9 Reasons You Should Write List Posts

List Posts are the ultimate promotional tool for any blog. They attract new readers and get linked a lot. Bloggers love them because they are easier to write and don't require the level of detail put into regular text posts.

Here are 9 Reasons You Should Write List Posts:

1. Easy to Write: With normal essay style posts, you need to think a lot about structure and topic. Often, these articles start from somewhere and end up somewhere else. Lists let you stay focused on the topic and make writing easy.
2. Quick: Since you stay focused on topic, you can write them really fast.
3. Readers Love Them: All of your readers do not have time. Some read your blog when they are in a hurry and do not have time to read (scan) an essay style post. On the other hand, list posts are easily scanned and readers get a good idea of topic without investing much time.
4. Easy Titles: It may take a lot of time to write a good title that conveys the message of post and at the same time, interest the reader. List posts have titles like "10 Easy Ways to ________" etc. and you do not need to invest much time for a good title.
5. Looks: Lists look better than regular posts. They have short paragraphs which make them more readable. You can also customize lists by using basic HTML which makes them look even better.
6. Bigger: List posts can be bigger and yet easier to read. Just imagine what would have happened if we would have written 101.5 Free Tools and Services for Bloggers as a long article and not as lists within a long list?
7. Popular: List posts are usually more popular than normal ones due to the above mentioned reasons. You can get more comments and search engine hits.
8. Bookmark Friendly: List Posts also perform well on Social Bookmarking websites.
9. Less Complications: Lists inside posts make them look less complicated. You can use lists as steps for your tutorial. See the example in the post How to Add Attractive Social Bookmarking Icons. When I first added the icons to posts, it seemed very complicated but by using a list it made the tutorial look less complicated.

Do List Posts Still Work?

This is a question I have heard many times. Many bloggers argue that lists posts are dead now. But they are not! Our three big posts, 50 Must Have Plugins for WordPress, 100 Top Articles for Bloggers, and 101.5 Free Tools and Services for Bloggers are among our most read and commented posts.

Have you written a list post? Did it get more attention or was it just like others? Do share your experience in comments.