Having said that, you shouldnt add new points for the sake of it. A listicle is a digital text that combines the words "list" and "article.". This means that intellectual rather than physical prowess is required. You can easily drown in a sea of particularly low-quality, low-value listicles like the "7 Signs You're Monica from Friends" post I read earlier. If you're writing a list of best practices, you should only have best practices in your list sneaking a few examples in the list will just confuse your audience (and you can always create another listicle for examples, later on). Here are some examples: 1) Top List: Keller Williams Realty Las Vegas Summerlin included a top list of local mechanics in the Las Vegas area. Your email address will not be published. We pick blog topics like hedge funds pick stocks. 2. Players will explore Kentucky is a far too realistic simulation that allows them to create their own story. Keywords can guide your content, but you dont need to be ruled by them. Not to mention that your audience may well have heard everything you have to say before and quickly bounce from your page. Infographic or Listicle? See pricing, Marketing automation software. You can be the judge of its quality, but I stand by my beliefs. A listicle is simply data in the form of a list; an example would be " 8 Tips . Would you consider Lance Lynn to be a No. Titanic.. 4. Open 8AM-4.30PM what happened to danny's wife on blue bloods; whataburger coming to kennesaw ga Try another search, and we'll give it our best shot. In other words, if everyone else has lists or articles containing no more than 10 points, you need to aim for 15 or 20 to have an advantage. When I was first getting started, Everyone has to start somewhere. Are they nothing but clickbait? This can be anything you like and will largely depend on why youre writing the article. Even if you don't think you know anything about anything important, don't sweat- just choose a topic and ask 3-4 other people to contribute a . I often make a spreadsheet of tips, with the ones I can think of, the ones I can find, the ones in other lists on the same topic, and so on. Ben Mulholland is an Editor at Process Street, and winds down with a casual article or two on Mulholland Writing. 6) Quotes: Quotes are another way to add personality to your listicle. As for why they are so popular to produce, there are a few reasons (aside from their popularity with audiences): Listicles are easier to plan and write than traditional articles because they dont have to worry so much about the order of their points. 2022 Lori Ballen | This website contains affiliate links that benefit the site owner. There is no guesswork involved, and expectations you've set for your readers are very clear. As marketers, we're often tasked with writing about drier topics to educate our viewers and attract leads. This is a typical listicle; its a long list, its punchy with short descriptions, but its not too short. Get a Website Each list item will typically include either a few sentences or multiple paragraphs, and a listicle is meant to either educate or delight readers. If everyone else has included minimal detail in their post, you can probably get away with writing only a paragraph or so for each point. However, if you cant do anything else then its better than nothing. Visit our, 400+ AI ChatGPT Prompts for Bloggers, Writers, and Content Creators, 11 Best ChatGPt Chrome Extensions for Bloggers (With Reviews), AIPRM: The Game-Changer for ChatGPT Prompt Templates, Originality AI Review: AI Content Detector Jan 2023, Affiliate Marketing For Beginners in 2023, 75 Podcast Topics: The Best Conversation Ideas, 11 Software Like BookBolt Alternatives for 2023, 8 Best Teleprompter Apps for Mac Devices in 2023, 7 of the Best Youtube Comments Search Chrome Extensions, How Much Do YouTubers Make? Listicles are a suitable format for a site, so long as theyre robust enough in terms of content that can be indexed and so long as they are relevant and full of value. In some cases, you might turn a personal essay into a listicle this way. Dont forget to use bullet points! Be unique! James Parsons is the founder and CEO of Content Powered, a content creation company. Sites like Buzzfeed have made this style of content incredibly popular, but it's been around for a long time. Kindly replace the link with https://elitecustomessays.com/article-writing-writing-ideas-academic-work/ Because many states regulate hunting, it's important for hunting enthusiasts to be more proactive. No wonder list posts have a terrible reputation. Listicle Format Should Be Determined By The Advertising Objective Listicles are curated lists based on experience, research, quantifiable metrics or editorial opinions. By making sure that your readers always have at least a portion of an image on screen you can help to encourage them to scroll further to see the rest. Games like Hades, Returnal and Deathloop have been great examples of this. However, you shouldnt go overboard with them. 2. Failing to do so only confuses readers, especially when they can't tell that they've moved onto a new item on the list because the header style was inconsistent or under-emphasized. Consistently higher