If you do, it might become difficult to tell where one number ends and the next begins. For example, the listicles we've all seen on Buzzfeed are advertorials. 7) Top Benefits: This list gives you a chance to share a strategy that worked for you or someone else. The key to avoiding this is knowing how to properly plan and write your content. It was subtle but it was there. Do you think you could get away with writing a 200-word blog post for your marketing site? This is what comedian and writer for Parks and Recreation, Harris Wittels calls, 'false humility'.It allows the offender to boast his/her 'achievements' without any sense of shame or guilt. Quality of the article aside, its a great way to know that you arent going to waste your time reading an irrelevant discussion of a similar topic. For instance, I could write a list of the top SEO checklists on the web. Listicles are an accessible format to write, but they require careful planning and research to create. Free and premium plans, Customer service software. It has a defined and logical structure so users can browse to precisely what they want to see. Then all of the relevant SEO keywords relating to metadata, content quality, backlinks, and so forth all make good items within the listicle. Theyve been done to death, and a lot of us are sick of them. Readers may also like to reference certain points on a list later or share them with others, and being able to refer to a specific number rather than having to say "I think it's near the bottom of the list" or "It's the fourth bullet point down" is a much more user-friendly experience for your blog audience. A listicle can help the reader scan for information they need and feel less overwhelmed by the amount of content. Theres an inherent sense of progress and accomplishment as you work your way through the piece, which itself encourages you to finish reading. For example, a list of growth hacks you can take to boost your site ranking. This makes it easy to slot in new points without having to restructure whats already there. 7) Numbered List: Numbers work well in listicles because they are easy to read. However, just because theyre easy to read and write doesnt mean you can be lazy with your content and expect to get away with it. Find him on Twitter here. There is no guesswork involved, and expectations you've set for your readers are very clear. In addition, AI tools including ChatGPT have been used to create portions of the content on this website. This can be anything you like and will largely depend on why youre writing the article. Include hashtags in your posts so that people can find them easier. You generally want a primary keyword and a list of secondary keywords youll hit along the way. Next, you should find the right keyword for your post. For instance, perhaps you need to write about "Instagram Marketing". This website uses cookies. For example, a list of WordPress plugins to boost your SEO. Semrush. Author. Best of all, if readers are already familiar with some steps in the process, they can skip to sections most applicable to them. Listicles tell you what to expect. Use Google Trends, Answer the Public, Ahrefs, etc to identify a [relevant] topic. 2. 1. Identify the logical order of your instructions and use numbered lists Use headings and bold to identify key stages in your step-by-step guide Use photos and videos as much as possible to provide context to your reader List-based content style Lists are a great way to consolidate information and provide your user with a quick and simple read. The common letter here is 'z'; now, the students need to figure out what this Z stands for. You could even create a landing page to target a main keyword and then use it to link to a collection of listicles which target all of the long-tail variations of that keyword. Dont forget to use bullet points! An example is Best Practices for Writing Effective Press Releases. They include numerous images; you will feel tempted to scroll down and view one after the other. If this is the case, consider pointing your readers to another place for more in-depth information. Do something to stand out from your competitors. Listicles are everywhere online, but not all are well-written or to the point. Thanks for subscribing to the Process Street Blog! This is the same reason why updates are easy to make. What's in the box If theres no citation but theres a reference to the source (eg, from a 2016 study) try entering the information into Google along with the rough source. At HubSpot, we don't agree. Listicles are perfect for this, since the main points are often expressed in either obvious sub-headings or bullet-pointed lists which are easy to spot and read at a glance. That makes it easier to skim and easier to write. In general, clickbait can be taken as something which uses its title to promise something unrealistic or plain doesnt follow up on what its title claims to do. 2 Listicles are extremely skimmable. Lists of lists. The person who forgot to do a little cropping: 2. This is pretty obvious when you think about how much . For strategic audience targeting, brand awareness and audience trust, a good listicle should have the nine qualities defined below. Shorts - they're basically business casual. What if there ends up being only 11 solid, valuable items that make up that list? This is a typical listicle; its a long list, its punchy with short descriptions, but its not too short. By that, I mean that you can write items on your list that dont have associated keywords, and thats fine. Listicles are the easiest path to creating content for beginning content marketers so listen up, newbies. Here are a few ideas: While this post has shown you how to write a basic listicle, that doesnt mean every list has to be short or easy. Healthline created a list of 7 benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training. 