3 Reasons To Start A Blog Post Series
Image Source: Hamed Saber
Blogging is a great way to build a good fan base. To have a good fan base, your content should be good and extremely helpful to your blog readers. So what if you go out of content ideas? My suggestion to you is to think of a topic in your niche and start a blog post series. Think of what all you know about that topic and list them. You can give tips, ask questions, mention the advantage and disadvantages of following that topic (say you can write on what are the disadvantages of commenting on all blog posts with a single word comment) and you can also interview the bloggers who are known for that topic. I had a blog post series in my blog called “Blog Commenting Series” in which I wrote about the merits, demerits, and also how to do commenting in the right way. I interviewed Caroline Middlebrook as she is known for her blog commenting.
Here are the three reasons for you to start a blog post series in your blog:
1. Content to write for a week or two
Once you decide the topic on which you want to write for the next two weeks, the content ideas will flow very easily. And yes, once you can write the headlines for those content ideas, the inside matter will be very easy to write. So decide the topic today and start writing a list of headlines that you can write on. This way you won’t go out of content ideas for a week or two.
2. Increase In Subscribers
One of the man ways to increase the number of subscribers of your blog is by writing a series post. If you are having a series of posts, you are actually making your subscribers to wait for the next post in the series. They would be expecting to gain some good information from you and if you can satisfy them, surely you will have a gain in subscribers count. My suggestion to you is that have a subscriber remind plugin and modify the default lines. Write something like “Currently we have a series of post on “your subject”. Subscribe to get them to your feed reader”. This will have more people subscribing to your blog.
3. Brand Building
If you want to build a brand or be known for a specific thing, starting a blog post series should be your first choice. Caroline posted about how comments made by her on other blogs helped her to gain traffic and she became known for blog commenting. If someone say blog commenting, Caroline comes to my mind first. In the same way, if you want to be known for something like “lose 10 pounds in two weeks”, start a series of posts on that topic and help your blog readers to achieve that. If you do that, you will be known for it and everyone will remember you for a long time.
Have you written any series of blog posts on a certain topic? What do you feel about it? If you haven’t written, do you have any ideas for it? Please share it in the comments.
Kathryn | March 15th, 2008 at 11:09 am #
Great ideas here! Another good reason is that this is a great way to get really in-depth with your topic of interest. That’s partially about branding but it’s also being able to provide higher quality writing on a topic that you’ve maybe only touched on in the past. Additionally, this series can then be a starting point for a longer work like an eBook or an actual book. You’ve already compiled all that information at the end of the series so then you’ll just need to organize, edit and market it.
Franca Richard | March 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm #
Great point, I have read the article and began my first post series, “Write for Digg”
Pat R | March 15th, 2008 at 1:46 pm #
Thank you for the information. It is a good tip I will use. I wrote a series last month for the week of Valentine’s on Love. I think my readers enjoyed it but I didn’t see much increase in traffic. I’m new to blogging (since Nov ‘07) and not as tech savvy so it’s taking a little longer to draw in the traffic.
I’m open to your suggestion and will work on another series. If anyone has feedback or suggestions on what I need to do on my site to increase traffic I’d be happy to hear.
e-mail is: pcruppel47@msn.com
PohEe | March 15th, 2008 at 10:17 pm #
I am agreed on your point. For me, i will definately subscribe to a blog to get auto update on the next series of story.
Ramkarthik (Post Author) | March 15th, 2008 at 10:18 pm #
Kathryn, Good idea there. I might try bringing up an ebook with all the posts I wrote on the series and give it away for free.
France Richard, Good to see you starting a blog post series. All the best.
Pat R, Great! Did that work for you well? Did the traffic to your blog increase?
Ramkarthik (Post Author) | March 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pm #
PohEe, That is the mindset of most bloggers and that how you get an increase in subscribers. Even I’m like that.
Pat R | March 16th, 2008 at 12:58 am #
Ramkarthik - I haven’t put a new series together as yet. Thinking on it and will come up with one hopefully in a few weeks. I did clean up my blog and change some things around from some suggestions I received. I noticed I received the most hits than I ever had in a given day and I think some of them came from your site. Thank you. I’m encouraged.
I also subscribed to your feed and see that you already have good posts I can check out.
I appreciate your suggestions and your help. Again, thank you.
Susan Gunelius | March 16th, 2008 at 8:40 pm #
I started a series this past week on my branding blog about color branding. It’s basically a color primer to help businesses and websites choose a color palette for their brands. I’m hyping the future posts in each post I write, linking back to the old posts in the series, and ultimately, I’m going to post the entire series as a special page with all of the links (or something similar, maybe an ebook if I can find the time). At the end of each post, I’m reminding readers to subscribe to Brandcurve to read the future posts in the series. It’s too early to tell if my page views or subscribers has grown yet, but my original goal was just to provide information on a subject I love.
william | March 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm #
Great idea, sometimes others want to know more about the subject you’re talking about, and this gives a great way to go in depth.
This also gives readers a chance to comment after each chapter in the blog, and ask questions which can not only help you write your ebook in a more targeted way, but gives readers a reason to stay tuned to the series. Many times ebooks are only focused on what the writer wants to say, and doesn’t listen to what the reader needs to hear.
Nice touch Ramkarthik
William
Ben | March 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pm #
A blog post series is a good idea, both for generating loyalty and for going more in depth.
I recently started a new blog, on the occasion of becoming a developer for Gentoo Linux. As such my blog was immediately taken up in the planet feed of all developers, so I gained readership immediately. But in order to stand out, and attract more loyal readers, I just started a series of blog posts on “How to be a Successful Gentoo User.” I am confident the information will be appreciated, especially by newer users. I’m planning to make an eBook out of the series, in which I may develop certain aspects a bit further, and which I plan to keep up-to-date. I can then include the link to the eBook in my feed, and invite people to subscribe in order to get it.
Increase Web Site Traffic | March 18th, 2008 at 12:59 pm #
hey Ramkarthik,
I’ve never actually thought of doing it in a blog series fashion. You just gave me some great ideas.
Thanks buddy!
Rob O. | March 18th, 2008 at 3:21 pm #
I did a string of posts on reducing pollution from plastic bags in honor of Blog Action Day back in October. It was a fun series to do and it did have a positive impact on my subscriber and visitor stats.
Rob O. | March 19th, 2008 at 5:06 pm #
Ahh, it also just dawned on me that I’m right in the midst of a series this month… Given that March is National Peanut Month, I’ve been blogging about nutty stuff!