The Annual Blogger Survey by Orbit Media, a digital marketing and SEO agency, reveals that round up blog posts are good at pulling in traffic. Ranked third most effective, after guides and webinars, the round up’s listicle style is easy to digest and provides a handy overview of a topic. In short, round ups deliver a lot of information quickly and in one place.
If you’re not already using this content format in your business blog, then it’s time to give it a spin. And I’ll show you how, along with some examples I’ve written and the different angles a round up post can take.
Rounding up round up posts
A round up blog post is a summary of research, ideas, tools and products related to a single topic. They’re usually formatted as a list (top 10s, the best 50, etc), so they crossover with the extremely popular listicle format.
As the content may be driven by the author’s preferences and experiences, they can be highly opinionated or biased. This isn’t (always) a bad thing. But it’s worth remembering that round up blog posts are just one snapshot of a topic rather than a balanced subject-matter deep dive.
Why everyone loves a round up
Both writers and readers can get a kick out of the round up article format.
Writers find them useful because round ups are a chance to share their thoughts, opinions and first-hand knowledge. They’re also quick and easy to write. (In the months when I’m short on time, I always try to find a round up post idea.)
Readers find them useful because round ups deliver a lot of information in one article. Granted, the information may be pretty surface level. But who doesn’t love a quick, informative read? Round ups are a useful starting point when researching a subject, which makes them very bookmarkable.
Other groups find them useful too. Round up blog posts can be great for other businesses and experts. They’re an opportunity to contribute to articles outside their organisations, a chance to reach a wider audience and position themselves as subject experts.
The three types of round up posts
Speaking of expert round ups, this is just one type of round up post. There are three.
1. The content round up
A content round up summarises several pieces of content on the same topic. So it might be a trend post, a round up of the best articles about a particular topic within your industry, or ‘the top something or other’ that the reader should check out.
2. Business specific round ups
This round up is all about your business, product or service. It’s news or information from within your company. These are usually the quickest to write because they rely on knowledge and information you already have internally.
3. The expert round up
This involves finding people or companies considered experts (or highly knowledgeable) in the subject you want to write about. You interview them to get their opinion and use their quotes and ideas in your article.
A journo tip: If you do this sort of round up, integrate quotes into the flow of your article, don’t simply list them.
- Make sure you read each quote carefully.
- Edit the quote if needed, but make sure you don’t change the author’s sentiment.
- Add a comment or remark before or after the quote to show your opinion and help segue from one point to another.
It’s also fine to follow up with an expert if their original quote triggers more questions. Ask them for more, digging as deep as you need to.
Now you know the three different types, let’s see them in action.
5 examples of round up blog posts
There are lots of ways you can play around with the three types of round up posts to come up with something original and relevant to your blog.
Here are 5 examples of round ups I’ve written for some of my past and present clients, complete with some insight for each one.
1. Eco friendly shopping in Las Vegas
Round up type: Content
This article was for an eco-friendly florist based in Las Vegas. We wanted to give a shoutout to other likeminded businesses in the area and show my client’s awareness of other Vegas-based green companies and initiatives. (This also helped a lot with local SEO.)
Read the article in full: Eco friendly shopping in Las Vegas
2. Jaw-dropping discoveries
Round up type: Content
I pitched this article to my dental practice clients as a chance to intrigue readers by offering something completely different. As teeth help historians and anthropologists understand how we humans used to live, I rounded up some of the most astonishing discoveries.
The analytics for this one are interesting. It averages page two on the search results.
I liked writing about oral health and dentistry from an historical perspective. We focus so much on modern dentistry, that this was a complete break away. I’ve also not seen an article like it on any of my client’s competitor sites.
Read the article in full: Jaw dropping discoveries: The role teeth play in teaching us about the past
3. Examples of small business lead magnets
Round up type: Content
Technically speaking, this isn’t just a round up post. It’s an educational post with a content round up section in it. The article defines lead magnets and shows how small businesses can use them in their marketing. But I didn’t want it to be purely a guide. So I scoured the internet for some cool lead magnet inspiration, plus the obvious ones, and created a lead magnet table that rounds them all up.
Read the article in full: 14 examples of lead magnets for small business
4. Eloping in Las Vegas
Round up type: Business specific and expert
What was supposed to be a short article about getting married in Las Vegas turned into a whopping guide. And really did earn the ‘ultimate’ label. (I find so many articles that claim to be an ultimate guide are often severely lacking in detail.) This round up post, which is a content round business specific round up crossover, is just over 7,000 words.
