12 Blog Posts Your Readers Will Absolutely Love (With Overlooked Best Practices for SEOers)

12 Blog Posts Your Readers Will Absolutely Love (With Overlooked Best Practices for SEOers)

July 31, 2023
Life & Work

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Data Analysis Skills | DEANLONG.io
10.54%

Monthly
Active User Rate

Daily Budget
$5000

Daily
Campaign Budget

Click-through rate increase
60%

Increase
Click-through Rate

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15%

Growth
Return on Investment

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Customer
Segmentation

Daily Budget
#2

Prioritisation of
Limited Resources

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#3

Competitive
Responses

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#4

Consumer
Change

Are you stuck for an idea for your blog? Are you looking for blogging ideas that will increase traffic? Do you know what blogger personality type you are?

Finding new and creative blogging ideas can be difficult, especially if you’ve written extensively on a particular topic. But the following ideas have proven very effective when it comes to boosting blog readership and increasing traffic volume on your website. Perhaps you fall into a specific blogger personality type or you have already created your first blog post — Either way, try the following ideas if you’re stuck and left looking for blogging ideas!

List Blog Posts (with Some Overlooked Best Practices)

This particular writeup is an example of a list post. Other examples might be '5 signs your dog is sick,' or '7 must-have kitchen gadgets,' or '10 fun rainy day activities for kids.' Unfortunately, however, these titles are no longer modern, and they look like armchair commentators are writing them.

Even if your lists rank well, their success is usually short-lived. Eventually, a competitor with greater authority (and perhaps a bigger word count) will swoop in.

List blog posts can be very successful, but it's important to share your unique ideas concerning each list item. A super brief bullet list doesn't cut it; it's essential to provide some insight or commentary on the list items in order to provide value to your readers:


An In-depth Research That is Beyond Your First 10 Things You Found on Google


Most list articles are based on the same research methodology. If it had a name, it would probably be called "the first 10 things I found on Google."


I have an article that gives you a practical step-by-step guide on keyword research and helps you attract the traffic you need. 


A Strong Hook to Catch Attention and Differentiate Yourself with Others


There are some tricks you can use to manifest this hook:

  • Think about replacing "best" qualifier and tinkering with something more urgent and concret (e.g., X Overlooked/Foundational/Overrated…)
  • Define your target audience in your title (e.g., X for Front-End Devs/Content Marketers/CFOs…)
  • Highlight a particular product or  trait (e.g., The X Best Browser-Based/Freemium/No Code …)

Two examples of how to optimise your blog title with hook, product triat and include target audience | DEANLONG.io
Create a strong hook in your title



Note: You can also use this method on Google Ads or other ad copies. Check out here to learn more about my ready-to-use and catchy Google Text Ads copy templates.


Reveal Your Logic and Thought Process (Be Honest & Authentic)


If you keep reading the rest of the article on the other 11 types of blog posts, you will find that they are just some list with 1-2 sentences which is quite dull and tasteless. That's because I haven't fully finished my research and found persuasive pieces of evidence that can help me to create handy ready-to-use templates. But they are good thought-provoker, so I will keep it there :)


With that in mind, you can see I have provided abundant resources here to help you understand how I can apply my tips & tricks to my own work. In addition, in my article What's the Best PPC Bidding Strategy, I made flowcharts and tables to surface my thoughts and logic. I think this is a one-table-fits-all tool to help my reader refine the extended content. 


A desktop screenshot of my article - what's the best PPC strategy with a table to show my thought process | DEANLONG.io


Finally, show credibility by sharing your references at the end of your article. Take my blogs, for example, you can see an extensive list of references in URL style (Standard posts) or Haward Reference Style (Academic or Health-related posts)


Make a Single, Opinionated Recommendation


The primary goal of my content isn't to rank for keywords or generate traffic; it's to help my reader make a decision.


I will use my article What's the Best PPC Bidding Strategy as an example again. There are a lot of bidding strategies being discussed. Each bidding strategy has its own pros & cons. However, apart from simply listing all the bidding strategies in my content, I give my own opinion & my approach at the end to help my reader choose - I take a stand and make a single opinionated recommendation.


How I give out my single, opinionated recommendation on my approach in PPC bidding strategy

source: Search Engine Journal

Story or Anecdotal Posts

An anecdotal or story post can be very successful, as people absolutely love stories. Quite simply, stories sell! Anecdotes are very engaging and they take the reader on a journey of sorts. Whether it’s a story from your childhood, or an event that occurred last week, stories are very effective in pulling in new readers and engaging your existing readership.

Stories and anecdotes are very effective in illustrating a point, principle or lesson. Case studies are a wonderful way to support an argument or claim. Readers also enjoy learning about the story ‘behind’ something, like ‘How I became a photographer’ or ‘Why I decided to do X.’

Just remember to use a proper format: set the stage, introduce the dilemma or conflict, discuss the action that results from this dilemma or conflict, then conclude by discussing the outcome, the lesson learned or the final result.

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How-to Articles and Advice Blog Posts

How-to articles are very popular as everyone loves to learn something new. How to articles also tend to align well with the search phrases that people tend to Google. If you’re into photography or videography, how-to articles provide you with a wonderful opportunity to create a photo essay or a tutorial video that provides a demonstration for your readers.

