27 May 2010
by 
Maintaining a blog with new and exciting posts every day gets tedious. Finding topics and writing about them in a compelling way, that is different from all the bloggers out there can become a full time job and, for many writers, is their biggest challenge. It helps to have a road map that will spark ideas.
Over the years as blogging has grown into a full-time, moneymaking endeavor for many people, bloggers have discovered many different types of blog posts that draw traffic to your website. This list could go on forever — as I write, I keep coming up with more ideas. So I’ll share with you the Top 10 blog posts that draw traffic to your site. Please add your own favorite type of posts in the comments section!
1. List posts - This article is an example of a “list post:†— “Five types of…†I could also have written about “Five Ways to…†or even “The Top 10…†These are some of the easiest posts to write, because you don’t have to worry about transition sentences between ideas, and they receive a lot of hits.
2. “Link love†- A variation on a list post, a link love post lists the Top 10 (or five or 100) blogs, bloggers, posts, videos or people in a specific field. These are called “link love†posts because you link from your site to other top blogs. These type of posts pay off because the people you link to typically link back… sometimes to show their readers they made the list, and sometimes just to return the favor. When you do a link love post, you may also gain new readers — the names on your list! Even if none of this happens, spreading a little link love is good karma.
When fellow freelancer Thursday Bram listed me as the number 17 writer of 100 Freelance Writers You Can Outsource Your Blog Content To, I got a few gigs and quite a bit of attention from making the list. (Thanks, Thursday!)
3. How-to posts. For many blogs, how-to posts are the meat and potatoes of their website. At a glance, I’d say more than 50% of the posts here at Writer’s Roundabout are “how-to†posts. We read blogs for information, and most people want to know how the experts do what they do to achieve success.
4. Reviews – We live in a consumer-driven economy and people want to know what other people are buying. Whether you’re reviewing books, iPhone apps or products that interest your audience, you’ll get lots of hits from review posts. These also offer the opportunity to earn residual income with affiliate links. (Just be sure to disclose that you get a percentage if your readers buy the product.)
5. Interviews - Many blogs are designed to provide their authors with a personalized voice in a specific industry. Even if your blog is mainly about you, your business or your life, interviews with other experts in your field offer another perspective and a change of pace.
You can also ask experts to provide a guest post on a particular topic. This offers the same benefits as publishing an interview, but it’s less work for you. Interviews and guest posts are a great way to cross-promote your blog and grow your readership, because your interview subject is sure to share the link with her network, too.
Stay tuned for part two of “10 Types of Blog Posts to Draw Traffic to Your Site.”
Thanks for the information. It’s amazing that the “How to” blog posts still draw readers. Travel writers do have many tips to share with people such as “How to pack for your trip” or “How to travel solo.”
.-= Travel-Writers-Exchange.com shares: Make the Most of Your Business Card =-.
How to posts not only draw traffic but they are also making long tails. While most of my posts are getting hits for some while, howto’s tend to stick for quite a long.
Though my blog is not advice oriented, it’s more of opinion splashed over the screen, I love writing a nice how to every now and then.
Travel and Dandellion (psst…get off my lawn, LOL) –
How-tos were (and still are) a staple in magazines for decades (centuries?) and now it’s the same case with the Internet. I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Back in print media’s glory days, the famous Seven Sisters publications (Redbook, Family Circle, etc.) were all “service-oriented” publications. They showed people how to do things.
Even lists can be (and often are) how-to posts.
If you think about it, the United States was founded with a How-to. The Declaration of Independence is a beautifully worded “How to Run a Country.”
Hmm… I see a blog post on “how to write a how-to” coming up.
Thanks for the kind words and commenting!
.-= Dawn shares: Writing, Editing & Coaching Services =-.
That list post you mentioned brought in a ton of traffic — and it continues to generate traffic every day. Another benefit of writing a list post that offers some link love is that the people in the list often go out of their way to promote it a little more than they might push any of your other blog posts.
.-= Thursday Bram shares: Pitching Magazine Editors on Twitter, Plus 80+ Editors on Twitter =-.
[...] the longer my list of “types of blog posts” could be. Looking over Part One of my list of “Top 10 Types of Blog Posts” I wonder how I ever run out of ideas for my blogs. If you’re having trouble writing, [...]
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[...] Controversial blog posts are one way to get your readers talking, commenting and sharing the links to your blog which — of course — generates traffic. [...]