Do you know how to write the 22 types of blog posts to increase traffic? I’m sharing all of them plus a big ‘secret’ to increase your blog’s traffic.
There are many types of articles you can write to increase blog traffic, but one truth remains: in order to gain consistent traffic, the quality of the content comes first. Then, time should be spent optimizing that content.The secret to traffic growth: helpful content + optimization (link to free SEO blog post checklist) = traffic. Who knew the secret was hard work, eh?
Please share this on Pinterest and Facebook to help your blogger friends and tribes to grow their sites. Elevate everyone!
If you’re still reading after that totally shareable infographic, I’ve divided the types of blog posts to increase traffic into 4 categories:
- Original content (this should be the majority of your site’s content, in most cases).
- Presentation or Alternate Delivery
- Summary or Curation
- Resources or Tools
There are most likely affiliate links in this article, which could mean I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in this post. To read more about my affiliate partners, see my full disclosure here.
The 22 Types of Blog Posts to Increase Traffic
1. Original Content
The most valuable thing you can do for your traffic is to create original content. And always keep in mind: traffic-driving content has a few traits: it’s often helpful, informative, shareable, and optimized well for search traffic.
How To Posts / Tutorial Posts
If I had 1/5th of a penny for every time I typed in “How to…” in Bing and Google, I’d be hanging out with the Gates and Zuckerburgs, yo’! If you know how to do something, dumb it down for the rest of us!
Write clear steps (with images or video), make it easy, use NO fancy or niche-specific language, and optimize the heck out of it. They. Will. Come.
From step-by-step to screencasts, if you know how to do something and can walk people through how to do it themselves, it’s a good idea to share because these types of posts increase traffic.
Guest Posts (On-Site and Off-Site)
This will get your content in front of others’ eyes. If they are a bigger blogger in your niche, you have a strong potential to skyrocket your traffic. The one thing I would caution is this: the size blogger is less important than the audience. Match yourself to the audience and you will grow.
Data or Results
Popular with some bloggers, an example of a results post would be their monthly income report. Data posts could be anything from results of a reader survey or a breakdown of costs for your last Disney vacation.
Using data lends credibility, but use it sparingly and always try to create a fun graphic to deliver the numbers. If you make the Disney vacation cost breakdown into an infographic, for example, I predict that would make a very popular pin.
Journey (Success / Failure / History)
People like to be able to relate to the authors they read, and being vulnerable with can be a powerful way to connect. Powerful can mean popular.
Documenting your success and failures, your history, or your aspirations for yourself or business can help your audience relate to you better, as well. People love to learn from real life examples! And by making yourself vulnerable to them, you are also endearing yourself to your audience.
Epic Articles (Make it a Series)
You aren’t penalized by search engines for a 3,000-word post, but most people will not absorb it all in one sitting. If you don’t want to come up with a creative way to present the content in a TL:DR summary (above), how about you make an epic post into 3 posts?
Not only will you get your writing into a more consumable form, but you can do a round-up post, optimize it for search, and own the Internet. Or at least gain some yummy SEO juice.
Answer a Question
Could be from Facebook or a question from someone you met in the street – answering questions will get people to click if they’ve asked themselves that question. Another great source: YOU. Are you curious about a topic? Are you interested in taking a free course on Sketchnotes from CreativeLive or Udemy and want to poll your audience for their interest? Write a post that basically asks them for their opinion, interest, etc.
2. Presentation (or Alternate Delivery)
Changing the delivery method of your content can increase traffic because the delivery method might appeal to a different audience. For instance, infographics play well on Pinterest and this article’s infographic will be shared on Pinterest a lot.
Feel free to do that now… Go ahead, share the infographic to Pinterest with my sincere thanks.
The TL:DR Summary
Before we move on, TL:DR means, “too long, didn’t read.”
Let’s say your content is 1,000 or even 3,000 words long – epic, but loooooooooooong. If that’s the case, you can either make it into a series (see below) or you can create a summary post as an accompaniment. I like this one because the up-side has big sharing potential.
Could you make a SlideShare of your content? A video with ‘just the facts’ or highlights from your article? Maybe you can pay someone on Fiverr to animate a short scene for you. The delivery of long-form content in an easily-digestible medium makes it shareable.
And shareable is good.
Use Video or Infographics to Communicate
The majority of information is now consumed by video, so it makes sense to incorporate the use of it in your site somehow. There are bloggers who love Meerkat, Facebook Live, and Periscope, but if you’re camera shy, no worries. You can do a screencast or a slideshow. If you’re still shy, incorporating Infographics in 2016 still allows for massive sharing potential. A few sources to create your own are Infogr.am, Piktochart, and Easelly.
Pro Tip: did you know you can submit infographics to databases? Follow Neil Patel’s advice here to create your very best infographic AND where to submit them.
Giveaways or Rewards
Giveaways are huge draws. My only tip: make it very relevant to your audience if you want them to stick around. For me, I might run a giveaway for credits to Creative Market, PicMonkey, or ConvertKit because my blogger audience would be very interested in all of those!
And a cCaveat: be careful when doing giveaways because, without a doubt, there are people who hunt the Internet for cash giveaways every day. Instead of cash, pick a product or service your ideal audience will be interested in (and if you feel you must, throw in a cash bonus to run for newsletter subscribers, for example).
Checklist / Freebie / Printable
Just like the header says, you’re giving away something here. The entire post is a sales pitch for the free resource. It can solve a problem, answer a question, teach a skill – anything.
