One of the most popular and widely shared blog posts is the 'List' post because people love lists. For example, look at David Letterman's top ten lists - they almost always gain some viral traction. But in our case, we're not going to depend exclusively on viral traffic. Instead, we're going to get others to promote our blog post by inviting them to share the spotlight. Go to List.ly and you'll find a social curation tool that allows you to build dynamic lists of links that can be embedded on your blog. Basically, you are crowd sourcing your blog post. You can create lists of anything you like, including tips, websites, tools, and even a list of lists. Choose a great topic that your readers will love and set up a list of your own. Your topic might be something like, "Top tips to grow your business online" or "Best dating advice for women over 30." Now others can submit their own tips and links to their relevant blogposts. And the vast majority of those who do will also promote your post on their own blog because they're featured in it. Best of all, your content is growing, dynamic and interactive. You can even allow readers to vote individual items on the list up or down so the most popular stays on top. If you really want your list to get shared a lot, find a way to tie it to current news. For example, when Google announced it was shutting down Google Reader, someone started a list of alternatives and asked for more suggestions. Within days the list had grown to over 40 Google Reader alternatives and was gaining a ton of traffic. TIPS for making the most of List.ly:
Ask for help in filling out the list. As always, you need to tell people what to do to get them to do it. So ask them to leave their best tip, idea, etc
Leave room for others to respond. If you create an exhaustive list, there won't be much left for others to say. That's why you only want to start the list with 3-5 items and leave the rest to others.
Embed your list onto your website. And it doesn't matter if you place it in the sidebar or inside a blog post, if it's being read on a laptop or a phone because List.ly' list will automatically resize to fit the space available.
Make a list of the top movers and shakers in your niche. These top guns are likely to link to the list, thus giving you premium link juice as well as traffic.
Other website owners can display your list on their website, so in case they do, be sure to brand your list. For example, if your website is JohnSmith.com, then you might use, "JohnSmith.com's List of Marketers of the Year For 2018" in a banner at the top.
Fill out the credits. This is the website address that your list links to. It might be your home page, or you might want to set up a landing page to track traffic.
The secret to a great List.ly is to choose a topic people want to contribute to and want to share with others. Do this and your list will go viral. Do it really well and you could have a traffic surge on your hands.