Looking for an awesome blogging plugin to make beautiful roundup posts, Create is your answer! My best tips and ideas in this small business marketing tutorial where I walk through making a "top posts and articles" list for my planner site!
This plugin allows you to easily make a roundup post of your own or a mix of yours and other people's posts using 4 different really cool formats: Big Image, Grid, Circles or Numbered.
I know that I have hesitated to make roundups like this because of the time they take BUT doing them can really help my readers!
For example, I have a huge Etsy Marketing Category page, but I have 4 awesome Etsy Pinterest Marketing posts that would be super helpful to my readers (and could be a GREAT share on Pinterest).
Yes, I could make a new category that was Etsy Marketing Pinterest or some crap like that, but then I have a gagillion different categories to manage instead of one clean roundup post that I can change at any time!
Step #1 - Add the Create Plugin
Of course, step one is to hover over "plugins" at the side of your WordPress dashboard and click "add new". Search for "create" and pick the Create By Mediavine Plugin and activate it.
Step #2 - Add A List Card To Your Post
Next start a blog post! I tend to be really talky-talk so I have at least 3 or 4 paragraphs in my post before adding a card to my post.
Then just click "add card" with your cursor placed right where you want it to show.
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Note: You could do this on the side of your dashboard too by clicking Create Cards and then add it to your post later, but I am trying to save time here and this is not a super "important post", just a quick roundup post!
Step #3 - Pick the List Card
There are 3 types of cards you can make in this free plugin, Lists (which we are doing today), Recipes, and How To Printables!
Note: If you did it separately, you would click in the top right to choose "select existing" instead!
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Step #4 - Name Your List
Okay, by default it will name it the same as your post title. On this one it worked great for me, sometimes I change it a wee bit!
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Step #5 - Add Description
One of the cool things about these lists is that they can show as Carousels in Google search. You should make your title and description SEO-y in the same way as you would SEO your blog post!
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Step #6 - Layout or Pick List Type
Now you get to pick one of 4 types of layouts. I have used all of them but the grid, this is totally personal preference or what will go best with your website design.
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The 4 Styles of Lists... Big Image, Grid, Circles and Numbered
Step #7 - Add External Links
SEO-wise, this list plugin works great for your own posts in a roundup. BUT you can add external links if you want. You simply have to register one time with Mediavine and you are good to go!
Validation Email
Once you enter your email look for the validation email from Mediavine and click the button.
Step #8 - Adding Your Posts
Alright, here is where the magic happens! Just start typing the name of your post and it will appear in the dropdown... ONLY CLICK IT ONCE... if you are impatient like me you will click it and then think it is not working and click it again.. don't be like me!
Pro Tip.... You Can Add A Linked Post or Another Mediavine Card!
You can add either a post, a card or a mix of the two!
For Adding A Link To A Card
"Adding a card to a list is totally okay to do. I actually prefer it on my own site because then I can include card attributes on the list item. When you add a Create card and the user clicks, they'll be taken to the post that the card is added to, not to the card itself." Nicole J from Mediavine
Here is how to tell if you added a card, you can see all the data from the card instead of the box to add the description!
For Adding A Post Link
My take... remember how we could name our cards the same as a post? Well you can accidentally choose a card instead of a post which nests a card in a card.. doh!
As a marketing blogger I like to link to my posts, Food bloggers or how to-ers might like to link to cards instead!
Step #9 - Add A Description
You could type a little description in there, I just used the one from the post I had already researched. This will be part of the SEO data given to Google so make sure to fill it out!
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Step #10 - Publish and Insert
Just click publish and insert and it will show up in your post! YAY!
Note: You can pop back in and change it so don't freak out if you see that you need to fix something!
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What It Looks Like In The Post Editor
In the post editor it just looks like a big box because it is pulling info from the Create part!
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What It Looks Like In Your Blog Post
Here is what the Create card looks like in my blog post! How cool is that?!?!?!
Create Lists Plugin FAQs
Alright, once I started using this I had so many questions and I guess you have some too right about now!
Why Would You Make A Roundup of Your Own Posts?
There are a number of reasons to make a roundup of your own posts...
to show Google you are an authority on a topic
organize content in a way that makes it nice for your readers
use Schema markup language to talk to Google
Whoa, wait, what was that last one? Well this plugin was made by some nerdy dudes who figured out that Google has all these computer codes they like and that we as bloggers don't understand. This plugin makes our posts readable by Google AND looks pretty at the same time! If you really want to geek out, here is more about Schema right from Mediavine!
Secret Hack... In Case You Mess Up
Okay, the first card I put in looked great and all, but I couldn't get the cursor to move down to type after the card. Fixing this is easy peasy! Just click on the text editor in WordPress and go below the card to start typing again. You can switch right back to visual after you put your cursor in there!
Don't Use This to Make Related Posts
If you are like me, you are going to see this and think, WAIT, this is the related posts plugin I have been looking for all my life!
But no! Remember that nerdy code bit? It is NOT to make related posts, Google looks at it much differently than if it was just a list of posts (I KNOW... the name is confusing, don't know what to tell you!)
But never fear, they are making a real related posts plugin so we don't have to use this one wrong!
Mediavine Create Lists Plugin Wrapup
If you are a content creator like me, I bet your head is spinning right now with all the possibilities this and the other parts of the Create plugin have!
I am using this to make cool roundups for my readers and as an awesome way to reuse old posts and make new Pinterest pins that bring more traffic to those old posts (without having to write more!)
