A blog post series is just what is sounds like – a series of posts that are connected. There are good reasons why your blog should include some blog post series. They’re not the status quo, same old thing and this makes them more interesting for your audience. If your readers can follow the journey you’re taking them on via the series of posts, then they’re buying into You. They become vested and trust is established. Also, a series of posts means natural internal linking and that’s good for your SEO.

The unofficial ground rules are these posts have to have something tying them together. If not, you can’t really call it a series. In addition, they must cross-reference the other posts in the series, yet they need to be able to stand on their own so a little intro on each post is necessary.

You might be wondering what sort of thing you should write a blog post series on. Check out other blogs you enjoy reading and get some ideas or try these:

* A personal challenge – you set a personal goal to write 2000 words a day for 1 week, lose 5 pounds in 7 days, train for a marathon, or create 1 new product per month. It’s best if these goals tie into the general theme of your blog.

* Affiliate contest – perhaps you have joined an affiliate contest or you’re having one yourself. Periodic updates on how it’s going can be exciting for everyone to read.

* Before and after – readers love these! Your room remodel, weight loss, website redo, landscaping project, even your blog’s About page are examples. Again, these before and afters should be within the theme of your blog. Your IT blog readers don’t want to see how your veggie garden is progressing.

* How To – how to rewrite PLR, put a grill together, organize your garage, learn crossfit exercises. The series can take one How To thing and break it into several posts, or it can be a series of related How To’s.

* Lists – break down a Top 100 into three or four parts so you can be more thorough. Your audience will thank you for not making them read it all in one looooong post. Shorter posts are much easier to digest, plus knowing there’s a Part 2 or Part 3 brings the reader back again and again. You can also do a Top 5 Tips list with each tip as a separate entry.

* Interview series – interview one expert in your niche – written, video, or podcast – per blog post. I prefer to ask each one different questions even though the general topic is the same.

Remember that the posts must have a common element, they need to link to each other, and they have to be written to make sense if the reader has not read the other parts. Doing a blog series is an excellent way to retain and entertain an audience, and it’s also helpful for SEO.