clickthrough rates seems to back this up. loadCSS rel=preload polyfill. Real examples are ideal, but sometimes even a hypothetical one works just as great. If your information isnt in some way unique to your own post, theres also little reason to link back to you instead of your sources. Read world-renowned marketing content to help grow your audience, Read best practices and examples of how to sell smarter, Read expert tips on how to build a customer-first organization, Read tips and tutorials on how to build better websites, Get the latest business and tech news in five minutes or less, Learn everything you need to know about HubSpot and our products, Stay on top of the latest marketing trends and tips, Join us as we brainstorm new business ideas based on current market trends. How you do this will depend on the subject and contents of your list, but here are some great organizational structures to choose from: alphabetical (great for glossaries), chronological (great for step-by-step guides), or by popularity/importance, like most to least or least to most (great for top 10/20/50 lists). Put simply a listicle is an article that includes a list of items. If your listicle seems long or unruly, consider breaking it up into subcategories to help readers scan for what they're looking for and feel less overwhelmed at first glance. Free and premium plans, Customer service software. No! However, you also need to ensure that your chosen images are relevant to the content. I typically do subheadings for the list items, an image representing the tip or tool, and a paragraph describing its value. This helps you figure out how long your list will be and thus how much writing each element will require. Covering popular subjects like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, Java, and many, many more. Each item featured in the article will then have a link to where you can buy the product, for example, or a CTA at the end that drives the readers towards an opt-in page. The first and most basic list article format is the 'listicle' which Shepherd refers . Here, we're going to dive into what a listicle is, how to write one, and listicle ideas to help you generate high-quality, engaging content for your readers. "20 Ways to Do Y"). This is particularly important when you have a longer list, because readers want to gauge their progress as they're reading through the list (i.e. Types of Listicles with Examples There are many different ways to structure a listicle. Even if 15 of your 35 items are the same as their 15, you have more than double the value in the post because of all of the unique items you added. The common letter here is 'z'; now, the students need to figure out what this Z stands for. For instance, perhaps you need to write about "Instagram Marketing". A listicle is a portmanteau of list and article, and they are specifically articles with the formatting of a list. If theyve gone into detail, consider topping that with a content upgrade to sweeten the deal. Use images and bullet points to break up text when appropriate. Here are some helpful guidelines to consider: As we mentioned in the beginning of this post, one of the reasons people have always loved listicles is because they know exactly what and how much they'll get out of them. Have you seen how every website has a bevy of top 15 X lists? It is a competitive game requiring a certain set of cognitive skills to succeed. If You're a Leader, You Need to Accept Some Harsh Truths. 1. Content Powered is a blog management company that helps scale companies by creating helpful blog posts. Listicle definition, a published article structured in the form of a list, typically having some additional content relating to each item: "The Best Cities for Singles" and other featured listicles. 10. List of SEO Items to Check Before Launching a New Site. Listicles articles presented in the form as lists are a trendy content format because: They appeal to our brains' tendency to categorize things. Listicles, otherwise known as list-posts, are articles structured around lists. The primary hallmark of a thin listicle or a clickbait list is that each list item has a heading, but the actual content of each post is an image. If possible, its also a good idea to record what the purpose of the article is, as this can help you decide what angle youre going to tackle the topic from. then you've probably got yourself a high-quality list! In journalism and blogging, a listicle is an article that is structured as a list, which is often fleshed out with additional text relating to each item. Just put the time into figuring it out and ordering your items as logically as possible. Listicles are thus perfect for skimming at bus stops. The key here is to keep your examples general so that everyone can relate. Think about what you want to say and why people would care about reading your post. Game to celebrate one of the most devastating and iconic fictional . I teach entrepreneurs how to get more website traffic, generate leads, and make more money online. Sit down with your team and brainstorm challenges your readers might be facing, and then decide whether that challenge can be solved with a step-by-step guide or a list of tools (that