One of the most tiresome questions I have to answer over and over again is this: “Is blogging dead???”

In case you’re wondering about the same thing, blogging is obviously not dead. In fact, according to HubSpot’s research, 56% of marketers say blogging does wonders, and 10% say blogging has the biggest ROI.

So yes, blogging is a great way to generate revenue, even during a pandemic or (perhaps) a possible recession on the horizon… (Do we have a potential recession on the horizon??? Who even knows at this point?!)

Whether you’re selling your own products, someone else’s products (i.e., affiliate marketing,) or offering services, blogging can bring more customers and clients when you do it right.

As for me, I don’t run a huge company. I’m just a one-person business leveraging blogging to sell all those above: My own products, affiliate products, coaching services, and workshops. Almost all of my sales come from my blog.

But blogging is more than writing something and then hitting the publish button. You may ask yourself, what makes people click on a link, then actually read the post, and then take action, such as leaving a comment, clicking a link on the post, and then actually buying something?

Well, successful blogging comes does to a few factors; namely:

• You’re writing the stuff that people want to learn more about.
• You’re solving a problem.
• You’re actually being helpful.
• You’re authentic and trustworthy.
• You’re writing in a way that makes it easy for people to find you (a.k.a., SEO.)

…to name a few.

But assuming that you have all of that covered, there are three types of blog posts that you should really focus on to make more sales or bring in more clients.

The 3 Blog Posts That Drive the Most Traffic and Sales

You may think this is too simple, but therein lies the beauty of blogging and SEO. When you know how this stuff works, it all turns out to be simpler than you thought. So, these are the blog posts you should write a lot of.

1. A review post
2. An in-depth how-to guide
3. A list post

1. A Review Blog Post

Review posts are great for affiliate marketing. Consumers want to buy the best product within their budget, so they trust reviewers to give them honest recommendations.

Why review posts work

Consumers would often turn to Google and other search engines for reviews. They may or may not search for “XYZ Review,” but they likely search for terms such as:

• Is “XYZ” good?
• What kind of product is “XYZ?”
• How much does “XYZ” cost?
• Is “PQR” better than “XYZ?”
• How does “XYZ” work?

Etc.

Let’s verify this, shall we?

Open up Google, and search for a product name — just the product name. For this exercise, let’s search for: “Vitamix Explorian e310” (No, they’re not paying me for this plug; in fact, I don’t even own a blender 😆)

Now, in the search results section, check out the questions under “People also ask.”

See what I mean?

People want answers before making purchase decisions. If you can give them the information they’re searching for in an honest and unbiased fashion, you’ll likely make some sales.

How to write a review post

The first rule of affiliate marketing is ethics: Don’t recommend a product you don’t believe in. When you promote good products, readers come to trust you and purchase the things you suggest.

The second rule has to do with writing high-quality, helpful, and search engine optimized (SEO) content. The more people find your content, the higher the chances of selling.

Keep those two things in mind whenever you’re writing a review post (or any blog post for the matter.)

Ideally, you’d choose a single product— an affiliate product — and write an in-depth review of that product.

Consider the following criteria (if and when applicable) to add to your review post:

• The pros of that product
• The cons of that product
• Pricing options
• How the product you’re reviewing is better (or worse) than well-known competitor(s)
• A tutorial showing how to use the product (for search engine discovery, consider adding a YouTube video tutorial too, although it’s not strictly necessary)
• User reviews and/or testimonials
• Your own experience using the product

Pro tip: A good practice is to do a quick Google search of the product you’re reviewing or another similar product before writing a review. See the questions people are asking in the “People also ask” section of Google’s SERP, a.k.a., Search Engine Result Page, and then answer them in your review post. (This is a good SEO strategy for any blog post, FYI.)

2. A How-To Guide

A how-to guide is one of the most common blog posts that walks a reader through a process (hence the term “how-to.”) They’re a favorite of content creators!

Why how-to posts work

An in-depth how-to guide does one or both of the following:

1. It establishes you — the blogger — as an authority on the topic at hand.
2. It allows you to promote a product (an affiliate product or a product/service of your own.)

