Earlier this year I created a new presentation called How to Write Your First Four Blog Posts. The basic premise is that you don’t need to write a new full-length article every time you post to your blog.

In fact, I suggest new business bloggers aim to write only ONE new article every month, and fill in the other three weeks with different types of posts that are easier and quicker to write – but that still provide value to your readers.

As I searched for examples of the four types of posts, I came across a delightfully simple post from the American Lighting Association that actually embodied elements of all four.

1. Like a how to post, the information is broken down into a list. That means the reader knows what to expect, the writer could break her ideas into sections, and it’s spaced nicely on the page.
2. Like a personal post, it highlights the author’s knowledge and insights. By honing in on one focused idea from each of the featured articles, she revealed more about her own personal style and approach to design.
3. Like a curated post, the author didn’t create the content herself. Instead, she referenced and linked to existing articles already published online.
4. Like a spotlight post, it featured a group of experts in a particular field. An association could easily use this opportunity to showcase its members, while any business can profile staff, vendors, customers, neighbours, or other influential members of your industry.

How to write your own combo post

Step One – Choose your links

You can build this type of post either from the bottom up or the top down. To build it from the bottom up, browse your favourite blogs, or the updates from your connections on social media. Look for interesting, high-quality articles your audience will find useful.

Even better, gather these links constantly through the month by saving them as soon as you read them. Email them to yourself, save them in a document or list, or try a tool like Pocket.

Step Two – Find your theme

Once you’ve settled on your list of links (I suggest 3 or 5 items), look for a connection between them. This becomes the theme of your post, and what you will use for your blog post title.

Or to build your post from the top down, find your theme first. Choose one of your blog categories and then go off in search of the best information that’s been shared in the past few weeks about that topic.

Look specifically for content from your customers, vendors or other partners, in order to spotlight their work and deepen your connection.

Or if there are specific people you want to build relationships with, share their work and then let them know you’ve done that. From this, new relationships and partnerships can grow.

Step Three – Add your voice

For each list item, create a heading that sums up the key point you took away from the content. Aim for each heading to be approximately the same length (for bonus points, be sure you’ve used parallelism).

Then write two or three sentences to describe the article and how it relates to the central theme of your post. Be sure to include your own personal view – what you most liked or appreciated about the ideas, and why you decided to include this particular link.

Step Four – Open and close

Once you’ve done the work to choose and summarize your links, add an introduction to summarize the overall theme of the post. Reiterate why the topic is relevant for your readers and what benefits they can expect after reading your post.

At the end of your post, suggest a follow-up action that will provide more value, such as: subscribe to your newsletter for more useful tips, read something else you’ve written about the topic, stay connected with you on social media to see other resources you share, or check out a related product or service you offer.

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If you’re having trouble keeping up with your blogging schedule, a curated blog post may just be your new best friend.

A curated blog post is one that refers and links to a post on an external site. While it’s common (and recommended) to link to other blogs in your posts, a curated post is completely centered around the outside link.

As I explained in an earlier post, Creating Curated Content for Social Media, Email and Your Blog:

“In between your own original posts, you may want to offer your blog readers additional insights and perspectives from other experts in your field, or related fields. This is a great way to keep your content flowing consistently, build and deepen relationships with industry leaders, and learn new ideas.”

Here are two approaches to writing a curated blog post, with examples:

1. Expand or comment on one source post

When something inspires you, fires you up, or enlightens you, introduce it to your readers by adding your own commentary and insights. While this type of post can be just as long and in-depth as any other original piece of content, it saves you from always needing to think of new topics.

Here are some questions to guide you in using another blog post as a starting point for your own:

• Do you agree with the premise of the article? Why or why not?
• How does the content relate to your specific audience?
• What points do you think were missing from the article?
• What is your unique way of presenting a similar message?
• Are there examples from your life or business that illustrate points from the article?

As you write your post, be very clear about when you’re quoting or paraphrasing the original post, and keep quotes brief (one or two sentences) to adhere to fair use guidelines.

Example #1: Are You Afraid of Ghosts Haunting Your Lawn Care or Landscape Blog? (Landscape Writer) [Update Oct 7, 2016: This post is no longer available.]

Luckily I use online monitoring tools (talkwalker and mention), which alerted me when Wendy Komancheck published this post and included my name. Notice how she customized the title and her comments to be relevant for her audience.

Example #2: Free Your Trapped Content (Productive Flourishing)

What’s really fun about this example is that while Charlie Gilkey used my post as a springboard, it was his idea that I had expanded on in my article.

2. Gather links from multiple sources, grouped around a common theme

Hopefully, you’re already filtering your content curation through a set of core content categories (topics you’ve identified as being helpful and relevant to your audience).

To find a theme for your curated post, you can browse your social media analytics (I use Buffer for this) for insights into how many people liked and clicked on the links you’ve been sharing on social media. Use the most popular links as a starting point for choosing your theme, then find other related links.

Or, choose a theme first and then look for posts related to that topic – perhaps something you haven’t written about for a while.

Write an introduction for your blog post that explains the theme and why you think it will be interesting for your readers.

For each link, pull out a key phrase to use as a sub-heading in your post. This breaks up the text for easier reading, and shows readers and search engines what topic you’re writing about.

Before you paste the link (remember to use permalinks here), share a bit about where you found the link and/or who wrote the content, and most importantly why you think it’s valuable and worth reading. You can include a brief quote (as I mentioned above, just a sentence or two), and summarize the content.

Wrap up your post with some concluding thoughts about the key message you were aiming to convey, and offer a related resource and/or product or service the reader could use to take further action.

Example: Improve Your Marketing With a Learner’s Mind (Content Mastery Guide)

Now that you have these guidelines and examples for writing a curated blog post, why not lighten your load by including these types of posts in your business blogging schedule?