Summation Posts – How Are They Done and Why?

I recently wrote “Tips On Starting a Business Blog” and mentioned using summation posts as they were simple to do and help to grow your network.  Since then I have been asked a few times to explain what they are in more detail and how do I do them. I enjoy doing Summation posts and find them simple so here I hope to explain more about them and hopefully convince more people into doing them. They are also called cataloguing, collation or curator posts.

What is a Summation Post?

It is a blog post that groups a few other posts together on a given subject – a collection of posts so to speak. They would be posts that are helpful and useful to read on that particular subject. You can choose it to be any length really but bear in mind that it means a lot of reading so I normally limit to around 10 posts but it would be your choice.

How do you collate posts?

As a blog writer then I’m sure you must be a blog reader too.  Every time you read a blog that you like, save it for your summation post.  You don’t necessarily have to know the subject of your summation post at this point – you are just saving posts you like. There are several ways to save the posts – I save mine to my Pinterest boards therefore filling those up plus creating a pool of posts to dip into when needed. Using Pinterest boards also makes it easy to separate the different subjects if you read a varied amount – for example I have Twitter, Facebook, Ebooks, Blog Writing, Pinterest etc.  It is also very quick to do. If you don’t use Pinterest then you can save to your bookmarks or even just on a word document. I have heard that Pocket is useful for saving posts you like too.

If you have it in your mind that you will be doing a Summation post in the near future on a particular subject then look out for posts on Twitter or Facebook or wherever – use a search column on Twitter to catch them. This can be done gradually unless you prefer putting them all together in one search.

How do I list them on my post?

Write an introductory paragraph explaining the subject you have been collating posts on. Then for each post write the title and a short description about the post plus add the author in. I normally link to the post on the title. In the description you can also explain why you like this post. Here is an example of one I did for Corpnet.com recently – Thinking of Starting a Business? Here Are Eleven Expert Posts to Help. Of course you can use whatever layout you prefer.

Why do a Summation Post?

I have a few reasons for this.

• You are able to share great posts that you have read with people that will be reading your posts
• They are quick and simple to do presuming you’ll have been collating the posts as you read them
• The link back to these posts will hopefully be recognised by the people who have written them – good for networking and they may even return the favour
• When sharing the summation post on Social Media channels include the names of the people included and they will possibly share your post too – again good for networking and spreading the reach of your post
• Summation posts tend to get more traffic than normal posts because of the above

So I hope that explains how and why to use Summation posts now and then. I’d love to hear any other suggestions for doing a Summation post and how you do them.

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