How to Maximize a Blog Series

Make a simple graphic in a standard ad/banner size that can be used in each post of the series. Design it with the future in mind so that you can use it to represent the group of posts later on your blog.

I like sizes that are similar to a photo that you would normally use for a blog post and that are easily resized. That's why I normally choose a 350 or 250 pixel square badge that can be reduced to a 125 pixel square ad later. Other good sizes are 300 x 250 or 120 x 240.

Gimp is a free graphics software that is quite powerful, certainly sufficient for making simple blog buttons and blog series graphics. Look at the freebies available at Background Labs if you need a jump start for your graphic. If you don't want to take the time to learn how to use Gimp, check out Fiverr where you can get a button designed for just $5.

Below are some sample blog series images.

Use a plug-in that welcomes new visitors and prompts them to take an action such as subscribe to your feed, follow you on Twitter, or like you on Facebook.

I use What Would Seth Godin Do? Another similar plug-in is WP Greetbox.

Below is a screenshot of what the plug-in can show to a new visitor. It's all customizable, of course.

This type of plug in offers a non-obtrusive invitation to take action. And you can set up when the greeting disappears -- for example after four or five visits.

You get more traffic when you do your blog series with other bloggers. You can all blog on the same broad theme and use a unifying graphic to visually tie your posts together. Each post in the blog series should link to every other blog participating in the series.

It is helpful to have a central location off of the individual blogs where the blog series is promoted and all the participating blogs are listed and linked. 

Here is an example of group blog series which I participated in:

Heart of the Matter 10 Days Series

The niche featured here is likely different from your own, but glean ideas from the organization and promotion which you can apply to your own blog series. This series was about homeschooling and was hosted by a large homeschooling blog. Each blogger in the group had her own specific topic to blog on for ten days. Each post that each blogger wrote for the series linked to the home pages of every other blogger in the series. That's a lot of backlinks and interlinking!

For this blog series, the organizer made unique 10 Days graphics for each blogger. They all had a unifying look that tied each blog series together.

Your traffic will skyrocket when you combine the power of a blog series with the cooperation of other bloggers in your niche. If you don't already have a network of bloggers to cooperate with, go out and make one. Don't wait to be approached. Be proactive and invite bloggers to participate with you. 

When the blog series is over, do something with those posts. You've worked hard on those posts, don't let them get hidden in the archives of your blog.

At a very minimum, write a blog post that lists all the posts and offers some additional unique and relevant content. Better yet, make that into a sneeze page which is easy to find via your blog’s navigation or your sidebar. Repurpose the graphic into a sidebar button and link to the sneeze page.

You can also do a version of the page here at Wizzley or some other online publishing platform. Be sure to offer fresh content and not just a listing of the blog posts. In this way you will get backlinks for your blog series and hopefully some traffic too.

Or you could compile all the posts into an eBook which you either sell or give as a freebie to subscribers.