A re-blogged post is when you share someone’s content to your own blog. People have many different reasons for doing this. Primarily, re-blogged content is to share valuable information. I re-blog often on this blog and have found it to be a great way to network with other bloggers. As a result, I’d like to share some specific things I do with my re-blogs to get the most out of them. As you can tell from the commentary, this is a revision of an older post I published last year (2015) so you may already be familiar with these as many bloggers have mentioned them over time. But don’t worry, repetition is a good thing.

Edit Your Re-Blogs

1. Add Tags, Category

I usually re-blog from my mobile. This is because I’m usually scrolling through my phone when I come across a good article I think should be shared and I like to share it right then and there so I won’t forget about it. It’s also easy for me to edit my re-blogs when I’m on my phone. When I re-blog a post, I immediately go into my dashboard and I add tags. Unlike original posts you draft yourself, a re-blogged post will not have tags.

As a shared post, the tags of the original owner are not included. To get the most out of the re-blogged post you must edit the post and add your own tags the same as you would any other post. I usually ensure the word “Reblog” is part of my tag to show I am not the original owner (and so that the post shows up for those searching the keyword “reblog”). This will help more people to see it, drive attention to the post and ultimately lead to more views for the original blogger. This is perhaps the most effective way to enhance visibility of a re-blog. Tag Tag Tag.

I also place the article in its appropriate category. Otherwise, the re-blog will fall under “Uncategorized”. To avoid this, you can choose a default category if you are usually at work or somewhere that prohibits you from being able to edit your re-blog. This means this is the category that all posts will automatically fall into. My default category is General Topics.

How to Change It

In your admin area, navigate to Settings > Writing > and then look for the drop down menu beside Default Post Category and set it to the category you want to be your default.

2. Add Commentary

I always include commentary in my post if I can help it. In my opinion this boosts the value of the post, helping readers to see that not only have I read the original but that I got something out of it. Keeping it brief, I usually include what I enjoyed most about the article and of late I’ve also been adding a post quote or a direct quote from the original post that I found the most helpful or that gives an introduction into what the post is about.

You don’t always have to, but it helps to write a brief description of the post to get people excited about it. If your re-blog is about Self-Publishing tips for instance, maybe you can say: “Great Tips for Self-Publishers!” This will help grab someone’s attention to possibly check out the post.

3. Disable Comments

Re-blogged posts do not belong to me. I did not write them and I am not interested in taking the credit. I’ve recently started disabling comments on my re-blogs because I want readers to comment on the original post. Since I didn’t write the post, it would just be weird asking me a question about it. Not only am I prompting readers to visit the other blog, but to also share the post from the original blog. Since re-blogged posts are just shared content from another person’s blog, it won’t have the entire post displayed, just a summary. It only makes sense then to share the post from the original blog. Otherwise, people must click on my blog just to click again to go to the original blog. Too many clicks mean “I don’t feel like doing all of this and I’ll come back to this post later (or not)“.

How to Disable It

Edit the post using the Improved Editor > More Options > Uncheck Allow Comments.

If you don’t want any ping-backs and trackbacks, uncheck that box as well. Readers will then be forced to interact with the original post.

4. Featured Image

Some re-blogs will include a featured image. If you don’t want this image prominently displayed on your blog, or you feel that it takes away from the post, you can go into your dashboard > Featured Image and disable it. I do this often when the image from the other blog makes the post look sloppy on my blog (keep in mind your space as well as images from re-blogged posts will now be a apart of your image archives).

What I Don’t Edit

Title – I do not see a reason to edit the title of someone else post. This takes away from the originality of the original blogger and teeters on a compromise of integrity. There are instances where this is acceptable but they are very limited. You may want to turn “dogs with personalities” to “Dogs with Personalities” to help the post to stand out more for the original blogger if you know capitalizing certain letters is important. In this instance you’re helping the original blogger by making sure it gets the visibility that it deserves. But for the sake of being accused of plagiarism, I would just leave the original title the way that it was when you found it.