If you have a blog you probably struggle to find topics to write about You spend more time searching for tips on how to write your blog than you do actually writing because you don’t know what to say anymore. Day after day you write about something, anything and after a while it can become a chore of sorts. Burnout thy name is Blogger. Or, is that the other way around?

Doesn’t matter, the fact is sometimes, it’s hard to find stuff to write about.

Enter the List Post!

List posts are great because they are easy to write and more importantly, they are quick to read. Readers can stumble across your website and take in the whole posts because list posts are short, concise and easy on the eyes. So, without further ado (because if you don’t get to the list quickly you could lose some readers) I present to you the top five lists.

1. The How To Post

This is probably the most popular type of list post to write. It’s a great format because not only does it educate your readers but it’s perfect for getting noticed by Google. When people Google something they usually ask it in the form of a question i.e.  How do I braid my sideburns? How do I get the stickum off the new glasses I got from Ikea? How do I cook a turducken? Having the question in the post title and in the first paragraph makes Google really happy, which is why the How-To post is so popular.

2. The Celebrity List Post

Celebrity lists are just a lot of fun and because they are about celebrities, not a whole lot of thought need go into them. The posts can be as vapid as the celebrities you are writing about. For instance you could write post called How Many Times Has Alec Baldwin Been Kicked Off a Plane? And then list each incident with details, mocking him as you go. You could write a blog post about how many times Alec Baldwin’s career should have been over because of something stupid he did that went public due to social media. Or, you could write about all the celebrities who have died in the year 2011. You could do your own little memorial like they do at the end of the Emmys and Oscars, just don’t forget the big celebrities like they did with Farrah that one year.

3. The Popularity Post

All list posts are popularity posts but some are more blatant than others. Most Popular Baby Names of 2011, Most Popular Blogs, and Most Popular Youtube Videos. This time of year the most popular posts are very….popular. Popularity posts usually need some kind of poll or measurement behind the results. Not always, but usually.

4. The Best of Post

Like the Popularity Posts the Best Of posts are ranking of the things out there that are the best, most, first etc… The Best Of posts can be a round up of products that have changed the way people do things-like anything Apple or the best video games of all time. These posts tend to be much more subjective than a popularity post, polls and science aren’t needed. The Best Of posts are the same as a Favorite post though it sounds as if you have more authority when you say something is the Best Of something rather than simply your favorite.

5. The Worst of Post

The Worst Of post is just the opposite of the Best Of posts and also my favorite. Nothing like a list of the worst of something to get your rant on and your negativity flowing. If you are a writer you understand that getting angry can make writing a whole lot easier so writing a Worst Of post can be a lot of fun and almost cathartic. This time of year you can write a post about The Worst Christmas Gift Ever, The Worst Books of 2011, The Worst Dressed Celebrities (merging two lists together!) or The Worst Baby Sitters listing people like Casey Anthony, Jerry Sandusky or the chick from Seattle who just got out of the Italian jail. The possibilities are endless.

The nice thing about the list posts is that they are fun to write, they utilize all aspects of SEO that are needed to get your page ranked easily and without the use of black hat strategies, and they are a lot of fun to read. I’ve also found that they tend to be commented on more than regular posts because people are committed to their best and worst, favorite and least favorite and they want to tell you why they think Alex Baldwin rocks when you think he’s a jerk. List posts are ripe for lively discussions and with Google’s new algorithm update you need discussions on your website more than ever.