The 7 Keys to Writing a Better List Post

The 7 Keys to Writing a Better List Post

Reader Comments (4)

  1. I love your reader-centered advice. We need to keep that in mind as we create content. It’s tempting to try Buzz Feed style lists with clickbait, but it’s important to keep in mind the why… why do we write? Why do we create content? It’s not all about the money and pageviews (I hope, for most of us).

  2. The cornerstone of good content is usefulness. But usefulness without interest is Wikipedia – Sonia Simone

    Hmmmm. That’s a powerful quote that’s easily worth a thousand words.

    I especially love your point about strong writing. A list post should be a list of goodness. Not a waste of time for the reader. The writer must get the message across and do it in an interesting way.

    A point I’d like to add is that some list posts are chronological. So, the writer should ensure the points are in the correct order. For instance, “7 steps to register a domain name” should be a list in order.

    Another thing is that many “How-to” guides are listicles in the real sense. But the reader only discovers this when they start reading.

  3. #3 is where it’s at. Too many bloggers write list posts just to drive blog traffic. But if you’re willing to write something fascinating that really hits the mark in terms of being useful and interesting to readers, not thinking about outcomes but service, you will write a gem. Excellent blog post Sonia.

    Ryan

  4. Thanks so much for these tips! I’ve always talked about how important lists are, but I hadn’t considered the fact that there’s a right way and a wrong way to do lists, so this is super helpful.

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