Have you ever had that moment where you would stare at the computer screen, thinking of what to write for your blog post? You want to create something different, but all your posts are beginning to look like the same thing. Well, try to experiment with these different post types and see if you can make your blog more interesting.
What to Write for Your Blog
(1) Factual Type Post
Depending on what niche you are in, there is a lot of general type of posts out there. They do get buried down after a while because facts are repetitive and sometimes boring, so web owners usually stop maintaining this content.
While you can’t reinvent the wheel, polishing a content by injecting some creativity can actually bring a factual post to life again. You can add infographics to make it more visually appealing or embed videos to make it more engaging to read.
The good thing about this type of post is that it can be a good evergreen page for internal linking, if the content is highly relevant to your readers. That would be better in terms of retaining your online traffic than sending them away to Wikipedia and such.
Why post like this is important?
For readers – It reinforces their understanding about a certain niche.
For you – It is a good way to show readers that you know your facts within a niche.
(2) Tutorial Post
This is an all time favorite posts because people go online everyday to learn something new and at any given niche, there are a ton of things that a blogger can teach about online. The style usually follows a step-by-step flow, enhanced with images, to help readers learn in a systematic manner.
To reach out to your audience with a post like this, you want to think about what kind of keyphrases people would type online. People who want to learn about something will usually type in question-like terms and these are good keyphrases to use for targeting a specific audience.
For example, by using the Jaaxy Keyword Tool, I found out that there are 336 monthly searches and only 15 websites competing for the term “How to Speak French for Kids”. This is a high demand-low supply keyphrase that I think would make a good title for a tutorial post.
Why post like this is important?
For readers – As the internet becomes more accessible, more people would go online to acquire new knowledge. The online world is going to be the new virtual classroom.
For you – Tutorial posts build audience trust because it shows your credibility and expertise in a certain niche.
(3) Case Study Post
This type of post usually involves some sort of data, stats or report presentations. It displays specific details, often in chronological events, that ultimately lead to a finding or a conclusion about a certain topic. Unless you have access to these data or plan the topic in advance, this type of post is actually not the easiest to write.
However, if you are involved in the internet marketing niche, it’s worthwhile to pay attention to these data as your audience tend to be more analytical type of people. It’s always good to journalize a case that you think is interesting and keep a visual record as you progress.
When you have enough data, translate and publish that into a post and watch for your audience’s reaction. People are usually awed with the findings and can learn a lot from your experience too.
Why post like this is important?
For readers – People like to learn from experiences and use them as references or guidance.
For you – It’s good to journalize your findings so you can see how much progress you have made and what to improve within your blog.
(4) Inspirational Post
This is another favorite type of post that any blogger can write about. Who’s the hero or inspirational figure in your niche? Write about their stories. Better yet, try to get them on an interview with you.
These days, publishing inspirational content in the form of podcasts is also becoming very popular, so see if you could add that into your blog posts as well.
Why post like this is important?
For readers – People LOVE to hear/read inspirational stories of others.
For you – You never know when your post can change someone’s life for the better 🙂
(5) List Type Post
Does reading long articles make you tired? Your readers do too, sometimes. Hence, writing list type of post once a while can be refreshing. If you have a few topics that fall under the same category, this post is great for summarizing things.
They usually come in titles like “Top 10…”, “The Ultimate List…”and “5 Tips to…”. Since the content is pretty straightforward, readers tend to favor this type of information better than bulky paragraphs.
Why post like this is important?
For readers – People love sharing list about different things. If yours is a good one, this post can potentially go viral.
For you – Great way to attract audience to your sales funnel and boosting your on-page SEO.
(6) Product Review
The main reason I didn’t mention this on the top of the list is because there’s a general assumption that niche bloggers must write boatloads of product reviews in order to get traffic. Let me ask you this. If you are visiting a blog and see nothing but reviews after reviews, how would you feel as a reader? Likewise, is it enjoyable to write reviews 3x/week? I sure hope not.
A product doesn’t necessarily have to sit in a product review page to be featured. It can also be recommended alongside factual, tutorial, case study and even inspirational posts without being too pushy.
But when you do create one, remember to include testimonials, up-to-date product information and comparison whenever you can. Check with your merchants regularly for product updates and offers. Most importantly, create a strong CTA (call to action) at the end of your post so that you have higher chances of converting your readers into customers.
Why post like this is important?
For readers – A good product review help consumers make sound purchasing decisions.
