The value of content (and I’m avoiding all the royal cliches) continues to ring true when it comes to increasing brand exposure, engaging with clients and site visitors, boosting personal and brand reputation, and driving conversions.
These are the leading reasons why businesses choose to include a blog or ‘news’ section in their websites. Unfortunately, they often hit a wall when it comes to finding something to post about. I see this all the time with my clients, which is why I often end up choosing topics for them to select from rather than see them fall behind in their content calendar. While researching for authority information to include in their posts, I often come across ideas for subsequent ones.
When searching for those topics there are quite a few things that I consider, and I’m happy to share them with you now.
What makes a blog a winner?
There are a number of elements which can contribute to your blog being a hit or miss:
- Usefulness
- Relevance (I’m not on board with the word ‘relevancy’!)
- Humanity
- Entertaining
- Engaging
It also doesn’t hurt if you post a blog that is promotional or even a bit controversial from time to time.
Generally, the more helpful and relevant to a reader your post is, the more successful it’s going to be. That’s why this type of blog tends to be the biggest winner:
How-To Posts
How-to blogs are solid posts that search engines and audiences enjoy. These posts describe step-by-step how to accomplish a certain task, like how to build your own garden bed or how to build a website from scratch.
List Posts
The simplicity of a list post is largely what makes this a top consideration for blog content. They are entertaining, and they can also be controversial depending on the topic.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs will serve as a fantastic resource for your audiences. With voice search becoming increasingly popular, these posts can also give your website a nice boost in Google and other search engines.
Checklist Posts
Quick and easy to digest, audiences love checklist blogs because they provide users with simple, actionable steps. These can also be a great way to gently remind your readers what it is that makes you unique and why they should choose your product/services.
Contest Posts
If you want sets of eyes to land on your blog content, start a contest. You can create blog content which supports the contest while also promoting your brand.
Ultimate Guide Posts
Caution: if you’re going to create an ultimate/essential/complete guide, it pretty much has to be the “ultimate” guide. Take your time and make sure that this post is the be-all, end-all your reader needs for the topic at hand.
Beginner Guide Posts
Speaking of guides, beginner guides are also a winning blog type. Unlike the ultimate blog post, a beginner post only goes over the initial phase of something. If you aren’t an expert on a topic, then this may be a safer choice for your brand’s reputation.
Review Posts
These can drive some serious traffic to your blog. If you link to other product pages online through affiliate links, you can make a bit of cash on the side as well.
Breaking News Posts
For these, timing is everything. Writing about a political scandal when the media frenzy has died down, for example, likely won’t be nearly as effective than if you were to write about the event while it’s still fresh on everyone’s minds.
Myth Debunking Posts
Fact and fiction exist in every industry. These posts are often just as educational as they are entertaining, though make sure every claim is backed up by solid evidence. Otherwise, your audience will lose interest and lose trust in your brand.
I’ve a few more blog post topics up my sleeve that I’ll share in coming weeks, but in the meantime I hope you’ve found some inspiration in these.
And of course, if the actual writing your posts, or finding the time to write them, is a challenge, then I invite you to contact me to discuss how I can relieve you of that worry.
Kerry
I have a question, for the FAQ style post, you said it helps the blog show up in search results when people use voice to text. Is this when people use Siri on an iPhone? I’ve always wondered how those results come up when I ask the phone questions. I will see links of websites. I guess I’m just wondering if this applies for this. Thanks!
Yes, that’s exactly what I mean by voice to text. When you have a question and answer on your website, your question is more likely to exactly match a voice search query. I have a longer post about FAQ content in the pipeline which will explain this in more detail Eloise.
Fantastic! Thank you.
I’m the world’s worst in coming up with not only topics for blog posts, but catchy titles – yeah! Love these ideas. Sending you an email now.
Kerry, are there any particular niches you and your team write for?
Checklist posts or list posts in general are awesome. In my opinion, I think these help the readers stay on the page longer. I also like those photos people can make from them and this is awesome because they get shared around social media, with your website at the bottom. Some health sites I follow have these.
Any ideas for making a “How To” post stand out from similar “How To” posts from competitors?
I think its best to try to get into the heads of your ideal clients, to really understand them, and frame your posts with their needs in mind, rather than working from a perspective of someone who already knows the answers. Have you seen any good or bad ‘how-to’ posts?
I prefer evergreen content posts. Lists are awesome for this, contests not so much. Highly engaging at the time but don’t last.