20 Monthly Wrap-Up Ideas For Your Blog + Bonus Tips

Wrap-ups are my favourite kinds of content to create. I absolutely love wrapping up my days and sharing what I read or watched. I share monthly wrap-ups on the blog about my hobbies and document one for myself with behind-the-scenes facts about blogging. I also love to write yearly wrap-ups and haven't skipped any since I started writing them.

Over the years, I've written several wrap-ups and have read even more by other content creators. Hence, I have a good idea of what content is the most attractive in wrap-ups, what people engage with, and what gets comments. In this post, I'm sharing my cumulative knowledge on wrap-ups—several ideas and how you can improve your wrap-up posts.

The tips and wrap-up ideas are mainly for blog posts but can be used for other kinds of content too! I'm also writing this keeping monthly wrap-ups in mind but most of it can be used for other frequencies like weekly and yearly posts as well.

why you should share wrap-ups

Firstly, write them for yourself! It’s a great way to look back on the month and take stock of what you did. Sometimes, you may not realize all that you’re doing until you write about them. It is a good information dump that you can look up later to find approximate dates for things as well.

Wrap-ups are fun blog posts to write since they're casual and don't require too much formatting or ideation effort. You can just write what you want.

Lastly, it is definitely a fun post to read. Monthly wrap-ups consistently receive significant engagement from audiences because it’s a casual post that doesn’t require much attention and is a great way to catch up with the blogger. It also allows the readers to connect with the blogger on a more personal level (even if you're just talking about books) and get to know the person behind the scenes.

monthly wrap-up ideas

1. notable books/media content

This is arguably the easiest topic to write a wrap-up about. Most bloggers do it but if it is not on your list, it is a great addition.

There is a surplus amount of media content available nowadays. More books than we can read, more shows than we can watch, and several movies are being released every day. Not all of them are good or will suit each person's taste. Everyone is constantly looking for good recommendations so that they can lose themselves in good content.

No matter how many lists of books, movies, or other things exist, it is not enough. Share yours too. There will always be people who are interested in knowing your perspective on things.

Some media you can talk about:

• books
• movies/tv shows
• music
• youtube/social media content

2. life updates

If there is one thing that I've learnt from being a content creator over the years, it is that people are nosy. Mostly in a good way.

I've learnt that creating content is well and good but people are more interested in content about the person rather than things like books. My posts about my personal life and opinions always get more traction than posts about books. If you look at Instagram, you can clearly see that posts with a person in the photo get at least twice more engagement compared to a photo without a person.

People want to connect with other people. We want to find out what's happening in other people's lives, how they're living and coping and having fun, and we want to talk about random things in life with each other.

Personal updates can be about your studies, whether you graduated or shifted jobs recently, how you and your family are doing, how your health is, whether you tried a new cafe recently, whether you got a haircut, and similar things.

They can be a great addition to wrap-ups. Your audience will be able to learn more about you and connect with you. They lead to more comments because people find it easier to make conversation about life than other topics.

Also, writing life updates in wrap-ups is a good way to recap if you're not into journaling. It will force you to recall what you did and document it for the future.

Of course, be cautious about what you share online! I don't believe that one has to share every detail of their life in order to create personal content or connect with their audience. Talking about going to a concert, vacation, or even feeling frazzled due to many life changes count as life updates. You don't have to be specific. Only share what you're comfortable with.

3. a list of favourites

If you want to try out a different style of wrap-ups, this is a good one! Every month, list down your favourites in different areas of life. For example, a favourite drink, a favourite show, a favourite accessory, etc.

This is a good way to share the small things you're enjoying in life and recommend a bunch of different items in one post. The categories don't have to remain the same every time, you can simply list whatever you're loving.

4. breakdown of activities as they happen

Generally, wrap-ups are almost like reports of the end results of things. For example, "I finished this show and here's how I felt about it." If you're writing about favourites or writing with an overall view of the month, wrap-ups have to be written after the month is over.

But there's another kind of wrap-up too—one where you write little bits as the month progresses instead of all at once at the end.

