What kinds of posts should I write to get morelinks and traffic?
It’s a question everyblogger asks themselves. Below you will find 20 different types of blog poststhat seem to work wonders on social media while also generating a lot ofgrassroots in-bound links.
1. Instructional – Instructional posts tell people how to do something. These tendto be the most popular both in the short term (ie loyal readers love them andwill link up to them) but also in the longer term (ie one of the reasons peoplesearch the web is to find out how todo things and if you can rank highly with your tips post you can have trafficover a length of time).
2. Informational – Thisis one of the more common blog posttypes where you simply give information on a topic. It could be a definitionpost or a longer explanation of some aspect of the niche that you’re writingon.
3. Reviews – Another highly searchedfor term on the web is ‘review’ – Clientsconsidering buying a new product head to Google and search for a review on itfirst. Reviews come in all shapes and sizes and on virtually every product orservice you can think of. Give your fair and insightful opinion and ask readersfor their opinion – reviews can be highly powerful posts that have a great longevity.
4. Lists – One of the easiest waysto write a post is to make a list. Posts with content like ‘The Top Ten ways to….’, ‘7 Reasons why….’ ‘ 5 Favorite ….’, ‘53 mistakesthat bloggers make when….’ are not only easy to write but are usually verypopular with readers and with getting links from other bloggers. If you startwith a brief list (each point as aphrase or sentence) and then develop each one into a paragraph or two you’ll endup with a series of posts that lasts you a few days.
5. Interviews – Sometimes when you’ve runout of insightful things to say it might be a good idea to let someone else dothe talking in an interview (or a guest post). Thisis a great way to not only give yourreaders a relevant expert’s opinion but to perhaps even learn something aboutthe topic you’re writing yourself. One tip if you’re approaching people for aninterview on your blog – don’t overwhelm them with questions. One of two goodquestions are more likely to get you a response than a long list of poorly thought through ones.
6. Case Studies – Sometimes these are morelike a review post but with some instructional content isadded to them. There are many opportunities to do case studies in differentniches.
7. Profiles – Profile posts aresimilar to case studies but focus in on a particular person. Pick aninteresting personality in your niche and do a little research on them topresent to your readers. Point out how they’ve reached the position they are inand write about the characteristicsthat they have that others in your niche might like to develop to besuccessful.
8. Link Posts – The good old ‘link post’ isa favorite of many bloggers and issimply a matter of finding a quality post on another site or blog and linkingup to it either with an explanation of why you’re linking up, a comment on your take on the topic and/or a quotefrom the post. Of course adding your own comments makes these posts moreoriginal and useful to your readers. The more original content the better butdon’t be afraid to bounce off others in thisway.
9. ‘Problem’ Posts – Another term that is often searched for in Google in conjunction withproduct names is the word‘problems’. This is similar to a review post (above) but focuses moreupon the negatives of a product or service. Don’t write these pieces just forthe sake of them – but if you find a genuine problem with something problemposts can work for you.
10. Contrasting two options – Life is full of decisions between two or more options. Write a postcontrasting two products, servicesor approaches that outlines the positives and negatives of each choice. In asense these are review posts but are a little wider in focus. People actuallysearch for ‘X Product comparison toY Product’ quite a bit.
11. Rant – get passionate, stiryourself up, say what’s on your mindand tell it like it is. Rants aregreat for starting discussion andcausing a little controversy – they can also be quite fun if you do it in theright spirit. Just be aware that they can also be the beginnings of a flamingcomment thread and often it’s in the heat of the moment when we say things thatwe later regret and that can impact our reputation the most.
12. Inspirational – On the flip side to the angry rant (and not all rants have to beangry) are inspirational and motivational pieces. Tell a story of success orpaint a picture of ‘what could be’. People like to hear good news stories intheir niche as it motivates them to persistwith what they are doing. Find examples of success in your own experience orthat of others and spread the word.
13. Research –Research posts can take a lot of time but they can also be wellworth it if you come up with interesting conclusions that inspire people tolink up to you.
14.Collation Posts – These are a strangecombination of research and link posts. In them you pick a topic that you thinkyour readers will find helpful and then research what others have said aboutit. Once you’ve found their opinion you bring together everyone’s ideas (oftenwith short quotes) and tie them together with a few of your own comments todraw out the common themes that you see.
15. Prediction and Review Posts – We see a lot of these at the end and start of the year wherepeople do their ‘year in review’ posts and look at the year ahead and predictwhat developments might happen in their niche in the coming months.
16. Critique Posts – ‘Attack posts’ havealways been a part of blogging. Some people make a name for themselves verywell by attacking others.
17. Debate –Debates do well on blogs and can either in an organized fashion betweentwo people, between a blogger and‘all comers’ or even between a blogger and… themselves (try it – argue both forand against a topic in one post – you can end up with a pretty balanced post).
18. Hypothetical Posts – A ‘what if’ or hypothetical post can be quite fun. Pick asomething that ‘could’ happen down the track in your industry and begin tounpack what the implications of it would be. ‘What if….Google and Yahoomerged?’ ‘What if …’
19. Satirical –Well written satire or parody can be incredibly powerful and is brilliant for generating links for your blog.
20. Memes and Projects – write a post that somehow involves your readers and gets them toreplicate it in someway. Start a poll,an award, ask your readers to submita post/link or run a survey or quiz.
Thisis not an exhaustive list but rather just some of the types of posts thatyou might like to throw into your blog’s mix. Not every one will be suitablefor all blogs or bloggers but using more than one format can definitely add alittle spice and color to a blog. Lastly– another technique is to mix two or more of the above formats together– there are no rules so have a bit of fun with it! Happy Blogging!
Are you ready to start your own blog?
Andrea Bertola Shaw 