Three Awesome and Easy to Use Example Blog Formats

When it comes to how to write a blog, there is no easy answer.  As you learn and grow as a blogger and writer, you will find things that do and do not work for you.  One of the best things you can do for yourself as you begin to build your content strategy is figure out a few different types of blog posts that work well for you.  In this blog, I have three different example blog posts to help you discover what each blog post type is like, and if they work for you.  Remember, reading example blog posts is one of the best things you can do for yourself as you develop your blog writing skills.

Ready for three awesome and easy example blog formats?  Let’s get started!

Example Blog Format – The List Post

The first example I want to talk about is the list post.  The list post is, well, pretty self explanatory.  These types of posts list items, and talk about them.  Why are list posts helpful for your users?  Everyone loves to see a good list of new information, or things they should learn about.

List posts are interesting, because they can take a couple of different blog formats themselves.  First of all, you can list specific resources for solving a specific problem, or to gain a certain type of information.  They can be very deliberate in telling readers that they are receiving a list of valuable information, or they may be more subtle in being a list.

Now, let’s direct three different types of list posts.

Example Blog Format – List Post Type 1

For example, on this site I wrote a post called The Ultimate Checklist for Launching Your Blog, and it is just that.  A check list of tasks everyone should do before they launch your blog.  I even put it into both a handy image format, and a PDF for my readers to take advantage of:

Within the blog post itself, I talked about each and every one of the items on the list, why they are important, and how to get started with them if the reader needs assistance.  While yes, the word list is in the the title in the word checklist, this blog is full of a ton of other content for each item on my list.

Example Blog Format – List Post Type 2

You can find the second type of list post on one of my other site.  It is called The 5 Best VMware NSX Study Resources.  The truth is this content has grown over time, and some bonus items have been added.  In this post, I introduced the reader to my 5 favorite study resources for a technology certification, and talked about why I like each one.  Fairly straightforward and simple, and I liked to other content I had found helpful.

Example Blog Format – List Post Type 3

This list post is a variant of the type we just talked about, except on steroids.  It is called The #VMwareSummerReading List.  It contains many more links, but less detail on each link.  Since it is meant for people to use to find something new to read about a specific title, I just included a line or two about what each link was about.  To cultivate this list, I ran a Twitter campaign using the Twitter hashtag #VMwareSummerReading over the summer of 2018.  I encouraged authors to tag their posts with the hashtag to be added to the list, and collected a total of 55 great pieces of content.  It was a lot of work, but it was great to be able to provide so much new, fresh content to my readers from one easy post.

Twitter campaigns are not for the faint of heart, and I learned a lot.  Stay tuned for a post just on that topic!

Example Blog Format – The How to

This example blog format is once again easy to use and understand.  The how to blog format teaches your readers how to do something.  How many times have you gone to Google to figure out how to do something?  Many, many times.  In this day and age, one of the first things we do is search out the answers to our how to questions on the internet.

For me, how to posts break down into two things:

• Softer topics – taking the reader on a journey of how to accomplish something
• Harder topics – showing the reader specifically how to do something technical in nature with concrete steps, or detailed instructions

Let’s take a look at these two different types of how to posts.

How to Example Blog – Softer Topic

Depending on what your blog is about, you may be interested in taking the reader on a journey and teaching them how to do something.  For example on this blog, take the post How to Write A Blog Post And Create The Best Content.  This blog post is your basic answer to the question “How to write a blog post?” and has everything you need to get started on being successful when it comes to writing blogs.  This is what I would call a softer topic, it is more general in nature, and while I have given the reader a number of steps, there is variance on how each step can be accomplished.

One of the things I personally struggle with when it comes to softer blog topics is creating captivating images.  Infographics or checklists have been my go to lately, something visual to help the reader sum up what they have read in the blog post.

How to Example Blog – Harder Topic

On one of my other sites, I have a post on how to upgrade the VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).  This post is very technical in nature, so if that is not your thing do not worry, but it is a good example of a how to post for a technology or piece of software.  These how to posts give detailed instructions on how to do something technical in nature.  It may not be a software upgrade, it may be something like how to fix a flat bicycle tire, or how to use a certain cooking implement.  These how to posts often require lots of concrete time and effort to show the steps it takes to solve a problem, and I consider these harder topics in the sense of there is usually several specific ways to accomplish the task, they are not open ended tasks.

The great thing about these blog posts is they naturally lend themselves to creating lots and lots of fantastic images to include.

Example Blog Format – The Review Post

You guessed it!  This blog post format is also super easy to use but has a catch (well, at least for me).  You really have to believe in the product or service you are reviewing.  While you may be talking about someone else’s product, you are putting your own integrity on the line.  If you review something that is not that great, but say it is, people will doubt your sincerity in general.  These are also really nice for the product you are reviewing, as it also gives the product some spot light.

Blog writing for a review post may be the easies type of blog post to write, since all you need to do is say what you are thinking, and perhaps provide a few examples.

Here are two examples of review posts from this site, and why we chose them:

• CoSchedule, the Best Tool to Manage Your Startup’s Blog
  I had my eye on the CoSchedule tool for quite some time, especially since I was a huge fan of their Headline Analyzer.  I finally bit the bullet and gave it a go with their completely free trial, and honestly it changed the way I operate.  If you are a one person marketing team, or have a small marketing team this tool will simply change your life for the better.  In this post, I go into more detail of why I like CoSchedule so much.
• Benefits of Managed WordPress Hosting, and Why Kinsta Is the Best
  In this review post, we took a slightly different approach.  We talked about what managed WordPress hosting is, why it is the best thing ever, and finally, then we talked about while Kinsta was better than the others managed WordPress providers we have tried in the past.  We have migrated all of our sites to Kinsta (I think we are up to 6 between us?), and let me tell you, it is so great to have everything in one place and never have to worry about WordPress hosting.

Simply write about something you love to use and makes your life better, and you have a review post!

Using These Example Blog Post Formats

Using these example blog post formats is easy, simply start blog writing!  The more you use these example blog formats, the more you will become comfortable with them, and put your own unique spin on things.  It may take some time and effort, but the more you use these example blog post types, the more they will become formulaic, meaning the easier it will be for you to sit down and write a blog using these three methods.  Let’s sum them up:

These three example blog formats are sure to be winners for your readers.  After all, each and one of these example blog formats gives the reader very valuable information.  As long as you make sure your reader is receiving this information in a pleasing manner, these example blog formats will be a hit for you.

Have you tried any of these example blog formats?  Be sure to tweet us at @TechStarZone and let us know how they worked for you!