Last Updated on Mar 12, 2020 by James W
Have you noticed that lot of people are using list posts as a content marketing strategy to attract more visitors to their website?
Do you know the reason behind it?
It’s because list posts get lot of social shares. Actually, after infographic posts, they are second to get most social shares. They even became so popular that some blogs are only devoted to writing such posts… which is, by the way, horrible tactic. Who wants to read only list posts? They are great but those people need to find some boundaries.
However, let’s get back to reality. Even though list posts tend to generate lot of social shares, that is not a rule of thumb especially if you make these mistakes.
Reason #1: You are not using right number on your list
If I wrote 2 reasons instead of 9, then this wouldn’t be a list post. The right number for list post is actually 9 (coincidence??) or even a bigger number. Studies showed that list posts that contain 9 items get shared the most but numbers like 13, 21 or 33 also works great. In reality, the bigger the number, the better.
Reason #2: Your list post is hard to read.
The reason why people start creating list posts is because they are easily scannable. It takes only couple of minutes to read and it’s far easier to remember facts from list posts than from usual posts. Like from this one. You can only read headlines if you don’t have time and you would still know what my post is about.
Reason #3: You haven’t wrote an introduction
Just because you are writing a list post, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write an introduction to it. Walk your reader into the rest of the post. Make it interesting. Let him know what is your post about.
Reason #4: You haven’t included any pictures
Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a must but depending from the post topic, I think you can do this too. A picture can tell a thousand words. People will understand pictures better than words and this also support the reason #2.
Reason #5: Making a list into list
If you have 10 items in your list, then make it only 10. Don’t separate one item into more because that can lead to confusion. Short and sweet, please.
Reason #6: You forgot to write a conclusion
End up your post with summarizing the main point and your opinion about it.
Reason #7: You didn’t engage with readers
Make it personal. It’s a list post but still, that doesn’t mean you can’t engage with your readers.
Reason #8: You targeted the wrong audience
Writing a post for consumers is not same as writing it for business owners.
Reason #9: Your posts is not shareable
Make your sharing buttons easily visible. You want your post to get attraction. Tell that to your audience. Be open. Scream if you need but make it easily shareable.
I hope you now understand the mistakes people make while writing list posts. Try to avoid these and you should be fine.
