Remember to feature your best articles
Ever since last October, when I started publishing articles online, I looked forward to the time when I could feature my best articles.
The thought first crept into my head after reading one of Christian Montoya’s articles, Feature your best entries.
I think it’s great from a blog promotion point of view because for new visitors to my site, digging through monthly or category archives is not a good way to get a quick taste of what my blog is like, nor does it ensure that they will see the best entries.
So if you haven’t noticed already, or are reading this in your feed reader, why not take a look at my horizontal navigation bar, where you’ll see a page for my featured articles?
In addition to my featured page, I use a WordPress plugin to display the ‘most commented’ posts in my sidebar.
UPDATE: 06 August 2008
I no longer use the ‘most commented’ plugin, preferring to hand-pick articles to display in the sidebar. Just because an article has a lot of comments doesn’t necessarily indicate my best posts.
There’s another plugin to display the most viewed articles (I haven’t tested it). Personally however, I prefer to highlight the posts with the most discussion, because your kind comments really improve the value of my humble words.
I’m always on the lookout for new ways of highlighting top posts. Stylegala, for instance, has a top rated section where users decide on the best galleries to be featured.
Mitch at Harpzon has a sidebar section for popular articles, which I think he updates manually (as I do with my featured articles page).
Richard at Nostrich dot net prefers to keep his best articles in a category, labelled ‘notable’. He then loops these articles into a ‘notable’ section in his sidebar. Quite clever.
Derek Punsalan of 5THIRTYONE says this about giving some traffic to posts that could use some more attention:
I elect three posts / pages with images to be displayed globaly throughout the site and also take the time to display popular posts in select areas. By doing this, I can guarantee that readers have a chance to click-through on posts which a) deserve attention, or b) could use a little more attention.
How do you draw attention to your best articles?
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17 spot-on reader comments to “Remember to feature your best articles”
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I’ve noticed your featured articles section. It’s a good idea and one I intend to implement a few months down the line when the archive is a bit bulkier.
The plugins you mention are all good, but what about those early posts that are gems but no-one has read or commented on because you didn’t have any visitors? That’s why a dedicated section is a good idea.
I reckon my early posts are all pretty dull to be honest. Back then I had no idea what blogs were about, or how to go about using them to your advantage.
In fact, I’ve lifted a fair amount of my early articles and saved them as drafts. When I get a chance I might edit them so they’re respectable.
Yeah, thats true. A lot of my earlier articles are the same as that, but I know one or two of them would probably go down well if I published them now I have some readers.
Hi again, David
I have a category called, ‘A1 - the best of Roads of Stone,’ and I feature it under ‘Highlights’ in my top menu navigation bar.
The category listing on my site defaults to alphabetical order, and so when I set up my site I looked for a relevant title which would always load up first.
I quite liked the idea of a road name to echo the title of my site, and whilst A3 might have been more strictly local to where I live, that couldn’t ever compete with the clunkily hackneyed but clear ranking connotations of ‘A1′.
It is an interesting exercise to evaluate what exactly makes up the best material on your own site. Most visited, most commented, most linked to, or just the writing or ideas of which you’re most proud ?
My own site’s strap line is ‘rocks, running and the world’. So, the site is supposed to be about geology and running. But does that hold up to reality ? I’m not so sure:
The most commented pages on my site are on global warming. So far, so good.
But the most read articles on my site are about football, athletics heroes and the London Gherkin. Quite a mix.
A piece on Sir Isaac Newton comes next. (At least he was born close to the modern A1).
This analysis confirms that in some ways I write as more of a columnist, about a range of subjects, than on any single and strictly focused specialist topic. And the themes of London and history loom larger than I had imagined they would on setting out.
I’ll have to think about that conclusion a little more, and see just where it leads me. Thanks for those thoughts.
Hey!
Great article! I have really enjoyed checking out your site and all the quality information you have offered all throughout this great site!
Thanks again,
Eric
ambatchmasterpublished.blogspot.com
Like Aaron, my eye has been drawn to that list several times. I’ve already read some great entries because of it.
How do I draw attention? Well, I would have to start writing articles to get the best ones out there. Great tips for the time when I might start.
It is interesting, and difficult, when choosing what articles you want to feature. I wonder if I’ve featured too many, and if the list would be improved if there were less articles.
Your A1 category gets slightly lost in the tag cloud, but you make up for that in your top navigation which is great.
Eric, Morriconei,
Thanks very much.
What a good idea! The issue didn’t seem so important until the content is slowly built up. I realized now that I really need to get it fixed soon.
By the way, David, I just wrote a post on How to Select & Hire a Copywriter with 24 interesting questions for the clients to answer. Before that, I took the opportunity to clarify the difference between Agency Brief, Creative Brief and Copy Brief. And I’m referring my readers to take a cue from your Design Brief. You wrote it so well that I’m taking the easy way out.:)
PS: Answered your query on FreeMoneyFormula too
You’re right, it doesn’t matter until you have some pillar articles that should be kept noticeable. I’ve left a couple of comments over on your site.
Haha, I didn’t quite realized where were my pillar articles until I saw the stats from google search and the email enquiry I received. Some people are just more comfortable talking in private. Oh well.
And sorry, the direct link to your article was broke. I just fixed it so one to your site, and other to your post. :)
Hi David
Managed to get “Popular Post” wordpress plugin. But “popular posts” might not be the “must read” posts. How did you do your “must read” section? Manual or some kind of scripts? Would be great if you can clue me here or via email. Thanks in advance.
I did have a ‘most commented’ section, but some of the articles I’ve published that have a lot of comments aren’t as worthwhile as others with less comments.
David,
Thanks for all the helpful information. I’ve had my blog for a year and am doing a major redesign thanks largely to what I’ve read on your site and links.
Best of luck with your re-design, and thanks for commenting.
Great thoughts David- I always appreciate your insight into these areas. I’m getting ready to launch a design/creative discussion blog of my own and have been drawing on the collective experience of you ‘big hitters’ in the design blogging arena. Thanks for being transparent in this regards and giving us, ‘just the facts.’
I look forward to visiting your new blog, so do let me know when you have a few articles ready for discussion.