10 Types of Blog Posts that Attract Massive Traffic

How long have you been blogging? Are you still experiencing low traffic to your blog and already becoming frustrated about it? Traffic is vital to our blog’s success. If you want to make money online, you need a lot of traffic. Having a lot of visitors to our blog also increases our motivation and will to work more. That is why we have to find ways to increase the number of people who are visiting our blog. In my years of blogging experience, I have already confirmed several types of blog posts that can really attract massive traffic to our blogs. Here are 10 types of blog post that drive the most number of visitors to our blog.

 

1. 101 post

First in the list are 101 or 100 list posts. This kind of post attracts a lot of readers because of its generous and rich nature. This is also the kind of post that are bookmarked by many people and shared in the social media because there are lots of things that we can learn from it. As an example, my post titled “100 ways to become a better business person” became popular in the social media that it receives more than a hundred of retweets and Facebook shares as of today. It has also received 15,000 stumbles from StumbleUpon users. It’s time consuming to make this kind of post, but the reward is satisfying.

Screenshot of the number of social bookmarks for the post “100 ways to be a better business person” as of this date.

2. Breaking news

News articles usually attract wide readers. That is why news blogs are usually high-trafficked blogs. But if there is one kind of blog post that can really drive higher number of visitors, it is breaking news. Breaking news make it to the top of the search engine with proper search engine optimization. It also spread on the social media since no one has ever read it and most people naturally want to be the first one to share a never-been-heard story to their friends or social media connections. It may be the reason why Huffington Post became the leading blog in the world – they are usually the first one to share the breaking news among other blogs out there.


3. “How to” or tutorial articles

People search the Internet to find answers to their questions. That is why “how to” or tutorial articles are one of the most searched types of content among others. However, not all “how to” articles are the same. Of course, you need to make it extensive and well researched to really provide an answer to searchers or users of information. Most of the articles I’ve written on this blog are “how to” articles, and they attract the biggest percentage of traffic here. Even the most visited post on this blog is a “how to” article. My post “how to compute withholding tax on compensation in the Philippines” comprises 10% of the total accumulated traffic to this blog.


4. Results post

If your web hosting server is ready to accommodate a sudden increase of traffic in a day, then you may try to blog about results, which include results of popular games or sports (NBA finals, top boxing bouts like the one involving Manny Pacqauio, Olympic, etc.,), National election results, professional examination results, and other results that a lot of people are anticipating.

The highest number of visits I have received in a day so far is 40,000 according to Google Analytics. This came from my post about the Philippine Bar Exam results. When I made that post, I did not just share the names of the passers, but I also add some trivia and other interesting content on it. This post ranked higher in the search engine results page. That is why it earned such level of traffic in a day. Fortunately, my server did not fail me. Check out the effect of that post on my February 2012 Google Analytics.

5. Controversial post

Controversies are hot and can easily become viral and trending over the Internet, especially on social networking sites, like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. A controversial post may include stories, videos, and even a single photo, involving celebrities, politicians, and other prominent personalities. This type of post also includes secrets revealed and other information that can shock audience.

If you want to drive massive traffic to your blog, you may try it. But always back up your post with proofs or evidence. Moreover, you also have to align your controversial post to your niche. For example, if you have a blog about business and finance, make sure that your controversial post is somehow related to your chosen niche. Remember that although this kind of post brings massive traffic, the traffic it brings is not consistent and may fade after the passage of time.


6. List of top things posts

Another type of post that draws interest from a lot of people is a list of top things post. It can be a top 10 list of things listed according to popularity or according to a particular criterion. For example, in this blog, I have published the top 40 blogs and top 50 websites in the Philippines according to Alexa. These posts did not only drive significant traffic to this site, but they also give some backlinks from other sites that made our blog their source. Moreover, some of the blogs included in the list have also published a blog post about their achievement and give a credit to this blog as a reference. This kind of post can also be considered as link baiting.

Just like controversial posts, the list of top things post must also be supported with reliable sources to become credible.


7. Evergreen articles

Evergreen posts are those that remain useful at all time. They are timeless and unlikely to change under any circumstances. They may not bring massive traffic in an instant just like a controversial post, but the traffic it accumulates overtime can even exceed the traffic that a trending post has brought during its peak. I have published several evergreen contents on this blog, which include list of inspiring quotes and list of founders of popular companies in the world. These posts will always remain as they are and will always bring traffic to this blog.


8. Personal development articles

Personal development is one of my most favorite topics to write. Some posts about self-development may also fall under “how to” articles or evergreen articles since they tackle about self-help and spirituality. What makes this type of topic popular and attractive to readers is that almost everyone can relate on them. Even business persons and entrepreneurs who are the majority of my readers can relate topics on personal development. Besides, no one can achieve business development without developing oneself first.

In this blog, I have written several self-development articles, and they are attracting readers from around the world. Well, whether we are white, black or Asian, we are all the same part of the humanity – we all can relate to personal development.


9. Highly searched keyword with low competition

Do you want to drive high traffic from search engines? Then learn a simple SEO technique that involves publishing a blog post about a topic or keyword that is highly searched but with low competition. Keywords with high search volume but with low competition are topics or terms that many people are searching but only few or none are supplying. This type of contents usually includes difficult topics. That is why you will hardly see a blogger who is blogging about it.

If you want to increase your blog’s visitors, you have to do your keyword research. You can simply use Google’s search field, which suggests the most popular search terms whenever you type a word on it. And when you find a highly searched term without quality results, it’s time for you to grab that opportunity to be the one who can provide. However, this also means you need to come up with the right content for that particular search term. Furthermore, you have to acquire the right knowledge and information regarding that topic to make the appropriate blog post. To learn more, you may my post about “the most powerful SEO technique in the Universe”.


10. Expert’s post

Last but not the least are blog posts from experts. This is what I always advise to bloggers who want to achieve ultimate success on their blogs – blog your expertise. Posts made by experts are high quality, reliable, and highly competitive. That is why this kind of content attracts a lot of searchers and readers. These posts also spread on the Internet through referencing made by other publishers. For example, my articles about Philippine taxation are the most visited posts on this blog because of the fact that I’m a Certified Public Accountant. Most of these articles are referenced by different online forums and blogs on their discussions about the topic.


Conclusion

The types of blog post that attract the most visitors are those that actually provide the most value. They are the posts that really help your blog’s audience, whether in a certain length of time (trend posts) or all the time (evergreen contents). Therefore, if you want to enjoy high traffic on your blog, you have to exert extra effort in creating high quality and highly reliable posts. You also have to consider time, whether you are considering timeliness or timelessness.

The 10 types of posts above may bring massive traffic to your blog. However, you should not just try them to attract traffic, and subsequently, earn profit. But you have to try these kinds of posts to provide value to your audience. Finally, you have to be consistent on the contents you are providing so that when these visitors land on your blog, they will surely return to expect another great content from your blog.