Reasons To Create A “Best Of” Post

I have to admit I love “best of” stuff. I think it’s the fact that it cuts down on work for me, I don’t have to search all over because it’s all in one spot and it’s the best. What better way to apply this method then to create a “best of” post on your blog.

What Is A Best Of Post?

Quite simply a post that shows off the best posts you have to offer on your blog. A compilation of anywhere from 5 to 10 posts would be ideal as you don’t want too much information to overwhelm or too little to not make it worth it.

Now I know there are widgets we can use to display our most popular posts or most viewed posts and such, although there is a bit of a problem with this. For those who are returning readers we get use to the blog and it’s layout so we tend to ignore or block out that which we see often. Which defeats the purpose of having or showing off those posts.

Why Create A Best Of Post?

An option to solve the ignore or block out effect is to create a “best of” post. This puts those best posts where your readers go, the post itself. Here I will give you a number of reasons why you might want to create a “best of” post.

1. Out Of Post Ideas – Not having something to post about happens at some point to all of us and for many different reasons. It could be time, motivation, or just one of those days. A “best of” post takes little thought as you’ve already written the content. All you need to do is pull some old posts together and create a new post with summaries of each of them.

2. Highlight Your Winners -I know I have a number of posts I put much work into and am proud of. I don’t want them to just fade and be forgotten, why let them? You want to display these like trophies in a trophy case. Yes another reason to create a “best of” post is to highlight those posts that mean something to me, those that shine, and those that I am most proud of.

3. Boost Traffic And Rank – Your choices for your “best of” post should be high ranking and or popular post with the search engines. This is because you know you’ve had some success with these already and you can build off them. It will in essence put some muscle on those posts with more traffic that will turn into a better page rank. There more traffic sent to a post the more authority is given to that post by Google and others.

4. Make It Sticky -You want readers to stay at your blog as long as possible. The longer they linger the more potential for turning them into return readers. When you create a “best of” post you will spark the interest of readers and have them clicking to read your “best of” posts thereby keeping them on your blog.

5. Give A Little Reminder – Because of the nature of blogging and it’s updating we tend to only pay attention to what’s new. We don’t realize there is a wealth of information from days past. When you create a “best of” post it serves as a reminder to your readers that your blog has depth and valued information they may have forgotten about. It will invite them to dig into your blog and see what else they may be missing.

6. Internal Linking – Almost as important if not as equal to external links is internal links. Again there are plugins that will do this for you and they do the job but your readers may just look past it, so you only get internal links and not eyes. Internal links are no good if they are not clicked. A “best of” post puts those internal links right there front and center, to been seen, clicked, and read.

7. Center On A Topic – Take a number of posts that are centered around a particular topic and create a “best of” post about it. An example of this would be how I often write about the workings of Twitter. I would take various posts related to Twitter that I’ve written and create a “best of Twitter” post. It would be a way for all my best Twitter info to be put in one place and be used as a reference point.

How Do You Create A Best Of Post?

Well this will really vary from person to person. I would use one of these three methods.

1. Your Favorite Posts – Go threw your blog and pick out you favorite posts. The ones you worked hardest on or are proud of. Link to each of them using the actual post title and then give a summary of each and why it’s your favorite.

2. Best Traffic Posts – Use your method of gathering visitor info be it SiteMeter, StatCounter, Google Webmaster Tools, or other and see what posts get the most traffic and are most popular. Create a post using these and again link to them, use the titles, and create a small summary about them.

3. Use A Topic – Like the example above using Twitter, find posts you’ve written about a topic and bring them together in one place. You don’t necessarily have to summarize with this, you could create a new post using those posts as the focus.

Keep this in mind when creating a “best of” post. Remember to link to the original post in the new one, use the original title of the post as this is SEO in effect, and add some text or summary because search engines like text not just links.

How Many Best Of Posts?

This doesnt have to be a one time deal either. Depending on how long you’ve been blogging and the size of your blog you could potentially have many posts in which to create multiple “best of” posts.

Put Your Best Of Post Here

Seeing as I am a big fan of “best of” things I’m going to compile a post on Your Best Of Posts. What you need to do is create a “best of” post or if you already have one your a step ahead. Then just Contact Me With Your Link to your “best of” post and I will add it.