How to Create Engaging list Posts in Your Blog
List posts are articles that revolve around a particular topic and give all the resources in points and segments. Lists posts are very popular in the blogosphere and in any niche list posts create a lot of Buzz and engage your readers. Here are some simple tips to create great list posts in your blog.
Why list Posts Work and Why Should you Write them Often?
If you see the front page of Digg you will be amazed by the number of list posts that it features. Lets see an example :
The reason behind why lists posts work is the readers ease to scan the content and the wide range of resources a list post can provide as compared to other posts. List posts are to the point,save time and solves the problem (in most of the cases).Here are some useful and effective tips to create engaging list posts for your blog:
#1. Accumulate all the Resources at One Place: The first step towards creating a highly engaging list post is : Proper research. You are going to provide all the resources at one place so your research should be focused around a central topic. Say for example you want to create a list post on ” Facebook Tools“. Then you should start your research and accumulate all of the tools available for facebook in one place. Copy the links or short excerpts from all over the web and put them together. After you have satisfied yourself with the number of tools and services concerned with your topic it is time to organize them. So the first step is accumulation followed by organization.
#2. Fix the Items in your List: Before you fix the items in your list ask a few simple questions
- What is the topic that i am writing ?
- What have my competitors done in the past ?
- Can i write a better and enhanced list to solve my readers purpose ?
After you have the answers to these common but important questions it is time to fix the numbers in your list. As a Rule of the thumb a Multiplier of 5 works good ( e.g 5,10,15 etc ). But if you could deliver more that is always encouraged. But remember: Quantity is important but Quality should be kept at all costs. So never compromise with the quality of your items in the list. Bad practice !
#3. Relevancy Should be Maintained: It doesn’t matter how long or how short your list is but every item that you put in your list should be relevant and meaningful to each other. For example : Let us suppose you are creating a list post on ” Useful Windows applications for bloggers” then you should include only those Windows applications that a blogger needs. There are hundreds of windows applications that are useful but you should not add each and every item in your list.Keep the list relevant by adding only those applications that a Blogger needs. This will make sure that your list is targeted and your readers will appreciate it.
#4. Order your List: When you have added all the information and fixed the items in your list you should considering ordering and organizing your list.
Do not post the items in any random order or as they come. Instead think of a sequence or pattern and arrange your list.Remember : readers have a short attention time and if your list is unordered one they will just skip and go somewhere else.So you should always follow a logical pattern while ordering your list. Some of the basic ordering can be : Most popular, Top rated, Chronological,Alphabetical,Step by step etc.
#5. Keep the Strongest Items in the Beginning and End: While organizing your list always keep the most strongest item at the beginning.Most of the readers read the first couple of paragraphs and judge the whole article. So if you keep the most powerful and useful item upfront then it is likely that your Post will be liked and perform well. Also do not forget to keep the last item powerful. Readers will read the first couple of paragraphs and skip to the end of the article and read the last paragraph so never ignore the Ending of your article.
#6. If Possible, Plan a Series of Posts: Well not always, but if possible you can plan a series of posts to be delivered.This concept has worked well for bloggers.The idea behind a series of posts is that you post some resources today and then write another set of resources and post them in the next week and so on. After that you interlink these two posts and create a Series of posts.The advantage of creating a series of posts is that your readers can consume the content in more time rather than having to read all of them together.
So if you have a really useful and lengthy article do not publish the entire thing in one shot. Break it into segments of 5-6 posts and consider writing a series of posts and deliver them in 2-3 weeks. readers will find it easy to read what you want to say.
#7. Do not Ignore the Formatting, Yet Keep it Simple: I have seen so many posts where the blogger has used colors and different formatting to highlight sections of the article.This is a mistake and should be avoided. Use simple formatting for your posts.Never try to highlight items by using different colors,bolding text etc.These are reading distractions and make your list dirty.Use the same style for all the items in your list.
Some points noteworthy are:
- Using the same color,fonts for all the items.
- Using bulleted text or numbered items is recommended.
- Keep the length of the items moderate.
#8. Finished your List? Now Invite your Readers to Enhance it: You have done the hard work and finished a very good list post. Now before you finish, why not ask your readers to add some extra juice in your post ? There is always more information out there and you should always invite your readers to add more items by encouraging them to Comment in your article.
Is there anything that i have missed out? What are the other ways that you use to make your List post more effective? Share with us! Happy Blogging!!
everything is good but in had no readers to invite
Once again.. You posted a great post. Keep sharing.