Every week, write short summaries about what you've finished, what you're in the middle of, and what you're about to start. That way, the wrap-up is more about the process rather than the result. For example, "I'm on episode 12 of this show and here are my thoughts so far."

This idea lets you write the post little by little over the month as well and may suit your schedule better. And since you'll be checking in more frequently, you will remember the small details more and will write about them.

Ena @ Fly(er) on the Wall does wrap-ups like this and they're always refreshing because they're different from the norm.

5. updates in your niche

If you blog in a specific niche or mostly about one topic, this can be a cool section to have. Summarize the most important updates in your niche or share what you found interesting.

For example, you can share new book releases if you're a book blogger. Or the latest trending products if you're a beauty blogger.

This requires you to be very into your field and collect information all the time but it is a nice way to create content which isn't personal. Your audience will also come back to your posts in order to catch up on the latest instead of searching for it all themselves.

This is a good regular post idea as well, not just as a section in your wrap-up. If you have enough news to share, make an entire post out of it.

6. round up your blog posts

Many times, people check out wrap-ups without catching up with other posts by the blogger. But they are highly likely to click on links and read articles that sound interesting.

Round up your blog posts in a list or talk about your favourite content of the month. Share a little bit of behind-the-scenes information like why you liked writing the posts or what inspired you to write them. Such extra nuggets make the posts interesting and people will click on the posts to read more.

I often catch up with bloggers' posts through wrap-ups too. Reading a couple of lines about each post helps me decide if I want to read the actual post or not, which is most helpful for book reviews. I generally don't read book reviews but such extra information gets me interested.

Adding links to your posts in wrap-ups gives you a chance to boost your posts further and also improves your SEO through interlinking. It's a win-win situation.

7. favourite content by other bloggers/creators

This is a really nice way to give back to the community and shout out your favourite bloggers. We don't often have chances to link to each other's posts unless we write about similar content. Shoutouts through wrap-ups give us a great way to do that.

Did you come across a great discussion post or an interesting listicle? Save the link and share it in your wrap-up! Did you find a new cool blog? Give it a shout-out.

Thinking through a different perspective, such lists give your audience more insight into your tastes as well. By seeing what content you like and whom you interact the most with, they will get to know you better.

The list will also serve as a low-key bookmarks list for you. If you want to come back to any post or reference it, you have the link on your blog and don't have to search for it.

8. updates on your blog/social media

Sharing updates about your blog and social media accounts is a great way to check in on your work and results while also giving your audience an insight into your process.

For example, share how many followers you gained this month and whether you think your new posting schedule influenced it. Or if you started trying something new recently, mention that.

If you're someone who doesn't often notice what they're doing and correlate it with results, this is good exercise. Writing these updates will give you the time to analyze your work and it will prompt you to try new things.

As you're trying new things and making conclusions, share them! Whatever works for you might not work for your audience and vice versa but it is interesting information for everybody. There is a scarcity of such information online so if you do share behind-the-scenes info, it will be appreciated.

9. new/exciting events

If you did anything new or exciting last month, make an entire section for it! It doesn't have to come under anything general because such things don't usually happen every month. Title the section for the topic and share whatever happened.

For example, you might have attended a concert and may have a lot to say about it. So make it a section of its own. Or you can write about a trip you went on like how May spoke about her Thailand trip.

Generally, such events are the highlights of our months and they deserve to be highlighted as such in our wrap-ups as well.

10. goal setting and check-in

If you like to set goals every month, add them to your wrap-ups! Share progress on last month's goals, why they worked or didn't, and your goals and hopes for the coming month.

There is something so interesting about watching others set and work on goals. It comes back to people being nosy and wanting to connect with the person behind the words. Your audience will want to know what you're aiming for and how you're doing it and will cheer you on. They might take tips from you and share their tips in the comments as well.

Sharing goals is a nice way to share "personal updates" while not sharing personal information.

11. updates on year-long challenges/goals

Monthly wrap-ups serve as great checkpoints for your goals and challenges. When you commit to something for 12 months, you can lose track of it and may forget about it too. Adding this as a section in your wrap-ups will remind you to work on them and prompt you to plan smaller goals for the big goal.

