13 Mins Read

Ever had a good feeling about posts you are just published… but then the post sinks into the spiral of silence, never to be discovered?

 

If you’re about to throw your hands up in the air because no one seems to be reading the content on your site, now would be a good time to sit up and figure out how to make things right.

The explosion of the internet did more than lower the barrier to self publishing – it pulled the entry barriers below ground level.

At the alarming rate content is being made, it is easy to understand the shorter attention span and lower engagement of your audience.

But with this success formula in hand, you may be assured that you’re doing things right. It’s then a matter of placing that article that will become the home run in your repository of content.

 

1) Listicles

 

 

 

They have a proven ability to generate the interest. A list of things people can try will help them quantify and create more staying power in their minds.

Want to strengthen the listicle? Add in the benefit your reader enjoys by reading it. In this screenshot above, “SAVES YOU MONEY” did the job.

 

2) Dummy’s Guide

 

 

 

Having a guide to help your reader in a step by step process can help them grasp everything in one place.

This is valuable to someone who wants to cut short the learning process, and once the reader lands on your guide, they may refer to it as the one-stop solution.

 

 

 

By sharing how crowdfunding works in detail, it helps people understand the entire process.

 

3) Case Study

 

 

 

 

With the real life example to study, it helps much more than what theories from textbooks can.

By writing a case study, it helps your reader put people in the story and the ability to relate becomes stronger.

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s how the blog post can tell the story of struggling people that readers can identify with and relate to.

 

4) Solution To Problem

Sharing your experience that answers people’s problems is useful.

See how well websites such as ifixit and DIY forums are doing.

If you extract something from there, you’ll be writing something of value to many people.

Quora is a reliable platform to get your questions answered. By taking a question that you can answer better than someone there, you’ll be sure to get visitors to your blog when you link that to where visitors are.

 

 

 

See how posting your website in the response helps you get visitors in a ninja way?

 

5) Research

Sharing your findings about what you’ve investigated will be useful.

Putting together a blog post that details what you found when you visited many lifestyle sites, and showing what to spend money on will help out many others who lack the time to do it.

Screenshots that emphasize important information adds value to that research.

 

6) Checklist

Give a tool to people who visit your blog for them to remember you by.

Reward them by letting them walk away with a checklist that they can refer to while completing their task.

A useful one I’ve come across is a renovation checklist, for homeowners taking over their keys.

 

 

 

 

 

By downloading the checklist, it helps them systematically go through the home for defects. This is important because they don’t have all day to randomly check, and there are many areas they may not have thought of on the spot.

 

7) Everything They Wanted To Know

A be all and end all on the topic you are writing about. Especially useful when your content is rather specialized.

Take for example, this guide right here.

An ultimate guide to how to write blog posts for the Singaporean audience will come in rather handy for anyone who wants to create valuable content for their community.

 

8) Glossary

You can create an A -Z guide to an area you specialize in.

If there are a lot of technical jargon in the area, you’ll come across as being helpful.

Like investing, you’re going to want to understand the terms that define what a good investment is. So a glossary on investing terminology may be a useful blog post that can stand the test of time.

 

9) Various Part Article

Stories that go beyond 700 words are too long for one reading.

Consider publishing them over a period of time. This should keep the anticipation of your reader there, yet provide enough information in every instalment.

 

 

 

 

 

Revealing the articles over time can help you build interest over time, as people who have read part 1 will now return for part 2.

 

10) Statistics

Infographics in your post will be very useful in visualizing the information, especially if you are sharing information that has taken place over a period of long time.

To present statistics in an attractive manner such as a infographic, you’re going to need your numbers and figures at hand to make a good one.

 

11) FAQ

It can be fun to do an interview with yourself, if you’re an aspiring public figure.

You can use the content from the self-interview into a FAQ post that delivers juicy content in a manner that’s easy to read.

Otherwise, it’s equally fun to compile common questions you hear at networking events as you seek feedback about your product/service.

It’ll be a bonus if it’s constantly updated when new questions come to light.

 

12) Commentator

Ride on the wave of trending online video from sites like Vimeo, YouTube or Facebook and make a post about it expressing your original opinion.

This gives you the chance to bring attention to a cause that you are supporting.

 

 

 

 

 

Comment on the video with the URL to your post for extra eyeballs.

 

13) Inspiring Content

A portal that makes regular appearances on my social newsfeed is content from Mark Manson, with the articles telling you in advance how long you’ll take to read them.

 

 

 

 

By sharing reflections about writers’ lives, that lead you to feel more inspired.

Posts like this work well because people want to be better than yesterday. If your content promises to help them do just that, you won yourself a loyal reader!

 

14) Holiday Wishes

To do this better than merely a copy and paste Facebook status message and graphic taken off from the net, you can consider doing something else.

A content post that mentions that it’s the holiday season, and sends a greeting as a by-the-way manner will be one way to deliver better value for your audience.

By giving something useful as a way to kick off the new year, you create relevant content for your audience.

 

 

 

 

15) Personal Experience

Touching stories from Humans of New York regularly go viral on my social newsfeed, because they relate to someone’s personal experience.

 

 

 

16) Behind the scenes

See how a Singaporean mobile app company like Carousell covers their live events.

 

 

 

 

17) Off-topic Chat

A site in the photography niche goes off-topic to discuss something unrelated to photography gear and techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

At the same time, this is of interest to the site owner because he uses Instagram, and the action on fake accounts has an impact on him.

 

18) Ranting

On top of sharing professional quality content, sometimes you may get some empathy and engagement when you show the human side of you through rant posts.

 

 

 

19) Profile

Do a write-up on an influential person in the industry.

