How To Write A Good List Article
If you’re a freelance writer, chances are you’ve had to write a list article for a client on at least one occasion. By list article, I mean one of those, “Ten Best Destinations For X” or “Ten Reasons To Vote X” or something similar.
I don’t normally mind these assignments. Once you know how to write a list article, they’re quick, easy and simple to do. Unfortunately, from my extensive research (a.k.a. wasting time on the internet,) there are a lot of writers out there that don’t know how to write this type of article.
In this article, I’m going to talk you through how to write a decent list article so that you can do them yourself. They’ll add a lot to your site, whether it’s a simple niche site or an authority site you want to go viral. Obviously, it’s pretty handy for working with clients too.
Let’s get to it.
List Article Writing Tip One: Don’t Pick A Stupid Subject
If you’re working for a client, sometimes this will be out of your hands. If you’re writing for your own project or if you’ve been given free reign by a client to write relevant topics, then this is a key rule that you need to start with.
Don’t pick a stupid topic.
This is hard to write about in general terms because every niche is different, and every reader is different. Really, you need a deep understanding of your market and why you’re writing the article that you are.
Let’s say, for example, that you’re working in the photography niche. You might think, “What are the ten best cameras to buy?” is a good list article. After all, you’re going to try and sell cameras, and why not just write a list of ten and then send affiliate links to all of them?
Bad idea.
The reason it’s a bad idea is that if you achieve your goal, a person is only ever going to buy one item on that list. They’re probably not going to buy any. People are wise to the fact that you’re an affiliate marketer, they’ll see you’ve got ten $500 cameras in a list and know what your goal is immediately.
Here’s something better:
“Ten things that beginner photographers need for their first photoshoot.”
Why’s that better?
Because you’re probably going to recommend a camera – as an aside!
In addition though, you’ll have a list of things – some of them selling stuff, some of them not – which will masquerade your dastardly intentions.
You might have five items to buy; a tripod, a filter, a lighting station, a memory card and so on. You might also have five tips about mindset, positioning and lighting or something.
This makes for a far better article – and you’ll make more money. People might buy the camera, but then they might also buy everything else on your list.
Tip Two: Write A Good Headline
I’ve written about this before. Regular readers will know all about writing headlines. Check out these three articles if you’re in doubt:
- How To Write Search Engine Optimised Headlines
- Five FREE Resources That Will Help You With Writing Headlines
- These Headline Writing Tricks Will Make Your Writing Better, You Richer… And Your Cat Will Love You More Too
Tip Three: Keep To The Structure
I recommend everyone keeps to a simple structure until they’ve internalised writing a sales letter.
Get attention.
Build interest.
Create Desire.
Call to Action.
You might be writing a list article, but this doesn’t change. Here’s a further explanation of how to structure a simple article.
Tip Four: Don’t Wait Too Long To Get To The Point
Let’s say you have a ten point list article. You might be tempted to do the Buzzfeed thing and say, “Here are ten things and number nine will shock you.”
Then, you’ll be tempted to put your call to action as point nine.
You shouldn’t do this for two very good reasons.
Firstly, people are going to be wise to it. If you say, “point nine will shock you” and then point nine is “buy a widget” then people are going to suss that out straight away.
Secondly, you are going to lose readers, no matter how good your article is. People have got other things to do, social media to check and cat videos to laugh at. Most people are not going to get to your later steps.
Step Five: Research Is key
You need to spend the majority of your time with a list article thinking about the key points that are going to go in your article. I’ve given you an example above with the photography thing, but this applies to any niche. If you’re writing travel articles, it’s best to concentrate on a single place in an article.
“Ten places you need to see before you die” is less effective than “ten things you must do for free in London.”
Neither of them are of any use if you don’t know what you’re talking about. I read an article once that said “Ten free things to do in London.” Number two was “Talk to the people there.” Number four was “Go to the Tower of London.”
Now, bear in mind I was interested in going to London at the time. I wanted to read this article and get ideas.
The Tower of London isn’t free, and “talking to people” is a stupid thing to put in a ten things to do list article. Remember, with a list article, your list itself is about building desire. You can’t do that by picking stupid things, not knowing what your reader wants or just straight up lying.
Final Thoughts
There is one driving point behind all of the above tips. That point is that, whilst you might be writing a list article, it’s important to remember that you’re writing an article that follows the same structure that any sales letter does. You’re just masquerading the “Desire” section of the AIDA formula as an informational piece.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t provide high quality information. Far from it. But if you forget that you’re a copywriter and just turn into a feature-lister, you’ll lose your customer. Don’t lose your reader.
Hopefully, this will give you most of what you need to write great list articles. The rest is simply icing on the cake.