10 reasons to write a weekly round-up on your blog

Posted by Ben on March 11, 2009 | Permalink | Hits: 885 
Tags: round-up, weekly summary

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Image by Janna McLaughlin.

Writing a weekly round-up can be a good thing to include on your blog. What are the benefits?

1. It's a good starting point for new readers.

A new reader comes to your blog, sees loads of posts, doesn't know where to begin... what do they do? They might dive in, but it can be overwhelming to see all this content with no easy place to start.

Why not give new readers a chance to find out what's been going on at your blog recently - give them a link to your latest weekly round-up.

2. It provides an easy way to catch up.

We can't all read every site daily - life can get busy. It's not much fun coming back to find hundreds of new posts to read.

A weekly round-up allows busy readers to catch up quickly and get straight to the best content of the week. If a reader only reads one post this week, it's better to give them your best work than potentially letting them loose on the post that flopped.

3. There's no need for a separate link love post.

I'm not a big fan of publishing posts that are nothing but link love. Rolling it up into a weekly round-up keeps everyone happy. Those who want it get it, those who don't can just skip that section instead of skipping an entire post.

Also, by including link love in a post that serves many purposes besides linking out, it pushes you to include fewer, better links. The links will have more value, so the sites you link to will thank you, as will your readers. It's a win-win.

4. It has the potential to be a comment magnet.

Think about it: how many different things could you include in a weekly round-up? Potentially loads. Don't feel like you have to include a lot of sections, though - three or four should be fine.

Link love is a particularly good way to get comments. Also, you could encourage people to post general feedback on your blog or website in the round-up posts. All those things you never knew where to place now have a place.

5. You can publish site news and off-topic news.

Sometimes I see people writing about events in their personal life or changes to their blog or website, but in a new post. Why not wait for your round-up and include the news there? The round-up will then become more interesting and you'll reduce the number of miscellaneous posts on your site.

6. You can experiment.

You can try different sections in your round-up to keep it interesting. You don't have to use the same ones every week. You could ask questions for upcoming posts or ask for people to be interviewed. The post is your oyster.

7. You can highlight upcoming posts.

This can be a really good way to build up reader anticipation. Don't give too much away - just leave a hint of something to expect in the next week. It may get a few new subscribers!

8. It's easy to write.

Writing a weekly round-up is easy to do. In its simplest form, it's a summary of things you've already done, so it shouldn't take long to do. It's also easy for people to read - some people may only read part of it, and this is fine because it's a post with a few short sections. But it's still worth reading, so it's not a worthless post.

9. It gets you into a routine.

Doing the same post every week gives you a routine to stick to. You know it's coming, your readers know it's coming, and therefore everyone has their expectations set.

Regular posts are good to keep people reading your site as they wait for the next post. If some readers only look at the round-up, it shouldn't be a problem so long as they clicked a link or two. It's your week in a nutshell.

10. It establishes an ongoing dialogue.

With so many things to share, you might end up inviting others to share their news with you. Or you could ask your readers to link to their best post in a comment.

Even if you don't do this, writing a regular "what's going on" post is a really good way to show that you're around - regardless of your posting frequency. Well, unless you post less than once a week.

How to do a weekly round-up

It doesn't have to be a post - you could set up a newsletter and use this to summarise the week's content. Provide some extra commentary that can't be found on your blog, as it gives people more reason to subscribe.

Coming soon?

I haven't published a round-up for a long time, but I might consider doing it again if anyone's interested. It's even better if you have multiple blogs, as you can highlight the latest content across all of them. Nice!

What do you think?

Do you publish a weekly round-up? If so, what do your readers think of it? If not, will you now try one?

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Comments on 10 reasons to write a weekly round-up on your blog

2

Ben | March 12, 2009 | Ben's home page | 207 comments

I learned something from when I last did this - just because it's a weekly round-up, don't feel you have to do it every week. It's fine to miss a week if you have nothing to say other than "I wrote these posts". It can be a good way to highlight some of the posts you've commented on, maybe showcase a few posts from other sites (if you had more than one, of course). Or perhaps link to a forum post that you found interesting. :D

6

Ben | March 22, 2009 | Ben's home page | 207 comments

Erin, you might find you gain readers by doing a newsletter. I'm really keen to do one as soon as I can, but I'm going to build my own custom newsletter manager as part of Injader, so I need to do that first. ;)

Mike - thanks, glad you enjoyed the post. :)

8

Ben | March 23, 2009 | Ben's home page | 207 comments

ProBlogger is a big fan of newsletters, and every now and again he posts something that makes me think about doing one. I'm not keen on paying for Aweber - I've heard good things about it, but it seems risky to pay for something I may only use a few times before deciding it isn't for me. I won't know that until I try it, of course. Hence why I want to build my own :D

10

Ben | June 17, 2009 | 207 comments

Glad you find it useful Izzy. I don't do it every week but it's a good way to highlight my latest posts and bits of news when I've had a busy week. Less effective for quiet weeks.