≡ Menu

Blog Improvement Project Week #14: Highlight Key Posts

2009bip-150x210Whoops! I totally forgot to put this up yesterday — sorry!

Anyway, I was going to do something this week about blog categories and tagging, but soon realized the topic is more complicated than I anticipated and, frankly, I need something low-key after Bingo (results soon). So this week is going to be something easy and celebratory — highlighting best blog posts for new blog readers.

I found a couple of articles that talk about good ways to highlight previous blog content in new ways:

  • Create a Sneeze Page: This was Day 18 in the Build a Better Blog Challenge at ProBlogger. Basically, it suggests making pages with posts that will help drive people deeper into your blog. He also suggests not just making the page a list of links — give people context for why the link is interesting and useful for them.

After reading the posts, the task for this week should be pretty simple — create a post or page that highlights some of your best blog content for new readers.

Feel free to do this in any way you want. Write a new post highlighting past posts then put a link to that post in your sidebar, add highlighted posts to your About Me page, add a section to your sidebar with highlighted posts, or do something else I haven’t thought of.

Personally, I’m going to add these posts to my “About Me” page. That way, when people stop by the blog and want to learn more about me, I can point them to some posts that show off my personality and style and might convince them to stay. But do what feels right for your blog and find a way to highlight your awesome content in the way that fits you best.

UPDATE: If you check out my About Me page, you can see the posts I highlighted. /UPDATE

Please link to what you come up with in the comments on this post so other  BIP participants can check out some of your best posts.

Questions? Comments? More ideas about how to highlight some of your best content other than new posts or pages? Leave some comments and let’s have a conversation 🙂

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Jackie (Farm Lane Books) July 28, 2009, 7:22 am

    This is a great idea!

    I love the name ‘sneeze post’. I will be creating one or two in the next few weeks.

  • Jeanne July 28, 2009, 2:19 pm

    I’m going to try this, too. It sounds like a good idea, and it’s within my technical capabilities for this week!

  • rebeccareid July 29, 2009, 8:53 am

    I think I’ll add some kind of “sneeze post” to my about page, something about my favorite books or book talk posts.

  • Louise July 29, 2009, 3:43 pm

    You know, I actually did manage to write some Blog Post Bingo posts, and then I forgot to make a collective posts. Sheesh! This new task sounds interesting. I will see if I can find the time (I have two week’s off in one week, and hope to be able to catch up on everything then)

    🙂

  • Sherrie July 29, 2009, 9:25 pm

    Hi Kim,
    This is a really great idea. I get the concept, but I’m really drawing a blank as to what create a SNEEZE PAGE for. I’ve got mine posted at my place, Just Books. Have a great day!

    Sherrie
    http://sherriesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-improvement-project-week-14.html

  • Suey July 30, 2009, 9:40 am
  • CoversGirl August 3, 2009, 10:00 am

    I’ve done mine – it’s linked from my left sidebar – but I have no idea how long I’ll leave it as it is before tinkering with it! There are just too many posts to choose from.

  • Nicole August 3, 2009, 4:16 pm

    I combined this task with the information from your how-to on HTML tables. The result is definitely a work in progress, but I think it’s going to be a great thing once I refine it. I used the sneeze page to index all of my book reviews and then linked to it in my sidebar. Here’s my post about what I did.

    I’d been needing to index my reviews for a while, and this task finally gave me the push I needed to do it. Thanks for that!

    Also, I like your sneeze page a lot! I especially love that you put the list of BIP tasks all in one place–it’s really great to be able to refer back to that. Those posts are such a wealth of great information and ideas.

  • Jeanne August 5, 2009, 10:02 am

    My post is up today. I called it “The Best of Necromancy Never Pays,” and I put a link to it on the sidebar under “Why Should You Comment?”

    Thanks for the idea and the impetus!

  • Julia Smith August 7, 2009, 9:42 pm

    I’ve got my Week 14 post up, including a sneeze page. Definitely enjoyed the examples provided by ProBlogger. I’ll enjoy checking out everyone’s achoos.

  • S.E. Sward August 10, 2009, 9:11 am

    I have posted a list of links to my favorite posts titled “The Good, The Bad and The Unrepentant” just this past week. My blog is not a book blog but I found the BIP through a book blog called The Bluestocking Society. I had done a search for bluestockings because I was reading a novel originally published in 1866 that referenced bluestockings – a term I had never run across in spite of having studied literature in college (although, to be fair, I studied German lit, not English lit). Anyway, I’m new to blogging and want to improve my blog to help grow readership, so I will be doing my best to participate every month. I don’t know if you will be interested in adding me and my blog to your list of participants since I don’t write a book blog exclusively, but I would be grateful if you did!

  • Jeanne August 21, 2009, 3:49 pm

    This was also helpful for thinking about the BBAW nomination posts–I already had some of my favorites selected–thanks again for the good idea!