Blogging with a purpose increases market share, consumer engagement, revenue growth, and ROI. Of course, you want to do that.
Let's look at this graph :
But once they start the blog, a lot of people I know are still stuck on the fundamental question:
What do we blog about?
Here is a list of 11 types of articles, topics, and approaches that have demonstrated massive success for bloggers in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
1. How To Guides
People generally hate reading instruction manuals. When was the last time you snuggled up with a glass of wine and the instruction manual to your toaster?
How do people figure out how to do stuff?
They Google it.
WikiHow became insanely popular based on how-to articles alone.
You might be surprised to see the kind of things people are Googling.
If you can find your niche audience, cater to their curiosities, and give them some helpful answers, you can’t help but create a popular blog.
2. Politics
Politics are popular during every election year. Whether national or local, find a political topic to discuss, and join this conversation.
Politics can be dicey, however. People tend to get really polarized around political topics, so be prepared to handle some controversy.
3. Bacon
Everyone loves bacon.
Huffington Post is one of the most popular blogs online, and it has an entire archive of bacon articles.
It’s not a trend going away soon, so get on board.
4. Recipes
Recipes are a great way to draw traffic to your blog.
There’s always a new diet fad, e.g., today’s Whole30 is yesterday’s Atkins, so there’s always new recipes to be discovered.
5. Beginner guides
Before you can convince someone that you know the advanced stuff, start with 101 beginner guides.
My own beginner guides have been very popular.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Beginner guides are often the way bloggers build organic search traffic at the start, and they can even be done using infographics like this guide to Sharepoint.
6. Ultimate guides
Subject matter experts, on the other hand, are always seeking out the most credible ultimate guides for their areas of expertise.
The term “ultimate guide,” however, is a bit overused. You can use some alternate terms if you want, such as these from Business Casual Copywriting:
- Essential Guide
- Complete Guide
- Uncensored Guide
- Last Guide to ____ You’ll Ever Need
Whenever you’re writing an informative guide, back it up with statistics.
Use data only from authority sources, and give them credit for the information.
Adding data to your guides shows your readers your content is legitimate.
You didn’t just pull ideas out of thin air. You took the time to conduct research and then formed opinions based on your findings.
I use this strategy all the time. Before I take a stance or give advice, I find numbers to back up my claims.
If you are interested in doing original research, consider highlighting your case studies in a blog post.
This will help you get traffic from organic searches as well as through backlinks whenever another site uses your study as a source of information.
If you’re an expert on something, creating an ultimate guide is an ultimately awesome way to do some ultimately popular blogging.
7. Frequently asked questions
Be warned that posting answers to frequently asked questions online won’t stop people from asking anyway.
They do, however, serve as a resource for people, and they are often featured on e-commerce websites—but overlooked on blogs. FAQs are blogging gold in any age.
Google’s algorithm uses FAQs, questions, and other popular topics as part of its Knowledge Graph. If you’re lucky, you might score a top spot in this coveted place.
8. Interviews
The best way to set yourself apart from the ocean of bloggers is to gain insight from industry experts.
Whether it’s with people on your team or from other companies in the industry, set up interviews on websites like helpareporter.com to gain valuable knowledge from a professional.
Thankfully, you don’t have to be in the same room as your interviewee to talk to them. Come up with a list of questions your audience would be curious about, and email it instead. You could also post the questions via Twitter or another social media channel.
9.Product reviews
Reviewing products and services is another great way to drive traffic to your blog. Not only are product reviews a trusted resource online that will draw traffic, but they are also a revenue stream for bloggers.
If you want to monetize your blog instantly, this is a smart move.
By linking to product pages through affiliate links like Amazon Affiliates, you can monetize a blog almost entirely on product reviews. Make sure you go niche, since this provides the greatest platform for credibility and expertise.
Here’s an example of a recent blog post from TechRadar that reviews multiple products in the same post:
There are a few different ways to decide what products to review.
For starters, you could review items your company sells. The only issue with this strategy is that people will know your opinion is biased. You won’t post an unfavorable review about something you’re selling.
But if your blog covers a specific industry, you can review new releases. Make sure the reviews are relevant.
Refer back to the example above. The article is reviewing the most recent iPhone products. It wouldn’t make sense to review models released five years ago.
If you decide to review products on a regular basis, establish a flow to such posts so your readers know what to expect.
Start with a product overview, and explain what the product does. Then, you can discuss specifications and other details. List the price and where it can be purchased.
The review should have some form of a pros and cons list. Reviews should ultimately express your stance on the item. For example, you can explain which people would benefit most from the product.
10. Breaking news
Use your blog to discuss breaking news topics.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should try to compete with actual news outlets. But you can still write about recent events.
When it comes to breaking news, timing is everything. Being the first one to break a story isn’t always the best.
Sometimes you’re better off waiting to publish your content until all the facts are straight. You don’t want to get a reputation for posting unreliable information.
Here’s an example of a news story published on the TechCrunch blog:
Make sure your news story is relevant to your business.
For example, let’s say you run a fashion blog. A breaking news story about a technological advancement isn’t related to your brand, so don’t write about it.
11. Myth-debunking
Every industry has facts and fiction, which is why shows like Mythbusters got so popular.
We love learning what we’ve been doing or thinking wrong this whole time, so popular bloggers debunk myths.
What are some common misconceptions or myths regarding your industry or niche? Compile a list, and then use it to create a really fascinating post for your audience.
Make sure you back up your claims, though. Otherwise, readers will lose their interest when they realize they’re reading the rants of someone who really doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Approach writing such an article with the intention of providing as much useful and usable information as possible.
Conclusion
Popular topics come and go.
You might pick a technique today only to find it went into disfavor the next day. That’s part of the excitement and drama of blogging. You’ll deal with it, pick up your traffic, and move on.
The topics, techniques, and tactics listed above are virtually guaranteed to make you the world’s most popular blogger.
Maybe you’ve got all the traffic you need. Maybe you have the audience you want. Maybe you’re content.
But if you want to see some improvement, it couldn’t hurt to try a few of these!!!!