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1. Make sure your content makes sense in list-format.

Before you begin writing your listicle, conduct research to ensure your topic actually fits into a list-format. If you search for your intended keyword and find most marketers are creating Ultimate Guides on the topic, you might decide it's better to avoid a listicle format.

For instance, perhaps you need to write about "Instagram Marketing". While you'd initially planned on titling the piece "10 Best Instagram Marketing Tips", your research has uncovered plenty of other angles you'd like to include, such as "why Instagram Marketing is important" and "how to create compelling content on Instagram". These sections might fit better in an "Ultimate Guide to Instagram Marketing", instead of a listicle.

If you do choose to create a listicle, it's critical each list item matches with the topic at-hand. To create a high-quality listicle, it's vital your content is consistent and parallel. If you're writing a list of best practices, you should only have best practices in your list — sneaking a few examples in the list will just confuse your audience (and you can always create another listicle for examples, later on).

2. Include valuable takeaways — no fluff!

The biggest indicator of a lousy list post is one that contains a ton of fluff and no real, valuable takeaways for the reader. Here's an example of what we mean:

3 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

1. Be unique! Do something to stand out from your competitors.

2. Take risks. Try out-of-the-box ideas.

3. Measure results! Use your analytics to tell you what's working.

What a fantastic list post! I've learned ... absolutely nothing. No wonder list posts have a terrible reputation. Sure, on the surface, each of these list points sound valuable. You absolutely should do all these things in your social media marketing. But it doesn't tell you exactly how to do those things.

Your listicle shouldn't just give readers a list of things to do and expect them to figure out how to do those things themselves. It should also include valuable content that tellsore fun, but that doesn't mean you can't include valuable takeaways. The "Top Ten Best Ads of 2020" can be mostly visual, but it's still important you include advice your readers can use to create better ads for themselves.