includes yours). They promise a finite, quantifiable story, suggesting an "easy" reading experience. Readers may also like to reference certain points on a list later or share them with others, and being able to refer to a specific number rather than having to say "I think it's near the bottom of the list" or "It's the fourth bullet point down" is a much more user-friendly experience for your blog audience. All Rights Reserved |, "50 Ways to Promote Your Latest Blog Post After Publishing It", "7 Stages Of Grief Going Through the Process and Back to Life", "17 People Who Made Big, Big Mistakes On Social Media", a more advanced listicle I wrote that topped 7,000 words, "The 6 Step Guide to Writing Listicle Content", "Writing a Listicle: The 11-Step Guide and Why Theyre Awesome", "How to Write a Listicle [+ Examples and Ideas]", What Is Value-Added Content? 14 Life-changing Ways to Reorganize Your Closet, How to Apply Red Lipstick in 4 Easy Steps, 20 Things You Should Know Before Buying a New Mattress, The 7 Best Sustainable Clothing Companies, 7 Communication Channels Your Team Needs in 2020, 12 Marketers Tell Us Their Favorite Marketing Campaigns of 2020, The Best 6 Superbowl Ads of 2019, and Why They Worked, How to Make These 3 Meals With Only 5 Ingredients, 10 Cool Gadgets You'll Definitely Need This Summer, 7 Hilarious Videos Trending on YouTube Right Now, How to Become an Entrepreneur, According to 11 Successful Ones. An effective listicle title should accomplish three things in order to entice readers to actually read the post: 1. capture the readers' attention, 2. clearly indicate the value or what the reader will learn, and 3. indicate how much they will learn with a number. GeekBuddy Analysis 2-8 Players Community: 4-8 Best: 5-6 Time: -- (Not provided by publisher) Age: 14+ Community: 8+ Weight: 1.00 / 5 'Complexity' Rating Designer N/A Artist N/A Publisher Buffalo Games See Full Credits If you're writing a listicle and especially when you use a number in the title of your list post number your list items! 7. Topics under this subject. Even a little bit of clickbait can be acceptable. -Charles Swindoll. Quick note; its always best to try to find the original source of your information to link back to rather than using a second-hand source. Listicles are everywhere online, but not all are well-written or to the point. A listicle is an article made of a list, usually with some kind of extra detail to each item. . Do something to stand out from your competitors. Theyre formatted in a way that is exceedingly easy to skim to get to the exact information you want, making them a massive victory for fast access to information and usability. What do you think of listicles? Lists make the world neater For many a reader (But this is a limerick so testicle). You generally want a primary keyword and a list of secondary keywords youll hit along the way. else{w.loadCSS=loadCSS}}(typeof global!=="undefined"?global:this)). We . These Seven CEOs Explain Why. This will mostly depend on what you feel suits your topic best, and what you think will be ideal for covering the points you want to in the most direct and interesting way. Other times, it just becomes an exercise in frustration. Dont worry about the order of your list just yet (or any detail for the points you make). Its beneficial to SEO efforts if the primary keywords are used in the subheadings. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. You 100% need a site dedicated to the format for the format to work. Posted on . Typically, they have a short introduction, a series of list items relevant to the topic at hand, brief descriptions of each item, and, usually, images for each. Mind . The format, however, is flexible. Always think twice before posting. The "Top Ten Best Ads of 2020" can be mostly visual, but it's still important you include advice your readers can use to create better ads for themselves. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I was really nervous to have posted a listicle. To save even more time, many (myself included) like to skim-read articles to get the important information without having to read the whole thing. They want to quickly scan through a list of things to move on to the next task. The angle needs to provide value that nobody else can; otherwise, your post could be easily eclipsed by someone taking what youve written, adding their own expertise, and not even having to reference you. Archy Learning. It's unfortunate, but definitely understandable. Find him on Twitter here. Dont worry about grammar and punctuation at this point. This will largely depend on how much information you have on each point, along with what your competitors have already published. There is no need for strenuous workouts or bodily movement. Hashtags are keywords that appear after a symbol. Speaking of which, its time to move on to actually writing your listicle. Examples, Writing Tips, and. Titanic: A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Then, we create articles that are 10x better to earn the top spot. Does that mean you should come up with three more lower-quality items just to achieve your goal of 14? Entertaining and motivating original stories to help move your visions