11 Types of Blog Posts to Reach Any Business Goal
A lot of businesses write blog posts just because it's something that everyone else seems to be doing.
But for content marketing to bring any outcome, you need to know what you’re doing and why. When it comes to your blog, you have to understand your options and then align them with your customer needs and funnel.
So, in this guide, we are going to look at the different types of blog posts you can use to nail your business goals. Whether that is building trust or getting your target audience to hit that “Buy” button.
Type 1: Tutorials and how-to guides
Purpose: Build authority, credibility, trust, and SEO visibility.
Best for: Awareness, traffic, and lead nurturing (depending on the topic).
Example:
Source: Adsy
Tutorials and how-to guides have one thing in common: they are designed to teach you something new.
Typically, these are articles with a set of logical steps on how you can do a particular thing.
They are a great way to address your audience's pain points directly and position yourself as a credible resource. This is why they perform so well in search results, especially since you mostly target informational keywords, which usually have high search volume.
Besides, how-to guides work perfectly for both top (ToFu) and middle of the funnel (MoFu):
- ToFu: When done right, these articles are the main building block of your funnel. They often serve as the first point of contact between you and your audience. And if you make that first contact meaningful, you’ll have a much better chance of converting those users down the line.
- MoFu: These pieces can also work really well for lead nurturing. When prospects get more and more insights from your new guides, they inevitably start seeing you as a true authority in your niche.
Best practices
Here are some best practices to make this blog post style work for you:
- Focus on long-tail keywords. These are the ones that naturally align with informational search intent and work perfectly for how-to articles.
- Follow a logical structure in your writing. And make sure that you gradually move from step A to step B to step C when providing solutions or guidelines.
- Your instructions should be actionable steps that your readers can follow.
- As much as possible, try to think of questions that your readers have about the topic. And then try to answer as many of them as you can. The People Also Ask section can help a lot here. Because normally, it goes beyond your main keyword “how to do XYZ.”
- Apply all the fundamental writing tips from the last section of this guide.
Type 2: Case studies
Purpose: Build credibility, act as social proof, and highlight your expertise.
Best for: Lead nurturing and conversions.
Example:
Source: AWS
Case studies are written based on examples of how you helped other businesses in reaching their goals. These pieces basically show how your products or services work in real-life scenarios.
In a way, it’s a bit of a show-off, with lots of stats. But at the same time, this isn’t you bluntly selling anything.
This unusual combination makes them quite powerful.
After all, they present hard data that can help your potential customers see how effective your approaches and offerings are.
The best part is that these types of blog content always show proof of your words with clear stats and achievements.
Source: HubSpot
So, if you were looking for a content format that works well for the consideration stage, this is it. Informative and creative case studies could really be what pushes your prospects to finally make that decision in your favor.
Best practices
But, of course, to make it work, you need to have a clear plan in mind:
- The structure of any case study (no matter how complex) ultimately comes down to the problem > solution > results framework. So, if you don’t know where to start, identify the challenge your client had, describe the solution you implemented, and document the results. Voila!
- Start your customer story with clear takeaways that encourage people to learn more about the case.
- Even though this is a piece with lots of data and metrics, you still need to focus on storytelling to give it some personality. Often, when you go through case studies, they’re all almost identical. So, try to find a way to make yours different.
- Add visual elements like images, charts, and graphs to help break up the wall of text and make your story more appealing to the eyes. Visuals can clearly illustrate your points and help your readers understand your processes better. Plus, they can be fun.
Source: Notion
- You can also present at least parts of these success stories in the video format. Film short snippets, testimonials, or anything else that makes sense.
- Use metrics to show the difference between the before and after stages. Be as specific as possible.
Source: Backlinko
- Always add direct quotes from the client or customers. This just looks much more natural and authentic.
- End with a call to action to convert your readers.
Type 3: Listicles
Purpose: Raise engagement and shareability while improving rankings.
Best for: Awareness, traffic, and conversions.
Example:
Source: Adsy
There are different types of blog posts, and it’s hard to say which one is more popular. But listicles should definitely be in the top 3 (at least).
