I wanted to add a short posting today to provide the potential benefits of expanding up and branching off a popular blog posting you may have had. There is so much you can do with the popular posting to improve it, make it more accessible, easy to read, etc. Below are a few tips that I’ve personally used.
Look for Ways to Improve Your Popular Post
If you have a post that’s a hit, making minor tweaks can make it even better and garner more attention. For example, I started out with a post, 20 Free Sites to Watch Movies & TV Online. As time passed, I found more sites and utilized readers recommendations to expand this to 50 Free Sites to Watch Movies & TV Online. I added navigational links to the bottom and top of each of the 5-series posting. Then I went back and changed my images, resized them and embedded the link within each image to allow readers to click the image and go to that site. As time has passed, I’ve replaced dead links with other sites, expanded upon the explanation, provided my personal rating, etc. Another thing you should do is ensure the title is a title that would make you want to click on it if you saw it.
Simplify Sharing
If you use WordPress as your blogging platform. Using a plugin such as TweetMeMe, displays a Retweet Icon on your posting giving your readers the ability to Retweet the content to their followers, along with the ability to see how many times the post has been Retweeted. Another plugin I’d recommend is Sexy Bookmarks, which gives you the ability to choose from several social networking sites that displays at the beginning or end of your post. If you blog with Blogger, Mashable has provided some excellent widgets that simplify sharing.
Display Related Posts
For WordPress Bloggers, I recommend the Possibly Related Recent Posts plugin, which displays a list of possibly related links at the end of each of your posts. It finds related posts using a filter on the_content. For Blogspot users, you may find this hack helpful to display related posts on your Blogger Blog.
Display Popular Posts
Readers who visit your blog may want to see your best work. Create a Popular Posts section and display your most popular posts. For WordPress users, I personally love Top 10, which gives you the ability to automatically display your Top 10 Overall Posts or Top 10 Daily Posts, along with the option to show the number of hits. For Blogger users, you can use a hack, such as this Popular Post Widget, which displays the most commented posts.
Branch Out From Your Popular Post
The rewards for branching out or expanding upon your post can be amazing. For example, I started out with 50 Free Sites to Watch Movies & TV Online and had a tremendous amount of traffic for the last year. As I thought of ways to take advantage of this, I decided to branch out and create several other similar, but different posts, such as; Best of the Best! 10 Greatest Free Movie Sites, 10 Free Sites to Watch Live and Streaming Sporting Events, etc, etc. In fact, recently I created a posting, Free Movie Sites, A to Z to provide a simplified, single page of all the movie sites using direct links. It’s currently on pace to blow away my 50 Free Sites posting. Today alone, this posting has had 7,650 page views compared to my 50 Free Movie Sites posting which has just 517 page views today.
Reference Related Links in Your Popular Post
If you like this post, you may also want to check out xxxx. I have started to make this a habit and typically add this entry to the beginning section of my most popular posts. It leads to more clicks, interest, etc. You’ll find an example of this at the beginning of my Free Movie Sites, A to Z posting.
The tips above are just a few tips you can use to better take advantage of a popular post or really any post. Of course there are more ways to take advantage, such as sharing your link on various sites that have content related to your post. I do advise that simply posting your link can look spammy. Instead, try to add to the value of the post on those sites. You can share your thoughts and provide your link as a way to add value. Do you have any tips I may have missed? Plugins, widgets, etc?
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Brian,
These are some really good tips! I can't wait to try some of them out.
Posting tips for blogger as well as word press is appreciated. I see so many blogs that only do one or the other.
BTW I like your new layout. Very professional!
It's been awhile! Good to see you. You know, as my blog has evolved a bit, I think my focus changed from blogging tips to more of the entertainment (movies, music) and tech stuff (i.e. blackberry apps) and I've kinda stopped posting as many blogging tips, tools, etc. I need to post more blogging tips that I've learned and will make it a point to do so.
Thanks for the compliments on the theme. I tried out probably about 10 different ones and just loved this free one.
Take Care,
Brian
Wonderful tips, Brian! I especially like the idea of going back and updating links … and eliminating those that don't work. I think it shows the reader, who may wander back through old posts, that the author is on the ball and cares about the content of posts, both past and present. To me, there is nothing more frustrating than to find a post I want to read only to click on a link and find that it's dead. I have to admit that it's not something I've done … it does take time. But this post motivates me to go back and check things out.
Thanks!
Thanks Small Footprints. Going back and updating older posts takes quite a bit of time. It can be pretty rewarding though. I've had some posts get quite a boost from doing this. Changing the title to something with more impact effected a few posts quite a bit. One thing I didn't mention is that there are some pretty solid WordPress plugins to check for broken links, but for those using Blogger, you may be able to use a tool such as Broken Link Checker http://www.iwebtool.com/broken_link_checker.
Thanks for stopping by. Glad I was able to motivate someone today, especially you, who motivates countless people everyday with Reduce Footprints.
Thanks Small Footprints. Going back and updating older posts takes quite a bit of time. It can be pretty rewarding though. I've had some posts get quite a boost from doing this. Changing the title to something with more impact effected a few posts quite a bit. One thing I didn't mention is that there are some pretty solid WordPress plugins to check for broken links, but for those using Blogger, you may be able to use a tool such as Broken Link Checker http://www.iwebtool.com/broken_link_checker.
Thanks for stopping by. Glad I was able to motivate someone today, especially you, who motivates countless people everyday with Reduce Footprints.