Developing content may sound really simple to some people. There’s not much to it, they might argue, just find a topic that people want to know about and write a blog post on that topic. Easy, right?

Well, if that’s all you want to do then yes, it’s easy. But there is a difference between developing content and developing effective content that is going to help you reach your goals. And developing that second kind of content is not as easy.

Once you know who you’re writing for, why you’re writing it, what you’re writing, and where you’re writing it, you need to make the final decision – when.

When you publish your content can have a major impact on how successful it is. For example, you wouldn’t put a holiday gift guide out in January.

You should base timing decisions on:

• A calendar – just like the example above, some content specifically relates to time of year or holidays
• Current events – if you’re developing content related to trending topics, you must be timely and get your content out in a hurry
• Product launches – if your content is meant to drum up attention for a new product or announcement at your company, it should precede that event (but not by too much)
• Media interest – if your goal is to get the attention of the press, know what they’re covering and when, and figure out where they’re looking for new topics or sources
• Consumer activity – social networks have peak usage times through the day or week, and you’ll find that content shared at some times will outpace content shared at others

You put so much effort into creating great content. Don’t waste it by dropping it off in an empty room – which is exactly what you’re doing if you’re not paying attention to the “when”.