Listicles are articles that have a numbered list format. So, this could be anything from “8 Best Pasta Recipes for an Easy Italian Dinner” to “19 Key Metrics for Monitoring Kubernetes Clusters.”
You’ve definitely seen hundreds (if not thousands) of these in your life. In fact, if you google any informational keyword, most of the articles will be listicles.
Source: Google
They are everyone’s favorite for all the good reasons:
- They work great for users who want to find something particular (e.g., an affordable working table, the best Spanish resort, or a good set of effective metrics).
- Their format is very easy to read and understand because it’s scannable.
- And they can help readers get a quick answer.
Combined with the fact that these tend to have more visuals than most blog types, it’s easy to see why people love them. It’s often a perfect combo for edutainment.
These types of titles are also quite eye-catching for people. Even though they’re everywhere, they create the impression of offering options.
Besides, when someone writes about “6 best affordable espresso machines for home,” you assume that they’ve tried much more than six machines and are simply giving you a summary of the best ones. And we all love it when someone saves us time.
If you do try many options, it’s also worth mentioning.
Take the Delish example below. Everyone will agree that “We Tried 15 Bottled Waters & These Are The Only Ones Worth Buying” is much more powerful than just “These Are The Only Bottled Waters Worth Buying”.
Source: Delish
Now you know that next time, when picking a format for your articles, listicles are definitely worth considering.
Best practices
Some of the best ways to make the most of listicles include:
- Go with the title that perfectly captures what your post is about. Whatever you do, just resist the temptation to go with sensational clickbait headlines. You want people to stay on your page and potentially convert, so clickbait is a no-go in the long run.
- Typically, listicles compare (at least to an extent) all the items mentioned. So make sure you apply the same criteria to each point. For example, if you mention pricing for one product, ideally, you should mention it for all of them.
- Generally, listicles are designed to be skimmable. So, it’s important to find a balance between making your blog post informative enough without adding unnecessary fluff.
- Add a minimum of one image or some other visual per point. Make sure they’re relevant, and if more visuals fit well, go for it. This will only make your listicle more engaging.
- As much as possible, make sure that each point has an actionable tip for your visitors.
- Avoid vague statements like “this product is very versatile”. It says nothing, and it’ll likely apply to most items on your list. Instead, mention clear functionalities: “This product can handle most of the housework for you: vacuuming, wet cleaning, mopping, and even self-charging when the battery runs low.” Even better if you can run actual tests.
Source: The Smart Home Hook Up
Type 4: Expanded list posts
Purpose: Build awareness and credibility.
Best for: More targeted informational searches and building trust.
Example:
Source: Adsy
This blog post type might seem very similar to the previous one. And it is.
The major difference is that the list in this case is both longer and more in-depth compared to the traditional listicle. That’s why writers and marketers normally use it for more complex topics.
For instance, take the example above. It’s a guide with just 9 points, yet it’s over 6,000 words. Why? Because the topic requires it. You can’t properly compare SEO-friendly CMSs without going into the details. Otherwise, you’ll get a fluffy, superficial piece.
That’s why in that article, you see how we describe the best use cases for each CMS, their limitations, benefits, etc. All with multiple visuals to support it.
Overall, you can tell you’re looking at one of these expanded list posts when each listed item is followed by lots of text and visuals.
Each paragraph typically goes beyond just covering the basics, like most listicles do. Instead, you’ll find lots of examples, actionable advice, very detailed explanations, etc.
So, if you see a listicle that you can call “in-depth,” that’s it.
By the way, what would you call this guide?:)
Best practices
Everything you already know about the listicle applies here, but you’ll also need to:
- Start off with the simple hacks, then work your way up to more complex techniques or tips if your guide is on tips. If you compare different products, make sure you start small, giving basic characteristics of an item. And then, add on all the other details.
- You’ll need bullet points to break up some longer sections and help keep things skimmable.
- Add tables to sum up the entire blog. As the word count is quite big, this can be really handy. For example, we like to add comparison tables to expanded lists, like we did in this guide on the best white label SEO software.