Ideally, the goal is to prove your authority and then, if you want, also promote a product.

Case in hand, I wrote a blog post a couple of years ago about how I created a solid side income stream selling Canva templates. Within a few months of writing it, that blog post alone started to bring over 50% of my total blog traffic.

I realized there was a demand, so I made an online course on the same topic and started promoting it within the blog post.

To this day, most of my students for that course come from that blog post alone.

This blog post essentially does the two things I mentioned above: It establishes me as an authority on the subject of selling Canva templates and allows me to promote my online course (and then sell it!)

A similar approach also works when promoting affiliate products. In the example above, I not only promote my online course, but I also promote Canva subscriptions (which I’m an affiliate for.)

How to write how-to posts

Super meta, I know!

In short, a how-to post is an A-Z guide that walks readers through the process of doing something or reaching a goal.

A how-to post can be a straight-up how-this-product-works type of thing, but I prefer to use that in a review post. (See the previous section ↑)

Instead, I prefer to use how-to posts to indirectly recommend a product.

Consider the following example:

“How to Create an Instagram Bio Link Website using Canva”

Vs.

“How to Use Canva”

The first title (and topic) makes a better how-to post because it is laser-focused on one particular aspect of using Canva. It establishes my authority as someone who knows how to use Canva, and it’s not so much on-your-face Canva promotion, even though I’m still promoting Canva subscriptions and making affiliate income.

Here’s another example:

Let’s assume you’re a health and nutrition blogger who’s also an affiliate for a blender company (Vitamix? Again, NOT being paid by them!) Instead of writing an entire blog post on how to use a Vitamix blender, consider writing a recipe post that utilizes the blender in the process. (For example, “how to make super berry smoothie.“)

Pro tip: You could, in fact, write a review post for a Vitamix blender and include a short tutorial as part of that review post.

3. A List Post

It’s the most straightforward post to write, and it’s also one of the most effective! In fact, it’s so easy and simple that I’m not going to bother with a separate sub-section for why list posts work.

People love lists. Don’t ask me why; they just do. And that’s why they work. If you’re an affiliate marketer or someone who sells their own products, you can easily create a list of similar items, and you’re bound to get a bunch of clicks and sales. What’s more, lists post do really well when it comes to ranking on Google.

Figures; I mean, Google usually loves the type of content it thinks its users (actual people) will love. And as I’ve said, for whatever reason, people love list posts!

How to write a list post

List posts are just that—a list.

There are a few ways to promote a product (or multiple products) using a list post. The best way to explain is with some examples.

Using a list post to promote a single product:

As I’ve mentioned, I’m an affiliate for the online graphic design app — Canva. I often create content such as “10 Canva features you need as a blogger” or “15 Canva tips to make your workflow faster.”

These are lists-posts that people love to read, but they also promote Canva (and generate affiliate sales, which means $$$.)

In such a list post, you’re promoting one product by highlighting its characteristics, benefits, uses, etc.

Using a list post to promote your own product:

The online book writing tool Reedsy has a list post about the 22 best writing tools. In this post, they promote a bunch of writing tools, and their own writing app is one of them! Smart way to promote their own product, if you ask me! The post is highly optimized for search engines, so I’m sure it gets a lot of clicks and many signups.

In fact, I signed up for Reedsy and fell in love with it because I found that post!

Using a list post to promote multiple affiliate products

The blogger Adam Enfroy often publishes list posts comparing products or ranking products in his blog. Let’s use one of his blog posts as an example: 7 best customer experience software of 2022 (ranked)

In it, this blogger essentially listed mini-reviews of 7 products that — I’m assuming — he’s also an affiliate for.

Smart, right?

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As you can see from the examples above, there’s a fair bit of crossover going on for all three types of blog posts.

You can write a how-to section inside a review post.

You can list mini reviews inside a list post.

You can also do a short review inside a how-to post.

But generally, if you want to sell more products or get more clients, these three blog posts — a review post, a how-to post, and a list post — will do the trick.

So, write them!

And well, if you need help, the blog writing workshop is the perfect place to steal learn my strategies, how I do my research, how I prepare and write the posts, how I optimize them for search engines, and much, much more!