What Time Do You (RSS) Feed Your Audience?

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Everyone I coach uses FeedBurner’s email option in addition to the RSS Button. Some folks (depending on their business), have a majority of readers subscribing via email.

Last week, I overheard two subscribers to one blog discussing the email subscription:

One subscriber said, "I never get the email updates. When does do they get sent?"

"Early in the morning, about the same time all that spam hits your box." said the other subscriber, "Maybe you’ve been deleting the emails."

Interesting.

Then this morning, another blogger asked how to switch the time on FeedBurner’s email delivery options. Hmm.  There’s probably more of you out there thinking similarly, so let’s answer the how…then the why.

If you’re using FeedBurner’s email option and have it active (and you should), here’s the path your mouse clicks should take:

  1. Login to Feedburner
  2. Top Navigation tabs, choose Publicize
  3. Side Navigation, choose Email Subscriptions (make this active if it isn’t already)
  4. Sub Nav, choose Delivery Options (the last of four options)

Here, you can select your time zone and a two-hour delivery window.  I would suggest late in the day, maybe the afternoon (giving your readers a break from their long day’s work — while it looks like they’re still working).

If you choose the 5 AM – 7AM slot, you may be caught in a traffic jam, trash bin slam when your readers arrive to their desktop.

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  • http://www.mk3love.com Mike Templeton

    Good catch, Mike. I know that TMG’s Feedburner subscription has been set up, but I haven’t looked into the options that much. I’ll make sure to dig into now though.
    Thanks for the tip. Any way we can usher our blog posts on to their intended audience is helpful to know about.

  • http://occamsrazr.com Ike

    Excellent advice, Mike. The only thing I would add is be aware of your time zones. A West-coaster who waits until late in the afternoon will miss an East coast audience. If there is no significant audience there, then no loss. But know where your traffic is, and use the option to hit that sweet spot!

  • http://payperclickjournal.com Pay Per Click Journal

    We’ve found that when sending other items such as newsletters even, this same rule applies but Ike brings up a good point — the time zone thing must be taken into consideration!

  • http://www.scottphillips.info Scott Phillips

    I was just thinking about something similar. Last night, I twittered about my new blog post. Now, I wonder how many friends missed it because they were not “online” late Sunday evening.

  • http://www.theviralgarden.com Mack Collier

    Good post Mike, I set my blog’s feed to go out at 10 am just to give everyone time to go through the inbox in the morning.

  • http://www.OwnYourBrand.com Mike Wagner

    Your observation is dead on with my experience!
    As I go through my morning ritual of spam deletion I always wonder what I’ve accidently gotten rid of.
    Super recommendation.
    Keep creating…blogging wisdom,
    Mike

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