- Don’t waffle on; try to go straight to the point and illustrate your ideas as clearly as possible. Even though these articles tend to be long, this doesn’t mean that they’re full of fluff. Not at all. Make sure that you give clear guidance, not just write “something”.
- Add links to external resources or articles that add more contextual details or support your perspective. Reputable research works especially well. Sometimes, these can even be discussions on Reddit or popular social media posts if they’re related to your topic.
- Also, include internal links to related posts you’ve published in the past.
- If you’re describing a step-by-step way to do something, it’s best to have as many images or screenshots as possible. This way, people will know exactly what you’re describing. You can check some technical writing examples and user guides for inspo.
- Keep your tone conversational and your tips practical.
- When researching the topic, you can share it online and ask your readers to vote for their favorite method/product/service/tip/etc. Then, you can analyze their responses and maybe even mention some of them.
Type 5: Comparison posts
Purpose: Improve brand authority, build trust, and convert leads.
Best for: Engaging prospects, nurturing leads, and moving them down the sales funnel.
Example:
Source: Adsy
Comparison articles can take many forms. It can just be one concept or tactic compared against the other one, like in our example above.
It can also be a usual product review/comparison.
Source: PC Mag
Or it can be much more promotional when you compare your product/service with your competitors. For example, ActiveCampaign has a dedicated page on its website where its marketers compare their software against 16 competitors.
And each of these leads to an in-depth comparison blog-style post.
Source: ActiveCampaign
These types of articles are perfect for targeting prospects who are still looking for information before making their final decision. Plus, they are great for building trust with prospective clients.
And because these pieces tend to be focused on long-tail keywords, they can help you improve your SEO rankings and click-through rates more easily.
Best practices
Here are some of the best things you can do for your comparison posts:
- Be as honest as possible while providing helpful details that will persuade prospects to choose you. But it’s crucial to be transparent in your reviews and comparisons. Readers can easily see when you try to make other products look bad.
- Add visuals like images, tables, and maybe occasional videos to help people get additional context and understand the true difference better. You can even run tests to compare your products in real time.
Source: Zapier
- Don’t just focus on the perks of each product; look at the cons too.
- Add personal experience or real-life examples to build trust. This won’t always fit, but if it does, it’s a great addition.
Type 6: Guest posts
Purpose: Build authority, credibility, and generate referral traffic.
Best for: Nurturing leads and building relationships with others in your niche.
Example:
Source: Pro Blogger
65% of link builders and SEO experts use guest posting as their #1 tactic for getting backlinks.
Obviously, it’s this popular because it’s one of the most effective approaches.
Source: Authority Hacker
Guest posts published on high-quality, relevant sites work incredibly for SEO. But their impact goes further. They can also help you strengthen your brand and get more people to learn about your business.
Basically, it's a signal to your readers and search engines that you are an expert in your field who can be trusted. Why would other sites publish your perspective on a given topic otherwise?
While guest blogging might seem very similar to normal posts you write for your own website, it isn’t quite like that. The idea is that you have to share your own thoughts and experience in someone else’s tone of voice.
Besides, editors can be very picky. So, you might get into a month of back and forth to post just one article. That’s why many businesses simply choose to use a content marketing platform to get their guest posts and PR publications.
Contributor
Contributor
Contributor
Best practices
Many of the best practices we’ve mentioned so far for other blog post formats still apply here. Yet, there are a few substantial differences since you are not publishing the article on your own site, so:
- Take your time and carefully choose pages that are not only relevant but also have good current traffic and show good engagement rates. These ones will most likely give you good link juice and drive traffic your way.
- Always follow the guest posting guidelines of your target page. And if your website editor doesn’t give you any guides, ask them. You will save yourself so much time by simply doing this.
Source: WordStream
- Try to tailor your guest post to your host site's audience. This way, they will resonate much better with your work. Plus, it shows that you took your time to check what kind of posts they like, which is really appreciated by the editors.
- Make sure that your guest post actually provides in-depth research and/or your personal experience. This is the only way to offer real value to your readers.
- Use storytelling to make your post more engaging. That can be a relevant personal story or experience to help people connect better with your article.
- Naturally, you will need images, screenshots, or any other visuals to break up the wall of text and put it all together.
