Over the past few weeks, we have been impressed with the increasing number of excellent, original blog posts on GovLoop. Collectively, the insight and expertise of the people gathered in this community is nothing short of extraordinary. A couple days ago, I read and commented on 4-5 posts that cover topics like leadership, collaboration, innovation and sustainability. And we featured all 5 of them!
But you might be asking: “What is GovLoop’s criteria for featuring one blog over another?”
Or more directly: “How can I get my blog to be featured?”
Glad you asked! Here are some of the questions that guide our thinking:
1. Is the blog posted in full? Sometimes people put 2-3 sentences with a link off of GovLoop. The blog’s content might be excellent, but we’d love for you to have the conversation within our community, too. When I first joined GovLoop, I did the same thing – trying to drive traffic to my own website. Steve pinged me and asked that I post the blog in full. So I did. And guess what?! I often found that I got more comments here then on my own blog! We understand the importance of driving traffic to your site, so it’s cool to have a quick phrase at the top or bottom of your post that says “Originally posted at [Insert Link to Your Blog Here]. But if you share a partial post, most likely we’ll select other blogs that include the whole shebang.
2. Does the post’s content share valuable insight with the community? Sometimes people post a press release, an event announcement, a product launch or similar kinds of “blast” information. The Events or Forums sections of the community are the best places for that kind of information. In the forum, we even have several categories to help people find your information more quickly. Sometimes it’s even appropriate to share this kind of information in relevant groups. If you’d like to know what other GovLoop’ers think is good blogging, check out the responses to “What makes a good blog post brilliant?”
3. Will the post spark discussion among community members? The absolute best blogs often generate the most comments. In fact, two recent blog posts became the “Burning Question” for GovExec: Sandy Ressler’s “I work for the government and I am NOT the enemy” and Ed Albetski’s “Stop trying to be a leader if you are not!” Granted, not every blog post will have that kind of impact, but you are writing some really awesome stuff – and we’ll definitely feature these original blog posts that have the potential to spark important conversation on GovLoop…and beyond!
4. Can we tag it to be included on one of our Topics pages? You may have noticed the recent addition of those green boxes right above the blogs with topics like Acquisition, Gov’t Performance, Leadership and Virtualization. We created them to offer quick access to the most popular subjects for community members. If you write on one of these subjects, we’ll tag it and make sure it appears on the appropriate Topics Page. By the way, here’s a quick tutorial on “How To: Use Tags Like a GovLoop Rockstar.”
5. Can it be part of our regular series? Speaking of “How-To” blogs, we’ve created a specific category for blogs that help people learn the ins outs of doing stuff. We now have nearly 40 blogs tagged “how-to.” You may have noticed Mr. GovLoop posting a series of Top 5’s and a New Employee Handbook. We also have community leaders who are blogging on GovReads…and maybe you could create your own series! Tap into the power of producing consistent, theme-based content.
So that’s it! Those are a few of the questions we ask before hitting “Feature” on blog posts. There are more and more posts that we’re promoting lately, so keep the awesomeness coming!