Tips For New Bloggers: Make a Top Posts List

There is a good post here about the importance of maintaining a Top (or Best or Favorite, whichever you prefer) Posts list on your blog. Todd writes:

Think of your best posts page as a sitemap for new users to check out your style. There are two things that will get people to subscribe when they visit – Personality (about page) and style (best posts page). Personally, it takes me less than five minutes to decide if I’ll ever visits a blog again and subscribe with bloglines. Please make a good impression to your first timers.

Indeed. With all the amazing blogs to read, determining which ones to follow can be a daunting task. First impression and accessibility to the best content helps convert casual visitors to loyal subscribers.

Since I use Wordpress, I can point you to a couple excellent plugins you can use to automate your Top Posts list.

• Popularity Contest for Wordpress
• Top Posts by Category for Wordpress

While plugins are super, sometimes your most visited/commented posts are not the ones that say the most about you or your blog. In that case – or in case you’re using a blog platform that doesn't offer a good plugin – it’s simple to manually add links to your five or ten favorites posts in your sidebar. Just choose your best posts and put the links in your sidebar.

And don’t forget about that About page. Give your readers a little background on who you are and why you are blogging. If you reveal your personality and highlight your best content, subscribers will follow.