Type 7: Infographics
Purpose: Generate engagement, clicks, and interest.
Best for: Attracting backlinks and traffic.
Example:
Source: Compound Interest
More than half of the people in the world are visual learners, 65% to be specific, which explains why infographics is the next blog post type on our list.
Of course, an infographic by itself isn’t an article. But many websites out there create “infographic-based guides”.
Take Compound Interest’s chemistry website as an example. Its author, Andy Brunning, uses visual explanations as a foundation for his blog.
Source: Compound Interest
And let’s agree: chemistry is quite tough for most of us. So, infographics work extremely well here because they visually present complex ideas.
This is the beauty of infographics. They can explain complicated concepts more simply.
Some websites even make their name off of infographics, like Visual Capitalist, for example.
Source: Visual Capitalist
Besides, most times, you are almost guaranteed higher shareability (aka more backlinks) when you use this type of content. Simply because it’s much more appealing to share a beautiful image than a couple of paragraphs of text.
And if you want people to perceive your information better, this format is pretty much unbeatable.
Best practices
Here are some tips you can use to make sure your infographic gets all the attention and love it deserves:
- Cross-check your information, especially any statistics or data you use, to make sure that they are up-to-date.
- It's a good idea to use a responsive design so that your infographic looks good on both desktops and phones.
- Make sure the quality of your visual is good, but doesn’t take up too much space.
- Use colors that complement each other. If they are too bold and clash with each other, they will be off-putting rather than appealing.
- You can also add a copy-paste embed code with attribution to make sharing easier. This might lead to more backlinks, which are much needed for SEO. It isn’t complicated to do this, and you can even use an online tool to generate the embed code.
Source: Embed Code Generator
- Make sure you add your logo and any branding elements subtly to the infographic.
Type 8: Opinion posts and news
Purpose: Share your expertise, build authority, and improve credibility.
Best for: Building trust and a stronger brand identity, and generating leads.
Example:
Source: Salesforce
Trends are constantly changing, and interesting things happen from time to time in all niches. And you can be the business that spotlights an issue, a trend, or some development in your industry among the first ones.
This could be based on current events, where you draw attention to new niche updates. You can also do commentaries or give your take on controversial issues.
Even if you’re not the first, you can still get in on the action by adding your own flavor, whether that is criticism, a new perspective, or something else.
Salesforce does this pretty well. If you look at their blog, you’ll see several categories. These include the news about their platform and different events.
Source: Salesforce
Companies often have a News section on their site, but usually, it isn’t really popular, as it is highly promotional. So, if you want to change this situation, try to merge your company news with some general trends. Salesforce does exactly this in some of its posts.
At the same time, most of their other publications are opinion pieces (like the one in the example above). They focus on giving their take on where the industry is heading. And this is a really good positioning if you want to become a leader in your niche.
But, of course, the quality of your content and insights has to be really high if you want to achieve this goal.
Best practices
You might want to use some of these ideas to make your opinion posts and news stand out from others who are doing the same thing:
- Don’t go with every breaking story and trend; choose something that makes sense for your brand.
- Avoid simply repeating what others say. Try to offer your own viewpoint, suggest some solutions, explain what it potentially means for your customers, etc.
- Add important quotes and data to your post to give it more impact.
- Blend product news with some industry trends to make your articles less salesy and more informative for a larger audience. For example, here, Salesforce basically talks about their Privacy Center, but the topic goes much further than that.
Source: Salesforce
- Keep your tone confident but not stiff. Even if your ToV is serious, you still want to be relatable. So, as much as possible, keep the industry jargon to a minimum and use words that everyone can understand.
- Try not to be biased in your perspectives. You can look at others' POVs and even acknowledge where they’re right while still holding your own view.
Type 9: Interviews
Purpose: Social proof, networking, and showcase of expertise.
Best for: Growing your brand reach, improving brand loyalty, and nurturing leads.
Example:
Source: Adsy
Interviews allow you to bring other experts' POV on a specific topic. Plus, they are great networking tools for businesses that are looking to build relationships with relevant professionals.
