List posts are very popular on many blogs. They can drive massive amount of traffic to your blog and may raise its awareness to unknown levels. Look at digg.com or del.ico.us and you will find a large number of lists of all types being extremely successful.
You can find several list posts on my blog too and I can confirm, that some of them do belong to those being most popular according to my stats.
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Why you should write list posts
Christian Watson over at smileycat.com recently collected a list of 11 reasons for you to write list posts.
Basically he lists up reasons, why list post will help you as a blogger:
11 Reasons Why You Should Write Long List Posts
- It´s good linkbait (I told you
) - It improves your research skills
- It forces you to read widely on a subject
- It helps you discover new information
- It´s a good reference tool for yourself
- It promotes your site to others in your field
- Lists are easy to write
- Lists are easy to read
- They make you think about your audience
- It drives the discussion
- It can be a source of new articles
Please read Christian´s article here: smileycat.com
You know, this post is part of a series of posts on how to increase blog traffic. That´s exactly the effect of the last reason #11 in the list above. I originally planned to make list of ways to increase traffic, but then I realized that just listing them up wouldn´t do enough, so I decided to write a new article on every point and the idea for this series was born.
And - as you read this - it can be said it works.
Why posting lists works
List posts are very easy to read. Most visitors, especially coming from social media sites often do not spend too much time on your site. Making a list helps them to scan your post very quickly. More of them will stay and read the whole post - and maybe some more. A post with lots of long text paragraphs is more difficult to promote on Digg or Stumbleupon for this reason.
Lists with some kind of “TOP”-something as a headline are very, very popular. What do you think are the most successful Top-Lists? Top-10? Top-3? None of this. It´s Top-7, what surprised me first. Russ Jones at thegooglecache.com scientifically proved why 7 is the new 10, so expect my next list to be a little shorter.
How to write nice list posts
Writing lists can´t be that difficult, so here are only a few points to keep in mind, when it comes to your next list post.
Making your post highly scannable is important every time, not only on lists. You should highlight your keywords, so your readers could get a quick overview on your writing without reading every word. If their first impression make them like what they see, they will definitely go deeper into it. Just put the important key facts in bold.
Are you trying to show directions or a sequence of steps to be taken? Then please number your list. This is a very popular mistake, many bloggers - including me - are making very often. (My next series will help all of us with that)
If it´s not about posting a Top-List of any kind, having more points on a list is always better than less. Don´t limit yourself here. You have valuable information to share, don´t leave out a single point. But please do not fill your lists up with some crap just to make it longer.
What about you?
I would bet, you have posted a list on your blog before too. What´s your experience with them? Did they work well for you?
This article is part of my series:
The 25 best ways to increase traffic to your blog. Please read the other 24 articles and you will definitely increase your blog traffic.
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November 5th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I don’t know - I dislike *really* long lists because theres simply too much information to consume.
I much prefer lists that are shorter in number but add more value with each item on the list.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Caroline, so you´d like the SEO tips more than the RSS Subscription-List, right?
Promise, I´ll do better in the future.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I’m a fan of the list posts. I have to admit, I never read them all the way through, but they are always worth a click to take glance. If there are pictures and good solid headings for each item in the list, then it makes it very easy to look over.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
You are inspiring me… I shall list away. I am not a reader, more of a glancer too, but I feel like lists are good for that.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Neil and Mo, I´m so glad, you like it. I´ll do more lists in the future.