How to Write a Roundup Blog Post

Laura Christianson of Blogging Bistro  continues her series of

fantastic tips for social media and website management.

Roundup blog posts are an effective way to build your reputation as an expert source of information. A roundup post highlights and links to several articles in your niche – they can be articles from your own blog or from other sources.

I like roundups for three reasons:

1.  I do a lot of reading within my industry anyway, and a roundup is a quick, easy way to share what I’m learning. There’s no sense in “reinventing the wheel” by rehashing what others have said; why not refer my readers directly to the source?

Some would argue that sending people away from my blog is counterproductive.

I disagree.

If I consistently deliver helpful content to my readers – even if that content occasionally sends them to someone else’s site – they’ll return to find out what new, juicy tidbits and links I’ll share with them.

2.  Most bloggers check their trackbacks (links to their post from someone else’s blog). Outgoing links can serve as a low-key introduction to a blogger you’d like to get acquainted with. I have formed many wonderful ongoing relationships with bloggers I’ve referred my readers to.

3.  While we bloggers would like to know it all and do it all, we can’t. There is so much expertise in the blogosphere that’s just waiting to be tapped – why not share someone else’s expertise with your own readers?

When to publish roundups

Roundup posts appear most frequently at the end of the year, when everyone writes their “100 best articles of 2010” posts. Buy why not do a roundup post monthly – or even weekly?

Titles

When you title your roundup, identify it as such with phrases such as:

• Highlights…
• Best of…
• Top…

SEO

To get the most “juice” from search engine results, stick closely to your blog’s theme.  And don’t give too many links. I love the idea of “100 best” posts, but I rarely read them because I get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of links. I recommend sharing 5-10 links.

Structure

Create a system for sharing links. In the roundup example below, I include:

• the title of the original article in boldface type
• introduction that explains the article’s topic
• brief quote from the article
• link to the full article (always credit your source)

Sample Roundup

The 5 Most Interesting Social Media Articles From April 2010

Quid pro quo (santa math)

The vast majority of business bloggers are obsessed with ROI – Return on Investment. They wonder, “If I blog, what is my business going to get out of it?”

Seth Godin gets to the heart of why those of us who are passionate about business blogging do it:

You don’t write a blog to get gigs. You don’t help people out in a forum to build a freelance business. Sure, that might happen, but that’s not why you do it. If you are busy calculating quid pro quo, that means your heart isn’t in it, and the math won’t work out anyway.

Click here to read rest of post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post first appeared April 27th, 2010 on Blogging Bistro. Reposted by kind permission.

A relationship marketer for over 25 years, Laura Christianson owns Blogging Bistro, a company that helps people enhance their Internet presence through Websites, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.  She’s the author of three books and enjoys mentoring emerging writers and teaching at writers’ conferences. An active member of NCWA since 2004, Laura lives in Snohomish with her husband, their two teenage sons, and two gigantic tomato plants.