We’re elbows deep into the yeah write version of ProBlogger’s 31 days to build a better blog—welcome to day 11! Let’s look at creating a sneeze page for our blogs, shall we?
Gesundheit!
Yeah, I know – it’s kind of lame, but I always think “Gesundheit” when I hear sneeze. That’s not what today is about though; it’s about having a page on your blog “that propels people deep into your blog by highlighting the best posts you’ve written”. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger came up with the term sneeze page and if you keep that in mind when reading his words about propelling something deeply, don’t you want to say Gesundheit as well?
What and why?
A sneeze page is an actual page on your blog, reserved for your very best posts, posts on a certain topic or even monthly features. As with everything else (at least as far as your blog is concerned), the possibilities are endless. The purpose, however, is the common thread: to show off the best of your blogging, hopefully attract new readers and turn them into loyal ones.
Sneeze pages make it easier to find your “best of” rather than having to scroll through extensive archives; they can provide a boost for your search engine ranking and make it easier for your blog to be found (internal links on a blog are something that Google considers!); think of it as the ultimate in customer service: your readers get 10 posts for the effort of one click!
And how?
Today, create a sneeze page for your blog. Keep in mind what your readers are looking for. Would they just be tickled pink to find a page of your best cheesecake recipes, rated on a scale from “meh” to “hell yeah”? If you’ve got a cheesecake blog, a sneeze page like that just may be the golden ticket. No cheesecake? There are a few other options.
[unordered_list style=”tick”]
- if your blog has a theme, your sneeze page can be a “best resources for …” page
- you can do a sneeze page that features posts from a certain time frame, like all the posts of the time when you ran for president of your neighborhood knitting club
- how about a series sneeze page? Put a lovely button in your sidebar and a click on that will bring readers to your sneeze page on how to build a model of the Titanic in 1912 easy steps. Or something like that.
[/unordered_list]
Aren’t you forgetting something?
My bad, I was just getting too excited about rebuilding the Titanic! There is something else: promote your sneeze page! A sneeze page has the potential to be the crown jewel of your blog, so you should treat it accordingly. Create a button for the sidebar (maybe even with a code for others to use?), feature it regularly on your blog and possibly use it as your URL when you comment on other blogs.
Are we there yet?
Almost! Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of what others are doing. Have fun creating and improving and don’t forget to leave a comment below to let us know how it’s going and if you need anything else from us!
This is a guest post from Kerstin Auer.
Love the concept of this and often see it on other blogs… but hesitated as it seemed too self-promote-y. But when you word it this way, I see the difference and the advantage of putting your best stuff in an easy to find spot! Adding this to the list of bloggy updates. 🙂
PS – I know I’m not officially partaking in the 31dbbb. Hope it’s okay if I still read and take in some knowledge!
I don’t see why you can’t follow and learn!
You have a great blog, Peach – and you gotta let people know about it. You could name your sneeze page “the sweetest peaches” or something like that 😉
Hello, adorable. Love that!
I’m a little late to this challenge, I think, but if anyone’s still around and willing to give my new “sneeze page” a look I’d appreciate it! I don’t have many posts to pull from yet at this point, but it’s a start…
http://breakingmoulds.com/the-heart-of-matters/
Cheers!
I love the “let’s get to the heart of the matter, here, now, together…” ! It’s a great start and now having that much on there just shows your readers that you really only put posts on there that matter.
A sneeze page is a constant work in progress anyway:)
Cool, thanks for checking it out! 🙂
I have a sneeze page for my list of 101 things in 1001 days, and I link to the posts I write about each challenge as I complete them. I didn’t think the page got much “action,” but now that I’ve installed the Clicky stats generator, I see that people who find my blog by Googling and land on that page do sometimes click through to at least a few of my other posts, so it seems to be doing what it should be doing.
Yay Marcy! Sounds like you have it figured out.
Thanks for commenting – I know everyone else is curious to see sneeze pages!
Hm, this has given me some ideas about how to enhance mine…
I include a sort of “map” of topics with links favorite/popular posts pertaining to those topics on my “About” page to guide readers new to the site. I’m wondering if I should put that on a separate page, now? Hm…
I think it’s a good idea to put in on a separate page – motivates the reader to stay on your blog longer and look around some more!
Going with A Trip Inside my Mind. Having trouble getting it looking anywhere decent, my own fault for starting today’s challenge when everyone else is thinking about turning in….to hyped to sleep now…it will be done!!!
It doesn’t have to be done in one day.
I still play around with my sneeze page and keep changing things – just getting it started is the hardest thing!
Bless you!
1. OMG I love that picture! It’s like the monkey and the horse have used a swoon ray to topple the lady justice while she was at a dubious Italian restaurant.
2. (Possibly more relevant) How do I find out how to do stuff like create a button for my sidebar? I’d love to do it but have no idea how.
Cool idea and great post!
Thank you! Erica picked the picture, but I do love a dubious Italian restaurant. Unfortunately there are none in the redneck town I live in… but there is a very dubious Sushi place and a Mongolian Grill, which I love equally 🙂
About the button: there are several tutorials out there, like this one: http://innov8tivedesignz.com/how-to-make-a-blog-button-with-a-grab-box/
I made one for my Auer Life blog a while ago to use in my Personal Revelation Revolution 2013 posts and I put in into the HTML of every post in that category at the end of the post. Works like a charm. I store my pictures for the buttons on photobucket, but there are alternatives. If you google “make a button for your blog” it’ll give you lots of options!
That’s me in that photo! (I’m the one that’s not the creature or the horse.) It’s my tribute to Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare. I did have bad Italian that day, though.
It is a great picture. Lucky to have you for the yeah write pictures!
