You know you should write a post every day but there are days, many days sometimes, when pulling a post out of thin air can be not unlike pulling teeth. When you’re stumped for a post consider a list post. List posts are easy to put together and can be a lot of fun to write. Better yet, they have the ability to go viral because they are so simple.

List posts are fun

The great thing about list posts is that they can be as silly or as serious as you like. Generally, the more silly the list the more fun the post will be (and the more likely it will be shared). List post ideas often come from the writer’s every day problems, and specifically their solutions. Self deprecation is usually woven into most list posts. I wrote a post years ago about how not to leave a comment. I’d had some trouble leaving a comment on one of my blogger pals blog and made a fool of myself in her comment section trying to fix the mistake. The exchange was fun and turned into a helpful way to navigate comment sections. I had a blast writing the post and to this day it has nearly 200 comments and still gets steady traffic.

List posts are easy

Because list posts are so easy to put together they can be a lot of fun to write. You don’t need to go into great detail with any of the points you make, usually a sentence or two and all that’s left to the writing is the introduction and summary. Because you can toss out items in reference you don’t have to write detailed paragraphs about your topic. Of course you can but it’s understood that it isn’t necessary.

List posts are great for SEO

Because list posts are easy and fun to write the posts themselves tend to be witty, intelligent (because you don’t over think the task) and have the potential to go viral. Everyone loves short articles that have great information or packed with laughs. Consider that many people reading your blog are doing so at work. Though it may not seem like it by looking at Facebook, most people at work actually have work to do. So writing a shorter post ensures that most readers can finish it and if it’s entertaining, can pass it on to other who will do the same. This applies to Stumble, Reddit and Digg as well. People using those services are more likely to give your post a thumbs up if it’s short and to the point.

Writing a post for your blog doesn’t have to take a lot of time. This list post took about ten minutes to write and yet it hits on all the points I wanted to make for both my small business readers who really need to put out at least one post a day,  and the search engines. It’s not Pulitzer prize winning writing but it isn’t mean to be. If you would like more information about writing list posts you can read this more in depth post on Problogger.

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