What’s the goal of blogging? It’s definitely to write something and have people read and share it. But what happens if you create your blog, post your first article, and no one notices it? Don’t worry, my friends, I won’t let that happen to you. I’ll share the secret to making content that is interesting and appealing enough to grab your readers’ attention right away. How?
Everything lies in the types of blog posts you write. Read on as I’ll show you which of them are the real deal and get shared the most.
How-To’s
Let’s start with the basics and one of the most effective types. How-To guides are tutorials that give users the answers they need. Think about it! Why do you usually go online? Besides liking or sharing pictures on social media, right? You search for answers. The key point is that you’re not by yourself. Millions of users turn to the Internet to find solutions to their problems.
For example, if they want to bake a cake or brew the perfect cocktail, they’ll ask for a recipe. Imagine if your blog could give them that. Boom! Not only that they become your subscribers but they also recommend you to their circle of friends. That’s why before writing anything else, think of a question that would be the most searched and put the answer to it in your blog post. You can only get more shares by being smart and thoughtful and that’s what you want, isn’t it? Visit wikiHow for more inspiration.
Reviews
Who became popular with something made by someone else? You may ask. Well, I hate to break it to you, but a lot of bloggers out there did just that. It’s where the reviews came from as a type of blog posts in the first place. Writing your thoughts on a product, a book or a movie that you liked will bring you more shares than you can imagine. Potential customers or viewers are always skeptical before purchasing or watching something so use advantage of that. Offer them a sincere review of the thing they are interested in and watch as they show it to everyone that are into the same thing as them.
The only downside, if I could call it that, is that you’ll receive a lot of free gifts from companies eager to have their products reviewed so it’s a win-win situation.
Personal stories
Let’s be honest! Everyone enjoys a juicy tale. The more emotional and scandalous it is, the better. Okay maybe not always scandalous, but definitely the emotional part is the one that provokes all the shares. People like to read about different life stories and experiences, so that’s the next field you can direct your blog posts at.
For example, take a look at Jon Morrow’s personal blog post – “On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas.” It’s one of the most famous and shared posts on his blog. Why? It’s because it shows how important blogging is for the reader, in the same time telling the story of how his mother would not let him die. That gives a purpose in the readers’ eyes and paints a deep picture of your personality.
It’s just easier to connect with bloggers who spill their soul on the web, so write a blog post that would show a piece of your life to your readers. You won’t regret opening up a bit as the users would surely award you with their countless shares.
Lists
Today people get nervous quite easily and it’s hard to keep them focused on your writing. They may get tired of paragraphs and skip through the blog post without actually reading what you have to say. That’s where the lists come in. This type of blog posts allows you to summarize all key ideas of your content and present them in the shortest way possible – in bullet and number points. That way you maintain the readers’ attention and provoke them to read everything till the end. The provided information is more absorbable to them so they are persuaded to share your words around.
It’s insanely easy to turn every post into a list as it can be applied to every topic. For instance, if you’re a fashion blog, you can create a list of the trendiest dresses for the season; as a food blog you have the most common dishes around the globe; a business blog could contain a list of your products and so on. Put an image under every point and there you have it. The perfect blog post that readers would be eager to share on all platforms.
Too-Good-To-Be-True Posts
Take something that most of the people would think it’s impossible to achieve and turn it into your most shared blog post. How? It’s quite simple. People are always intrigued by stuff that seem untouchable and in most cases they click the link that provides such information. Everything starts with setting up the bait in the headline. To illustrate, take a look at the following headlines:
• From Bronx to Wall Street – How I did it?
• 10 ways to get your brand new blog visited 100.000+ times
• Cook the healthiest meal without using veggies and fruits
See? It’s a classical headline technique that actually works. But the job doesn’t stop there. You have to be honest and write accurate content that goes with them. To do that, make sure you pick ‘impossible’ stories that you know the answers to. If you succeed at that, your blog posts will bloom with everyday shares.
To help you come up with catchy titles check out this tool.
Videos
Never underestimate the power videos have in the online world. They give a perfect tone to your blog and enrich it with motion. If you’re a so-called ‘vidder’ and you upload your videos on YouTube or Vimeo or simply any other platform, then give this blog posts type a try. Choose a video that fits the theme of your blog, add a little text under it to explain what the idea around it is and you get your unique blog post that instantly gets shared. Why? Because it offers a useful and interesting combination of how your words actually look like on screen.
Sticking with the food blog example, you can film yourself picking up some wild fruits in the forest or just carrots in the garden and write about the technique or the types of wild fruits and carrots in the content. That blog post would be a definite ‘share’ by everyone interested in that field.
I think you got my point with these six types of blog posts. By constantly using them and mixing up their order of posting you make your blog more interesting to your readers. They would be eager to find out what you’re up to next and keep their eyes on new blog posts that they can share. Go on, write one of these types and tell us how it went in the comments. We can’t wait to see you bragging with the shares you got!