The Power of Lists

Useful lists are a powerful tool to build. Lists are the preferred tool for publishing articles and adding content to your website, newsletter or blog.

Why are lists so popular?

1. Lists are easy to skim and read
2. Lists are nice to print out and save
3. Lists can have large value with few words
4. A list makes it easy to assess your current skills

What do we mean by assess your current skills? The list you create should allow the reader to quickly do a report card on themselves or the focus of the list that they are evaluating.

For example, if we have an Basic SEO List, a web designer should be able to read down it and know in a few seconds whether they have covered the basics of SEO or not.

1. Make your header tag relevant and include targeted keyword in header.
2. Make your description sort and intriguing, and include targeted words once or twice.
3. Add same keywords to keyword meta data. Do not put too many words in this area.
4. Make sure your H1 title tag on the page has keywords in it
5. Make sure your alt tags for your images have your keywords in them.

This short list will keep you busy for a long time if you are a web developer and have not already done this. But what else makes a list like this powerful?

Reusability

A list like this can be fodder for many things. I can post them as they are to a blog, or I can break each list item up into a daily blog post, giving me a weeks worth of topics. I could also write a variety of unique articles that center around the list, by changing up the introduction and conclusion.

Many online publishing resources like lists for epublishing. They respect the readability and popularity of articles that contain a list. I have always liked the CEO Refresher site, and they publish many articles with useful lists.

You can reuse a good list in many ways. The great thing about lists is they are easy to write as well. Just think of a topic you know something about and make a list of what it would take to become good at it or more knowledgeable about the topic. Take time to create lists in line at the store, at a red light, as you fall asleep at night, or any other place you have some free moments. Then reuse them an turn them into gold.