They work great for multiple reasons:
- First of all, you offer more useful information to your readers, which is always fantastic for building brand loyalty.
- Secondly, you can exchange your experience with other companies.
For example, if you look at the blog post above, you’ll see that it’s an interview we had with Robest Catoir at Metricool. They’re experts in socials, so we wanted to get their perspective on tactics that work these days.
On the other hand, they were interested in our SEO expertise to help their readers improve their rankings and website performance. So, they interviewed our head of SEO and posted a similar article on their blog.
Source: Metricool
So, as you see, this type of post is one of the ways to add something fresh to your content. Because by default, you show your users a different point of view and other expert insights that go beyond your usual scope.
Often, you also get to expand your brand reach, receive more engagement, and maybe even bring in more referral traffic.
Best practices
When it comes to interviews, some of the tips that can help include:
- Choose relevant experts who can provide insider perspectives rather than just surface-level information.
- Select your questions carefully. You can even ask your audience to send in their doubts or vote on topics they would like to learn about. Make sure that your questions are practical to make your interview truly actionable.
- You want to go with a clean format that is readable. So, make sure you edit your interview well. Add bullet points, use numbered lists, and don’t be afraid to edit the original answers.
- Find ways to repurpose the content as short-form videos for social media, tweets for X, quotes for your newsletter, etc.
Type 10: The FAQs
Purpose: Build credibility and address pain points.
Best for: Creating awareness and nurturing leads.
Example:
Source: SEO.com
Often, when we think of FAQs, we imagine something like a user guide or a short section at the end of a typical article. But you can go further than that.
People have tons of questions. People google tons of questions.
And you can be the answers they get if you use this format. Basically, the idea is simple: you collect some popular doubts on a particular topic and create a blog post out of them.
In the SEO FAQ post below, for example, the author decided to split questions into sections, which is a good approach.
Source: SEO.com
Another thing you could do is list all the questions your readers might need to know on a particular subject and update it with new ones over time. This might even be helpful for your customer support to send people over to it.
These are pretty versatile. You can create general guides in this format, or something more advanced and specific if this works better for your audience.
In any case, optimize your FAQs for your target keywords. This works best for voice searches and long tail keywords. This way, you get to improve your search rankings and attract more organic traffic to your web pages.
Best practices
When it comes to FAQ-style articles, you can use these tips.
- Start by picking popular questions. You can do this with your SEO tool. But also, make sure to check the People Also Ask section.
Source: Google
- Include target keywords either in the questions or answers, but don’t let it get spammy.
- Make sure your answers are clear and concise, but also descriptive. Where possible, use examples to explain your point.
- Use the FAQ schema for rich snippets and more visibility.
Source: Neil Patel
- Organize questions by category to make your article more digestible.
- You can also have a standalone FAQ page that acts as a knowledge base that visitors can use to find different resources you offer.
Type 11: Templates
Purpose: Build authority by giving clear solutions.
Best for: Link building and awareness.
Example:
Source: Adsy
The template article is definitely not one of the most widespread and obvious blog post formats. But this is a good thing because if you find relevant keywords in your niche that include “template,” you can rank well pretty easily.
This type of article basically means creating a certain framework and writing a blog post around it. You can explain how to use it, what things to avoid, add some use cases and examples, etc.
If you look at the example above, you’ll see our guide on the sales enablement plan template.
In that piece, we’ve decided to use Notion for the template creation. But you can also go for a downloadable PDF, simple JPEG option, or any other solution that works best for you.
The most important thing when targeting these keywords is to include at least some kind of template.
Otherwise, it’s pointless and doesn’t work for the search intent. If you think about it, everyone who’s googling this likely needs a ready-made framework, not just a blog post on how to build or choose one.
Still, if you don’t have time or resources to create a template from scratch, you can create a compilation article where you list different options available online. There, you can rate each of them and turn your piece into a bit of a listicle.
Best practices
Here are some things to keep in mind when making your templates:
- Check a lot of different frameworks before creating yours. You definitely need some inspiration for this one.
- Think about what your blog post will cover. Will it be a guide on how to use and adjust your framework? Or some real-life use cases?
