Top 7 Types of Blog Posts That Gain Unlimited Traffic

What types of blog posts do you favor on your website? Is it how-to articles, or listicles, infographics, or something else?

Each of these formats can contribute to your content strategy, but what’s important is to take into account not only your preferences but those of your audience.

The main purpose of writing content is to draw the attention of your potential customers, bring in traffic to your website, and show people that you are a qualified expert in your field.

However, for this to work, your content needs to be high-quality, relevant, and well-written. It is easy to craft a catchy title to attract your visitors, but a completely different task to keep them hanging on every word and coming back for more.

To that end, you don’t only need to provide valuable information, but pack it in a fitting user-friendly format that makes it easy to digest, and provides a seamless experience.

In this guide, we will show you the types of blog posts that gain the most traffic, and how to write it.

Read on and take notes!

Top 7 Types of Blog Posts

If you search online, you will find dozens of types of blog posts. However, in reality, most of those will not be relevant to your audience and this will make it tricky to write quality content. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should provide your readers with informative, interesting, and valuable pieces that match their needs and pain points.

If your readers find your content useful and effective, they will keep reading, and may even share it with their friends and subscribe to your email newsletter.

Here is a list of several blogs that get the most traffic:

1. The “How-To” Article

It has never been easier for skilled and savvy professionals to share their knowledge. If you’re an expert in your field – you might be the perfect candidate to create a killer “How-To” article explaining a process or creating a product.

 

You can consider the “How-To” type of article the number one type of blog post. It is one of the most powerful pieces of content and, if implemented properly, it can become evergreen and serve your readers a long time.

“How-To” blog posts include guides, tutorials, and other comprehensive resources. You can enrich the post by adding different media elements such as images, audio, video, or a descriptive infographic.

If you are concerned about sharing solutions for free as opposed to trying to sell them, don’t be. The point of content marketing is to give (almost) everything away for free. This way, you build trust, authority, and a good long-lasting relationship with your potential customers.

Furthermore, by demonstrating that you have much to offer, you help move your leads down the sales funnel, as they become eager to find out what more you can provide.

2. The Listicle

Listicles are content that present information in a list format. They have been popular for quite a while now and are still going strong.

One of the top reasons for that is that titles with numbers in them do great with search engines. They are easier to understand to the bots, and also can be used to automatically create special search results, such as featured snippets.

And the more exposure an article has in the SERPs, the more traffic it gets. That’s why these types of blog posts perform much better than other popular formats.

While lists often consist of a round number of items (10 or 15, for example), more unusual numbers such as 7 and 23 are gaining popularity. A study has revealed that odd-numbered headlines get 20% more clicks than even-numbered ones.

There are many reasons why listicles appeal not only to robots, but to a wide range of people as well. One of these is the psychological impact that a number in the headline usually has. Listicle headlines promise content that gives you a length and time estimate of how long it will take for you to read it, as well as an exact number of relevant pieces of information that you will learn.

This type of content also has a great impact on social media. Give your listicle a catchy title and watch it get a good number of likes and shares. It will also bring more traffic to your website and more followers to your social media channels, especially if you combine the good title with a relevant image that stands out, and, of course, high-quality content.

3. The Infographic

Infographics are getting more popular by the day, and the reason is very simple: they are an easy to digest visual representation of complex data. You can translate almost any statistical information into a graphic form and convey complicated ideas.

This saves time, as readers do not need to read the whole article or remain concentrated for an extended period of time. In fact, studies show that users pay attention to relevant images that carry information.

Text-based blog posts are useful for readers who want to know the details. However, humans are visual creatures and it is easy to grab our attention with meaningful images.

Using visuals to sum up statistics, present facts, and organize resources and references will help you gain traction online and increase your traffic numbers and social presence.

Related article: 6 Steps to Create Successful Infographic and Double Your Webpage Traffic

If you plan to create an infographic, you may follow these tips to make it as useful as possible:

• Make sure that the information included flows logically.
• Avoid random facts as they do not form a whole that proves a point.
• Pay attention that text and images match.
• Same goes for combining different fonts, colors, and types of visuals.
• Aim for a user-friendly design.
• Use mainly statistical data and present it using charts, numbers, and graphs.
• Always encourage readers to share your infographics by placing social sharing buttons close to them to increase the chance of backlinks.

4. The Cheat Sheet

Checklists are instructional posts that aim to provide valuable information in a concise but accessible format. They are usually geared towards completing a specific task.

These types of blog posts summarize a large amount of information to make it digestible and practical. The topics you choose will depend on your niche, although productivity and improvement checklists are among the most popular types.

While all checklists should be concise and to the point, this is especially important for printables.

Giving your readers the option to download the checklist and print it out will allow them to read it at a suitable time. It will also increase the perceived usefulness of your content. Consider also making the document interactive for better usability.

Downloadable checklists are also great pieces of free content to help you grow your email list.

5. The Trendy News Article

Keeping your audience up-to-date with the latest developments in your business and niche is a great way to ensure that they remain engaged with your content.

News resources are the right tool that can help you build trust with your readers. It is important to keep them informed of the changes in your own business and your accomplishments. However, publishing on a wider array of news topics can make your website the place to go for industry updates.

Keep in mind that you are still writing a blog post and not a news article, so make it different from the traditional news website content. You may write it in your own style or include examples, opinions, and relevant internal links.

You can even be more creative with the headline and the visuals, as well as start a discussion within your team and/or the readers.

Articles on current events draw a lot of attention and engagement. As a result, they can not only bring in fresh traffic, but put you on the radar of new readers, thus, expanding your audience and reach.

6. The Series

Article series can be a useful way to provide detailed information on a long and complex topic.

While long-form content is great for SEO, a 5K words article can be intimidating to the reader and drive them away. Splitting a really long topic into parts is a user-friendly way to go.

Just think of what Netflix is doing but apply it to written content:

Creating a series of articles on the same topic will also likely keep website visitors interested for longer, increase their engagement, and ensure that they still obtain answers to all their relevant questions.

Furthermore, a series of posts provides your readers with a sense of anticipation, and can, potentially, help build your subscriber list.

Blog series also have a positive effect on SEO thanks to the internal links connecting the articles.

7. The Guest Post

Guest posts are a wonderful way to shake your content up by offering different perspectives.

These types of blog posts are an established practice and finding contributors will most likely not be a difficult task. However, attracting the right authors that provide top quality content takes time and will depend on both your goals and your networking efforts.

Once you’ve decided that you are ready to start accepting guest contributions, you may consider preparing guidelines for the guest blogger to follow.

You will also need to be specific about the subjects relevant to your blog niche, and, at the same time, also take advantage of the blogger’s unique experience and give them enough freedom to choose their specific topic.

Once you receive the article, make sure the content is original and the quality is on par or better than the rest of your blog. You can discuss any changes with the contributor before posting the submission.

Guest contributors will then likely promote their post on social media, which will, in turn, drive new traffic to your site.

The Bottom Line

When starting a blog, it makes sense to stick to the types of blog posts that match both your needs and the preferences of your audience.

The types we discussed above are the most reliable ones, and will surefire deliver consistent traffic to your websites. At the same time, you will be able to offer useful information to your readers and, hopefully, convert them into regulars.

What are your favorite kinds of articles? Let us know in the comments below.