There are 9 content frameworks I like to use depending on the topic or keyword.

They are:

1. List post
2. Informational post
3. Tutorial post
4. Review post
5. Expert roundup posts
6. Ego bait posts
7. Ultimate guides
8. Best products
9. Versus posts

 

 

1. List Posts

List posts are the simplest to create. Better still… Audiences LOVE them. In fact, they are psychologically wired to enjoy reading lists. They’re a win/win for everyone.

 

You can use them in almost any niche to talk about any topic. They are a great way to share:

 

• Tips
• Tricks
• Recommendations
• Multiple ideas

 

 

Other publications use them to recommend products and gain affiliate income, like WIRED does here:

 

 

And others use them to increase engagement and get people talking, like Nomadic Matt does here:

 

 

All you have to do is choose a keyword and create a relevant list around it.

 

 

2. Informational Post

Informational posts focus on keywords that start with “what”

• What is drone racing?
• What is the best racing drone?
• What is drone photography?

 

But these search terms are also likely to rank for “head terms”

• “What is drone racing?” could rank for “drone racing”
• “What is the best racing drone?” could rank for “best racing drone”
• “What is drone photography?” could rank for “drone photography”

 

This is even more likely to happen if you use these pages as category pages to link to other subtopics on your site.

 

This type of post also creates lots of opportunities for featured snippets.

 

Much like list posts, informational posts are:

• Simple to put together
• Easy to research
• Highly shareable

 

Ideally these posts will focus on entry level topics.

 

 

Or just like this one about What Is Crossfit?:

 

 

Or this one about What is A Podcast?:

 

 

You can also expand these to talk about multiple topics. Start with the “what” question and progress.

 

 

3. Tutorial Post

Tutorials focus on keywords that start with “how”. They are posts that show people how to do things. For example:

• How to start a blog
• How to bake a cake
• How to save money on car insurance

 

Like “what” keywords, “how” keywords also provide a lot of opportunities for featured snippets.

 

But you’ll want to focus on these keywords for a slightly different reason because people who search for “how” terms tend to:

• Have problems they want to solve
• Will spend money on a solution

 

This means they give you a great opportunity to feature products. Either your own or affiliate.

 

 

This helps to create an engaged relationship between you and your reader. You can use this for literally any niche!

 

Jennifer Banz uses recipes to help low-carb dieters and recommend products:

 

 

And Uscreen use them to feature their video-hosting platform as a solution. Like in this post about How To Make More Money In Fitness:

 

 

If you can highlight a problem-focused keyword and solve that problem, you are onto a winner.

 

 

4. Review Post

Reviews posts focus on keywords that contain “review”. They have a decent commercial intent. People are often looking for you:

• To write about a specific model or version of a product
• To confirm or deny their feelings toward a product

 

For example, someone looking to buy a new iPhone make be looking to see:

• Is the new model worth the upgrade?
• Is it different enough to justify the $1000 they want to spend?

 

Review posts offer lots of opportunities to feature products. Both the one they are searching for, and related ones.

 

You can also get creative with these posts. You don’t just need to show the pros and cons.

 

T3 take a similar approach to their review. They reviewed the Huawei P30 Pro and provided a gallery to show the phone’s powerful camera:

 

 

And when Fluent In 3 Months reviewed Duolingo they showed people exactly how the app’s lessons worked:

 

 

Getting under the hood can give people a real incentive to buy the product, or a related one you recommend.

 

 

5. Expert Roundups

Expert roundups compile the opinions of important people in your niche. Sometimes keywords lend themselves to the expert roundup style, like:

• The Best Racing Drones According To 6x Experts
• 7x Pro-Racers Rate These Cheap Racing Drones
• The Expert’s Guide To Drone Photography

 

Because these posts come from experts they will either:

1. Have authority
2. Be controversial

 

When you reach out to experts you also build relationships that can be beneficial in the future and if nothing else they will always share a post they’re featured in. Free exposure!

 

The core strategy is simple:

1. Identify people who are likely to respond
2. Create a questionnaire for them to fill out
3. Create an email template and send it to your experts
4. Create your content from their answers
5. Tell them it’s live

 

Bustle use them to create posts about productivity:

 

 

And Mental Floss have even used them to teach people how to,shower:

 

 

These posts are like list posts only you build your sections using your experts’ comments.