- Choose your template format. You can create it in Canva, Google Docs, Notion, or simply in a Word document. Whatever you decide, try to select an option that allows your readers to tweak the framework easily.
- When structuring both your template and your article, make sure they’re visually appealing and easy to understand.
Tips for writing any article format
Now you know pretty much everything there is to know about different blog post types. So, it’s time to check some writing tips that you can apply to any article.
While it might be tempting to skip these, don’t. These best practices are a must for creating quality content that ranks and converts.
Use a clear structure
If you’ve ever taken a journalism course (or especially if you have a degree in Journalism), you might remember that one of your first classes covered her. The inverted pyramid.
Source: School Journalism
The concept of an inverted pyramid is quite straightforward: the higher up, the more important the details.
Of course, blog posts aren’t news pieces where you can fit in all the most important details (aka Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?) into the first two paragraphs. Still, it’s worth remembering that your main idea has to be clear from the very start.
It might be tempting to get metaphorical and leave a hidden meaning for readers to think about. But business writing isn’t a literature class, so that’s not the best approach.
And when it comes to the structure, another important point is to use H1, H2, H3, and H4 for people and search engines, as both like clarity.
Source: SEO Zoom
To structure your thoughts even better, try to stick to one idea per paragraph or subheading. Because it’s easy to get lost when you're talking about everything at once.
Work on your readability
No matter how valuable your content is, these days, no one will read it if it’s too hard to understand. So, to avoid this, use Hemingway to see how complex your writing is.
This is, for example, an IOC/UNESCO State of the Ocean Report 2024:
Source: Hemingway
And this is one of our previous pieces:
Source: Hemingway
Ideally, try to keep your score below 7 (or at least 9). This way, you get more chances for people to actually read what you wrote because it will be simpler by default.
Research more than just your topic
Taking a look at other articles on the same topic is a great idea. But go beyond that. Make sure you:
- Research each point (like your H2s and H3s) separately,
- Look for relevant statistics and studies,
- Check social media and Reddit to see what people have to say about your subject,
- Read interviews or ask some experts directly,
- Watch YouTube tutorials if needed,
- If you’re writing about some tools, test them.
Use more visuals
Sometimes, it might be hard to come up with ideas for images, especially if you want to design them. Yet, it is really important to add visual elements at least every 200-300 words.
Ideally, every screenful of a page needs to have something other than text. These could be screenshots, tables, videos, social media posts, memes, etc.
Source: Marketing Insider Group
These visuals should complement your content, giving some extra bits of information. If you go through this very guide, you’ll see how each infographic and screenshot is related to what we’re talking about.
But of course, if you can’t find any images like that, you can add stock photos. Still, as much as possible, try to avoid random pics you add just for the sake of it.
Optimize for SEO without overdoing it
Even if you don’t care about ranking in search engines, wouldn't it be nice to be on the first page in Google? Exactly!
If you’re reading this guide, you are already on your way to creating quality posts, which is a very important ranking factor for Google. So, well done!
Now, you only have to add a couple of best SEO practices to the mix, and you’ll greatly increase your chances of getting more visibility:
- If you’re really new to SEO, a good place to start would be this Google SEO Starter Guide. It explains all the basic concepts in detail and helps you understand how search engines work.
- Make sure your type of content corresponds to the search intent of a keyword you’ve chosen. If people want to buy, sell. If they want to learn, educate.
- Include keywords in your title, header, and body of the blog post. But do not overdo it, as this can lead to you being penalized for keyword stuffing.
- Include links to other relevant articles on your website. And add external links to resources that your readers can check for more context.
- Make sure your technical SEO is fine by running a free audit with PageSpeed Insights. It will also list most of the issues that you need to fix for better performance.
Source: LinkedIn
Conclusion
We have come to the end of our blog post on blog posts (hehe). Now, you know what formats exist out there and how they can help you achieve your goals.
If you’ve been reading carefully, you might have also seen something between the lines… The most important part isn’t your types of blog articles, but the quality and relevance of your content.
So, before choosing a format and starting to churn out endless posts, think about what your readers need and how you can help them solve their challenges.
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