Similarly, articles that begin with ‘how does’ or ‘why is’ are also very popular. So rather than providing a tutorial, you may opt to explain the story of why or how something works.

Read more my How-to articles on multimedia performance marketing:

Photo Blog Posts

Often, a picture says a thousand words. So use a photo to tell the story or prove a point.


Many bloggers partake in a tradition called ‘Wordless Wednesday’, whereby they post a photo with no text outside of the photo caption.

Opinion Posts and ‘My Take’

Has something in the news got you a bit riled? Did a recent experience get you thinking?

Write about your point of view! Everyone loves a blogger who ‘s honest and authentic. Opinion pieces will help you to develop your voice and it will elicit discussion as well.

But be forewarned: opinion posts and ‘my take’ write-ups tend to elicit lots of discussion and debate. Not everybody is going to agree with your point of view, so be ready to defend yourself and be prepared for the ‘trolls’ who feel as though it’s necessary to ‘flame’ and attack the blogger for his or her views. That said, discussion and debate leads to lots of sharing on social media and lots of reader engagement, which only benefits you as a blogger!

And if the debate gets a bit out of control, it can help to ban anonymous comments, while also turning on the comment moderation feature so only civil, respectful comments get published. You can even disallow comments if things get out of control. It’s your blog; you’re in control!

Devil’s Advocate Posts

Devil’s Advocate posts are similar to opinion pieces, except you take a critical stance on a controversial topic that’s guaranteed to turn up the temperature. Many bloggers will use this style of post to ‘reply to’ or address a fellow blogger’s post.

Share your view and criticisms with the world, but remember to keep it respectful. Also, be sure to back up your claims and check your facts, because adversarial commenters tend to thrive on pointing out factual errors and tearing apart poorly formulated arguments!

As mentioned above, these posts can get a bit hot. But you can always moderate comments or disable comments if things start to get nasty and personal.

Review and Preview Posts

Reviews are no longer left to the professional critics. Everyone’s a critic and your blog is a wonderful platform to review services, products, websites, films, books and so much more! From sharing your tale of woe on how your Forever Comfy cushion broke open, covering your chair, legs and floor with a goopy gel, to raving about the latest Hunger Games film, everyday life is filled with potential for reviews!

Ideally, you should perform reviews of products, services, films, books, etc. that relate to your niche in some way. For instance, if you’re a mommy blogger, you may opt to review the latest family-friendly film. A foodie blogger may opt to review the latest kitchen gadget. Pet bloggers may review the latest Caesar Millan book or that new automatic, self-cleaning litter box.

If you review on a regular basis, you may be offered books, products or services free of charge in exchange for a review. In these instances, remember to disclose this fact, as failure to disclose this can harm your credibility as a writer.

Read more my review articles on products & services:

Giveaways and Contests

Giveaways and contests aren’t just fun; they’re also a wonderful way to pull in new readers! Niche-specific contests can be really fun.
For giveaways, you can use a strategy where each Facebook like, tweet or link to your blog serves as an entry into the giveaway. You can also use the giveaway as an opportunity to raise money for a charity or non-profit group, with each entry priced at $1 or similar. Sites like Random.org make it simple to pick a winner in a fair manner.

Giveaways are also a wonderful opportunity to give away like-new products that you’re sent in exchange for a review! Many retailers and companies will also supply you with gift cards in exchange for hosting a giveaway on your blog!

Interviews or Profile Posts

Interviews with high profile or interesting people in your niche can serve as a wonderful blog feature. If you’re not adept at in-person or phone interviews, you can always send along a list of questions. Interview fellow bloggers, industry experts, or write company or product profiles with background info about the brand or business.

Related post:

Prediction Blog Posts

Prediction blog posts are great for many niches, from real estate blogs where you predict sales figures for the coming six months, to sports bloggers who make predictions on who will win that big game!

Prediction posts provide you with a great opportunity for analysis of what led to the current state and what factors are at play in the future. It’s a wonderful way to put your knowledge and expertise on display!

Round-Up Blog Posts

Round-up blog posts serve to draw parallels among past blog posts or articles that you’ve found on the web. A round-up post is a wonderful opportunity to provide links to a bunch of related articles that you’ve written on a particular topic.

You can also provide links to off-site articles and posts to provide readers with a complete view of a topic, issue or situation.
Just as with the list post, don’t provide a simple list of links. That’s not very helpful or engaging. Instead, remember to provide a bit of commentary or offer up a description of the content on each link/post and how it relates to the other links/posts/articles.

The Random Post

While it’s best to remain focused on a specific topic or niche, it’s certainly fun to mix it up every now and then. So if you’re dying to write on an unrelated topic, go for it! If you rarely post videos, make up a video and publish it on your blog. Do something unexpected!

In addition, open up your blog’s Google analytics panel to view the keyword phrases that people Googled in order to find your site. Often, these search phrases can provide wonderful inspiration when it comes to coming up with new blog post ideas!

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Dean Long | Expert in Growth MarketingHongxin(Dean) Long

Dean Long is a Sydney-based performance marketing and communication professional with expertise in paid search, paid social, affiliate, and digital advertising. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems and Management and is also a distinguished MBA graduate from Western Sydney University.

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