How to Maximize a Blog Series

by Jimmie

Writing a blog series is a lot of work. Get high returns from your effort by maximizing the blog series with these tips.

Writing a blog series will help you with accountability to post, authority in your field, and traffic. (Read more about that at the article Why a Blogger Should Write a Blog Series.) But you have to be strategic with your blog series to get the most out of it. Position yourself to reap the greatest benefits from a blog series with these tips.

Series
Series

Design a Graphic

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.

 

Be Ready for Visitors

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.

 

WWSGD plugin screenshot
WWSGD plugin screenshot

Cooperate with other Bloggers

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. 

 

Follow-up

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.

 

Has a company approached you about doing a product review on your blog? Fantastic! But before you make a commitment, negotiate the product review so that you get maximum benefit.
There are very valid reasons for bloggers to write articles off-blog at free sites like Wizzley. You can build your online empire, strengthen your reputation, and build backlinks.
Writing a blog series is a very strategic move for developing authority, building traffic, and providing accountability.
Pinterest is a new site that allows you to pin images that you find interesting or beautiful. Use Pinterest to your advantage with these smart how-tos.
Updated: 03/19/2013, Jimmie
 
Thank you! Would you like to post a comment now?
7

Comments

Only logged-in users are allowed to comment. Login
ethelsmith on 01/02/2012

This s very useful to je thanks. I did an X Factor Uk bog on my site for 201 nd it got plenty of visits. Your additional info is excellent though thanks

tandemonimom on 12/31/2011

I'm LOL at "sneeze page" - I had to go and look that up! Great idea, though!

poshcoffeeco on 12/29/2011

Jimmie it is good to meet you. Excellent article and very informative. Thanks

sheilamarie on 12/27/2011

I still feel a bit mystified, but I will research this some more. Thank you, Jimmie, for giving me a little nudge in this direction.

Jimmie on 12/20/2011

Dusty, did you read the other article about blog series? It's linked in the intro and again at the end. I think it would help to read the other one first. I will make that clearer in my intro. Thank you!
If you have specific questions, I will try to rework the article to answer them.

dustytoes on 12/20/2011

This sounds like a great idea if you have people to do it with. I admit I'm not sure I totally understand it, but I can see how it would drive good traffic to your sites.

You might also like

Why Bloggers Should Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Using the same word over and over again used to be a sure-fire way to get sea...

10 Things to Check Before You Open a Free Blog

How to use free blogging to your advantage? Which service suits your needs an...


Disclosure: This page generates income for authors based on affiliate relationships with our partners, including Amazon, Google and others.
Loading ...
Error!