tips for creating a great blog series

I admit it. I’m a sucker for blog series. I love the idea of exploring an idea, trend, book, or pretty much anything else for more than one post. I try to do three or four series a year on my personal blog. We use series at Design by Insight as well. Earlier this year we started an ongoing series on blog strategy. I also wrote a series about blogging for small businesses.

Perhaps you are working on your 2014 editorial calendar and contemplating a series or two. Over the past five years of blogging, I’ve had some series really do well and a few that were total flops. As I considered what it takes to craft a great blog series, several ideas came to mind.  Here are a few tips for making your series the best it can be.

Before You Write

• Develop a plan! Don’t just announce a new series because you have an idea. {Trust me. I have done this a few times and it rarely turns out well.}
• Brainstorm possible posts. Remember, every post doesn’t have to be the same. Just like there is room for creativity in a 31 days series, your blog series can include more than just standard posts.  Think about resource recommendations, great quotes, and even guest posts.
• Look at your offline and online calendars. Recognize your time limits and don’t try to schedule a two-week series in the middle of a busy ball season or a time when you have committed to doing several product or book reviews.
• Create a graphic for your series. Even a simple text graphic will help readers. Use the graphic to promote your series before it starts and add it to your sidebar with a link to the index post.

As You Write

• Provide the very best information. You don’t have to include everything you know or learned. This is where developing a resource list or “For additional information” links can be very useful.
• Be sure to connect your posts. Link back to the previous posts and share what’s coming next. Make sure if a reader lands on your blog in the middle of a series, he or she can figure out how to get to the beginning.
• Edit. It can be easy when you write a series to get redundant or even to chase rabbit trails. Allow yourself time to edit the series. One way I make sure my whole series is cohesive is to create a Word or Pages document and add each post to it. I read it the whole way through which allows me to check for any repetition or gaps in information.
• Create an index post and link to it in every post in your series. I recommend including the link to this post at the end of every post.  You can create a separate index post or make it a part of the introductory post.

During the Series

• Use social media well! Create a Pinterest board with the series title and pin each post to it. Develop a hashtag for the series and use it on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
• Don’t just promote the post you wrote today. Share the previous posts as well and invite readers to catch up. Offer snippets from the coming posts. Provide the link to the index post.
• Engage with your community. Series are a great way to get to know your readers. Be active in the comments and as others share your posts on social media.

Blog series can be a lot of fun but they are a lot of work.  The best way to make sure yours is great is to give yourself plenty of time to prepare.  For more hints about writing a blog series, take a peek at our 31 tips for a great 31 days series post.  And if you’re not sure what you could write a series about, you might want to check out 31 ideas for 31 days series from my blog.

Have you ever done a blog series? What tips would you share?