Every man and his dog has a blog these days.
Look, we don’t blame them.
Despite all the toing and froing of the internet, blogs have been, and continue to be, a cornerstone of content marketing.
But 4 million new blog posts are now published every single day.
The success and ensuing popularity of blogs combine to make writing a successful blog one helluva competitive task. These days, it isn’t possible to just write an article and expect people to find and read it. It’ll just get lost online.
Mixing up the types of blog posts you create is one way to help yours stand out.
Variety is the spice of life, right? Writing alternative forms of blog content prevents your posts from becoming stale and ordinary. You cover different bases, entertain in novel ways, and set yourself apart from other blogs out there.
Sound good? Read on for 6 types of blog articles to try out now.
1. How-To Guides
Okay, so this one’s nothing revolutionary.
But the success of how-to articles on the internet means it deserves a place on this list.
People use the internet to solve their problems. Thus, writing easy to understand, step by step how-to guides almost always go down a treat.
The exact topic, of course, depends entirely on your niche. A plumbing business might write how-to guides about fixing common household plumbing issues; a dentist’s office could create guides for cultivating better oral health.
You get the idea.
Think about your area of expertise and use your insight to create instructive posts. Doing so helps establish you as an authority in the niche. Help somebody do something for themselves, and, ironically, they may solicit your support later on.
2. Listicles
Here’s another type of blog post that’s hugely popular online.
You can’t beat a good list.
People are impatient these days (our attention spans are literally less than that of a goldfish!). They don’t want a giant wall of text to go through. Present them with it and they’ll almost certainly look elsewhere for their answers.
Lists are a top method of summarizing masses of content into key points. Trust us when we say this goes down better in the fast-paced, impatient world of the internet.
Streamline your content in this way and you’re on your way to a winner. Even better, they’re often far quicker and easier to write.
It’s a win for everyone involved.
3. Guest Posts
Here’s a quick one for any lazy webmasters out there (just kidding…).
Assuming the quality of work is up to standard, guest posts are a brilliant way to get new content, for free and with zero effort. In exchange for a backlink or exposure to your audience, someone else volunteers a blog post for your website.
They write an article on a given topic and you host it!
4. Review Articles
Remember: people go online for answers.
Combine that with an unparalleled urge to buy things, and you have a need for review-type articles. In simple terms, people want to know about the pros and cons of the products they’re interested in buying.
Are you up to speed with your gear, tech, household appliances, or what-not? Well, writing accurate and impartial reviews will address this demand for answers.
Of course, the desire for quality reviews doesn’t stop at products. Services are just as much of a priority.
Take TripAdvisor as a case and point. People want to know about the standard of restaurants, hotels, attractions, and so on before frequenting them.
Set about writing these reviews and ranking them on Google.
5. Curated Content
Curated content encompasses a broad spectrum of specific content possibilities.
Nonetheless, it’s often ignored by content creators, meaning it’s worth mentioning here.
Indeed, the very notion of being a content creator is at odds with curation. Here, instead of creating something from nothing, you pull together a post based on what’s already out there.
Shocking as it might sound, your next blog post doesn’t have to be original content!
Heck, you could even ask permission to host a favorite blog post from a competitor on your site. Credit the source and you earn a popular pre-written post with (almost) zero effort.
Resource pages are another example of curated content. A marketing firm could write an article about ‘the best marketing resources on the web’, which simply includes links to, and a description of, each resource found.
Regardless of the exact format, assembling a post based on pre-existing content can be both helpful to you (it saves writing something from scratch!) and your readers.
6. Interview Posts
Any narcissists out there should close their ears now:
You don’t have to be the center of attention in your blog posts.
Why not interview experts in the field or people of interest to your niche? Your readers gain a fresh new perspective and useful insight into a certain topic.
You could record the interview too and write a transcript of it. Doing so earns you two brand new forms of content for the website, opening the door to a wider audience.
Moreover, this is a great way to earn newfound organic traffic and interest- the interviewee is likely to share the interview with their audience too.
Time to Try These Different Types of Blog Posts
The internet is awash with blogs just like yours.
Even if you’ve seen some success already, there’s no time to rest on your laurels. The sheer mass of new content that’s published daily means you have to go the extra mile to stand out.
Posting different types of blog posts will be a helping hand in that endeavor.
Doing so keeps your writing fresh, your audience on their toes, and readers more actively engaged. After all, not all content is created equal and a one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it; different topics demand alternative approaches.
Hopefully, this post has provided a selection of top ideas for successfully mixing your blog posts up.
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