Top 5 blog formats and ideas for your website

Whether you are a first time owner or are eagerly awaiting one of many business website design projects to reach completion, having a great blog strategy up your sleeve can save you countless hours of writer’s block. No matter how knowledgeable you are about your industry or product, there will come a time when you simply run out of things to say, or can’t find a new way to say the same thing.

To help you avoid this, have a good store of blog formats ready to be rolled out when your new business website goes live. Mixing and matching the different formats won’t just help you to stay creative, it will also ensure that your blog stays interesting and keeps visitors from getting bored.

Here are a few content variations that all well-rounded bloggers should factor into their content mix …

1. Listicles

Listicles are a great blog type to have to hand – they’re endlessly entertaining and tried and tested to be popular with audiences. You can also create a listicle on almost anything and, with any number of points. If you’ve ever read a ‘Top 10 ways to…’ or ‘Top 100…’ you’ll be well aware of how enticing this format is. A great thing about a listicle is that it’s also an easy way to build some longer posts into your blog while also remaining easy to read and digest. These types of blogs are inherently shareable so they’re also a great way to build links and social media engagement.

2. Research posts

Does your business carry out its own research? If not, this is something that you should consider. An annual survey is an easy place to start – simply think about what would make an interesting read and generate insights useful to your audience and go from there. You can use a tool such as SurveyMonkey or MailChimp to physically conduct the survey then crunch the data and produce a blog post about your findings.

Original research makes for very powerful blog content and could even result in media coverage if your findings are particularly unusual, surprising or attention grabbing.

3. Thought leadership blogs

Many people aspire to be a thought leader in their field but find it hard to know where to start. We’ll share a little secret here – your own blog! If you’re passionate about your product or industry, have knowledge and advice to share, you CAN write a thought leadership post. This may be an opinion or argument for or against something that you’ve considered deeply or a best practise piece with tips, advice and how tos. Whatever the subject, this type of blog should be well researched, exceptionally well thought-out and detailed.

4. Case studies

Do you turn your case studies into blog posts? If not, you miss out on an easy (and popular) content format. The wonderful thing about a case study is not only does it add variety to your blog content, it can actually also help you to make a sale or close a deal.

5. Industry round-ups

Chances are you keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to industry news. A round-up post is a great way to showcase this and create useful, informative blog content at the same time.

For more tip and hints, feel free to get in touch with us at Digital Inspired.