For you – This contributes to your blog income – what else can I say 🙂
Diversify Your Blog Content
As a blogger in any type of niche, it’s crucial that we explore the depth of our knowledge through these different types of posts, not only to improve our readership, but also to provide a wholesome experience for our audience.
I hope this article has given you a better idea on what to write for your blog post. If you wish to learn how to become more successful in blogging, check out the video tutorial below by Jay from Wealthy Affiliate.
Do you have any thoughts or questions about this topic? Please leave your comments below and I’ll get back to you.
Hello, there. I found your post to be really helpful and informative. On my own website, I found that I lean more towards factual type posts and I feel like I’m running out of things to explain. I knew when I began creating my website that explaining my particular niche is a finite assignment, however I’m glad I found your post. I’m going to try more tutorial and inspirational posts on my website. Hopefully, this will position my site to attract more readers. Thanks for the information.
Glad you find it helpful. What I usually do is that I rotate these posts on a weekly basis so they don’t look repetitive on my blog and it makes the writing (and thinking) process much easier. Give it a try.
Hi Cathy,
I like the way you went through the different types of blogging. I recently started a blog in weight loss niche and this is the toughest part for me. I tend to write inspirational post myself.
I noticed you had how to diverse your niche. How about narrowing your niche. I have a huge topic. I did narrow by losing weight at home, but still big. Any advice?
Thanks for the info here. All bloggers should read this.
Hi Billy,
This is what’s going through my head right now.
Targeted niche = Losing weight at home, Targeted audience = men and women between the age of 25 to 55 and/or busy people who don’t have the time to exercise regularly.
Actually, it sounds like a pretty narrowed down niche already. You just need to diversify your content (not your niche) through the different type of blog posts that I’ve just mentioned. For example;
1) Fact – The advantage of doing weight loss at home
2) Tutorial – What are the exercises/diet that you can do at home?
3) Case Study – Are you keeping track of your own (or someone else’s) weight loss program at home?
4) Inspirational – Do you know anyone who is successful in their own weight loss program?
5) List – Quick tips on some exercise regime and diet.
6) Product Review – Equipment/Gadgets/Exercise Programs/Diet that you can recommend to your audience.
Another way to narrow things down is to really dig into your niche keywords. Get ideas from other bloggers and brainstorm your own low-competition keywords. The Jaaxy Keyword Tool is pretty efficient in this so I do encourage you to check it out.
Hi Cathy,
This is a great post. It is inspirational and I love the way you have broken it up into bite sized pieces. I also like your what and why set out. All too often you read what someone has written and you are left with that one question. Why? Do you think it is a good idea to inject a part of yourself into your post. For example put in something like ‘I have always thought etc’ or ‘This happened to me etc’. I am bookmarking your site for future reference.
Hi Margaret,
It’s always good to write a blog from a personal point of view. I think it makes an article less awkward and easier to read as you don’t have to impersonate someone else all the time. It took me 50 blog posts, before I found my own voice.
Really helpful information! As a beginner blogger, I am always looking for ways to improve my content and traffic. Some of these things I’ve heard of, but had no idea how to do. Your instructions are easy to understand and (hopefully) easy to implement. I can’t wait to get started. Thank you for taking the time to put this out there.
Hi Valerie,
From my experience as a niche blogger, all I can say is that the more you research, read and write, the easier it is to implement your ideas. My first few articles were a disaster – they didn’t follow any format and I didn’t focus on delivering the main message. But the more I practice, the more I ‘get it’ so I hope you won’t let writers block hinder your creativity.
If all fails, just pop into the Wealthy Affiliate forum and read through some tutorials and blogs from the community. A lot of my articles were actually inspired from their content.
Great post Cathy! I definitely have this problem with my website. My site is in the beginning stages, but all the pages are already starting to look alike. I need new ways to spice up my pages and find more ways to create more content. The one I hadn’t done many posts of are the “tutorial posts”. I love this idea and this will definitely work well for my health related site.
Welcome to my blog Matt. I don’t know if this would help, but I published an article not long on health niche keyword research. Perhaps that could inspire you with more content ideas. Do take a look.
Hello Cathy, I found your content very simple which is good. This makes it a lot more helpful for people looking to improve their blog. I am actually going through that right now and I found some good information on your site. It is very neat and clean. I love it 🙂
Hey thanks Tierra. If you need any other help getting started, just drop me a line.