A round up post of this size is an awesome asset to have. It generated 24 leads in one month. But it needs maintenance. When I was writing for this client we would review the piece every 6 months or so to update figures, information and links.
Read the article in full: Ultimate guide to eloping in Las Vegas
5. Marketing emails for small businesses
Round up type: Content
This article was a simple round up of my favourite emails and I wanted to let my audience know about them. Partly because the content and subject of these emails might help and interest my potential clients. But also to show that I’m across what’s going on in the copywriting and content marketing industry.
Read the article in full: 12 top-notch marketing emails for small business
Try writing these round ups
The type of round up posts you could write depends on the type of business you have and, to some extent, the size of your network. By this I mean, do you have other experts, colleagues and employees you can call on to contribute to your round up?
It’s not a massive drama if you don’t. There are other angles you can use, as you’ll see here.
Product or service changes
Alert and reassure your customers about a change to your service or products. Write a quick round up of the changes and, ideally, explain a little about why those changes came about and what this means for them. Or round up the products you’ve recently added (or soon to discontinue) to your stock.
Industry or company news
Rounding up the news within your company or industry shows customers that you’ve got your finger on the newswire pulse. If you work in a fast-paced field, round up the biggest news stories from that week or month and explain how they affect your customers. This shows you’ve got their interests in mind and lets you talk about how you’re responding to news events that directly impact your business and operations.
When it comes to sharing internal company news, you might not have something to share every week. Or even every month. In this case aim for a quarterly or half-year round up.
What counts as company news?
- Staff movements – people who have left, joined or changed roles
- Events – hosted or attended
- Marketing campaigns
- New launches
- Case studies
- Training
All of these topics will make a nice piece on your business blog. But don’t confuse blog-worthy with PR-worthy. Getting media coverage about company news is a completely different ball game.
Newsworthy company stories need depth and a juicy, well-baited public interest hook. To work out if your news is media placement worthy, evaluate it against the questions in these short articles.
Find the hook others may overlook
Is your company news worth spreading?
Round up the top trends
Maybe you’ve spotted these in your own business—changing customer requests or behaviours. Perhaps you’ve found them in findings from larger industry reports. Either way, make sure you state which specific trends you’ve spotted and why they’re relevant to your customers. This type of round up is also great for bringing in a few expert voices, if you have them.
The best in your industry
This round up piece might be the best blogs, emails, events and so on in your industry. They’re easy to write because they’re based on your personal experiences and preferences. You might think, well how much weight will it carry? Probably more than you think. People who are interested in your business will want to hear your thoughts. You’ll give readers insight into what content you’re enjoying from in and around your industry.
Tips from industry experts
Contact your mates within your industry to ask their take on a subject you want to write about. Bring together a range of experts and different opinions so readers can hear from a range of different voices. The only drawback from a writing perspective is that these round ups can take a while to piece together.
First up, you need to prepare the questions before sending them out. And you may need to vary the question for each contributor so you don’t get a bunch of answers that all sound the same. Remember, you’re aiming for a range of opinions and thoughts.
You’ll also need to give people time to put their responses together. Factor this into your lead and deadline time. I like to give people at least a week, sometimes longer. And you should always plan on a couple of folks not meeting the deadline.
Summarise original research and industry reports
Creating a piece of original research that your company has put together is primo round up blogging. You have something that’s all yours, that your company created, and if it’s done well, others will link to it. This, of course, takes time and possibly budget, as you need to:
- come up with the survey or questionnaire
- find enough people to complete it
- analyse the results
- write the report.
If this sounds like a big ask, then default to the reports that larger companies publish.
This is exactly what I did with my article Blogging isn’t dead. The report came from a larger content marketing and SEO agency, with a much greater reach than I have. Once their report came out, I cherry-picked and rounded up the parts that were going to be most interesting and useful to my potential clients and ideal target audience—small and independent business owners.
Round up blogs offer variety and authority
Your business’s blog is a great place to showcase your thoughts and ideas, and all of the cool things your company is up to. Presenting that information as a round up article is a great way to give your readers an overview of a particular topic, share your knowledge or an opinion, and build authority by showing that you’re keenly aware of what’s going on in your industry—either by rounding up reports and news, or leading voices in your sector.
Want more ways to make your blog stand out?
Your business blog can be an important part of your content marketing strategy. If you want it to pull in strong results and not be toppled by Arseificial Intelligence, then stick around. Because I’ve got one more article you should read that will help with that.
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