Top 10 things to consider while writing a top 10 list

Many years ago there lived a man named Chris. Chris loved writing novels and regularly posted short stories for his readers. Chris was very good at writing descriptive and narrative content but never posted any articles that were in a list format. Chris took up the challenge and researched more and more about writing an article in the so-popular list format. He began reading more about it and soon started experimenting. He wrote a few articles in the format and even gained popularity and good feedback from his reader fan-base. Over time, Chris got really good at this, in fact, more people started to look up to Chris for his advice on how to write like him. He liked the idea and wrote a well-detailed content giving tips to the young writers.

And here it goes....

Lists are the best way to learn about something real quick. Say for instance, if one cannot decide upon a movie, he/she just looks up “The top 10 best movies of all time”.

Lists provide an ordered, narrowed down, filtered content that gives a to-the-point answer to any posted question.

Here are 10 tips to consider while writing a top 10 list on any topic.

1. Research well before diving into writing

Research is the most important for any piece of writing. It’s good to gather all supporting facts, statistics, articles that may help you with the writing. So, gathering sufficient knowledge on the chosen topic is the first step towards a better list.

Read widely. Take notes. Then share your information with readers.

2. Draft insightful and interesting content

Have you even seen experienced salesman sell a product to the customer? Most of them grab the attention of the customer in under a minute leading them to quick sales.

On the same lines, a good article must contain attractive data that conveys the point effectively to any reader.

3. Keep it short

An average adult can read around 300 words per minute.

People love when things are conveyed with less, simpler words that are more comprehensive than big paragraphs of loaded content. Look at any newspaper and notice the short paragraphs. Our brains take in information better when its broken into smaller chunks.

In casual, everyday writing, the style is less formal and paragraphs may be as short as a single sentence or even a single word.

See?

4. Write outstanding Headlines and Subhead lines

Once you’ve decided on the content and have it in order, you need to come up with a strong captivating headline. This is the first impression that will decide if the reader chooses to click on your article or not.

So, be creative when it comes to a headline.

Subhead lines play a crucial part in telling the reader what each point or the section is about. Most times, a reader has just the enough time to go through the headlines and the subheadlines. That’s why this section’s subhead line is “Write Outstanding Headlines and Subhead lines”.

5. Add numbers

“A couple will exchange 80 million germs during a single ten-second shift”.

That definitely did strike a picture in the head, didn’t it?

Well, it has been observed that numbers and statistics play an amazing role in helping the readers grasp any idea quicker and better. But, do not overload your list with facts and figures that may mislead from the main topic of the list.

“Too much of anything is bad”

6. Include images wherever necessary

“A picture is worth a thousand words”.

 An artwork or an image can convey meanings more effectively than lengthy descriptions. Pictures have the ability to convey abstract and complex concepts that words don’t speak. Also, a striking character of human memory is that pictures are remembered better than words. It was shown several decades ago that people can remember more than 2,000 pictures with at least 90% accuracy in recognition tests over a period of several days.

P.S Make sure to add an image with a good resolution and something that fits the description written above it.

7. Keep the list in a good order

If the topic does not involve things to be read in an order, you can pick any order to jot down your points which you think suits better from a reader’s perspective.

But if the topic is something like “what steps should be taken to make a presentation effective” or “steps to bake a cake”, make sure you follow the proper hierarchical order that has to be taken.

Some topics may be written in any random order, but it’s recommended to keep the list in some categorized way so that it looks more organized. Say for example, if you’re writing about the “Top 10 romantic movies of all time”, it would be better to make a list of movies arranged according to their rating or the date of release. This will help the reader navigate better and find something that matches his/her needs easily.

8. Formatting is the key

No matter how good content and imagery you put in, a good formatting is essential for better readability.

Hit the right spaces, align those paragraphs, highlight those headlines and subhead lines, check the paragraph spacing, bullet those points, fit in the images well and that ought to do the trick.

9. Add a new perspective

The readers may find tons of articles and facts about an already existing topic. They would be more interested in getting a new opinion.

As you are the subject matter expert here, be bold and voice your firm opinion on the topic. You may provide facts, pictures and tons of previous research, but what stands out is the novel perspective/outlook that you offer to your readers.

10. Leave an element of surprise

Spice up the interest of the readers in the chosen topic and give them as much information as you can, but not ‘everything’.

Always leave the readers to ponder over an interesting idea that will make them know more about it.

Like lovers say, always leave them wanting more!

And so, Chris gave his key mantra to a successful list format content writing and the story ends happily ever after.