I don't know what's more popular when it comes to blog post styles: how to's or list posts.
What I do know is that your readers probably love list posts as much as any other audience and thanks to Tom Treanor of Right Mix Marketing, I discovered a fabulous tool for creating lists that is easy to use and can create a lot of visibility for you and anyone else you care to share the spotlight with on your blog.
List.ly is a social curation tool that enables you to quickly build a dynamic list of links that can be embedded on your blog. You get visibility when others embed your list on their blog, when it's shared and when you allow others to add items to your list.
I set up a list a couple of days ago and as of the time of writing this post, it is trending #3 on the List.ly home page. And that's before I posted it on this blog.
To be totally transparent, I did post a link to the list in my LinkedIn group, on my Facebook page and on Twitter. I also invited anyone who had written an article about driving traffic to a blog or website to contribute to the list.
This is what crowdsourcing is all about. Create valuable content featuring contributions from many smart people. It's a win-win-win: for your audience who gets to take a deep dive on a subject, for your curators who get visibility on your blog and everywhere the list is shared, and you who get to share great content and get more visibility when your curators and others share the post with their audience.
Here's the list I've started on Top Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Blog:
[listly id=1XJ layout=full]
You're invited to contribute a link to an article you've written about driving blog traffic, or one you've read and think is great. Click on the pink tab at the top of the list. And please share the list, as well. There are many excellent tips featured on the list!
If you have created a list on List.ly, you're welcome to post a link to it here in the comments. Would love to see what kind of lists are being created!
This is awesome. I have seen list.ly before, but never knew much about it. This may be one tool I keep active with. After reading this I did play with it and wrote a quick article (http://www.sheribambrough.com/ten-links-to-make-the-future-what-you-want/). I can definitely see where this can come in handy as I build my blog archive. Thanks Denise.
I did my first list on quote sites! It was quite easy – but I quickly found that you need to moderate the list because I got 2 spam additions (ie, irrelevant) before a day was up. Here it is: http://louisem.com/1829/need-quotes-for-social-media-the-best-quote-sites
Louise, meant to tell you that I love your Quote sites list. Really helpful, thanks for sharing the link here.
Thank you Denise, for the opportunity to share!
Denise, do you know if there’s a way to change the order of the items on a list? I’m not finding a way to do that.
It’s similar to reddit. Kind of a micro version. Look forward to trying it out. A great alternative to regular written content. And I would think the links to great sites are also helpful for rankings. Thanks for the tip 🙂
You can choose “Curated” order as the default order when you edit the list.
Then you can just drag the items into the sequence you want
Denise, this one looks really interesting to me, and I definitely plan on giving it a try. Thanks for sharing it!
I look forward to seeing the lists you create, Rebecca!
Listly looks like a fun platform and am wondering how it fares for driving traffic back to one’s blog. Thanks for sharing, am off to check it out.
Cheers!
I saw this on Tom’s site and thought it was interesting. Denise, thanks for explaining how to make use of this tool, and its benefits! I will just have to follow your lead in crowdsourcing some lists. Very cool!
WordPress glitch: just thought I’d mention that when I hit “publish” on my blog post in which I had embedded my list.ly list, I got an Error message. I had not put a blog title since the list had a title already, but it seems that adding a title was the only way I was able to get the post to publish correctly. I hope this will save someone else this problem…or perhaps someone can suggest something else I was doing wrong.
That makes sense, Elizabeth, because you’re embedding content in the body of the post. WordPress can’t pick up the title of the list since it’s in the javascript or something like that. Thanks for the head’s up.
Well, Denise, you’ve done it again: taught us another amazing tool to use in our business blogging. After reading your article, I signed up, created my first list, and embedded it in a blog post: http://riverwoodwriter.com/handwritten_note
Love it!
Glad you like List.ly, Elizabeth. Also love how you take immediation action…great list!
Denise, thanks so much for sharing! I experimented with it and made a list about various social media sharing practices and recommendations. Here’s the link:
http://list.ly/list/1Ye-the-science-of-social-media-sharing-for-businesses
Feel free to add to it, I’m sure you know plenty of great resources!
Thanks for sharing your list, Elena. I’ll check it out!
Denise, great tool! I am already thinking about how I can use it as well. I added a post to your list already. Now, I just have to make my own list :).
Thanks for contributing an article to the list Wendy…blog on!
Tom and Denise,
This is an awesome tool. I love it!
It never ceases to amaze me with all the things that clever people create online that add value.
I’m going to do a list on my blog. Thanks Tom and Denise.
Thanks for contributing a post, David! One of the things I love about the Web is all the cool stuff people create. This tool is great if you are at a loss for something to write about…find a list and post it with a couple of comments of your own. Instant blog post!
Denise, great post and list. I’m glad you liked Listly and it looks like it’s going to be a great tool for you. Thanks for the mention!
Thanks Tom, I was browsing through list.ly looking at all the types of lists people have created. Lots of great applications for promotion, education and entertainment. Thanks again for introducing me to the application… blog on!