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5 Crucial Types Of Blog Posts That Every Blog Needs

  • Burkhard Berger

    • If you want to generate traffic and sales from blogging, you have to create the right blog posts.  

    Your blogging strategy must be well defined. Strategic blogging isn’t about going viral with one post and not knowing what caused the multiplier effect. It’s about achieving consistent growth and being able to replicate it. While some posts will drive significant traffic and increased rankings for your business, other blogs will merely break even. Blogging is hard work. It takes approximately 3 hours and 55 minutes to write a useful blog post. That’s a lot of time to invest in 1 post. So make it count by creating the right type of post.

    Your blog can help you reach a new audience and reconnect with existing customers. Therefore, it makes sense to treat your blog with all seriousness. Otherwise, you’ll not get tangible results. You’re in charge of your blog and what type of content you publish. In this article, I’ll share 5 crucial types of blog posts that every blog needs.

    Let’s dive in.

    1. Tutorials and How-to Guides

    How-to guides are one of the simplest types of blog posts you can create. They’re easy to create because you’re required to show how to get a particular task done. It could be a tutorial on how to use a particular software (e.g., how to use create a push notification).

    Ideally, you need to know the topic you’re writing about. This is the best way to get your creative juices flowing — because you’re talking from experience. When creating ‘how-to’ tutorials, make them actionable and easy to follow. Use simple steps that anyone can put to work, especially beginners. When you have this type of blog post in mind, you need to consider your audience as complete beginners. Never assume they already know what you’re talking about — this is a tutorial, remember?

    So how do you get an idea for a tutorial-based ‘how-to’ blog post? 

    Think about your recent work, the new marketing tool you’re using, or which projects you struggled with but eventually accomplished significant feats. You’ll probably find some great ideas for you to write a tutorial on. This is how great websites such as WPExplorer, Kinsta, and others grew their communities to millions of monthly readers.

    2. Long-form List Posts

    I love List posts. Just like “how-to” guides, this type of blog post can attract a ton of backlinks from credible industry blogs.  But don’t create average ‘list’ posts as those are worthless. Focus on creating detailed and comprehensive long-form list posts that make a difference.

    When you create comprehensive List posts on your blog and target a long-tail keyword, you’ll eventually rank for it and other related key phrases. If it’s truly long-form and actionable, you’ll deliver a ton of value that will overwhelm your readers. Here’s an example from Backlinko:

    These types of long-form List posts are usually written as an ultimate guide. Your readers might need to read them a few times to be able to get all of the points that you have covered. 

    Here are some of my favorite List post examples:

    Make no mistakes about it, List posts aren’t dead. It might seem like these types of blog posts have been beaten to death and are no longer effective, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. As long as you create it the right way (using the Skyscraper Technique), List posts can drive a ton of organic and referral traffic, improve your organic visibility, and help you build your brand.

    Brian Dean’s 200 Google Ranking Factors is a great example of a successful List post.

    From the screenshot above, the post garnered 45,000+ social shares and 2,000+ backlinks already and is still counting. Backlinko is a reputable blog today in the online marketing space due to the impact of this one post (and of course, other successful posts on the blog).

    Here’s the organic search performance report screenshot for the post:

    So whether you’re in the internet marketing space, or your blog is relevant to any of these competitive niches such as Finance, Health, and Entertainment, you need to go far and beyond when creating a List post. 

    Find out what your competitors are already creating and double down. If their ‘List’ post is 10 tips or 10 ways, you should make yours 20 tips, you get the point? Go deeper with your post, make it extremely valuable, and show how to implement each item on the list. If you’re writing a list post about meal plans, for example, you should show how it works. See how the UltimateMealPlans.com did it.

    3. Curate And Share Interesting Interviews

    Not all interviews are conducted equally. Some interviews will completely transform your blog and send traffic from the guest’s website — if they’re an influencer. With interviews, you connect with like-minded people in your industry. Your readers will love interview-based content — especially if it’s from someone they admire or trust. 

    Ideally, publish one interview each month on your blog. You’ll be amazed by the traffic, trust, and credibility that your blog will get. 

    For example, Mixergy, a reputable online marketing blog grew rapidly when it started publishing interviews from successful entrepreneurs like Jimmy Wales, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jessica Livingston, Neil Patel, and others at the top of their game.

    Influencers

    There are professionals and influencers in every industry or field, and you should invite them to share their ideas on your blog. Don’t reject interviews from other bloggers — participate fully. Interviews help you to build a healthy relationship with professionals. You’ll find a lot of your readers digging your blog and listening to your guests. 

    If you’re just getting started, then you might have difficulty getting a successful blogger or entrepreneur on your show (if you have a podcast). Hence, you might want to create roundup posts. This type of blog post can be based entirely based on the opinions of industry experts on a common topic.

