There are an estimated 152 million blogs currently on the Internet, with thousands more being created every day. The vast majority of these blogs ultimately fail to gain any traction with their target audience, so they fall into the abyss where countless others have gone. To avoid this same fate, you should think carefully about the types of blog posts you publish.
List Blog Posts
Blog posts crafted as lists are highly effective at driving traffic. Lists are considered a type of evergreen content, meaning users are always interested in reading them. This is in stark contrast to news and current event-style posts, which are time-sensitive and typically only relevant for a short period of time.
Data/Statistical Posts
Another type of blog post that’s guaranteed to boost your blog’s traffic is data/statistical posts. Basically, you want to create a general purpose post about your blog’s niche, in which you compile a bunch of useful statistics and relevant data from authoritative sources. People love to read statistics, making this a particularly beneficial type of post. And best of all, data/statistical posts are natural backlink magnets, meaning others users will likely link back to your blog.
Just remember to avoid including statistics or data from a direct competitor, as you don’t want to send them traffic or provide them with increased visibility. And be careful not to overdo it and bore your readers — a few startling or interesting stats work best.
Ask a Question
Rather than crafting your blog posts around a statement, why not craft it around a question? Questions trigger a visceral response in readers — they immediately want to answer the question or find out the answer. Whether they are interested in the topic or not, asking a question in your blog post will boost engagement — and this, in turn, will boost your blog’s traffic.
Infographics
Yes, infographics can also be used to boost traffic and generate stronger engagement for blogs. An infographic is essentially a visual representation of facts, figures, statistics and other information. Rather than crafting this information in the form of a text-based post, you can fire up Adobe Photoshop or your preferred image editing tool to create an infographic.
How To Guides
Last but not least, you can’t go wrong with publishing how to guides on your blog. Many people conduct online searches because they want to learn how to do something. By providing them with useful information — and for free — you’ll earn their loyalty. You can even include images, video and other media in your guides to boost engagement and social sharing.
These are just a few blog post ideas that are guaranteed to yield more traffic. Feel free to experiment with other topics that aren’t listed here, because the only way you’ll know if something works is by testing it for yourself.
Have any other blogging tips that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!
I created a couple of Google keyword alerts so whenever they are mentioned, I can check it out to see if would make a timely blog post.
Write about something controversial that’s relevant to your industry, take a stand and ask for opposing views
Read your blog’s comments for ideas, see what people comment on the most