Creating Better Resource Lists

One of the easiest ways to skyrocket your blog to success is by writing resource lists, also known as the dreaded “# of things compiled into a post” by some.  Whatever your view of this type of post, they can pose as useful ways of highlighting a blogger’s ability to search for, arrange, and highlight the best content in a narrow area.

Resource lists grew out of the fact that in today’s quick-paced digital world, we need to be able to find information quickly and be able to compare the resources included quickly.  When this concept hit blogging and grew, bloggers took advantage of it as they were able to drive more traffic to these invidual blog posts than their entire blog received.  Many of these posts were featured on the front page of Digg, on the “Buzz” page of StumbleUpon, or on the “hotlist” of del.icio.us.

Readers come to expect your resource lists, if you’ve created them well before, to be creative, constructive, and consistent.  If you lack any of the three main elements, your readers will fail to acquire the main point that you were trying to deliver.

When you break down a list of resources of whatever, you are typically left with three elements – some type of way for sorting the content – numbers, bullets, or headings, graphics to better exemplify the particular example, and some sort of short review or description of the product.  Improving resource lists can be started by tackling any of these elements.

Beginning a Resource List

Many resource lists begin with the idea of starting a new post.  The author will discover that a list gradually grows out of the need to present multiple services, ideas, or examples into a single post.  After all, we’ve been using resource lists as long as man has been able to write.  A post with three ideas, broken down into subcategories can, in fact, be called a resource list if the ideas are separated.

To begin gathering content or searching for content to be included, first launch a few keyword searches in your ideal search engine, and narrow down the results based on the specific topic intended.  Including topics that have occurred more recently can be found on popular social network/media sharing sites such as Digg, del.icio.us, or StumbleUpon.  If you don’t have a clue where to start, find out what other bloggers are blogging about and base your post around them.

It’s a good idea to begin your post by breaking down the content you have already gathered and placing it into subcategories, which can later be edited or left out to streamline the post.  For example, if you are making a “favorite articles” post highlighting content you found most interesting, you can classify each post into distinct categories (unless you have already done this while searching).

Broadening (or Constricting) Content

Focus on your readers, their wants, and demands.  The content in this type of post should remain on topic or along a similar path to your typical content and overall blog theme.  Your post should meet the needs of a generalized area of your readers (or what you think they’ll want).  Don’t make it so specific that they’ll wonder if there are other alternatives, or recommend in the comments that they know of other better examples/resources.

In another sense, the resources included should be kept to a specific group, or you’ll aimlessly find the post taking a few hours (or days) to complete.  Readers would rather see a well-sculpted post than one that includes too much useless information.

Post Styling and Visual Appeal

Great resource lists contain images, graphics, or logos which accent and better explain or identify the elements of the list.  By adding images, but not overdoing them, the post will flow better, especially for longer lists.  Vary the placement of the images to continue the flow, so readers focus on different aspects of the list.  If the list isn’t specifically for a type of media, add images that give the post character – whether in a list about “The Top 100 Blogging Tips” or “10 Reasons Why Blogs Fail”.  Completely relating the image to the post, however, doesn’t always do justice when readers are looking for a high quality image incorporated with the post, not just a stock image.

Secondly, take advantage of your heading tags, to better organize the content into categories, subcategories, and so on.  When you take a step back and analyze the post from a reader’s perspective, can you easily distinguish the different areas of the post, or does everything blend together?

Below each category/subcategory, divide the content into short paragraphs or use unordered/ordered lists.  Frequently, people avoid reading paragraphs, while they focus on the brief, organized text in lists.

Be sure to check the visual appeal of the post before and after posting, to be sure that everything you intended is in absolute perfection.  Specifically, check to see that all heading tags are identical in the same category, images are aligned correctly, and you have bolded titles of services or key points.

Differentiate yourself. Stand out from others by becoming known for the way you write resource lists.  In the selfish sense, you’ll earn more backlinks and become known for creating the lists, but you’ll also be able to drive higher traffic following the posting.  Start your own trends.

Negative Factors

Creating and organizing resource lists certainly take time.  If you aren’t able to stick to one post over the course of several days, you should be sticking to one-topic posts.  This type of post usually draws in the highest traffic conversions – and you’ll likely suffer from it unless you have prepared yourself.  If possible, move the images to a different server so that your site remains “up”.

Another negative aspect of posting these lists is that they are sometimes viewed with hatred from certain individuals across the blogosphere.  The ever-successful, yet overused “Top #” posts seem to rile people to the extent that they leave distasteful comments.  In actuality, these posts will rarely be able to please everyone.

Finalizing the Post

Design a title that will attract readers, from both your site, and social networking sites.  It should provide a bold statement about the content included.  The post should be ever-lasting, too.  A title including the date or a service that may not exist or sound outdated in a few years’ time likely won’t be visited then, either.

Post with authority. Pretend that you know everything about all the services or elements included in the post.  Conduct thorough research before summarizing the idea.  Ask someone else, if you are a part of a blog network, to advise you how to write the post.

Concluding the Post

End the post like any other post, with your final thoughts, additional resources, a summary of the topics addressed, or a list of resources.  The conclusion may have the largest impact on resource lists besides the content, as it leaves the last impression in a reader’s mind before they comment, leave, or decide to return.

Market the post. Include it in a “Featured Post”/Asides area of your blog, and be sure that it is seen and heavily linked to across your blog.  Recommend the post to other bloggers (without spamming) and push it heavily on social bookmarking sites.

Examples

Apple has focused on its distinctive aesthetic design over the years and there is no better example than in their website’s lists, primarily the “300+ New Features of Mac OS X Leopard”

Smashing Magazine creates highly influential lists of design resources and inspiration from fonts to blog themes.  One of the main reasons for their success is the fact that readers come back to experience their well laid out resource lists which tend to encompass everyone’s needs.  The image below is from the post “39 Creative Flash Designs“.

ProBlogger/Darren Rowse occasionally puts together lists, and on a regular basis makes the most of bullets and headings in his “list” posts.  Sample below is from “20 Types of Pages that Every Blogger Should Consider“.

Skelliewag’s posts often use image that accent the content and the content presented is well-organized in respect to the amount delivered.  Image below is from the post titled, “Cream of the Crop: Six Cutting-Edge, Minimalist WordPress Themes“.  In this example, Skellie used images, a clear header, and organized the content in an organized fashion.

Conclusion

While resource lists can be a great addition to your blog, they should not be relied on to deliver your full stream of traffic.  Again, vary your posts and choose the content that shows your true writing abilities.  Keep the post streamlined, yet defined

Another great post by Skellie on ProBlogger focuses on more ways to reach the front page of Digg or similar popularity with the same type of post.