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August 25, 2015 / 082515
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5 Popular Blog Post and Article Formats
By Karen Cioffi
It’s a content marketing fact: Blogging is one of the most effective
authority building, persuasive, and money-making marketing strategies.
This being the case, it means you need to regularly post content to your
blog. It may be multiple times a day, once a day, three-times a week,
once a week, or once a month.
No matter what, you need to post to your blog on a regular basis. While I
did put ‘once a month’ in the list, to blog effectively you should be
blogging more than that. Conservatively speaking, once a week is the
minimum.
But, suppose you’re motivated and want to post to your blog three or
more times a week. What do you write about? What blog formats can you
use? How do you keep it up?
The 5 Most Popular Blog Post Formats
To make life easier, there are certain blog post formats or templates
that you can use. Kind of like a fill in the blanks template. These
templates will give you quick to follow guidelines and make the writing
process quicker and easier. So, let’s get to it.
Below are the five most
popular blog post formats:
1. The How-to Blog Post
The how-to post is about providing instructions or steps to explain to
the reader how to do something and people love them. The post should
answer your readers’ question or provide the solution to his problem. In
other words, as with all your posts, it should be informative and
helpful.
The writing process is standard: address the target audience and note
the problem (the introduction); give the solution (this is the body of
your post), give the conclusion.
Aside from your post title, the introduction is where you will turn your
readers’ attention to interest. This section will motivate the reader
to read on.
2. The List-based Blog Post
The list-based format is simply providing a list of things. It may be
“10 Steps to a Lighter You”. It may be “5 of the Most Important Opt-in
Words There Are.” You get the idea. Choice your topic, create your
title, and list the advice or tips.
This post format is another one that people love. It’s easy to read and
easy to follow. And, if you scan the articles you read, like me, it’s
easy to pick out the information pertinent to you.
When writing in the list-based format strive for organization,
sequencing, clarity, and use bullet points or numbered sequencing. Make
sure that each step flows into the next logically. You always want to
keep it simple for the reader.
Tip: Bullet points should be used when the information within each point
has little text. Numbered paragraphs should be used when the points
have more text. This article is an example of the need for numbered
paragraphs.
3. The Content Curation Blog Post
Before we get into the format, let’s go over what content curation is.
In simple terms, it’s using someone else’s content on your site by
linking to it. You lead into the source content with your own
perspective and ideas. Then add text leading the reader to the original
source. You might use: ‘To read more about this, go to . . .’ Or, you
might use: To read the original article, go to . . .
The idea is to link to the source article through a ‘more reading’ setup.
The benefit to you is saving time. You don’t have to write a full post,
yet you get fresh content that will be helpful to your readers. The
fresh content and fresh viewpoint helps increase your authority and
helps build you into the ‘go to person’ for your niche.
You do though need to make sure the content is relevant to your site and
it’d be a good idea if you leave a comment on the original article’s
post.
Another benefit to this blog format is trackbacking. Linking to the original source’s post will bring the attention of the source site to your site.
4. The Newsjacking Blog Post
The newsjacking blog post format is about making use of headline news
within your industry/niche. This type of post is usually timely. It’s
very useful if you want to be the one to bring breaking news to your
audience.
Another way to use newsjacking is to create an in-depth analysis of the
breaking news or simply give your perspective, after the fact. Just be
careful not to plagiarize the content. You can reference the news
content, but be sure to make the post content your own
You can also use newsjacking with the curation format.
5. The Slideshare or Video Blog Post
This format takes advantage of visual (and audio) content, in place of
all text. This format helps break things up a bit. People love visuals.
Adding videos or Slideshare presentations spices your blog up.
Along with adding variety, the visual posts allow you to actually
demonstrate tricky topics. For example, when explaining how to use
hyperlinks or deep links, it’s much easier for the reader to SEE how to
do it, rather than read about it.
Just like the other formats, you do need an introduction explaining the
problem and how you can help fix it. Then lead into the video or
Slideshare presentation with something like: ‘Watch the video to see how
it’s done.’ Or, use ‘Flip through the Slideshare I created to
demonstrate just how to do it.’
Here’s an example of a Slideshare post:
Article Marketing – Optimize Your Blogger Blog Posts
Summing it All Up
Blogging is a must if you want to create and increase visibility,
readership, leads, and sales. But, simply blogging isn’t enough, you
need to know how to blog effectively. Using these five blogging formats
will help you keep your blog posts fresh and keep your audience engaged
and informed.
TO COMMENT, please go to:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/2014/08/blogging-5-most-popular-blog-post-and.html
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I hope you found this information interesting and helpful. Too advanced, not enough, just right? I’d really love to know, so please leave a comment – good or bad or email me at: karencioffi@ymail.com
P.S. If you liked this article, PLEASE SHARE IT BELOW!
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You may reprint this article from "The Writing World” in its entirety in your own blog or print/electronic newsletter. But, please include the following paragraph:
Article reprinted from The Writing World newsletter. Want more must-know writing and marketing information along with updates on free webinars right in your inbox? Get access to The Writing World (http://thewritingworld.com) today.
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Karen Cioffi, the Article Writing Doctor
Your Content Writing Prescription for Home and Small Business
Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
Editing, Rewriting, Ghostwriting (manuscripts, articles, academic papers/articles)
Email: karencioffi [at] ymail [dot] com
I'm an affiliate for some of the products I recommend. I only tell you about products I've checked out.
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