Some blog posts get lots of attention. They strike a nerve with readers, and before you know it, traffic is through the roof.
Some posts deserve lots of attention, but don’t get it. The writing, subject matter or angle might be cutting edge or unique. But you may have published too late in the day, on a day of that week that’s typically slow for your blog, or over a holiday weekend.
Or some posts are just so good – relevant to your readers, cutting edge, big traffic generators, you name it – you want to remind people about them again.
Here’s a way to give those underappreciated posts moldering in your blog archives a second chance.
The solution: put them in a “best of” post, basically a re-run of a post you think didn’t get the eyeballs it deserved the first time around.
There are a couple ways to approach best-of posts:
The Stand-Alone – Even major news sites like ReadWriteWeb re-run individual posts they’re especially proud of. But don’t just copy and paste. Write an introduction that explains why you’re giving it more air time. Give it a catchy name: I’ve called mine “WordCount Repeats” or “WordCount Best of….”
The Compilation – Pick a theme, then find three, four or more posts that relate to it. Include links to each with a brief explanation of how they fit.
There’s a reason I’m writing about best-of posts now. If you’re taking part in the 2010 WordCount Blogathon, best-of posts are an excellent way to cover a weekend day. Just pre-write the post on Friday, or another day of the week when you have a spare 30 minutes.
You don’t have to be in a blogathon to use them. Best-of posts are the perfect filler for a day when you’re otherwise occupied and can’t come with something something fresh, or if you’re going on vacation.
I’ve run Best of WordCount posts before to cover for myself during vacations. The Best of WordCount: Beat the Recession is one of the most popular posts I’ve ever written.
If you’ve ever contemplated writing an e-book, grouping together posts on similar topics is the first step in organizing material that could end up being book chapters.
I’ve even created a special page for a Best of WordCount Collector’s Edition for the 30 posts that have drawn the most traffic on my site since I started blogging in January 2008. It’s a nice way to showcase what I think is my best work – and continue to draw traffic to those posts.
You’ll see best of posts from me during the WordCount Blogathon on Sundays. After all, Sunday is a day of rest, even for bloggers.