A blog series is more than just a set of linked posts. In fact, there are more benefits to writing a blog series than you may realize, and by creating one, you can significantly increase your site’s readership.
Here are six ways that writing a string of related posts benefits you, your blog, and your readers.
1. It engages your audience
Harry Potter fans know what it’s like to finish a magical adventure and instantly crave the next installment. Although we can’t all be word-wielding wizards like J.K. Rowling, we can follow her lead and create ongoing, spellbinding morsels of information that leave our audiences wanting more. As you build off each post, you create more opportunities to engage your visitors and pique their interest in where you’re going next — creating a built-in source of repeat traffic to your website.
2. It saves time
Coming up with topic after topic, day after day, to keep your blog fresh and interesting can get exhausting. But continuing with the same topic in, say, eight parts can be much easier than ideating eight different topics.
For example, you could break a series on raising chickens into seemingly endless parts: “Choosing a Breed,” “Feeding the Flock,” “Tips for Scooping Coop Poop,” “How Lighting Affects Laying,” “Stop Hen Pecking and Other Bad Barnyard Habits.” You could even form a series from each individual topic listed, zeroing in on pertinent details. A blog series on coop cleanup, for instance, could include “Safety and Hygiene,” “Composting,” “Reducing Odor with Agricultural Lime,” “Bedding Materials,” and more.
3. It shows your mastery
A multi-part series lets you flex your mental muscles, proving your mastery of a particular skill or field and thereby establishing your blog as one to share, bookmark, and revisit for advice. Updating your About Me page to reflect degrees, certificates, or hands-on experience tells readers you’re a qualified source.
Still, it takes more than a diploma or experience to hook visitors: develop a friendly voice, keep each series on topic, and write tight, packing every sentence with useful information. Remember that many folks prefer quick, easily digestible reading sessions, so find your rhythm — but know when to wrap it up.
4. It creates revenue
A blog series might start out as a marketing tactic for your business or a way to share hobbies and passions with like-minded people. Regardless, if your series becomes a popular, valuable source of information, why not monetize it? Perhaps you’ll turn your public blog into an e-book using a plugin such as BlogBook, if you have a WordPress.com plugin-enabled plan.
Promote your e-book on social media, and be ready with an impressive website landing page and a Buy Now button.
5. It keeps readers on your site
As you assemble each series, link to related posts within your website (like we did with this one from our WordPress.com Go blog.) An internal link is a call to action that encourages visitors to explore your site.
Say you’re writing a series on European baked goods for your blog. Your post on sweet yeast dough relates to the post you already wrote on nut rolls and might interest your readers. To create a link for your WordPress.com blog, follow these steps:
- Highlight a suitable group of words as the link
- Click the Link icon
- Paste the URL (of the page you want to add) into the pop-up box
- Click Add Link
6. It generates a following
A good blog series lures loyal readers to return, helping to build strong support for your brand. Remember to build anticipation by ending each part with a hint at what’s next, and you’ll have them hooked. Then, once you have them engaged, it’ll be easier to keep them coming back for more and make them long-term proponents of your brand: Readers who enjoy your multi-part story might sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media to keep up with what’s new.
No doubt, writing a blog series has several perks; it’s just one of the many ways you can successfully build a fan base of loyal followers.
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