forward. software, Theyre easy to skim for important information, Its easy to put down and come back where you left off, They can break complex topics down into digestible chunks, Each item written feels like an achievement, Lists are great for targeting core keywords, Smaller listicles can be adapted to suit long-tail keywords, Write from personal experience on the topic, Use an interesting example/case study to frame the information, Dig out obscure but useful statistics to shed new light on the topics importance, Give relevant content upgrades to encourage further action and provide extra value, Collect information from multiple sources to provide a summary, Use images and/or gifs to illustrate your points, A personal essay/experience-based listicle (X things I learned about Y), Advice from experience (X tips from 3 years of, Research roundup (a heavily sourced list of information), Reported list (more of an article turned into a list to make it scannable), Editorial-turned-list (a list being used to argue a specific point), 16 Amazing Recipes to Convert Your Friends to Veganism, Give unique examples of your topic to inspire experimentation, Tie everything back to your central argument and hammer the point home, Offer a content upgrade or have another call to action, Suggest activities or techniques to use what youve written about. List articles can take a complex topic and break them down into digestible chunks. Free and premium plans. Lists of actionable steps you can take. top list of local mechanics in the Las Vegas area. Finally, let's explore some listicle ideas to help your marketing team brainstorm highly engaging content for your readers. .rll-youtube-player, [data-lazy-src]{display:none !important;} If you cut out the words in the images (which Google cant index), that post is 200 words long. It helps draw attention to those words and increases the likelihood that users will click through to your site. Depending on how much of an expert you are on the subject, you may do more or less planning. Dont forget to harvest specific information you might need, like pricing, and take screenshots if youre going to. Building a listicle around a topic that would work better as a regular article will only result in an underwhelming reading experience and, in turn, poor search engine rankings. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. Lists of 19 or 23 are more unexpected, and so are a little more intriguing for potential readers. Lists of items you want to complete for a task. listicles game examples. A statistic quote with a link is always beneficial. Credit: Photo by Kristina Tamaauskait on Unsplash. Affiliate links allow you to earn money by promoting, The Most Frequently Asked Questions About ChatGPT, Ranking on Google: Using ChatGPT to Choose the Right Topics for Your Content, How to Create a Surfer SEO Content Brief for on-page optimization, How to find Low Competition Keywords in SEMrush. Arent Listicles Penalized by Google and Facebook? Short listicles are usually between 500 and 1,000 words, while longer listicles are typically around 2,500. Do you have to wonder what this post will be about? 5) 23 Songs To Play You To Sleep Yes, Debussy's "Claire de Lune"! A great list post nixes the fluff and concretely explains each item in detail. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(53, 'ccc95db5-9007-49cf-b69c-94bb5c46b366', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Simply put, a listicle is an article written in list-format. Theres an inherent sense of progress and accomplishment as you work your way through the piece, which itself encourages you to finish reading. Ideally, youll either find a wide-open keyword (which is rare) or a bunch of mediocre lists that you can take, merge, add value to, and sculpt into mega-content. A listicle is an article that is a list. Sometimes your list points will practically arrange themselves (e.g. They cater to the short attention span of todays blog readers. Most listicles (and articles in general) have lackluster conclusions which either summarize whats already been said or give a short sentence with vague comments. For shorter lists, I might write longer or multiple paragraphs for each item or create categories for information such as pricing, industry/niche, or subject for each. Give you an example: St. Louis' Lance Lynn. The listicles articles of Buzzfeed are a classic example of it. If your sources have citations, follow them until there are no more links to follow. Some hate them. But once I'd identified all the points I wanted to include, I rearranged the furniture a bit. 4) How To Sleep Better In 94 Seconds They don't tell you to inspect the comfort of your mattress, but there are some good sleep tips here. Go ahead and plan out the number of points identified when looking up your competition. top neighborhoods in San Diego for Millenials. Even the most dedicated of readers can quickly zone out if theres nothing but text to occupy their attention. Higher ranking for a keyword means your content it closer to being the first result for that term. This website contains affiliate links that benefit me. When I sat down and brainstormed this list, for example, it was just that a brainstormed list.