Whatever I mentioned for goal setting applies here as well with one extra advantage. Updates on yearly goals give you something to write in every month's wrap-up. It is a regular section that you will have something to say about. It also helps foster a low-key long-term relationship with your readers because they are with you during the smaller steps of your annual challenge.

Share your progress on the goal along with your thoughts on how it is going, whether you're glad you're doing the goal, how it is affecting your routines, your ideas to make it work, and more. There is a lot to say.

You can also come up with a specific presentation style for this section like using graphs/charts or other views. Nicole has a really nice way of presenting her annual reading challenges. If you think for a bit, you can come up with some great ways to show your updates.

12. new discoveries

Did you discover anything new in the past month? A new cool song or artist? A new website or funny social media account? Or maybe something about how the world works? Share it!

One aspect of connecting with people is sharing new discoveries and things that you like. They can be anything from jokes to weird facts. They can be new restaurants to visit or the latest news in the tech world.

The best part about sharing such things is that it gives you an opportunity to converse about the smaller things that you're interested in that may not come up on the blog otherwise. This section will mostly contain information exclusive to wrap-ups.

If what you share is different or unique, it will also be a great conversation starter and will prompt readers to comment on it. You can use this section in your monthly wrap-ups to grab attention and get comments.

13. new learnings

Life is a journey of constant learning. Whether we notice it or not, we are always learning something new or building upon what we have learnt before. First, it is academia and socialization and basic things about life. When we become adults, there is more to learn every single day and we are learning through experience instead of being taught.

Not all of us can become experts within weeks, mainly because we are learning little bits of various different things. Sharing what you learnt helps you remember it and also helps your audience because they don't have to learn the same through experience.

I love following content creators who share information as they learn through their regular days. And I'm not talking about specific topics like finance or tech. I like following people who share learnings like how to adult in a specific situation or where to find some information. I like following people who are in a similar stage in their lives and are dealing with similar struggles. Whenever they learn and share, so do I.

Although this section might not appeal to everybody (based on what you share), it will help you connect with your readers on a new level and build friendships with people in the same areas of life.

14. statistics on anything

If you're a lover of numbers, graphs, and statistics, share it! You're not alone in it. Many people love well-presented numbers and knowing what others' numbers look like.

Here are some easy things to share numbers on:

• books - books and their ratings, categories of books, genres, which format you read them in, etc.
• blogging - likes, comments, referrals.
• writing - how many words you wrote, what you wrote for, etc.
• movies/tv shows - ratings, genres, etc.

Sharing statistics on these things forces you to look at what you're doing. Sometimes, we think we're doing better at things than we actually are or we think we're doing something else entirely. Writing down the numbers makes us aware of what we're doing.

This is a great section to add fun graphics such as graphs, pie charts, and more. They make numbers much more interesting and always make posts better.

15. month in pictures

Gallery wrap-ups are super fun to make and share. If you take tons of pictures and live by the camera, create a gallery of your month! You can add a section for pictures of your entire post can be only a gallery.

Not only are they visually appealing and provide a different kind of insight for your audience, but they are also rare so your wrap-up will stand out. In all my years as a blogger, I've only seen one blogger share gallery wrap-ups and that was a long time back. But I remember absolutely loving them.

You can get very creative with your gallery as well. You can sort the pictures by events or weeks. You can use filters to make them more appealing and fit together like making everything monochromatic or making some colours stand out. You can even sort them by the colours in the pictures.

If you spend some time on it, this can become a really good section in your monthly wrap-ups.

16. hauls/unhauls

If you frequently buy or get rid of things, especially if they're in one category like books or clothing, this is a cool section to have.

Among readers, hauls are a huge part of our content because we buy many books. Similarly, I've seen hauls be a big thing for fashion bloggers as well. If you do any shopping—it can even be stationery—share it.

People love finding out what others are buying and using because it gives a sense of current trends and they find new things that they might want. Even if it isn't useful, this is good content because people are nosy and this is technically "personal" content.