Thank you.. Make a list of great things is good to bait more backlinks.
yes….having a list always help….i am also planning to start a series on my blog and list will play an important role, i know that
I will be surely reading list post on your blog,i love reading list post as it is very informative most of the times.
Good tips. I use list post to increase my blog page views.
Yes they are awesome we get ample information @ one place..Photoshop tutorial is one such example where it’s used often..Many sites have made there style to publish only list post most of the time..Hongikat is one of my favorite in this aspect
good tops lax, i will try this, thanks for sharing
good tips .now a day list posts perform very well on search engine some of my list posts on my blog earning me very good amount of income from Adsense.
I really like how you compose your articles. it’s very informative and very easy to read. Sir Lax, keep it up!!!
I prefer a list post most of the time.
Yes, i feel it by myself that i’m oftenly read the article which implement list post in the titles, dunno why but i just get attracted.
Actually i’m not implemented it yet on my blog, but i will use the techniques since i find many people say about it effectivity.
Yeah you are right akira07 , i also feel that most of the people almost 90% of people are easily attract towards list post, so i believe it is really a good idea to have list post.
List post is a great idea, it increase page views and i am using it from quite a some time. The only thing i am lacking is a series of posts, which i am going to try next.
How list post can increase page views? If you are listing your best posts or few of your old post then you may get more page views. But how to get more page views using general list post.
If you submit your list post in social media sites like digg, reddit etc people get attract with the numbers, like i also read post which has numbers attached with it, so it might increase page views.
List posts are good… But, Digg isn’t!
The sad thing is that only big sites with list posts get the diggs….
And, when small sites are getting their posts up… they get buried pretty quickly!
Yes that happens. When I was active in Digg, I used to Digg many types of post from small blogs. One of the top/most active Digg uses saw a post I shared. He told this is a very nice post and it deserved more diggs.
And guess what it was a list post.
I think that’s why link luv posts are so popular. They are nothing but posts with a list of great articles. I notice that my link luv post series is the high traffic days on my blog.
Nice tips to follow, thanks Lax, keep going on.
This post has covered many more topics while posting ,As you told if the post is lengthy then divide it to 2 or 3 posts so that the reader can read it successfully
This is ” DIVIDE and CONQUERE ” which i liked it 
Thanks for reminding
Nice one, Lax. I really like your skills.
I will try to apply these tips on my next blog article. Hopefully I can make a good one.
Good tips, But many of the people just visit these pages because they get track-back URL from them(only link love) People hardly wish to know about these facts.
Lax is telling about making list of some items eg. Facebook Tools, Twitter tools, Top blogs etc. He is not talking about Love Link Post.
Lax clarify the doubts of the readers.
I left that responsibility to you guys
I’ll also try to be part of your discussions.
Nice. I have done two list post recently. It got good responses. But I wanted to Do better. You points will surely help.
How to Create Engaging list Posts in Your Blog
[http://twitter.com/anishniranam/status/4554618197]
You’re absolutely right about simplicity. It’s the key to easy reading, and hence people will want to read that particular item. Nobody wants to read a cluttered jumble of words. Make the important parts stick out and be seen!
Great tips.
Absolutly agree on the fact that lists are easy to scan and are easy to read. I’m planning to use list posts on my blog in the future, just waiting for the right time. Always keep it related and interesting for readers to read.
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List post is one of the popular article writing style for blogging, I’ve been writing a few list post in my blog and all of them received quite a lot of page view, which means they are popular.
Wow, it was 2 days I busy for my exam and my name kicked off in the Top Commentator list, the war is really strong. Good sign for you.
Nicely put post, enjoyed reading it.
BTW, I will be adding this post to my weekly roundup. Readers need to read it as it’s good
I have been practicing list posts whenever i creates a guest posts on any great blogs.It’s little time consuming but when it is done, we thinks that it is worth that time.
Nice tips, you got there…
I don’t bother much about formatting actually…
I follow Daniel from DBT !
Anyway, lax, since you’re write about list post, why not make this article titled like this :
“7 Step to Highly Effective List Post”
Great post. Simply superb. I have thought in the past of list posts but have never done it.
Simplicity make perfect..I guess so..Peoples are lazy to read the long article..Everyone chasing the time..As for me..If I want to look for certain information, I’ll go for quick search to look for the point I want..Just put yourself into readers situation and you will know what they exactly want..Hope this might helpful.
Regards,
Een
Digging is a good technique to get traffic, i used it to build traffic.
So you don’t use Digg anymore?