20+ Types Of Content To Produce For A Blog

In a blog-eat-blog world, good content is the key to success.

You can have a great theme, stellar ideas, and a strong understanding of your audience, but if you don’t produce content, your blog will go nowhere fast.

In my time working on blogs, I’ve developed a passion for thinking about content.

In this article, I’ll break down some of the key types of content that can make your blog the best on the internet.

Content: The Basics

Before we get into the best types of content to produce, let’s get a sense of the basics.

How Many Different Types of Content Are There?

Long story short, content is pretty much any form of communication.

That means, theoretically, there is an unlimited number of content types, each of which belongs to its context and has its affordances.

Content could look like a report, a documentary, an ebook, or, as is more common in blogs, a video, a product review, or a how-to guide.

What Type of Content is Most Popular

Since there are so many types of content, each of which has particular purposes, it’s difficult to say what is most popular.

That said, two of the most common are videos and how-to articles content.

What Type of Content is Most Effective?

Again, this question is difficult to answer since effectiveness is all relative.

Authority content focuses on brand reliability and makes yourself dependable to an audience.

Viral content is great for short-term, intense engagement.

Video posts and other visual content are optimal for consistent viewer engagement.

Types of Content

Content is adaptable and dynamic, depending on the content creator’s unique circumstances.

There are hundreds of content options you can create.

What should a would-be blogger do?

Not to fear, dear reader.

Here are the 20 best types of content to produce to make your blog stand out from the competition.

1. Blog Content

Whether you’re trying to start a WordPress blog on cooking or a Blogspot page to review xylophones, these are the types of content you should keep at the top of your mind.

They’re especially good for audiences who want quick, quality content, like blog readers.

Informational Blog Posts and Blog Articles

There is no shortage of topics about which people want to learn.

That means if you have a passion you want to share or a penchant for research, you can create content simply by informing your audience about a topic.

Yet, informational blog posts and articles aren’t effective simply by existing.

They should give readers intelligence on a topic they genuinely care about, which is easier said than done.

You will have to research to find the intersection between your interest area and the area your audience most cares about to determine the best ideas for blog posts.

Additionally, to make informational posts successful, you should use SEO.

Your goal should be to get your post to the front page of search engine results.

How-To Guides

The loveable sibling of the informative article is the how-to guide.

How-to guides inform the reader about a topic, but it tends to get more specific, walking a reader through the process of doing a certain task or achieving a certain result.

If you’re interested in writing a how-to guide, follow the same principle as you would with informational posts: find the intersection between your knowledge and the audience’s interest.

You might be able to write a great article on opening doors, but your audience probably already knows how to do that.

But, just because your audience is interested in learning how to fly doesn’t mean you can write a how-to article on that topic—unless you’re a bird.

When you’re selecting a how-to topic, draw from the niche problems you’ve experienced.

Have you ever wondered how to make tomatoes work in place of peppers in an article?

Maybe you’ve gotten anxious preparing to talk on the phone with an important person.

Experiences like this can form the basis of great how-to articles.

Product Reviews

For blogs whose topics deal with specific products, you have ready-made content in the form of a review.

No matter what industry you’re in, there are so many products out there that customers are sure to struggle with picking the right one.

Consumers tend to be risk-averse—they don’t want to gamble on a product and end up disappointed.

This means that they are eager to hear the experiences of an actual product user.

Case Studies

Case studies are an attractive type of content for the same reason as product reviews.

They give examples and offer guidance to customers overwhelmed by uncertainties.

If you’re writing a case study, it should come from authentic experience.

It might be tempting to fudge the details to appeal to clients, but if they find out you are lying you will lose all credibility in their eyes.

Still, it’s best to craft a clear narrative that makes sense of a real-world problem.

As with other content, uniqueness is the name of the game for case studies.

When composing this type of content, find a situation that is truly unique to your experience and use it.

The odds are that it won’t be as unique as it seems; a potential customer might be in the same boat!

White Papers and Technical Reports

Whether you are in the for-profit or nonprofit sector, this type of content is key for building your authority with potential clients.

White papers and technical reports are overlapping terms for pieces of content that lay out a specific problem, dive into its nuances, and potentially report on solutions.

Similarly, technical reports tend to illustrate a project and its results.

These content types are most useful for organizations that want to show off the work they do and build their authority.

