WHY ROUNDUP POSTS CAN BE AWESOME - AND HOW TO DO IT CORRECTLY
The roundup blog post is a great way to create buzz. Sometimes I will see people do them correctly - but typically I see them used for the WRONG reasons. Let's discuss:
The best way to create a roundup blog post is to focus on something you have done at least 5 times. For instance: if you had 5 weddings at the same venue: BOOM, a roundup post is born. Maybe you had 5 brides all wear a different Vera Wang wedding dress: YAY, roundup post time! Perhaps you had 8 weddings where the same florist was hired: YEP, another roundup post. Getting it??
Now, some wedding pros use roundup posts to show off work that IS NOT THEIRS - and to that I say: boooooooooo. Not cool. If you are using roundup posts to show off Spring wedding trends and you just troll the web looking for pretty photos from weddings or shoots that you didn't have a hand in creating and then you post those to your blog: not ok IMO. Why?? It leads people on! It makes them think those are your events or shoots.
If I ruled the wedding industry world I would make it a rule to ONLY SHOW YOUR OWN WORK on your blog and website. Heather, duh!!?? You don't have to rule the wedding industry world to make that happen - it already is a rule! Is it?? I see it so often that people pluck images whenever they want to serve their own purpose and it sucks. So, here is an example of how to create a roundup post using ONLY YOUR WORK and how to make it a huge success.
I am going to use examples from my client Details Details Weddings and Events. Jeannie and her amazing team hired me to optimize the images and blog posts on the GORGEOUS website that I designed for them … Have you seen it yet!!?? Stunning.
Ok, so Jeannie and her team kick ass - we all know that - and they have a massive wedding and event bank to pull from to create roundup posts. I am going to create an example using weddings at Montage Laguna Beach << and I just started with my example ;) Let's begin:
STEP 1: Creating a title that your audience and Google will love:
For this post I would call it: Our Favorite Weddings and Events at Montage Laguna Beach - simple and to the point. I would also take that one step further and create a different url that was something like: /montage-laguna-beach-weddings << this just helps narrow it down even more for Google.
STEP 2: Creating an intro that blurbs enough info to reach 350 characters ... and include the focus: weddings and events at Montage Laguna Beach.
STEP 3: Sharing and smart linking! Below is how I would do this part using 5 examples from the blog that Details Details has (I will explain this more at the bottom of this post):
Reem and Arash had a stunning wedding reception in the ballroom of Montage Laguna Beach ... continue on with some more info ... credit and link the photographer: Jessica Claire
Ashley and Cody had an outdoor ceremony overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Montage Laguna Beach that was truly breathtaking. Image below by John and Joseph
Priscilla and Dustin made our hearts swoon with their gorgeous wedding photos at Montage Laguna Beach. Soooo romantic!! Image below by Jana Williams Photography
Jaime and Steve's wedding reception at Montage Laguna Beach was soooo beautiful!! It was such a joy to work with Bloom Box Designs and transform the ballroom to create this look! Image below by Jessica Claire
Cassie and Brandon had an intimate wedding at Montage Laguna Beach that was incredibly romantic! We loved how the greenery followed through in the details throughout the day. Image below by Troy Grover Photographers
As you can see from the above example I used 'smart links' to share the original post. I didn't say: click here << and link that ... because that doesn't help you at all. I also linked each image to their original post and made sure to credit each photographer with the image - not in a blurb at the very bottom of the post that is hard to figure out. I was also sure to focus on 5 DIFFERENT Montage Laguna Beach wedding "ideas" ... the ballroom reception, the outdoor ceremony, wedding photos taken there, a wedding reception, and an intimate wedding. This ensures a range in which people might be searching online.
XO~ Heather
