Roundup Link Posts Aren’t So Useless After All – 7 Vital Advantages

Every weekend here on Winning the Web, I usually publish a post from the Winners of the Week series, a roundup of the most interesting and useful posts in Internet marketing from the past week. These posts include up to 20 links to articles I think readers would appreciate followed by short blurbs providing my own thoughts and insights into why the “winning” articles are important. If anything, they help you all to cut through the clutter and find the best Internet marketing content available.

So why do I do it you ask? Some of you may think I write these roundup posts because I have nothing better to say myself or because I’m running out of ideas. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Believe it or not, a roundup link post acts as a marketing catalyst that helps you to promote your blog. I know it sounds counterintuitive because you’re essentially linking out to your “competition” but trust me on this. Linking to the work of other bloggers will enable you to make new connections, increase your exposure, attain more links, and keep you on the cutting edge in your chosen niche.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at why utilizing roundup blog posts is an effective marketing strategy and what you can do now to get started and reap the benefits.

If you’re still not convinced, some of the top blogs in the SEO/Internet marketing space utilize this very method including SEOmoz, Lisa Barone of Bruce Clay SEO blog, Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips, and Darren Rowse of Problogger.net. That’s pretty good company if you ask me.

7 Advantages of Roundup Link Posts

1. Share with readers and help them find what they need
Nothing beats the feeling of the warm fuzzies you get when helping others out. Isn’t that why many of you blog to begin with? Readers will appreciate you for directing them to useful content that they otherwise would not have found. Look at it this way. You’re doing your readers a service and if you do it well, they’ll freely promote the heck out of you.

2. You can’t be everything to everyone
One of the main reasons why many bloggers are hesitant about doing roundup posts is because they don’t want to link out to their competition. The common thinking is “why link to another post when I can just write one myself and keep everyone on my own blog?” Well, this is flawed logic because it’s impossible to be everything to everyone. There will always be topics that others can explain much better than you can. Give credit where credit is due and everyone wins out – you, your readers, and the bloggers you link to. Heck, you might even make some friends in the process.

3. Get on the radar of top bloggers
Want to get the attention of the top bloggers in your field? Easy – link to them. They’ll immediately receive a pingback notice and in most cases will click through to your site to view the link. Many of the bloggers will comment on the post thanking you for the mention and may even stick around to read some of your other content. Blogging is about relationships and linking out is a great way to get the ball rolling.

4. What goes around, comes around
It’s true. If you link out to other bloggers, they’ll oftentimes return the favor in the future. Network with other bloggers in your niche and build the relationships that are absolutely crucial to finding success. Remember that someone else’s referral carries much more weight than your own self promotion. Give a little and you’ll get a lot back.

5. Educate yourself on what else is out there
I often get so consumed with my own blogging that I fail to keep up with what’s going on in the industry and what people are saying around me. Blogging is a conversation and the moment you lose touch with what other people are saying is the moment you lose the attention of your readers. Posting link roundups forces you to stay up to date on key trends and conversations in your industry. You should be doing it on your own anyway so why not post your key findings?

6. Link to things you normally wouldn’t be able to
Roundup posts provide a platform on your blog where you can link to pages that you normally would not be able to link to. This includes things like contest posts, link exchanges, news type articles, and posts that are slightly off-topic. Roundups give you some extra room for experimenting with your readers and determining what they are interested in.

7. SEO & link building benefits
Finally, link roundup posts provide your blog with SEO benefits. Not many people know this, but search engine algorithms take into consideration the sites you link TO as well as inbound links when determining your blog’s ranking for search keywords. Therefore, you want to link to and connect your blog to the high authority sites in your niche. If they decide to link back to you then that’s even better.

How to Put Together an Effective Roundup Post

Now that you understand the benefits of a link roundup post, it’s time to take action and get going. The best way to start is to set up an RSS feed reader like Google Reader to aggregate all of the news and articles you are interested in. Create a separate folder for the topic of your blog and stay up to date throughout the week. Star interesting articles as your find them so that you can easily go back to them later on.

I recommend compiling a roundup post every week (during the weekends when posting is slower) and including at least 5 links and at most 20. You want to cast a wide net without going overboard with your time.

It also might help for you to come up with a catchy title (Winners of the Web in my case) and work a unique angle to catch the interest of your readers. For example, rather than reporting on general Internet marketing articles, commenting on rivalries in the industry is much more likely to gain buzz.

A lot of blogs utilize link roundup posts but that shouldn’t stop you from doing the same. There is plenty of opportunity to target an underserved niche and to work a unique angle that will get attention. Rather than simply listing a bunch of links, you definitely want to include your thoughts and commentary to voice your opinions.

Are you using link roundup posts on your blog? How have they helped you to gain exposure and connect with other bloggers? Be sure to let us know in a comment below.

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