8 reasons why ‘top 10’ lists work – Perfect for social media and attractive link baits

How can you, as a webmaster, ensure that your website (orblog) provides content that rich with knowledge? The answer is simple – write a‘top 10’ list in your niche which provides helpful resources to your visitorsand watch the magic begin. Here are 10 reasons as to why such lists havecontinually helped various websites in attracting a huge number of visitorsover months.

1.      Short and Sweet Resources – Anicely written list provides a massive amount of information in a few words andthis in a way is capitalising on the short attention span of the casualinternet surfer by providing information as concisely as possible.

2.      Lists are easily readable –Another reason for the popularity of lists that people usually like to quicklyread content. A wall of text is less appealing than a list of the same ideasbroken up into catchy titles and subtitles, thus saving everyone a lot of time. 

3.      A popular choice for Diggers and Stumblers – A listwhich is full of helpful links and resources is a favourite of diggers andstumblers who usually want to bookmark them for future reference. This leads toa load of viral traffic commonly known as ‘the Digg effect’.

4.      Perfect Resource links baits – A goodlist will always attract lots of links because bloggers love to link to sucharticles that provide value to their readers. A well-promoted list could end upserving you hundreds of backlinks in a short period of time.

5.      Establishing Authority – Listshelp you in establishing authority over your niche as you reveal so manyhelpful topics and websites over the internet through one such list. Through amulti-faceted list which tackles a variety of topics, you are actuallydemonstrating the depth of your knowledge to the reader.

6.      Stimulate debate and discussion – Aproperly created list often tends to make the reader curious and brings outconversation naturally. Therefore, you will notice that popular lists oftenhave 200-300 comments discussing the various items on the list, each addingtheir own suggestions.

7.     Listsremove ambiguity – As a fond reader of lists, I have noticedthat these help in removing ambiguity from a particular topic by breaking itdown into several manageable components. Hence each component is a mini-articlein itself that usually leaves no room for confusion.

8.     Easy forwriters – As a writer, I speak from experience when I say that listsare easy to write. Instead of throwing all the goodies in one go, list taketime to build and do not contain ramblings of any sort. One’s mind can focus ona particular item, explore it briefly and move on.

With websites springing up at the rate of a dime a dozen,competitiveness has taken on a completely new meaning. Webmasters arebrainstorming different techniques to ensure that their authority is nottampered with in their niches by new websites. Writing a list is a beneficialway which can help in maintaining resourcefulness and exclusive content on awebsite.