A single blog post is like a hook on the end of a line. Your bait gets one chance.
It’s a hard bet to make. Give it your best shot.
Your prospects are like fish. There’s lots of them and they don’t swim in just one spot. They are not always hungry.
There’s lots of other shiny tasty looking hooks out there snagging your reader’s attention. Attention is finite. It’s like your appetite, you can only eat so much stuff. People don’t just need to consume your content, it needs to stick. Your hook needs to make a meaningful connection in the heart and soul of your reader.
What chance does your lonely hook stand? How appetizing is just one piece of content. Will they just see your one headline hook and pass?
It’s a tough deal to catch your fish. A single blog post is no different.
You are placing all your bait on one hook.
- How hard has the hook got to work?
- How good does your content have to be?
- How precisely targeted does your message need to be?
- How many places will you have to spread the bait to get just one bite?
By way of contrast a series of blog posts works more like a net. Or perhaps, more like a series of baskets. However you decide to call it, it scales. It’s simply a more effective tool. A better way to rise to the challenge of catching and keeping attention.
My thoughts on blogging and blog post series have been shaped by my interactions with my friend, Mack Collier and his amazing #blogchat community where I have made many friends. If you havent experienced blogchat, you should.
Each series of blog posts is usually longer (more words) than the single post you originally planned. We often forget just how much people need to read when they get curious about a product or service. Blog post series simply reveal more details. If a customer or prospect likes your product they could well read every word you ever wrote. And if they really care they will want to share what they have found with their network.
Series give you the chance to go deeper. They give your prospects a chance to get closer.
With a blog post series you are:
- Creating a web of links and landing pages
- Seeding multiple SEO opportunities
- Testing your content effectiveness
- Dividing and conquering
- Spreading your resources more wisely
- Being precise and granular
Yes you can catch fish with a hook, but it takes skill and precision. It’s a game of patience with lots of waiting.
Compare that to fishing with a net. Yes, there’s skill in knowing where to drop the net, but you are simply yielding more force. A net is a blunter instrument than a hook.
Scale makes the net fisherman more effective.
Writing a blog post series is no different.
You are creating so many more chances for your message to hook your audience. You are slicing your content up into bite size pieces. You are letting people get hooked at anytime in your story arc. Multiple posts give your reader multiple ways to enter your story. Today we live in a non-linear world. We expect and appreciate the choice.
Blog post series give your reader choices and depth.
This post one of a series on the topic of “Blog Post Series”. All the other posts in the series are being placed as guest blog posts on other blogs. I have so far placed most of my posts, but if you are interested let me know. There will be 9 posts in this series.
Blog Post Series - A Collection of Posts on How & Why Blog Post Series are Effective Content Marketing
Blog Post Series are a very powerful technique for bloggers, but traditionally they are far from simple.
This is a series to explore the topic and document best practices. And to ask questions.
- crowd rank
- curated
- alpha
- newest
- queue
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No1: Why Writing Blog Post Series is Like Fishing with Nets
A simple metaphor.
A single blog post is like a "hook: vs a blog post series is like using a "net"
1st in a series of 9 blog posts
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No2: Link and Share Your Blog Post Series
When it comes to blogging it’s easy to slip into the linearity trap. It’s easy to think about your story as the writer and not a reading or consumption mindset.
Blog post series are not for you. They are for other bloggers your customer.
Let me explain… -
No3: Linking Blog Post Series is Chore. Here's a Hack
If people can't find the posts in your series, your audience loses out and so do you. Here's a really simple way to remove the chore of linking your posts
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No4: How to be a serial guest blogger. Take Your Blog Post Series on the Road
Blogging and guest posts can be combined and to good effect. So what's stopping you creating a roaming guest blog post series?
I’m aiming to write one guest blog post each week in 2013 and we are accepting blog posts here on Listly and on NickKellet.com. I’ve published some guest post guidelines. Follow the link for contact details etc.
My first ever guest post series (on the topic of “List Posts” & Listly) can be viewed here. The best way to learn is to write a series. Experience it first hand.
The list of posts above will grow as I publish each new post. That’s one of the coolest and simplest and most obvious ways to use Listly. Every blogger should know what a pain it is to cross link your posts, but more on that in another post.
Given this is a blog post series that’s also a guest post series, imagine how hard that would be to update the cross links between all the posts. Read on, watch, listen. This should be fun.
Be sure to follow the list to get updates for each new post and to learn where each post can be located.
Image Credit: jenny-pics
[...] A single post is like a hook trying to catch prospects attention. What chance does your 1 hook stand? Blog Post Series let you scale like the net fisherman. [...]
[...] A single post is like a hook trying to catch prospects attention. What chance does your 1 hook stand? Blog Post Series let you scale like the net fisherman. [...]
[...] A single post is like a hook trying to catch prospects attention. What chance does your 1 hook stand? Blog Post Series let you scale like the net fisherman. [...]
[...] A single post is like a hook trying to catch prospects attention. What chance does your 1 hook stand? Blog Post Series let you scale like the net fisherman. [...]
[...] A single post is like a hook trying to catch prospects attention. What chance does your 1 hook stand? Blog Post Series let you scale like the net fisherman. [...]
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