Why I Show “Must Reads”
April 5th, 2007 by CourtUpdate: My ‘Must Reads’ section has been renamed ‘Court’s Best Work’
Today I was doing some reviews of some newer blogs. Usually when I do that I try to find an interesting article, one that I can link to. If I’m going to review a site, I usually try to plug something important so that I can push some readers there. One of the sites I reviewed today was pretty interesting, but it was super hard for me to find a really good article. I almost got frustrated enough to leave the site without finding a good article.
In my review of the site, I recommended creating a ‘Must Reads’ or ‘Best Of’ section. That way people could quickly find out whether the site has something to offer or not.
While I had this topic ‘on the brain’, I noticed something very interesting in my stat log. Here’s a picture of the log so that you can all know what I’m talking about:
This log is showing the path of a certain visitor, and if you look closely you will see that every single page that the visitor went to was part of my ‘Must Reads’ section.
Why Does That Matter?
It matters because that visitor has seen my best work! Let’s say that the visitor happened to land on my homepage right now. (4/5/2007, 2:41 p.m. MDT) My newest article right now is called, “Blogs Of Interest – Link Love.” It’s an article that gives a shout-out to some aspiring bloggers who happen to have caught my eye. I think it’s important to recognize other bloggers, but it’s definitely not the best article I’ve ever written. If I landed on my blog right now, I would probably leave and never come back, unless…….
Something Else Catches My Eye
Right at the top of my ‘Must Reads’ section, you will find the most popular article I’ve ever written. I’ve had tons of emails thanking me for writing it. It’s an article that teaches people about starting a blog; it’s the most thorough of its kind. (that I know of) The article is called, “5263 Words On Starting A Profitable Blog.” Interestingly, almost every single person that has ever come to this site has at least checked it out. Most of my referral traffic lands right on that post, since it’s the article that is mostly highly linked to on the site. I really doubt that this would be the case if I didn’t have a ‘Must Reads’ section.
How To Implement A ‘Must Reads’ Or ‘Best Of’ Section
- Write something worth showcasing. If you don’t have a great article, what’s the point? The article that sits atop my ‘Must Reads’ section took 10 hours to write.
- Write something else worth showcasing.
Your readers will need to see a few interesting articles if you want them to get hooked.
Add them to your site. I understand that some of you already have material worth showcasing, and if you do you can skip those steps.
Once you have showcase worthy material, you can add the special section to your site. There are two methods I know of for doing this:
- Edit your WordPress, Blogger, or Type template. If you’re using WordPress, you will probably be adding it to to one of the sidebar files. (The sidebar files are where your categories, archives, and recent posts, etc., usually show up.) If you have no idea where your sidebar files are, find out! You’ll have to type ‘Must Reads’ and then you’ll type each article title one by one. You’ll then make hyperlinks out of each. If you can’t figure that out you can hire me to do it for $1,000,000. Once they’re in your sidebar file they will show up on every page of your blog.
- Popularity Contest WordPress Plugin – This one only works with WordPress! It shows your most popular posts, which are hopefully your best. The reason that I chose the first method is because I think I know which ones are my best, and I want to show them.
If you are serious about blogging, I would highly recommend integrating this idea into your blog. I don’t by any means believe that everyone has to do everything I do in order to achieve success, but this is one thing that has really worked out well for me. It will impact your blog’s loyal readership, links, SEO, and usability.
As you can see, I find it so important I have placed it above my ads.
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April 6th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Court,
Thanks for the post. How do you go and get the small icon links that are titled share and enjoy? Thanks.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Court, great post. It’s been a while since I dropped in on your blog and I seem to remember having the same reaction last time – why did I leave it so long..?
I will definitely be thinking about adding a must read item in my sidebar some time soon. I just need to write some longer and more valuable “sticky” content first.
Cheers,
Andy
June 6th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
A really cool idea
I’ll be taking that…
July 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
[...] thorough than most other posts. They’re usually longer than other posts. Authority posts must be easy to find (follow this link for a lesson on where you should put your authority posts) on your site, getting [...]
September 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Hi Court, I found your site via a post by Caroline Middlebrook. I read several posts today and am taking away a lot of info. My blog is only a few months old so I don’t know if I have any “must reads” but I plan to initiate a category for such soon.
Thanks for the good information. I’ll be back. By the way, I also read a few of your “Best Read’ posts.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Hi, is my horner if you can get your small little time to go through my site and do give me some small suggestion.
Very much appreciate
May 21st, 2009 at 9:20 pm
[...] thorough than most other posts. They’re usually longer than other posts. Authority posts must be easy to find (follow this link for a lesson on where you should put your authority posts) on your site, getting [...]
May 29th, 2009 at 9:21 am
[...] thorough than most other posts. They’re usually longer than other posts. Authority posts must be easy to find (follow this link for a lesson on where you should put your authority posts) on your site, getting [...]
December 13th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Of course I agree with your post, and to add to it, I also believe in only unique content as the main pages.
February 7th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
great post, will be passing it on!
February 8th, 2010 at 4:50 am
Wha awesome post
See this please
the secret of the unicorn movie
March 24th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
They’re usually longer than other posts. Authority posts must be easy to find on your site
May 19th, 2010 at 6:45 am
This is a great post, I had not given much thoughts about authority posts until after this post. Thanks for sharing with us your insights.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:15 am
Really good post. I was searching the www for a accurate answer and yours is by far the best one i got. Thanks for all your practical, easy to understand advices. Cheers !
June 29th, 2010 at 12:01 am
[...] thorough than most other posts. They’re usually longer than other posts. Authority posts must be easy to find (follow this link for a lesson on where you should put your authority posts) on your site, getting [...]
July 21st, 2010 at 11:17 am
I had to click through to the popularity contest plugin and see how they determine the “most popular” posts (page views and feedback) – seems obvious but I hate to assume! I think I agree with you that I’d rather choose the best posts myself, although there’s the risk I’ll disagree with my readers! Can see that helping or hurting..
May 26th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Hi! I’ve been reading your website for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the excellent job!
May 26th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
I used to be wondering what is up with that bizarre gravatar??? I know 5am is early and I’m not looking my greatest at that hour, however I hope I don’t seem like this! I would nonetheless make that face if I’m requested to do a hundred pushups. lol
August 13th, 2011 at 12:11 am
thank you for givn a gud article..very helpful
October 19th, 2011 at 3:20 am
Court, great post. I will copy the idea of “Best posts”, I am always a little bit disappointed that when I really write a brilliant post after some time it goes into oblivion…
November 23rd, 2011 at 6:43 am
i have completely understand it