailed and researched articles, and then comes the traffic. You submit your article and nothing happens. It slips quickly through the newly submitted postings and in 15 minutes the hope has died. Then you question your article (which you should). Was the title wrong? Was the article too long? One often overlooked question is…..
Did you ever consider the timing when submitting to a social news site?
Working with a group of connected Digg users in the top 100, they recommend to submit articles at 2:00pm eastern standard time. Do remember, submitting to Digg has become a game of who you know, not when you submit. Regardless, this information is helpful to use on other social news sites.
YCombinator’s Hacker News (read Startup News) which we are particularly fond of is more effective when you submit between 11:00am - 11:30am eastern time. This is right before lunch on the east coast and as the work day starts on the west coast.
The weekend is not a prime time to submit articles. Monday often has a large number of submissions due to the slower weekends and can be difficult to gain traction. Friday is actually not as active as one would think either and the voting is slow at best.
Submitting between Tuesday and Thursday, between the hours of 11:00am and 2:00pm eastern time has provided the best results.
Let us know (in the comments) if you have noticed any other trends.
Very interesting post. I have been frustrated before by posting on DIGG something that I find very useful and worthy but only to have it discarded quickly due to lack of recognition. I did not give too much thought into when I submitted. I’ll give it a try.
Comment by Website Design — September 25, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
@Alfred - Digg is an entirely different beast. Depending on the type of articles you are trying to publish, there is likely a Digg-like site for that niche. A niche social news site will not only give you more traffic because your articles are relevant to the audience, but you will find more return readers.
Comment by The Hustle — September 25, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
[...] article that caught my eye to take a look was ‘When to Submit to a Social News Site‘. If you’re marketing your site or have a recent startup then you should at least check [...]
Pingback by When to Submit to a Social News Site « Geeknews — September 29, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Again you have an article that has come in right on time for me and my process. I never really thought about the timing of posting, yet I know timing is everything. Keep up the good work. I added a link for you to my blog, your info is valuable and should be shared.
Comment by Fatima — October 9, 2007 @ 11:32 am
I’ve always wondered about this, great post! Now I just have to figure out the best timing on sending an e-newsletter. Any ideas?
Comment by Yasmine — October 9, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
Wayne…
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