Roundup posts offer a triple-boost of social media sharing, Google-boosting links and blogger relationships
Increasing your blog traffic is about three things; getting your content shared on social media, getting links from other sites to boost search rankings and building relationships with other bloggers to drive both.
There’s one blogging strategy that does all three of these at once…the roundup post!
Creating a quality roundup post will not only put you on other blogger’s ‘friend list’ for links and sharing but could be one of your most popular posts.
What is a Roundup Post?
A roundup post is an article of comprising mostly of input from other bloggers on a specific idea or question.
You’ve probably seen these on other blogs even if you haven’t done any yourself. They’re often list-type articles where each point in the list is a contribution from another blogger.
What is and is not a roundup post can get kind of fuzzy sometimes. I’ve seen articles where the blogger asked for opinions and input from many others but most of the content is still the single blogger’s. A true roundup post is going to be one where most of the content is input from others rather than your own.
That said, getting input from other bloggers for any article is still a great way to boost social sharing and get links. You can use the roundup post process below on any post and still drive huge traffic for a post.
How Do Roundup Posts Boost Blog Traffic?
I’ve done roundup posts that end up being some of the most highly-trafficked articles on my blog. Many of my roundup posts immediately overtake other posts in Google rankings for solid keywords.
How do roundup posts boost traffic and do so well on Google?
It’s that triple-threat of social media sharing, inbound links and relationship-building.
- Bloggers love being called experts and having their input shared. You’ll hear roundup posts referred to as ego-bait because they feed on the ego of others. This virtually guarantees the blogger is going to share your post on social media.
- Roundup posts get lots of inbound links, from the contributors and from others. Getting lots of different perspectives on a topic from lots of influencers makes for a very valuable article. Contributing bloggers will remember the roundup when they’re looking to link to information.
- Link-building, getting those Google-boosting signals that boost traffic, is all about relationships. You need other website owners to know you’re not just some random spammer when you ask for a share or a link. Roundup posts build that relationship by doing the blogger a favor, i.e. sharing their input and giving them a link, before you even ask for anything.
Are there downsides to roundup posts?
Bloggers have asked me if all those links on a page are giving away all their SEO authority. It’s true that each dofollow link on a page passes a little link authority but your roundup post is still going to rank very highly for its own keywords.
The one downside to roundup posts is that they take much more time to put together versus regular posts. Besides the outreach needed to get other bloggers’ input, you also have to edit responses and put it all together for a quality article. A good roundup post will take weeks but will be well worth it.
How to Do a Roundup Post that Gets Links
You can do a roundup post on almost any topic or question. The best posts are ones on topics where there is wide disagreement or where most people aren’t going to come up with the same solution. Try leaving your question or topic broadly-defined but narrow enough that people know what you’re asking.
Some good examples of roundup posts I’ve seen:
- Ways to save money in your everyday life
- Ways to protect your investments from a stock market crash
- Biggest mistakes bloggers make that destroys traffic
Before you start asking other bloggers for their input, it helps to already have some kind of relationship. This can be as little as a previous email contact, a social media share or even members of the same Facebook bloggers’ group. You just need something so the other blogger will recognize your name or blog when the see the email.
When you go to ask for the bloggers’ input, it also helps to have multiple touch points. Send an email to each blogger asking if they’d like to offer their opinion. Keep your email short, telling them that you respect their work and would like to get their input on a simple question.
Also post the request to Facebook bloggers’ groups on which you’re active. Don’t post to the spammy ‘bloggers helping bloggers’ type of groups. Instead, go after the groups that are more interactive and narrowly focused on your niche.
Bloggers can respond via email but the best way is to use a Google form they can fill out. It makes sure you’ll get consistent information like name, blog and links. At minimum, you should ask for:
- Name
- Blog Name
- URL for link
- Response of at least two sentences
There’s no minimum or max for responses. I hate the responses that are one short sentence or just a link to a related article from which the blogger expects you to summarize for them. C’mon folks, if a blogger is offering you an easy link in a post, take five minutes to write out a few sentences to answer their question thoroughly!
Some bloggers will link to their homepage while others will provide a link to a related page. Linking to their related page is ok as long as it isn’t competing for the same keywords for which you are trying to rank your page.
For example, if I’m writing a roundup on biggest blogger mistakes and I link to a blogger’s site for another page about blogger mistakes, the roundup post is going to pass more search ranking authority to that page. Do this too many times on your post and it might not rank well for the keywords.
If the page the blogger wants to link to is too similar to my roundup page, I will usually just shorten the link to their homepage. Make sure to explain why in your email to the blogger when the post is published.
Once you get all your responses from bloggers or you’ve given them a week or two to respond, you can start putting the post together.
I like to categorize the responses by similar ideas so I can create at least two or three sections in the post. This helps to break up the reading so visitors aren’t just scrolling through one massive block of content plus it gives you opportunities to rank for more keywords.
Don’t forget to get in all your on-page SEO factors in the post. Use your section headings for long-tail keywords, highlighting the heading with an H2 or H3 tag.
Add an introduction to the post and one in each section. You might also add content before or after responses for better explanations or to share your own ideas. Roundup posts can become extremely long articles, easily thousands of words long. It’s another reason why they rank so well on Google.
Make sure to add images to your roundup post. The best images are original graphs and tables but you can also include blogger logos and headshots.
Add in your affiliates and products where appropriate.
Promoting a Roundup Post for Huge Traffic
Once your post is published, promote it out through social media and your email list as you would any new article.
- Email each blogger with a link to the post. Don’t just assume they’ll share it…ask! Ask for a share and a link if they think their readers might find it useful.
- Create tweets that tag each blogger. Don’t tag more than three bloggers at a time. This way, you can track to see who retweets and drives the most traffic.
- Tag the other bloggers in a Facebook post.
- Pin the post on Pinterest and tag bloggers in the pin comments.
- Share the post in the blogger Facebook group and thank (tag) everyone that contributed.
Be sure to tell bloggers in your thank you email that you would love to be considered for their roundup posts. These are easy links you can get for just a few minutes’ effort.
Like all great link-building strategies, roundup posts take time but they are so worth it. You’ll not only reach different audiences from the social shares but the inbound links will help the post rank for huge search traffic. You’ll also start building those critical relationships with other bloggers that gets more links and more social traffic.