When Should I Publish New Blog Posts?

You know the scene. You're super excited for the upcoming Back to School season. Not only have you spent the summer getting your classroom ready, but you have some amazing ideas to share with other teachers on your blog.

You go back to school on August 27, so you figure you'll have the post go out on August 24. That way the teachers who find your post will have a couple days to mull over your idea, print your freebies, and thank you for all of your awesomeness.

You go with your plan, hit publish, and then can't figure out why all you hear is crickets...

What happened? Why is no one reading my post?! 

When should I publish new blog posts? This is a question that goes through many teacher blogger's minds. Here are tips to help you decide when it makes the most sense to publish a new blog post, particularly those that are seasonal in nature. {teacher blogger tips, teacherpreneur blogging strategy, TpT advice}


The world of blogging - particularly blogging for teachers - has changed a LOT in recent years. Teachers used to find their favorite bloggers and check out their blogs regularly. Some literally just went right to your blog to see what was new, others subscribed to your RSS feed so they received an e-mail notification anytime you had something new, and others used a service like BlogLovin' to follow you. Regardless, they chose to follow you.

But things have changed. There are still readers out there who will specifically go to one blog to see what's new or use another method mentioned above, but that is more the minority. Instead, people are turning to Pinterest to find the latest and greatest information.

But - you know what? There's a slight problem with that. It can take Pinterest up to eight weeks to really index (or "read") your pin and begin showing it to people. Eight weeks?!? (Some experts even say it can take as long as twelve weeks. I'm going to be optimistic here and say it's just eight.)

So that blog post you just shared on August 24? It won't really take off until at least mid-October. What good does that do anyone at that time during the year? So it's not really even going to take off. Sigh. :(

What can you do?


Here are a couple ideas:

1. Post it anyway.

You can definitely publish your post on the day you first planned to do it. But know this - it may not get seen right away. However, people will eventually find it. The back to school example I shared may take off for you the following July and bring in a great amount of traffic in July and August of the next year as teachers prepare for school and start looking for ideas. 

Another thing you can do is post it and then send out a letter to your newsletter subscribers. (What? You haven't started a newsletter yet? DO IT! I wish I would have started this back in 2011 instead of 2015. It really would have helped my business, and it's the one thing I truly own if everything else went away today.) This way everyone who has signed up and shown interest in you will see your new, timely post!

2. Schedule it later.

Scheduling a post for a future date is another option. Write that back to school post now, while it's still fresh in your mind. But schedule it for next summer. That way you have an awesome blog post ready to go and people will be able to find it if you post around June. 

If you really want to share your great idea now but know it's too late to post it - schedule the blog post like I mentioned above, but send a link to the freebie out to your newsletter subscribers. They'll love knowing they got something that won't be available to anyone else for nearly a year, and you'll love knowing you helped out a bunch of teachers. :) 

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Regardless of which option you choose, don't let hearing crickets get you down. My blog took forever to take off, and everyone's definition of "taking off" is going to be different. There are still some days where I question why I'm blogging - but then I remember that my goal is to help teachers. My impact can go so far beyond that of the four walls of the classroom I used to teach.

Now some of you may be reading this saying, "But Heather, I want to know exactly when to publish new blog posts."

If you're a teacher blogger, you MUST check out this Pinterest ebook to make the most of the platform. You'll have my blog pageviews and increase your sales after implementing these tips. Well, sorry, but I don't have a good answer for you. There is no one magical day and/or time that is going to bring you more traffic.

Personally, I have posted weekly on my teaching blog and life blog for over a year. But it just simply got to be too much with two kids. Now I post once a month on my teaching blog - the 1st of the month. On my life blog I post on the 1st and the 15th. And on this blog I post on the 15th.

Do I believe posting at this day and time brings me more traffic? No. But I do believe that blogging consistently helps my blog out. I have a new post to promote regularly, and each new post I am able to promote means more potential traffic for my blog. 

Best of luck deciding when to publish new blog posts. Once you find a method that works for you, you'll be excited for the additional traffic! 

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Do you want your blog posts to do ever better on Pinterest? Then check out my Pinterest ebook. It'll help you better your entire Pinterest game. The information on pages 9 and 10 will really help up your blog traffic if you implement it correctly! 


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