Highs and lows, outlook towards the future. Inform them so they can share it if they like what you did. This is for a win-win.

 

 

 

 

 

An Malaysian artist made a profile of action star Jackie Chan, and got a chance to meet him in person as a result.

 

20) Crowdsource Topic

Engage with prominent people in the industry.

See how local bloggers come together: Working with Grace partners with Dr Leslie Tay from I eat I shoot I post to share a common experience on a topic.

 

 

 

 

21) Interview

Actual interview with a prominent character in the industry. Depending on what they’re looking for at the moment, they might grant one to fulfil objectives on both sides.

 

 

 

 

22) Digest

Weekly/monthly roundup blog posts help your audience save time as they catch up on what they missed.

 

 

 

 

Another form of the social hashtag #ICYMI (in case you missed it)

23) Quotes From Celebrities

 

 

 

 

People respond well to quotes from famous people.

24) Curated “Best of” Series

 

 

 

 

When you spend some effort to put together a top-10 best posts, you’re making a blog post that’s of interest.

 

25) Pick Of The Week

Zero in on a specific topic, an aspect of what you’re keen on doing for the week. Update on the progress of that throughout the week upon announcing your intentions.

 

26) People To Follow

A list of who’s who in the industry, especially useful for people researching a new area of interest.

 

 

 

27) Content Aggregator

When you do some homework and share only good stuff, so your audience don’t waste time clicking the bad stuff. They’ll appreciate you for it.

 

 

 

 

28) Comparison

See how this blog post compares different players in the industry using a matrix of what they provide.

 

 

 

 

29) Project Showcase

If you have events as part of your business’ project showcase, be sure to write a post about it, complete with photos.

 

 

 

30) Income Report

Show the status of your projects and progress in a post. That should help yourself and the company focus on how far you are from the goals you set.

 

 

 

31) Company Update

Writing about recent events and happenings help keep your audience engaged, so they can think of you.

 

 

 

32) Presentation Slides

Sharing your slides from a public presentation is one way how you can brand your material and business while delivering quality content to your reader.

 

 

33) Best of Your Blog

A compilation of most popular posts on your blog if applicable. Aim to have enough popular posts to make one such post.

 

 

34) Product Update

Do you have a new service or product? A post announcing this will be attractive to your existing fans.

 

 

 

35) Tips On How To Use Your Stuff

updates for people who bought your product or service, release a guide or user generated tip on how to use it.

 

 

 

 

See how the action camera GoPro helps ensure users can use their purchase the way they’re meant to.

 

36) What If

What if posts about the future makes for a fun read.

What if Singapore was as big as the US, what will we be capable of doing? What if there were 4 seasons here? What if 6G internet came tomorrow?

 

37) Debate

Start an argument with another writer, while presenting only one side. Get the attention of the writer towards your piece. Wait.

 

 

 

38) Attack

Humour content provider SGAG picked at Scoot all the time, resulting in high engagement from their fans.

 

 

 

 

39) Prediction

Speculate and put forth your predictions.

 

 

 

 

40) Reaction

Blog posts that react to ongoing viral content help you get noticed pretty quickly.

 

 

 

 

41) Embed Popular Content

By presenting currently trending content such as videos or blog posts with a bit of your own captions, you can attract an audience with less effort.

 

42) Story

Create characters that spoof people from real life. Let readers notice it and they will comment.

 

 

 

43) Satire

SGAG does this to provide comic relief for people in Singapore.

 

 

 

44) Cartoon

This type of post provides light-hearted fun for your audience.

 

 

 

 

45) Meme

Don’t miss out on using this to engage fans that recognize the humour in it.

 

 

 

 

46) Parody

Make a reference to something that is well-known, then add a little twist to it.

 

 

 

 

 

A famous movie becomes a parody from the Indonesian haze affecting Singaporeans.

 

47) Review

Reviews of products and services are newsworthy, and an effective way to provide feedback to the owners.

 

 

 

 

48) Survey

Polling your audience is a good way to interact with them.

 

 

 

 

49) News

Writing especially in response to recent breaking news can increase engagement with your audience.

 

 

 

 

50) Trending

Predict or ride on a timely topic, like where to buy bak wa (BBQ pork) during the Chinese New Year period.

 

 

 

 

51) Issue

Writing about issues that are hotly debated will generate interest. Allowing guide dogs to enter buildings was something that people fought for the visually impaired community.

 

 

 

 

52) Question

Start engaging your audience by asking for their opinion about a topic of choice in a blog post.

As comments come in, make a blog post out of the comments.

 

53) Answer

Ask a question in a short post, and let the readers answer. The blog post itself is a result of comments.

 

54) Challenge

This will generate engagement, provided you give updates often as the parameters of the challenge change and winners emerge.

 

 

 

55) Customer Showcase

Featuring your satisfied customer using your product or service helps you attract other customers.

See how this Singaporean mobile app for home remodelling matched homeowners to their desired interior designer.

 

 

 

56) Freebie

Something that 99% of Singaporeans can relate to.

Giveaway contests in exchange for taking an action on your site:

• leave a comment,
• share it on their social media,
• like your Facebook page

 

 

 

57) Contest

Running contests generate a lot of interest from your audience.

See how a best photo contest that National Geographic got 13000 people submitting their entries.

 

 

 

Conclusion

You are now armed with 57 ways how you can generate content that people actually want to see.

To vary the mode of delivery, you can create blog posts that take on forms such as:

– written text

– video

– picture slideshow

– audio recording

As you have seen in the collection of screenshots, a blog post can engage in many ways.

With the ways you can create content, it’s now time to create your own killer blog post!