This is a guest post by Srinivas Rao of Blogcast FM.
If you have spent any time at all in the blogosphere, then you have no doubt come across a post where somebody has created a roundup post of other bloggers. Here are just a few examples below:
- 40 Flightsters You Should know About
- 125 Fearless Female Bloggers
- 24 People Who Will Inspire, Entertain, and Inform the World in 2011
- 27 People I Can’t Wait to Meet in Real Life
These roundup posts can generate massive amounts of traffic for your blog. They also have a tendency to be shared quite a bit on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites, bookmarked, voted upon, and commented on. They do however require a significant investment of time and effort.
Assembling the List
You should expect to spend at least a week on putting together one of these posts if you intend to do it well. Below, I’ve dissected what I think the keys are to creating an awesome roundup of bloggers.
It’s not About You
While these posts are great traffic generators for your blog, the most important thing to keep in mind when you put together one of these posts is that it is not about you. It’s about the people on the list. You should treat this as an opportunity to shine a light on people. This is really about sending traffic and subscribers to other people’s blogs.
As Chris Brogan says: promote other people much more than you promote yourself. It might be counter-intuitive, but you’ll be rewarded accordingly. By making it all about the people on the list you’ll form a very loyal fan base from new readers and the people who are on the list.
Avoid the A-List
Your initial temptation might be to put together a roundup of the biggest and most well known bloggers. I want to recommend you avoid doing that. First of all everybody already knows who these people are. Therefore nobody really learns about anybody they didn’t already know about. Second they are constantly included on these roundup posts.
While they might be appreciative of you including them on your roundup post, chances are you will be a blip on the radar. The real purpose of putting together one of these lists is to let people know about people who are doing great things, but people might not necessarily know about.
Kiss Digital Babies
This is a term that my friend Stanford at Pushing Social coined and it could easily be the most brilliant advice I received in all of 2010. Emerging talent is the most undervalued asset in the blogosphere.
For every A-list blogger who has been on 50 of these lists, there are hundreds of digital babies being born every single day who are some of the most creative, amazing and interesting people you’ll ever meet in your life. This is also a great opportunity to start the formation of a very loyal tribe who will be forever grateful to you for putting them on the map. I always to try to keep an eye out for emerging talent because I think it’s the most valuable asset available when building a tribe.
Finding Digital Babies
Finding digital babies is actually not quite as challenging as you would think. Pay attention to the people who comment on your blog who you may not have heard of before. Also keep track of who tweets your posts that you may not have heard before and make them part of you inner circle. These people are the ones who really need to be put on roundups.
If you are an established blogger you have tremendous power to make positive change in their lives. If you are a new blogger you have the ability to bring a group of people who might know each other together.
Personalize It
As I mentioned above you should expect to spend a week putting together this kind of a post. I’ve seen a few instances when people will just throw together some links for a post like this. I think it it’s important to add a personal touch. Tell people why you like these blogs and why they should subscribe to them. It’s important to let these people know that their ideas and effort are appreciated.
Your Thoughts on Large Lists and Roundup Posts
Putting together a round of bloggers definitely requires significantly more effort than your average blog post, but the rewards significantly outweigh the effort. What are your thoughts on putting together a roundup post?