    For example, you could invite 5 – 10 productivity bloggers to share their number #1 productivity tip in a roundup post. In this post below, Hugh Clover invited 9 public speakers to share one or more stupid things they have seen speakers do on stage.

    No matter your industry, interviews and expert roundup posts are evergreen content that will always get the attention of your target audience. Always find a way to stand out in the crowd with your roundup post. When you publish interviews consistently, your readers will get used to it; and expect it. They’ll eagerly wait for your next interview, what lessons they can take away, and all. This anticipation can result in higher interaction and traffic to your blog.

    4. Share Valuable Product Reviews

    The purpose of creating product reviews is to help prospective customers make well-informed buying decisions. You’re not out to exploit them or trick them into buying a low-quality product. Product reviews, like this one, that engage the target audience tend to convert more prospects into customers. If your product review is helpful, buyers will feel it and take the necessary action. 

    For example, in this Wix vs. Shopify guide, Burkhard shares the key features, pros and cons, and pricing structures of both Site Builders. So to a potential buyer, this post is helpful, well-formatted, and will help the person to make the right buying decision.

    Whether you’re reviewing a product via a YouTube video, hosting a webinar or creating a long-form ‘how-to’ post, or making recommendations via phone communications (Skype or Predictive dialing), your product reviews must be engaging and honest.

    There are two aspects to every product review:

    First, customers may decide to write reviews to talk about your product. This can be beneficial when you’re looking to encourage and drive more sales.

    Second, when customers write reviews for your product, it can help drive new customers to your website/business. 

    A great example is how Havoc Shield features customer reviews on its website. The ultimate goal is to encourage interested customers to take the right action. Salesforce and Crazy Egg use the same approach. 

    The second aspect of product reviews is when you create them for your blog. If you’re looking to win the hearts of business executives and get the attention of top brands in your industry, you should talk about their products.

    What tools do you use to automate your business? Are you proud of these tools? Would you be excited to review them on your blog?  

    If you’re a Facebook advertiser, for example, what are the handy social media tools you have used to drive your campaigns?

    Customers hardly trust brands that talk about their products. But when customers do, it can drive conversions. 

    Here’s why: 

    Customers who have used a particular product have experienced both the good and the not-so-good aspects of it. 

    As Journalists, they’re writing reviews to reveal the pros and cons of the product. The goal is to help potential customers make smarter decisions. You can either review one product or compare multiple related products.

    Examples of Product reviews:

    Don’t just write one product review and quit. Keep at it. Eventually, you’ll gain attention and earn the trust of brands. Since these companies are looking to get coverage on industry blogs, you can get free, unsolicited samples to test and review. 

    5. Share New Concepts With Your Readers

    Are you a blogger, an indie publisher, or you run an eCommerce business? You’ll always stay ahead of the curve if you dare to do something different.

    I’m talking about being creative with your content.

    Instead of writing on topics that other bloggers have dealt with, you can share new methods that are working for your business. How did you rank for a competitive keyword on Google? What marketing strategies do you use to get “backlinks” on high DR blogs? How do you manage to create consistent posts every week? Before you share your idea or method, give it a new name. I’m sure you’re familiar with terms like the “Skyscraper Technique”, “Content shock”, “Online Arbitrage”, “Content Marketing”, “Mobilegeddon”?

    These are all new methods of marketing. These terms were coined by creative bloggers like you. You should do something similar. It’s time to embrace the new methods of blogging where you own the ‘idea’ or ‘concept.’ You need to get creative and embrace innovation when creating new posts. What’s unique about your product? It’s your USP — and it should reflect on your blog posts, about page, and even more importantly, on your homepage.

    My favorite example is Orizaba Original. The defining USP is that the clothes are made of 100% authentic Mexican Textile products:

    If you have a method that’s working for you — a method that’s unknown to everyone — but has already solved your problem, you can share it. 

    Ideally, use storytelling to share your USP and make it pop. Some smart brands are already doing this — and it works whether you’re a digital marketing expert, a health professional, a fashion expert, or you’re into sports. See how Chris, founder of Mannequins shares his brand story so creatively:

    Talking about inventing new methods and concepts, Sean Ellis used the term “Growth Hacker” in one of his blog posts. This is now regarded as a hot term in the digital marketing space.

    Conclusion

    All in all, content marketing is evolving and only those who are willing to learn, adapt, and innovate will thrive.  Creating helpful blog posts is difficult. Not many blogs survive the first 2 years. Because the bloggers are still discovering the topics their readers want and the best format to package them. Essentially, no blog post is better than the other. They all have the potential to drive traffic to your website and boost sales for your business. You need to market your content, and constantly learn what types of blog posts work with your audience to continually stay at the top of your game.

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    Burkhard Berger

    Burkhard Berger is the founder of awesomex™. You can follow him on his journey from 0 to 100,000 monthly visitors on www.awesomex.com. His articles include some of the best growth hacking strategies and digital scaling tactics that he has learned from his own successes and failures.