Taking the time to consider how to format your blog post should never be brushed off.
Why? Because it significantly affects how many of your readers read what you write.
Sure, your choice of topic and writing skills are essential. But so is your presentation.
Because the truth is, your readers are busy. And careful attention to blog formatting ensures that they can skim through your post and still be able to capture the key takeaways.
So how do you format a blog post that busy readers will want to read?
In this post, we’ll go over the different types of blog formats and how they affect readers’ experience.
Let’s dive in!
1. List Post
A list post, also known as a numbered list post, is a collection of related points about a particular topic.
They are the most popular type of blog post to date, and not without good reasons.
For one, lists post have a familiar structure that readers love. As humans, familiarity naturally makes us feel comfortable and safe.
Lists posts also allow readers to find what they want with little effort.
With numbers guiding them, readers can skim through content and digest relevant information without reading the entire article.
List posts are also approachable.
When you see a blog titled “11 Tips to Become a Better Writer,” you know exactly what to expect when you click that post. Knowing what to expect makes list posts less threatening to read.
And it’s not just readers that love list posts, we, bloggers, enjoy them as well.
Out of all formats, list posts are easiest to put together and the fastest to write.
You can jump from point to point without worrying too much about transitions and flow in your writing.
For all these reasons, it’s not hard to imagine why list posts are one of the most popular writing format in the blogosphere.
2. How-to Post
How-to posts are posts that help readers accomplish a specific goal.
They are timeless and universally popular among readers.
Why? Because they offer readers a clear return on invested attention.
How-to posts promise to move readers closer to their goals and dreams, whether that’s learning how to take photos or becoming more productive.
When writing how-to articles, remember to be clear and specific with the benefit of your headline.
The more specific you are with the benefits, the more compelling your headline would be.
3. Ultimate Guide
Ultimate guides are in-depth guides that help readers accomplish a specific goal or master a particular topic.
Your goal in creating an ultimate guide is to provide your readers with all the information they need within your post.
As such, these posts are quite long at 3,000+ words.
While ultimate guides require extensive research and a considerable amount of time to complete, they come with many benefits.
When done well, ultimate guides can rank for tons of keywords, attract tons of search traffic, and help establish you as an authority.
4. Infographics
Infographics are visual content that summarizes information and data into exciting graphics.
Over the years, they have become one of the most powerful means of communicating complex information in the blogosphere.
Why?
Infographics is one of the best ways to target readers’ attention:
- Humans can process information up to 600 times faster with images than text.
- Majority of readers are visual learners
- 90% of all the information sent to our brains is visual.
As you can see, consuming visual content comes naturally to us.
It’s no surprise that content that includes images get 94% more views than a post without them.
If you want to get more social media shares, traffic, and backlinks, then creating infographics is a great way to go.
Here’s an animated infographic I created for my blog that’s generated thousands of shares within weeks: How To Learn Photography on Your Own in 2020
Of course, your infographic doesn’t have to be animated to be successful. Here’s some examples:
5. Resources
A comprehensive resource post is a list of helpful resources about a specific topic.
They are usually long, definitive lists of valuable resources with short descriptions and links for each.
This type of blog format is popular among readers, primarily because it saves them time.
Instead of having to scour the internet, you’ve already anticipated, curated, and consolidated the resources they need in a single blog post.
Creating a valuable go-to resource post for your readers is a great way to establish yourself as an industry leader.
Readers particularly appreciate when you recommend tools, products, and services that you’ve personally tried.
When you take the time to tell your readers what works and what doesn’t work based on your own experiences, they’ll be more inclined to like and trust you.
A well-done comprehensive resource posts will benefit you in terms of social shares, search traffic, and establishing authority.
6. Case Studies
Case studies are inspiring success stories about real people reaching the goals your readers are aspiring to achieve.
They empower readers by documenting step-by-step how others overcame similar obstacles your readers are facing.
This blog post is effective because it focuses on practical, measurable results rather than theoretical ones.
Creating case studies can help you build both authority and credibility in your industry.
7. Why Post
The “Why” posts introduce readers to new insights on how to approach and overcome persistent problems and frustrations.
This type of post is persuasive and meant to alter the perspective of a reader.
The ‘why’ post is a great way to increase your search traffic as it answers common search queries. It’s also a great way to win featured snippets on Google.
8. Expert Round-Up Post
An expert roundup post is a compilation of opinions from multiple experts on a single question or topic.
These types of posts are popular because they offer readers a collection of expert opinions in one place.
Expert responses are typically brief, ranging from a sentence to a couple of paragraphs in length.
Roundup posts are great for connecting and building your relationship with the experts in your niche.
They are also high in bringing in new traffic and driving social shares as many of the experts will share your post with their audiences.
Examples of Round-Up Posts:
30 Experts Share Their Best Advice for Brain Health
13 Incredibly Smart Tips To Be Happier From Mental Health Experts
What 20 Photographers Wish They Knew 5 Years Ago
43 Experts Share Their 3 Best Survival Tips When Lost in The Wilderness
The Greatest Books of All Time, As Voted by 125 Famous Authors
9. Review Posts
A review post is when bloggers give their honest opinion about a product or service.
They are typically an in-depth review of one or multiple products or services, which provides readers everything they need to know before purchasing.
Review posts are popular because readers trust reviews made by ordinary consumers just like them.
Research shows that modern consumers rely on online reviews of products or services for their purchasing decisions.
The study also found that majority of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Review posts are not only a great way to help your readers with their purchases.
They are also a great way to drive traffic to your site and make good commissions from the products and services you promote.
With all these benefits, it’s no surprise that some of the most successful websites are built entirely from this type of post.
10. Contrarian Post
Contrarian posts are posts that counter conventional wisdom.
They encourage readers to break free from traditional rules and reinvent the wheel.
As such, they are inherently provocative and controversial.
Contrarian posts are popular because they are designed to stir emotions, such as relief, anger, or surprise.
When you trigger people’s emotions, you motivate them to take action.
Whether they agree or disagree with your stance, they are likely to read, comment, and share your post.
Accordingly, contrarian content is a great way to get people’s attention, expand your reach, and boost your traffic.
Examples of Contrarian Posts:
What If I Said No? (And Other Questions to Consider Daily)
Stop Teaching Children To Never Be Angry – Teach Them How To Be Angry
Maybe the Secret to Writing is Not Writing?
You Don’t Need More Motivation — You Need a System
Bring Back Handwriting: It’s Good for Your Brain
11. Video and Audio Post
Advances in technology have made video one of the most popular forms of content online.
Thanks to smartphones and high-speed internet, video content is now easily accessible to many.
Today, audio and video is a golden opportunity for marketers to reach and connect with their new audiences:
- A report released by Statista found there were 88 million U.S podcast users in 2019, and they forecast 140 million podcast users as of 2022, which is a 60% increase in listeners.
- Another study found that in 2019 adults spent an average of 86.23 engaged with digital video content, which is an increase of 41% or 25 minutes since 2015.
- People spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than the ones without.
- Video helps increase consumer interaction by 51% and sales conversion by 500%.
These statistics aren’t surprising considering both video and audio generally feel personal than text-based content.
Whether it’s through body language, facial expression, or tone of voice, both audio and video format humanize your content and make them more relatable.
Combining the power of audio and video to your blog is a great way to expand your reach and deepen your connection with your customers.
Conclusion
There you have it; you’re now ready to publish a blog post your readers will want to read till the end.
By carefully considering the different blogging format above, you can ensure that your blog post remains engaging even for the modern reader.