The last task that our 31 Days to a Better Blog manual gave us was to create an elevator pitch for our blog. In today's task, Darren Rowse (the author of book) tells us to write a list post.What's a list post?
A list post helps us organize a topic we want to blog about. A list could be about anything depending on your blog topic and personal interests or goals.
7 Things to Keep in Mind When Writing a List Post
- Have a Clear Topic In Mind. If you are talking about dog accessories, do not include cat accesories in your list.
- Be Specific. Try to narrow down your topic and give valuable information that helps build your reputation as an expert in your niche.
- There are different kinds of list posts.
- List posts can be comprehensive or they can be simple and superficial.
- Lists can be persuasive or informative.
- Lists can help you break down complicated or extensive topics into more digestable chunks of information.
- List Posts can have different structures. For example, your whole post can be a list or you can have lists within an individual post (like this one). List posts can also have sub-lists like the one on point 3 of this list.
- Lists can be numbered (like this one) or they can be bulleted (like the sublist on point 3).
- It's important to expand upon each point in your list either in the list itself or somewhere else in the post. Not doing so leaves the reader with the sense that your post was too superficial and can hurt your reputation.
- Put a limit on the number of list posts you do. As Darren Rowse puts it, "lists can be incredibly powerful but readers can become frustrated with them if that is all you do."