If your blog has endless pages of wispy content, you’re losing out on the opportunity to show your technical savvy, which is precisely what white papers and technical reports prove.

Thought Leadership Content

Thought leadership content is a coveted category of blog content.

It’s called thought “leadership” for good reason; it reflects that you are a serious voice in your industry, a mover and shaker who inspires new ideas.

Thought leadership content is a post that states an opinion rooted in one’s status in an industry.

For instance, when you have enough clout in your field to know why an initiative has failed, how a culture change happened, or what employers should do next, you can share those insights via thought leadership content.

The reason that thought leadership content is so powerful is that it has a recursive effect.

When you engage in thought leadership, you use your existing authority to share your insights and further grow your authority.

2. Downloadable Digital Content

The next category on our list is downloadable digital content.

Incorporating digital content into your blog is a fantastic strategy if you are looking for ideas for blog content upgrades.

Like other types of content, this variety can take on many forms, but at the most general level, it refers to content that users receive via download, rather than by consuming it on a persistent Internet page (such as on a blog post).

Ebooks

Ebooks represent a huge part of the content market; about one-fifth of all book sales are in digital form, and thirty percent of Americans read digital books.

It might seem that ebooks are irrelevant when you’re producing content for a blog, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Writing an ebook is an easy way to promote your work, all while getting direct profits from consumers; you can link to ebooks in blog posts, directing readers to pay you directly.

Although publishing a physical book can be challenging, publishing ebooks is incredibly easy.

Publishing on Amazon, for instance, costs nothing save for Amazon’s 60% royalty fee.

On top of that, you don’t necessarily need to write an entire book of your own: you “print,” sell, and promote your unique edition of a public domain ebook, making the process incredibly simple.

Gated Content

Gated content, content that requires users to fill out a form (or enter a “gate”) before downloading, belongs more to the realm of technical industries.

Typically, gated content might include white papers, technical reports, or case studies, though it can also include ebooks—university libraries, for example, host gated content that requires an authorized login.

While certain forms of gated content can provide a cash stream for your blog, you don’t need to charge readers money for them to use it.

Instead, you can leverage gates as methods for registering users to your site or adding them to your email lists.

3. Audio Content

Audio content represents another mode of content creation.

Its focus, as its name suggests, is on the auditory over the written or visual, and it offers a growing field for creators interested in reaching their audience in new ways.

Podcasts

Podcasts have become an immensely popular form of content in the past several years.

Over 40% of Americans have listened to one, and that share has doubled in the past ten years.

As a microcosm of the content itself, a podcast is less a fixed medium and more a set of tools for content creators to deploy.

The only requirement is that the podcast is audio-based; beyond that, there are no fixed requirements.

Podcasts can focus on any topic, be of any length, and follow any format (or non-conversational podcasts are easy and popular).

Beyond the sheer joy of creation that podcasts offer, they can also be robust tools for blogs.

You might use a podcast to promote your brand, make yourself accessible to your audience, build your authority, or all three.

You can reach an audience in more traditionally isolated moments, such as their commute or during a casual meal.

Further, subscription-based models of podcasting provide direct revenue streams for your work.

Finally, if your podcast proves successful, you can reap extra cash via advertising.

The flip side, of course, is that the podcast needs to be good.

While a strong podcast can be a boon to a brand, a weak podcast can potentially tarnish your reputation.

Take the time to craft a concept that works for you, learn the medium’s conventions, and get in touch with what listeners might enjoy.

4. Media and Supporting Content

Another wing of content is that of media and supporting content.

This type of content is not standalone but rather works to boost the impact of articles, product reviews, and the like.

Infographics

Infographics are an invaluable form of content for anyone writing informative content.

They help visualize data for readers, crafting abstract information into implicit narratives and legible ideas, which is essential when you’re trying to make an argument and build your brand authority.

You can use software such as Adobe InDesign or Canva to create infographics.

Be sure to spend time learning the conventions.

If a good infographic engages the reader and bolsters your authority, a bad infographic distracts the reader and weakens your brand ethos.

Interactive Content

Interactive content is a great way to increase audience engagement.

Interactive content includes any element of your blog that a reader can respond to, change, or manipulate.

You can make interactive content as simple as a comment section or as complex as a game.

For instance, if your blog belongs to a lifestyle niche, such as fashion or home renovation, you could create a style quiz to pair alongside an article about design styles.