I had bad Italian once, it’s almost as bad as bad Sushi.
Bad sushi makes you never want to touch food again.
That’s so cool! I love your photography.
I am excited about this! I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time. Now to find a catchy title…
I hear you about finding a title…
Your blog already has a great sneeze page – your page about TTTS. It’s a great resource and very informative!
Also, if you want to do a sneeze page for your blog, it could just be a “best of blog” to start out with. Sometimes you just need to start and once you have added content to the page you may just find some inspiration for a good title!
Thank you! I just set up a “By Popular Demand” – now at least my most popular posts are in one spot, and as you said, it will be a work in progress!
This is something I have been thinking about for awhile. I do already have separate tabs for a challenge I do book reviews for (not typical of my usual writing) and for my poetry, For a greatest hits type list, is it better to actually put the whole posts, or better to post links? I’m afraid the whole links would be too long to scroll through, on the other hand having to jump to other links might defeat the purpose,
I think it’s alright to just use the links. Readers get a good overview of multiple options (you could do it as a list), without having to scroll down too far.
I created a page like that (kerstinauer.tumblr.com/faves) a while ago and just put the links and a short description.
You could either do posts that were your personal favourites, if you want you sneeze page to be a place where people get to know you better, or it could be the posts with the most views – whatever you feel represents your blog best. A lot of the sneeze pages I see on other blogs are set up with links, I don’t think people are put off by going somewhere else when clicking the link; it’s pretty common.
One thing I always try to do is to make sure the link opens in a new tab or new window, otherwise readers have to “go back”; if the links open in a new tab they just have to close it after reading and they are back at the sneeze page.
I am always a little bitter that Mom101 took that “posts people besides my mom seem to like…” it’s perfect. I like this idea a lot…hmm…how would you make that page be the link that shows up when you comment on someone else’s blog?
Mom 101’s title is awesome – even though my own mother does not care for my writing at all…
If you want to use the sneeze page as the link when you comment, you would simply use that URL – like:
Name: Deborah Quinn
email: xxxxx
Website: http://www.mannahattamamma.com/sneeze
(I’m not talking about it being the post that shows up in the comment luv plugin, but rather as the place the people go to when they click on your name once you commented? Does that make sense?)
Your best is di one with the most views?
I can be, but doesn’t have to be. If it’s the posts with the most views you know it was popular with your readers. However, you could also feature your favourite posts that best represent you as a writer and poet or if people usually come to your blog for a particular topic, it could be the best resources around that topic.
It really can be whatever you feel fits best with you and your blog.
Authentic = Good!
I really need to do this – I feel like I finally have enough posts to pull out a few favorites. My blog’s name is Kiss my List so I may call it “At the Top of the List” or “Top Ten List” but I want it to be clear. Definitely have to think about it and get moving on this sneeze page. I would love to see what others have done too.
You could also call it “Kiss my best lists” 🙂
I hear you about wanting “worthy” posts for the sneeze page. I am struggling with this on my Auer Communication site, since I just started the blog component on it and only have two posts. I think I will feature a collection of useful links and resources as well as some of my blogs and published articles I wrote on the particular topics elsewhere.
Thanks for commenting!
I like that Kerstin – thanks for the suggestion!
Oh, that is a great name!
Thanks Kerstin. After reading your sneeze page I created on in my blog, although I just wrote the titles of my blog posts – no description. Feeling lazy today :-(. I am also too shy (or simply too lazy) when it comes to promoting. The best way I could think of promoting my sneeze page was to write a post about it.
Nothing wrong with just writing the titles – gets the readers curious to check it out 😉
I think a sneeze page is more like a project then a quick fix. You can keep coming back and working on it until it’s exactly how you want it to be.
As far as promoting goes – it can be whatever you want it to be. If you don’t expect to get too much out of it – other than having a quick reference to give or providing a service to your readers – then that’s just fine.
If you want to promote it you could create a button or use a great picture and embed a link, then share it on Facebook/Twitter/Google+
I should totally do this. “Best of The Reedster”? or “You Like Me, You Really Like Me”?
I love Mom 101’s Sneeze Page: “Posts people besides my mom seem to like.”
I think your sneeze page should totally be called “Come here for really wet… dog kisses”
Is it possible to add a link-up to this post? I’d be interested in seeing what others come up with or even already have. I do my best work by copying from everyone else 🙂
I have pages for two of my series, but I created those more for myself to keep track of those posts than for the reasons Kerstin mentions.
Do you have a way to monitor the two pages you created (Google Analytics)? Can you see if it’s really only you using them to keep track? Maybe some of your readers are already enjoying them.
I will pass the linky request on to Erica. If it can be done it would probably be more to showcase what’s already there – I know it took me a while to set up my favourites for my Auer Life blog (going through the archives)…
I’m not able to use the Google Analytics on wordpress.com. I tried using the standard “Stats” feature, but it doesn’t tell me about the views on my pages except for my “About” page. Not sure why . . .
Great point about asking for links. This does seem more like an on-going project than something one can crank out in one day. Thanks for your reply and for this post!
First off Kerstin, I don’t ever think I’ve ever seen the word Gesundheit written. So I learned that today. :). At a conference I recently attended, they talked about how it helps potential sponsors and clients see your best work. I haven’t done it yet but this definitely makes since. Like removing that huge tag cloud and dropping a “best of” in. Thanks K.
Thanks, Jamie!
Gesundheit is a great word, isn’t it? Yes, it does make sense. I set a “Favourites” page up for my Auer Life blog a while ago so people would have an overview of my most popular posts as well as the ones where I introduce myself and my family. I still have to work on the page for my Auer Communication blog – which really helps with defining what exactly you want to achieve with the page/blog as well!