Upgrade a top 10 list post
Top 10 list posts or articles are an extremely popular content marketing strategy idea. In fact, if you search online for several keywords, you will find a “top 10” article somewhere on the first page. For example, let’s say we do a search for “business startup tips.” Here’s the result from Google:
Implement this growth hack, if you want to create in-depth content that will be evergreen, highly useful and packed with actionable tips.
I’ve created top 10 (or similar) list posts, each of which has helped build over 100,000 monthly blog visitors. I usually generate more than 100 comments on this type of blog post.
Follow these simple content marketing steps, to upgrade a “top 10” list post:
Step #1: Type your keyword + “top 10” (e.g., “top 10 + SEO tips”) into Google’s search box.
Step #2: Analyze your results. Click the first result to carefully study the content and determine how valuable it is. Do you think that you can create a better piece on this topic?
This web page contains an infographic, with fewer than 1,000 words of additional text.
The title of the blog post is “Top 10 Most Important SEO Tips for URL Optimization.”
Upgrade the headline, by following these simple content marketing steps:
- Write a headline that exceeds the original “count” – e.g., “Top 15 Most Vital SEO Tips for URL Optimization.”
- Research accurate data to back up your points.
- Extend your content creation into a longer post. Since the original blog post is less than 1,000 words, you could write a 2,500+ word article.
- Capture screenshots to show exactly what you’re talking about in the content.
- Find sharp, relevant images and include them in your post.
- Link out to authority content pages to support your points.
- Use lots of subheads and bullet points to increase readability.
- Utilize content upgrade to collect email leads.
- Include a call-to-action.
Your potential clients are looking for that defining factor that makes you stand out from the competition. If everyone is writing a “top 10” list article (probably because it’s easy to do), then your job is to dazzle your clients and prospects by doing more — say, by crafting a “top 30” or “top 50” list article on a hot topic.
This was exactly how Michael Dunlop grew his blog to 100,000 visitors per month.
Examples of “top list” posts that generated 100+ valuable comments along with several thousand social shares are:
- 55 Quick SEO Tips Even Your Mother Will Love
- 15 Types of Content That Will Drive You More Traffic
- 21 SEO Techniques You Can Use Today to Get More Search Engine Traffic