Likewise, if your niche is the news and current events, you can post an opinion poll about a controversial news item.

Testimonials

Testimonials are any first-hand accounts from your followers that endorse your blog’s content.

You should utilize testimonials if your blog niche deals with any advice or how-to subjects.

Testimonials will enhance your credibility and encourage new readers to stay involved.

Testimonial content should be more than a quote from a reader.

Take one or two reader testimonials and turn them into a full-length blog post that recounts the reader’s experiences and connects the testimonials to other blog content.

If you can, get in contact with the reader and get enough quotes to write a substantive interview, as this will be more credible.

5. Video Content

In the contemporary digital environment, producing video content is essential to having a successful online presence.

While YouTube once dominated the video content market, there are now several platforms you can use.

For optimal engagement, you should aim to produce short-form video content that can be posted across all major platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and, of course, your blog.

Informational Videos

Recent research has shown that younger audiences are relying more and more on video content for basic research questions.

Thus, informational videos are a great content idea for increasing your audience.

Informational videos are any video that answers a question or explains a subject.

You can make in-depth informational videos on a hyper-specific topic relevant to your niche or overview videos that summarize the main elements of your area of interest.

Hands-On Video Reviews

Hands-on video reviews are an excellent content idea for demonstrating your blog’s value to your followers.

If your followers trust your opinions within your niche, they will love seeing you try products, experiences, and other niche-relevant consumables.

Pay attention to the items and activities trending within your subcommunity, since these will be the things your audience is most interested in learning about.

Be sure to film yourself interacting with the product or place you’re reviewing, to give the audience the most useful content possible.

Always clarify to your viewers if you are sharing a sponsored review with them.

Tutorial Videos

Much like hands-on video reviews, tutorial videos give you the chance to use your credibility to give direct advice to your followers.

Tutorial videos are also useful for attracting new audience members, who may come across your content when searching for instructions on how to do something.

Tutorial videos apply to most niches, whether you’re guiding your viewers through how to style hair, fix an appliance, or use accounting software.

You can even make a video tutorial on how to use blogging platforms.

Webinars

Webinars are a slightly more involved form of video content, but the results are often worth the effort.

A webinar is the sophisticated cousin to the tutorial video and usually mimics the format of a classroom lesson.

A webinar should be a live event, ideally where participants can leave questions and comments.

If you are interested in generating income from your blog, you can charge a fee for people to participate in the webinar.

Furthermore, if you record your live webinar, you can continue to earn passive income from new viewers who purchase the video.

6. Email Content

Emailing content is an excellent tool for establishing a strong internet presence.

Most internet users check their email inboxes multiple times a day, making email a great way to incorporate your blog into your audience’s regular content consumption.

Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are the main form of email content for a blog.

You can get people to sign up for an email newsletter directly from your blog.

Place the sign-up option in a prominent location on your blog page, and your devoted audience will likely choose to enter their emails.

Depending on your workflow and the norms of your blog niche, you can send a weekly or monthly email newsletter.

In the newsletter, include links to your most recent blog content, as well as some small article or insight exclusive to newsletter readers.

7. Social Media Content

Of course, no internet presence is complete without quality social media content.

If you want your blog to have a sustainable following, you must have a consistent presence on several social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram.

Social Media Posts

Post regularly on your social media accounts to successfully promote your blog.

Most platform algorithms favor accounts that post frequently, as well as accounts that post video content with high engagement rates.

You can increase the odds that your social media posts gain popularity if you use proper hashtags and take part in trending subjects and memes.

You should also use social media to announce when you have posted exciting new content to your blog.

Social Media Engagement Content

Like other blog content types, the best social media content is the kind that promotes engagement.

Luckily, social media platforms give you all the tools you need to create engaging and interactive content.

As an example, Instagram stories let you post polls and reaction buttons.

Most social media platforms also let you go live and interact directly with your followers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about blog content.

Wrapping Up

There are many types of content you can produce for a blog, ranging from simple articles to highly interactive live streaming experiences.

With so many content options, you can develop a strategy that plays to your skillset and works well for your blogging niche.

Understanding the best types of content for your blog can open the door to blogging success.

If you want to learn more about how to utilize content to build your internet presence, comment below with your questions!

With a little time, energy, and creation, you can create fantastic blog content that will attract a wide audience.