Have you ever wondered what makes some blogs so popular and why others struggle to get views? The answer is simple: good content. Great writing, fascinating ideas, and unique topics are what makes people keep coming back to a blog again and again. There’s no denying that successful blogs give their readers something that other sites don’t. But just having great content isn’t enough to ensure a blog remains popular over time. To really stand out from the crowd, your site needs a little help from its friends – or even from its own past! This is where featured posts come in.
Featured posts are one of the easiest ways for bloggers to boost their site’s popularity. Some people think that having featured posts is old-fashioned or doesn’t make sense; however, there are actually plenty of reasons why featured posts should be on your blog if you want it to succeed long term. Keep reading to learn more about why you should display featured posts in your blog!
Readers want to discover your best work, not just your recent blog post.
One thing that people love about blogs is that they can explore the entire history of a particular writer. Whether you’re reading The New York Times or a blog hosted on Blogspot, you can follow the progression of a writer’s ideas and style over the years. People like reading the work of bloggers who have been around for a long time for two reasons.
First, it’s a mark of quality. If a blog is consistently producing good content, it’s probably been around for a while. New blogs usually don’t last long because they’re not as consistent or as strong. Second, blogs with a long history tend to have more content. New blogs often don’t have enough content to go back and explore.
Having a featured post or a featured posts section will let your readers explore your best content. When you add featured posts with a corresponding featured image, you can share the posts you want that will surely catch a visitor’s attention. Adding featured posts shows your credibility as a writer since having a featured post list will show you have excellent work to share other than your most recent blog post.
It’s an easy win for search engines when you add featured posts.
In the past, you may have had to use black-hat tricks to get your blog ranked in search engines. Fortunately, the playing field has leveled out a bit since then. Nowadays, one of the easiest ways to improve your blog’s search engine ranking is to feature some of your old content. By republishing your best work, you’re giving search engines what they want without having to invest too much effort.
While it’s not possible to rely exclusively on republishing old posts to rank your blog, you can use this trick as a way to get your foot in the door. Once you’ve established a presence on the web, you can start adding new content to your site and boosting your rankings that way.
It helps increase readership over time.
One of the biggest reasons websites are so successful is that they have a pretty huge audience. If a website’s articles are about something that a lot of people are interested in, that website will become extremely popular very quickly. It’s not uncommon to see websites that are only a year or two old have millions of readers. In many cases, these sites will have featured some of their older content on their homepage.
While it’s hard to say for sure if this is the reason for the popularity, it’s certainly a reason that makes sense. When you feature an old article, you’re making it easier for your readers to find what they’re looking for on your site. The more readers you have, the more successful your blog will be. It’s also a good way to help your readers find your most popular articles. If you have a few posts that are very popular, it’s likely that your readers will want to read them again.
This is why featured posts should be something you should consider on your WordPress site. The windows of opportunities are far too many when you shared your featured posts. Whether you have a Squarespace website or a WordPress site, list block your featured posts or pages to get more visibility and comments.
Featured posts help showcase expertise.
As a blogger, you likely have some kind of expertise or insight you can share with your readers. You’re not just giving people reading your site advice, you’re also giving them a window into your world and your way of thinking. Your readers are likely to support and come back again and again if they feel like they’re getting something from your site. They want to know what your thoughts are on the latest news, which products are worth spending money on, and which products to avoid.
As you write more and more posts, you’re giving people more and more insight into who you are. However, it can be difficult to keep readers coming back in the beginning. If you want to build a loyal readership, you need to make them feel like every post is a new discovery. One way to do this is to feature some of your older articles. It’s not only a good way to help new users find your older content, but it’s also a good way to demonstrate your expertise.
A featured posts list is a good way to highlight your best content.
If you’re like most bloggers, you have plenty of great writing on your site. It’s likely that you have content that’s a few years old, posts that have generated controversy, and posts that are incredibly popular. If you have a lot of great posts that are buried deep within your site, it can be difficult for new readers to find them.
One way to make it easier for your readers to find the content you want them to see the most is to feature it on the homepage of your blog. If you have three or four posts that are some of your most popular, it makes sense to feature them. Some readers will definitely want to find your top posts. Even if someone reads one post and likes it, they’re likely to come back and read more.
How to add a featured post on your WordPress dashboard:
If you are using a WordPress site, go to your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance, to the Widget area, and then find the Featured posts widget. You have the freedom where to display the featured posts anywhere on your website. You can either display the featured posts on the sidebar or have them displayed on top of your page. If so, choose a stylish layout that will emphasize the featured posts so it is the first thing people see on your website.
Bottom Line
If you want to build a successful blog, it’s important to feature your best work. It’s likely that as you continue writing and building your blog, your early posts will get buried on your site. Readers may have no idea that posts like “5 Ways to Be Healthier in 2019” exist because they’re so far down the page.
With so many new posts coming out each week, it’s likely that your best work will get buried unless you do something about it. The easiest way to do this is to add featured posts on your homepage. Featured posts are a great way to make your best articles easier to find while also making sure they’re not lost in the shuffle of your other posts.