Summary: There are many different kinds of posts you can publish on your blog. Here we discuss two of the most useful and effective ones: “tips” and “how-to” posts.

Yesterday you learned how to write an SEO post. Today you’ll learn about writing two types of posts:

Tips posts and “how to” posts.

Tips Posts

Tips posts are just what they sound like – you offer tips on a particular topic, rather than a “step by step” process.

Examples:

• Three Ways to Improve Your Golf Swing
• Seven Tips for Slimming Your Thighs
• The Ten Secrets of Writing a Great Sales Page

Tips posts work great for selling books and other information products.

Example: The “Ten Secrets of Writing a Great Sales Page” post could easily pre-sell a copywriting product.

However, you can use these posts to sell physical products, too.

Example: The “Three Ways to Improve your Golf Swing” post could pitch a particular club that would help the prospect improve his game.

How to Write “How To” Posts

The “how to” post is a step-by-step process, where you explain to your reader how to do something.

Examples:

• How to Look Ten Years Younger
• How to Juggle
• How to Replace Your Carpet

You can use these types of posts to sell most any type of product.

For example, if you’re selling an ebook, then you can offer a “how to” post that gives your readers an overview of how to do something, but it doesn’t go into detail. Your prospect needs to buy the ebook to get the details.

Example: Let’s say you’re selling a copywriting book. You might create a post titled “How to Write a Sales Letter.” You’d then outline the steps such as:

• Profile your target market.
• Write a great headline.
• Create a hook for an opener.
• Craft your bullet points.
• Offer a guarantee.
• Call your prospect to action.

And so on. You’d offer a few sentences for each step. Then you’d promote the copywriting book within your post.

Example:  “You now know have a great overview of how to write a sales letter. To get the full details so that you too can create cash-pulling copy, click here…”

Of course this type of post works for physical products, too. Let’s suppose you’re selling puppy trainings pads. You could offer step-by-step instructions on how to use these pads to housebreak a puppy.

Today’s task: Write one “tips” post and one “how to” post. Be sure to load them up on your blog when you’re finished.

Then tomorrow you’ll learn about a type of post that tends to attract a lot of attention, so stay tuned!