10 ways to reduce blood pressure without medicine. You might read a fun listicle, like 'The Top 10 Movies of 2020', or a more informational one, like '7 Steps to Build a Website'. 5. Then, if someone searches the relevant term, your article will be marked as relevant and have a chance to be put higher up the search results. Are you? 2. Lists are not rotting your brain or lowering the standards of journalism. I would be thrilled if you would include it in your articles (https://elitecustomessays.com/article-writing-writing-ideas/academic-work/), Best Regards, However, you also need to ensure that your chosen images are relevant to the content. You could write a listicle which is nothing more than a title, five sub-headings for each list item, and a picture or gif below each. Subscribe to the Marketing Blog below. 8) Bolding: Bolding is a great way to emphasize certain words within your article. Lists of 19 or 23 are more unexpected, and so are a little more intriguing for potential readers. Let's walk through twelve examples of Instagram Reels and what you can learn from them. Developer: 12 Minutes. See pricing, Marketing automation software. Sometimes, if you can write a listicle about a complex issue, you can get special attention for the novelty. You've just passed off some link love, and you also now have another article idea for your blogging backlog! The first thing you need to know about writing a good listicle is that there are two kinds: short ones and long ones. Finally, decide on the level of detail that will accompany your list and whether any extra material (eg, content upgrades) will be provided. Lists Are Ethically Neutral. If you cant explain the value of the list item in that amount of space, youre not making a listicle; youre making a resource post. This dad who decided to use his new selfie stick at dinner. Ben Mulholland is an Editor at Process Street, and winds down with a casual article or two on Mulholland Writing. All Rights Reserved |, "50 Ways to Promote Your Latest Blog Post After Publishing It", "7 Stages Of Grief Going Through the Process and Back to Life", "17 People Who Made Big, Big Mistakes On Social Media", a more advanced listicle I wrote that topped 7,000 words, "The 6 Step Guide to Writing Listicle Content", "Writing a Listicle: The 11-Step Guide and Why Theyre Awesome", "How to Write a Listicle [+ Examples and Ideas]", What Is Value-Added Content? else{w.loadCSS=loadCSS}}(typeof global!=="undefined"?global:this)). 17 People Who Made Big, Big Mistakes On Social Media. No products in the cart. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(53, 'ccc95db5-9007-49cf-b69c-94bb5c46b366', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Simply put, a listicle is an article written in list-format. People see lists and have been trained to think clickbait. Dont spam them if theyre not required, but try to break up the post so that you have around one image per page of text scrolling. I recommend several shares on social media over a few weeks. A daily dose of irreverent and informative takes on business & tech news, Turn marketing strategies into step-by-step processes designed for success, Explore what it takes to be a creative business owner or side-hustler, Listen to the world's most downloaded B2B sales podcast, Get productivity tips and business hacks to design your dream career, Free ebooks, tools, and templates to help you grow, Learn the latest business trends from leading experts with HubSpot Academy, All of HubSpot's marketing, sales CRM, customer service, CMS, and operations software on one platform. Wolf's Gaming Blog It becomes a listicle primarily because its numbered items in an order. Before you begin writing your listicle, conduct research to ensure your topic actually fits into a list-format. Even if 15 of your 35 items are the same as their 15, you have more than double the value in the post because of all of the unique items you added. Buzzfeed-style listicles with a heavy emphasis on clickbait were penalized, specifically on Facebook with their algorithm. This is only really important to content designed to get a lot of (or more frequent) readers; if youre writing for fun, dont worry about this. 4. Credit: Photo by Kristina Tamaauskait on Unsplash. a) Starting your own gaming blog b) Give you the knowledge to perhaps improve your gaming skills on certain games c) Introduce you to the world of streaming your gaming endeavours on Twitch d) Keep you up to date on everything that is going on in the world of gaming. 10. In fact, they can be credited with inventing the format, leveraging the curiosity gap and techniques of clickbait to draw people in and make their site the powerhouse it has become. Then theres the mental aspect of listicles; its similar to the psychological effect of having a checklist or task list. Easy to skim: Consistent formatting and pleasant spatial organization make it easy for readers to identify and extract the information they need. 3)Subheadings: Headings help break up the paragraph structure and allow readers to easily find what they are looking for. Usually, they expand on each list item with additional information to make them more useful for readers. Make sure that you include tags like best, most, and worst so that people know exactly what type of listicle they are getting into. It is a portmanteau of list and testicle, because they are usually bollocks.