Today is day 18 in 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and you can listen to it here.
If you’ve never created a sneeze page on your blog – one of the single most useful ways to get readers to stick around and get to know you so well they won’t want to leave – you need to do this today!
I’ve talked about sneeze pages for a long time, and it’s a term that I came up with in the first incarnation of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog in 2007. It’s a great way for all those posts you have in your archives that are still useful and relevant to be all in one place for the ease of readers who may be new to your blog.
The goal is to make the pages so interesting that the reader can’t help but click on more and more posts to read and before they know it, they’re deep inside your blog reading everything that they’re interested in.
In this episode I talk about the importance of sneeze pages for traffic, and the other benefits they bring. I also run through the types of sneeze pages you could create, depending on your niche, and whether to have standalone pages or posts. I also give a few examples for you to check out when creating your own in the show notes.
I’m going to discuss the type of sneeze page I think you should create for today’s challenge and give you tips on how to make the best one to really hook your audience – and also how to ensure they actually get seen by new readers to your blog.
It should be a nice and easy challenge for you today, but one that will see a heap of return on your effort.
Darren you often mention how you link to articles in your archives – how do you track what you have? I have a 11 year old blog of over 4,000 posts and am currently in the process of clearing out dead wood in the archives. I have thought of spreadsheeting stuff that could be re-written- cleaned up or repurposed but I wondered if you had a system to track past posts other than your calendar. My calendar has always been a paper diary – which got tossed at the end of the year which means I am not sure quite of what is there. As I go through this process I am looking for a way not to have to do it again – hence the spreadsheet idea. I would love to know what you do if anything.
sneeze pages sound interesting. Never thought of those before. That’s actually a good way to naturally build inbound links and possibly improve long-term SEO, while keeping all posts relevant before readers and search engine spiders.
Darren you frequently mention however you link to articles in your archives – however does one track what you have? I even have a eleven year recent journal of over four,000 posts and am presently within the method of clearing out dead wood within the archives. I even have thought of spreadsheeting stuff that would be re-written- clean up or repurposed however I puzzled if you had a system to trace past posts aside from your calendar. My calendar has continually been a paper diary – that got tossed at the top of the year which implies i’m undecided quite of what’s there. As i’m going through this method i’m searching for how to not have to be compelled to make out once more – thus the programme plan. i’d like to recognize what you are doing if something.
sneeze pages sound interesting. Never thought of those before. That’s actually a good way to naturally build inbound links and possibly improve long-term SEO, while keeping all posts relevant before readers and search engine spiders.