Top Lists grace the covers of most magazines and have to be a close second to Memes when it comes to blog topics. A good list can get you a lot of traffic, bookmarked in all those cool bookmarking sites-Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, and most of the other social networks love lists. Hit one their front pages with your top list and get thousands of hits in one day.
A good top ten list will make people want to come back and see what else you might be writing a list about. Or start a nice discussion about why the things on your Top Ten List are there and what should be there instead.
You should try and find a top ten topic that has not been done to death, or tweak the standard topics to make them your own. It may seem like every topic already has its own list, but there are a lot of topics out there.
Not all 10 ten lists are created equal, and some lists I’ve seen get a bit carried away to my way of thinking with not Top 100 lists, but Top 1001 lists-as in places to see before you die and movies to watch before you die. For a blogger, I think a top ten list is often enough. Though there are no real rules about how many numbers need to be on a best list. The Hundred Best Books and The Hundred Best Films and The Hundred Best Blogs seem to work out pretty nicely.
So what should your top 10 list be about? Whatever your blog is about would be a good place to start looking for topics for your hot lists. Blog about golf? Best Top Golf Courses in the World. A photography blog? Top 20 list of Digital SLRs. Gossip? Top 100 list of naked celebrities. But if your like me and just go the random route-then your top list can pretty much be about anything.
Top 10 lists are also among those rare items that you can talk about and just slap into your own blog. The Top Ten Party Colleges just begged to be a blog post-but I’m not really into the whole college scene. People talk about the top ten bestsellers all the time. Top songs are often good, but go for something a little off key like Top Ten One Hit Wonders or Top Ten Dr Demento Songs. Did Letterman have the best top 10 lists last night? Blog about it.
I have had pretty good luck with my own odd top lists about one thing or another. I’ve seen other bloggers succeed with movies lists-Top Ten Empty Street Movies, Top Ten Zombie Movies, and of course the ever popular Top Ten Summer Movies, Top Ten Blockbusters, and Top Ten Movies of All Time. These top lists don’t have to match anyone else if you don’t want them to. Your Top Ten Movies of All Time don’t have to match the AFI’s.
The long tail seems to say that there is someone out there for every top 25 list anyone can imagine. Want to list the Top 25 Cookie Jars Collected by Andy Warhol? Someone will care, though to be honest, I don’t think I would. I’m more of a top books lists, top film lists, top music sort of a guy. Though my top lists will be a bit different from anyone else’s, as a general rule. I’m not too hot on top stocks and top ten companies, but there are a lot of people who are. I got a few hits from The Fattest State In America and list of the top ten states.
I seldom go past ten in my lists, as it takes a bit of time to gather the info and make the post semi-interesting. Top ten bestsellers, top ten books, top ten films, and various and sundry top ten rankings are often fun to talk about.
How about the top ten reasons you blog, or the top ten excuses kids use to get out doing homework? The possibilities for top ten lists are limited only by your imagination. Need some inspiration? Google Top Ten Lists or wander around Amazon’s Listmania for ideas. Not all lists have to be Top Lists, they can be Books Everyone Wants or The Latest KitchenAide Mixers. Just remember that people might be more likely to Google Top Ten than Latest or Everyone wants.
So try a the power of lists on your blog and see what happens.
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Hmm, sounds like a good idea. I think I cold come up with a few of these. I’ll start working on it.
I love making lists…my 100 love song lists get A LOT of traffic 🙂
Chelle from itmightbelove.com