Content Creation Series: List Post

January 4, 2010 By Jackie Lee 30 Comments

You should be all set up and ready to start writing today. Before we jump into the topic of this post I want to tell you a couple things.

1. New Internet Marketing Strategy for Beginners Facebook Fan page! (click the link to join)

Over the last week I created an “editorial calendar” for the blog. This lets me know when and what I’m going to post and is helping me stay focused on some goals I made for this blog. I am adding podcasts twice a month. (oh geez, now that I said it out loud I’m gonna have to do it! . Now that things are pretty scheduled out I find there are questions, topics, thoughts that don’t really “fit”. Since I love the conversation I decided to create a new fanpage at facebook. There we can chat, ask questions, stay accountable, whatever we want.

The wall is a great place to ask questions. The “discussions” page is a great place to start ongoing conversations. I have created a discussion about the 100 articles in 100 days challenge ~ which I hope you will all accept along with me. We can use that space to keep each other accountable, and energized as the next 100 days goes on. The challenge started a few days ago ~ but I’m starting today. So jump in and start your own when you are ready.

So that’s there, and I hope you all will come by. To participate you just need to click the “become a fan” button, and then you can play all you like.

2. The other thing I wanted to talk about is the 100 articles in 100 days challenge. Can you imagine what it would do for your lenses/sites/business if your wrote 100 articles? It is very doable, we’re not talking about 100 novels here, just 100 250 to 300 word articles. If that sounds way to terrifying, think about it in weeks, 7 articles in the next 7 days. That sounds easier right?

If you’re game ~ please come play along with me. Go to the new fan page and tell me your in. Click the discussion tab and you’ll see the thread about it! Just leave a comment and let us know you’re in! Hope to see you all there.

Now on to the topic of the day.

Content Creation for Niche Blogs:

Content creation for niche blogs is really no different than content creation for a Squidoo lens, an article, a blog post or anything you have to write online. It’s ALL the same ~ it’s all information provided to your reader to create a relationship and a level of trust between the two of you. It is information that provides them with a solution to some kind of issue or problem.

So how on earth do you do this and sell stuff too?

Simple ~ give people what they need. You’ve hopefully chosen buying keywords while you were creating your keyword list, now all you have to do is start answering questions and providing solutions. There are many many ways to do this and today we’re going to cover the “List post”. It’s one of the most simple and quick posts you can write (they make great articles too.)

Here’s the steps:

1. Identify the keyword you’re targeting.

2. Identify a problem people might have that the solution would be your product.

3. Create a list that will help them solve the problem.

Examples:

Keyword: torque wrench

Problem: how to use a torque wrench properly.

List post: The steps involved in using a torque wrench. In the post you can link to the product itself.

*****

Keyword: Giant mountain bike

Problem: Finding a quality bike under $1000

List post: the places/brands you can find that fit the price range. I would probably do places, and end with ebay and provide a listing to bikes on ebay in the site.

*****

Keyword: monkey crib bedding

Problem: how to decorate a room when you don’t know the sex of the baby

List post: different nursery themes that work for boys and girls make sure you use monkey crib bedding as one of your options and link to it in the post. A picture would probably work well on this one too!

*****

Keyword: Pasta gift basket

Problem: what do I get for someone who’s hard to buy for?

List post: list 10 different things you can get for someone who’s hard to buy for ~ make the pasta gift basket the last item and then link to where they can buy it. Tout it as one of the “best” options.

*****

Keyword: Ironman inversion table

Problem: how to cure back pain without drugs

List post: create a list of 5 or 10 things they can try to alleviate back pain. Make the inversion table the last option, provide a link to the product.

*****

Keyword: Easy chicken recipes

Problem: what can I make for dinner in under 30 minutes

List post: offer a list of recipes, recipe ideas, throw in a link to a book of 30 minute meals as one of the options.

Setting up your list post:

A list post is one of the simplest posts to make because as it says, it’s simply a list. You can use bullet points or numbers to create your list. You can also just have the item itself, or you can provide a little explanation along with it. The specifics are up to you, but the list post is definitely a great standby when you don’t have much time, or don’t feel like you have anything to say about the topic.

Just remember…

You dont’ want to use list posts for every post on your site. They are cool to sprinkle in here and there, but you want some meatier posts on your blog as well.

If you have questions about how to do this with YOUR keywords feel free to ask in the comment section. I’ll see what I can come up with. Or you can go to the facebook fan page and start a discussion, we can brainstorm together over there!