If you are an avid blog reader like me, you probably noticed that most blogs are active exclusively from Monday to Friday. Few articles (if any) are ever posted on weekends, leaving us with little to read on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Being a blogger myself, I wondered for a time if it was a good idea to post on weekends after observing this lack of activity from fellow writers. The conclusion I reached is that it’s a good idea as long as the writer keeps in mind his audience.
Different audience on weekends
I found out that business-oriented readers are generally more likely to read blogs and news on weekdays than on weekends. On the other hand, people below 30 are more active on Saturdays and Sundays and more likely to read blogs during their days off.
I reached that conclusion after speaking to some clients and friends of mine. I also ran a (very unscientific) survey on Facebook a few months ago and everyone who answered, young adults aged 18-29 most of them, did follow news on weekends (I did publish the poll on a Saturday though, so the result was not surprise). Keep in mind though that this is generalisation and that although I am fairly certain this trend is applicable in Canada, a different culture might have different habits. In fact, Opera released last year statistics that demonstrate that in most countries, two thirds of mobile web users are more active during weekdays than weekends. Although that study was aimed at mobile device users, the results must be similar, if not identical, when it comes to regular surfers.
Audience differing on weekends makes a lot of sense. Our clientele, composed for the main 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 probably wouldn’t be trolling the internet for work-related articles on weekends either if I had worked all week from 9-5!
That leaves us with more casual and sometimes younger readers. Chances are that if you publish on a Sunday morning a complex article about market studies or advanced techniques related to your field, it may go unnoticed, at least until Monday morning.
Common weekend articles
A popular occurrence on blogs is “best of the week” type of posts that sum up what happened during the week for weekend readers. 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.
You could also write articles for fellow bloggers and/or freelancers that you know will be working and keeping up with news all week long. In the end, there is no “bad” day to publish an article so long you take your audience into consideration. Who will read your article on weekends and what do they expect from you? If you aren’t sure, simply ask them.