The tried-and-true blog post has been a solid content marketing tool since its inception. It hasn’t always been used that way, but the potential has been there. That is why companies like Salt Lake City’s Webtek Digital Marketing encourage clients to maintain active blogs on their websites.
Regular blogging demonstrates to search engines that a site is being updated. That’s important to achieving good rankings. More importantly, though, blogging gives customers a reason to return to a website time and again. And because you need traffic before you can get sales, keeping traffic steady is a key part of a company’s success.
Fortunately, business bloggers are not locked into a single type of post. They can choose from any number of formats, including the following five:
Table of Contents
1. The List
One of the most popular post types is the list post. This is a post that starts with a proposition that is then supported by a list of things that follow. The post you are now reading is a list post. Its proposition states that there are multiple ways to write blog posts. It is supported by a list of five blog post types.
A major benefit of the list post is the ability to target very specific audiences using highly detailed keywords. You have the added benefit of a post title that compels members of the target audience to read. Overall, list posts do very well.
2. The Explanation
Next up is the explanation post. This is a post that starts with a premise and then goes on to thoroughly explain the details of that premise. For a 600-word piece, that usually means three or four subheadings and possibly a bulleted list or two. The key to the explanation post is that it leads readers through a point-by-point explanation to reach a desired conclusion.
3. The How-To
The how-to post is just as its name sounds. It is a post that takes readers through a set of instructions, step-by-step, to complete a given task. A business blogger can explain how to:
- get more social media likes
- improve a company’s cash flow
- more effectively engage with employees.
The possibilities are endless. From travel sites to e-commerce operations, a strong how-to post can go a long way toward building brand authority and loyalty.
4. The Review
Online reviews are a big hit with customers. That being said, business bloggers sometimes turn to reviews when their clients want to highlight a given product or service. The one downside to this type of post is that consumers are pretty adept at spotting reviews written by people who have no firsthand experience with the service or product being reviewed.
5. The Interview
Last on our list is the interview post. As its name suggests, the bulk of this post consists of a conversation between interviewer and guest. Both parties are identified by name, in bold text, while their comments are separated into individual paragraphs for easier following.
Beyond these types of blog posts, there are other forms of content that brands put on their websites – content that doesn’t qualify as blogging material. Press releases are a good example. Hard news articles are another. Both types of content can be very helpful from a digital marketing standpoint, but they are distinct and separate from blog posts.
Does your company website include a blog? If so, this post has hopefully given you some ideas for future blogs. Whatever you do, make sure your posts are relevant, well-constructed, and free of grammatical and spelling errors. That is the bare minimum for a successful blog.
