Make Money by Timing Your Articles

In the world of on-line writing any trick that can garner a few extra viewers is worth consideration.  As a writer, I would like to know whether there is any merit in carefully timing the release of an article.

I start my investigations by noting that if I write a popular article it stimulates interest in my other contributions and my overall viewing figures go up. This is good: viewing figures translate, through pay per click advertising, into dollar earnings. This influence becomes significant when a writer has build up a substantial pool of published articles.

When an article is first published it receives extra publicity on sites like Triond.  Are there any ways to exploit this?

So, I looked to see if I could gain extra attention by publishing on a particular day of the week.  I had a hunch that there might be more viewers on a weekend day or evening.  I looked over my viewing figures.  I cranked my hand at some statistical techniques but could not find a pattern. Even when I had removed the steady growth trend in my earnings, I could not find a seven day trend in my viewing figures.  Incidentally, I find that time of day matters.  I find that my earnings rise fastest when America is awake.

Next, I though about the influence on social media.  Twitter is very spontaneous. The article needs to be in the right place at the right time. Are there any days when the publicity gained from new content is most significant.  Public relations gurus’ consider it best to release business related content on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.  Don’t do Mondays because everyone is getting organised for the week and don’t do Fridays because workers are switching off.  Apparently more business emails are circulated on a Wednesday than on any other day of the week.

My next thought considered topicality.  Is it possible to time an article that exploits press interest in a topic? In principle, I would say yes. However, the good writer will need to overcome some hurdles.  Writing on a hot topic is competitive. The writer must establish a story that stands out from the pack. The online writer is competing with the established media which have very strong news gathering services. Although hard news reporting is a non starter, the online writer can usefully contribute editorial style comment and a unique perspective on events. The article that picks up from the publicity can be quite general.  Leave the specifics to the established press.  If a famous old man dies write about the lives of centarians, or write a story about an old man, rather than look at his specific life for which it would be difficult to pick up original facts. 

Do remember to be timely and don’t leave it too late.

Timeliness is critical. Be aware that this can be messed up by publishing delays.  be very careful if your information is perishable or could be overtaken by events.

It pays to think ahead and have articles pre written for release whenever trigger events occur.