 

And the method is pretty “fill-in-the-blank”:

• Top [X] <Topic> Experts
• The <Keyword> According To Experts
• What Experts Say About <Topic/Keyword>

 

 

6: Ego Bait Posts

One of my most used content frameworks is the ego bait post.

 

Simply put: You compile lists of other websites and resource in your niche. Then, you share them to your audience.

 

This appeals directly to the ego making of the person included in the post, making them highly likely to:

• Share the post
• Backlink to it

 

For example, you might create a post like:

• 10x Best Drone Blogs
• This Month’s 20x Best Drone Photographs

 

Better still… because these posts feature well-known names from your niche they’ll either:

• Have authority
• Be controversial
• Both

 

Expert Vagabond does this well when he outlines his favourite travel blogs of the past year:

 

 

There’s nobody on that list who wouldn’t want to share it! Another take would be to compile a list of books, authors or creators in a niche.

 

For example, when Thrillist publishes their list of top graphic novels:

 

 

Authors who get featured on lists like these LOVE sharing them with their audience.

 

 

7. Ultimate Guides

Ultimate guides are all-encompassing posts that cover every aspect of a topic. The “one stop shop” for people.

 

These posts usually:

• Exceed 5000x words
• Contain lots of visual information

 

This means they require a lot of time investment. But they come with a lot of benefits.

• Easy to update
• Evergreen (can use the same post for YEARS sometimes)
• Extremely helpful
• Great at attracting links

 

They also build a lot of trust between you and your reader. A well-written ultimate guide can establish a LIFELONG relationship.

 

Loomly has built a company around their social media calendar. Their Definitive Guide to Social Media Calendars is over 4000x words of actionable information:

 

 

Better still, it puts their product right at the heart of the content.

 

Shopify also took a similar approach in their Ultimate Guide To Dropshipping, which they broke down into 11x standalone posts:

 

 

Pick a topic and go DEEP to get the best results from this framework.

 

 

8. “Best” Product Post

These posts highlight the best products in your niche. They’re typically created with commercial intent, focusing on an important
product in your niche.

 

For example:

• Best camera drones
• Best yoga retreats
• Best noise reducing headphones
• Best travel rucksacks

 

You can create best product posts quite easily by using a list format. The key here is to get NICHE and explore RELEVANT product categories.

 

For example: MyPetNeedsThat has this post on the best retractable dog leashes:

 

 

These products only apply to a specific search engine user. And, that is a good thing! Typically: The niche-r you get, the better the results.

 

Wirecutter took a similar approach with their guide to the best hand warmers:

 

 

This is highly relevant to a tech-focused reader in a cold location. You can also add extra value to these posts by backing them up with a:

• Buyer’s guide
• FAQ section

 

They are also easy to update. You can add or remove items as often as you want. You can also use them with time-specific keywords, like:

• Best <product category> 2020
• Best <product category> March 2020

 

 

9. Versus Posts

Versus posts are similar to best product posts. However… They take 2x to 3x products or services and compare them. Doing this enables you to go deeper into what a product can (or can’t) do.

 

Versus posts are useful for search engine users on the fence about what product to choose. Tom’s Guide created a straightforward versus post to compare the:

• Phone 11 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy S10

 

In each section of the article they explore a key feature:

 

 

Use of photo and video content can add a lot of weight to these posts. You can also use comparison tables to improve the user experience.

 

Cnet regularly use these tables in their versus posts, like this one comparing 3x camera drones from the same brand:

 

 

At the start of the post they share a table with the key components side by side:

 

 

There are several WordPress plugins you can use to create these tables easily.

 

However: Because these posts compare specific products they are not evergreen.

 

They will only remain relevant when the product is popular. Once the interest dies off, so does the search traffic. So be picky about the products you use and be sure the commercial intent is there.

 

 

Check more articles:

20 Affiliate Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Sales

5 Proven Ways to Increase Website Traffic

How to Analyze Competitors Ad Campaigns

8 Content Marketing Strategy : You should KNOW

 

 

You may also like…..