People love reading the top 10 things about anything. Content written in this format makes excellent link bait. If you write a piece of content with a top ten list format it will over the short and long term generate back links. Content in this format gets socially bookmarked and can often become an ‘authority page’ on your website. Folks can’t resist linking to these types of pages, especially so if it’s a useful and interesting top ten list, which is why they tend to generate back links. Some examples of lists that create great link bait: Top Ten Ways To Shed Weight Safely, Top Ten Uses For An Old Cell Phone Charger, Top Ten Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Website, etc.
Here are some guidelines for writing top 10 lists:
- Provide some context. Explain what the purpose of the list is.
- Use brief headlines. Then elaborate on them.
- Say something new. Attempt to find something new to say.
- Use the familiar. Use recognizable truths to build extra credibility.
- Always use an even number of items.
- Above four or more items. Lists don’t sound very good if there are four or less items in the list.
- Humour is good. But be somewhat subtle.
- Try to leave them wanting more.