While hauls are popular, unhauls are rarer but they are good to have. I would love to see more people sharing unhauls, honestly. If you unhaul things, share what you got rid of and why. It will normalize the act of unahuling and is also helpful information for your audience.

While people want to know what they should buy, they also want to know what they shouldn't buy. Sharing what you unhaul helps them for the latter reason.

17. updates on your hobbies/habits/routines

This technically comes under personal updates but these exact topics don't come to mind when we generally write personal updates. These are changes to regular life and most people don't often think about sharing them. But trust me, you should share them.

Whether it is driven by you or by external factors, share what changes to your hobbies, habits, and routines have occurred in the last month. Have you started waking up early in the morning? Share the reason and how it's working out for you. Did you sign up for a new class? Talk about it. Are you trying to stretch before bed every night? Explain your process.

Instead of giving straight updates, share the details. Why the change, how it makes you feel, how you're making it work, and if you're facing any challenges.

18. updates about future content

If you are a planner or have an idea about upcoming content for your blog, share some updates or sneak peeks! What are you going to post about? What are you working on behind the scenes? Is there anything exciting happening soon?

Use this section to keep your readers engaged and excited about upcoming content. Keep them in the loop and garner some interest. You can also use this section to brainstorm more content. If you're working on a guide, ask your followers what they'd like to see in it or what questions they'd like to be answered. If you're thinking of writing a book list, ask your readers what they want the list to be about.

Share your plans, get ideas, and garner interest beforehand. It will motivate you to work on blog posts too.

19. what are you looking forward to?

Monthly wrap-ups are generally about wrapping up the past month but they are also a great point to be excited about the upcoming month.

Share what you're looking forward to in the next month. Such as upcoming holidays, album releases you're waiting for, books you want to read, and more.

Take a few minutes to be excited about the coming days and share that excitement with everybody. You can keep this section at the last in order to prompt your readers to comment about their upcoming month as well. Create conversation over excitement!

20. predictions about the upcoming month

This is a cool and different idea to implement in your wrap-ups. Instead of sharing what is going to happen or what you want to happen, make random predictions about what you think will happen. In your next wrap-up, you can report on whether the predictions came true or not.

For example, you can make a prediction about how many books you will read in the next month based on your schedule and how much you generally read. Or let's say one of your favourite artists is dropping an album next month then you can make a prediction about what their upcoming album will contain*.

This is a casual and fun section where you are free to make whatever predictions you want and shout "I guessed it!!!" or lament about how off your guesses were later.

*yes I'm referring to the ongoing excitement about Midnights by Taylor Swift.

bonus tips: how to make your monthly wrap-ups engaging and fun to read

Monthly wrap-ups are great posts but it takes a little bit of effort to make them great. Not all of them are fun to read or engaging. Not all of them prompt readers to drop comments. It doesn't require too much effort, but it does require a little bit more than the bare minimum.

1. Elaborate wherever you can! If you're sharing a list of books that you read, share one or two lines about every book instead of simply sharing the titles. If you're creating a gallery, write a few lines about which pictures mean the most to you and what you think about this month's gallery. Give your thoughts on everything.
2. Make your posts easy to read. Use easy words, divide the post into sections, and add a bunch of graphics—all the regular stuff. Check out my guide on making blog posts readable for more tips.
3. Write in casual language. Don't try to be formal in these posts. Don't worry about seeming knowledgeable or being helpful. Don't worry about making it a perfect post. Write the way you talk and imagine you're catching up with a friend. Keep the tone of these posts casual and friendly.
4. Add subtle call-to-actions wherever you can. If you're ranting about a book you hated, ask your readers to comment below if they hated the book too. Add related questions while you're talking about the topics instead of waiting for the end. Of course, add questions at the end too, but try to add smaller prompts throughout the post.
5. Get creative with your post's theme. If you're wrapping up October and like Halloween, make your blog post Halloween-themed. Or you can stick to one theme all the time the way I do with my "words of" post title and section headings.

share your words!

Do you share monthly or regular wrap-ups on your blog? What do you share in them and do you have any wrap-up ideas that I have not mentioned in this post? Will you be trying out anything that I mentioned above? Tell me in the comments!