The only big tip with this one is that you make it easy for the reader to actually GET the thing.
Update / Recycle Popular Posts
The evergreen posts shouldn’t just sit there, especially if they are popular. So much can be found on this topic so I won’t go too deep, but know that you can capitalize on and extend content.
There is a case for both republishing old content and creating new content that references the old. I’m a fan of the latter most of the time.
Notes or Transcripts
If you have a podcast, Periscope broadcasts, or even Facebook Live sessions, you have the ability to use that content again. If you have a video or podcast, transcribe it (or have someone else transcribe it). Use the transcript as a post, optimize it, and embed the video or podcast.
3. Summary or Curation
Just like you, your readers are time-starved. If your content plan allows for it, a summary or curation article is a great way to keep a topic in your audience’s mind, as well as appeal to new audiences. Additionally, resources that compile similar sources on the topic are often shared.
Round Up Posts
Traditionally, round up style posts contain both your content and others’. That being said, a savvy blogger always rounds ups her key categories a few times a year.
Be sure to prevent a reader or passer-by from pinning an image from your page that is part of the round-up. Be sure to add a no pin designation to every image EXCEPT your round up image or your own posts within that round-up. Here’s a simple tutorial to do this.
Sneeze Page / Summary of Posts
A sneeze page is like a landing page for your own content. These are sometimes category-based pages (automatically populated by selecting a category), but they also might be curated pages to draw in and “sell” a new reader.
Turning that concept into a post, do a round-up article of your own content. Be sure you have a clear theme and put all of the articles you’re curating into a single post, optimized for the topic. You might even gain some SEO juice doing so…
Interview or Q & A
These are either done well or suck. Yes, I said it.
An interviewee should be a big draw for your audience. For instance, if you’re writing about actualizing your dreams, nailing Tony Robbins as an interviewee would be awesome. Getting your friend from down the street might not be the biggest draw, but you might be able to find that golden nugget in their advice.
You can also find interviewees who are rising stars in the niche, seek out “Radio Guest List” candidates, or use HARO (Help a Reporter Out). There are a lot of people seeking to establish authority in their niche, so often you can find someone for free and it’s your job to market them to your reader. Having them give away something for free usually helps.
Controversy or PROs and CONs
This is a fun one, depending on the topic. You can get a lot of buzz but beware: hateful comments might come in quickly.
For instance: PROs/CONs of breastfeeding, PROs/CONs of bed sharing, PROs/CONs of bike helmets on adults – you get my point.
You can start this on your blog and move it to social media with a poll on Facebook or Twitter. You might increase your reach by thousands, but beware of the potential backlash if you choose to controversial an issue.
Takeaways, Lessons Learned, or Leading Practices
Do you read books? Do you read books on topics that fall within your site’s niche? Hopefully, the answers to both those questions are, “Why yes, Sarah, I do!”
If so, you can do a summary (of sorts) highlighting the main takeaways from them or even how you’re implementing them, personally. I love, love, love this one and hint: it’s the reason I’ll give one person a sale over another one. Utilize those affiliate links and include tidbits of advice or personal anecdotes.
The “Listicle”
There are some sites on the Internet who draw in MILLIONS of page views A DAY with lists. Millions. A day.
No list of “blog posts to increase traffic” could be written without the infamous “listicle.” That being said, you’ll want to use this post type sparingly because the content is usually forced into short-form.
4. Resource or Tools
People want to find a location that gives them great value, and a resource page is one of the easiest ways to accomplish that. Be sure to indicate rel=nofollow when you’re putting together a resource list with affiliates or partners.
Tools, Resources, and Strategies
Ah, the affiliate marketer’s go-to. If you love a tool, share it. If you have a resource that helps you do ANYTHING well, give it a write-up.
You can choose to make a single page of your resources or write about your favorite tools individually. Optimizing these with keywords like, “the best tools for X” or “how to x” will help bring them up in the SERPs (search engine results pages).
Comparison Posts
Similar to a review, comparison posts allow you to position one thing against another. These types of posts assist those trying to make a decision, usually in purchases, however, it doesn’t have to be limited to that.
For instance, if you’re a homeschooler whose children attended public school at one time, you could write a comparison of the types of schooling. Including PROs and CONs, helpful online resource links, and even your experiences with both, could prove extremely beneficial to those searching for guidance.
[Tweet “This type of post is a shareable gold mine – read the 21 others!”]
Reviews or Sponsored Content
This makes a blogger money, sure, but what do your readers get out of it? Be sure you have a way to convey what you want to say about the product while also balancing reader interest, readability, and the potential for shares.
Make it fun, include something for free, add a giveaway – reviews and sponsored posts don’t have to be boring!
Wish List (Products/Affiliates)
Every year, starting when the first cool breeze carries away the summer fun, the wish list posts come out in full force. A lot of bloggers use these, so use the concept sparingly.
In order to garner search traffic, create a spin on the wish list or round up post by adding what will be highly searchable terms like “2016 Hot Toys” or “Gift Ideas for New Moms.” If you publish these in advance of others’ and promote them well, you’ll pop up higher in the search results!
Summary
These 22 types of blog posts to increase traffic are just the start. Grab a piece of paper and write down an idea in each of these categories to see what might work to help you increase traffic to your blog. Better yet, become a subscriber and get access to the mind mapping worksheet that helps you write any post, on any topic, that is fully optimized.
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