Understanding your websites traffic is something that in many cases can be very hard to translate. There is so much information all sitting in front of you, but determining how to use it to benefit your business/website can be confusing. In this post we are going to discuss how to determine when your site is actually getting traffic. Knowing when your readers are reading is important, and also a great way to distribute those posts during peak hours.

Posting Windows of Opportunity

Many wouldn’t consider times when it comes to the actual time their blog posts go live, but did you know this could actually play a major role in the popularity of your posts?

The time you post your content will vary with every single site you own. If you’re like us, you got several different websites, in several different niche markets that attract various groups of people. Some websites may have increased traffic at night, while others may be during the day. Every website is different, so don’t expect the time to be the same for each website you create.

During your peak hours, this is your posting window. This is when the opportunity to get seen by your readers is increased and they are more likely to take action. Your posting window can play a big role on your overall success. If you’re not providing your readers with something during these hours, what are they going to do? Go to a different website of course.

The Window is Larger Than It Appears

One thing you shouldn’t feel is that you have to post at the extra same time each and every day. This is one thing that has been very misleading to website owners and bloggers for years. You don’t need to have a new post up every day. Yes, it can be great to have a new post up daily, but is this benefiting you any?

Providing your readers with quality content several times a week versus mediocre content daily, in some cases multiple times a day, could be beneficial for you. Keeping your website content at a quality level will increase your chances at success compared to the people who post about everything under the sun.

The timeframe that you should post in isn’t actually going to be one specific hour. Throughout your day, there will be various jumps. Spread your posts out and don’t stick to the same time everyday.

What Time is Your Site Getting Traffic?

Alright, now to the holy grail question; how do I know what time my traffic is higher than others? Well ladies and gents, this is where your analytics will come in handy. Most people look at their analytics by the day, week or month. When you’re trying to determine hours of popularity, change this to hourly.

The hourly view will show you the various points throughout your days that are slow, medium and high. It is easily seen in the graphs and with a little hovering you will soon know what time your website is getting the most traffic.

Not all analytics will provide this information, but Google Analytics does and allows you to see for more than just a few days. You can see a month of traffic in a graph down to each hour of the day.

The graph will look something like this:

Google Analytics by the Minute

Now, everyone’s graph will look different as we stated already. The amount of traffic your website receives will be different for every website, even if they are in the exact same niche market and similar topics. It all plays on your social media referrals and the traffic you receive from the search engines.

It’s time to take control of your website and understand it by the minute. Your analytics provides more then just the popular content and keywords. Put it to work and learn all you need to know about your website and when people are actually hanging around!