So, in this post, we’ll delve into the most important types of blog posts for brands to cater to diverse customer needs throughout the buyer’s journey and align with various business objectives. We’ll also explore why each type matters and some actionable tips to leverage them for maximum impact. 

Are you ready to supercharge your content marketing strategy with the most effective types of blog posts to drive traffic and leads? Let’s get started! 

Why Blogging Still Matters for Businesses Today

Do you find yourself questioning the relevance of blogs in the ever-evolving digital marketing realm? Then here are some quick facts to catch up on: 

• Did you know that over 20 billion blog pages are read by readers every month? This staggering number indicates that including blogs in your content marketing strategy lets you tap into this vast audience and increase the chances of your brand message being seen.
• Secondly, we’d like to highlight the fact that businesses with blogs see about 55% more website traffic than those without. Therefore, a well-organized blog is a traffic-generation powerhouse. 
• Studies reveal that businesses that prioritize blogging see their website ranking soar by a remarkable 434% in search results. This translates to your brand appearing at the top of search engine pages, where potential customers are actively looking for solutions you provide.
• The power of blogs goes beyond website traffic and ranking. A whopping 80% of bloggers say that they’ve witnessed positive marketing results from their blog efforts. 
• Finally, the one crucial benefit of blogging to businesses is that according to about 57% of marketers, quality blog content can help gain new customers. 

But yes, to tap into all these benefits, you do need the right types of blogs that appeal to your target audience. And that’s what we’ll be discussing next. 

7 Types of Blogs You Need for Your Business

1. How-to posts or tutorials 

According to about 76% of bloggers, how-to posts are the most popular types of blog posts. So, yes, investing in these reader magnets is one of the best decisions you can make for your business. 

Remember that a lot of people turn to the internet to get answers, to solve problems. So, telling them “how-to” solve these problems means that you are giving them exactly what they are looking for thus convincing them to come back for more. 

A typical how-to post is a tutorial that uses text and visual content to guide users through the process of solving a challenge or creating something of their own. 

Let’s take a healthcare brand as an example. A how-to post for healthcare brands will be topics like “How to manage diabetes at home”. 

So, how do you tackle how-to posts? 

• To identify the best topics, look for the most common questions from your target audience, the problems they are constantly looking to solve. 
• Break down your content into easily consumable snippets. Additionally, ensure that these snippets all have supporting visuals to go with them. These could be simple illustrations that outline the steps involved or relevant custom graphics that simplify the process detailed in the post. 
• Furthermore, adding video tutorials within your blog can help simplify the complicated portions, if any. 

KIMP Tips: 

When it comes to choosing the right blog images for how-to posts:

• When there is a lot of information to take in, an infographic summarizing the blog adds value. 
• Include relevant product photos to highlight features or screenshots to highlight the steps involved or to capture the essence of the information communicated, as you see in the below image. 

2. Ultimate guides 

Superficially, tutorials and ultimate guides might seem like the same thing but they aren’t. While how-to posts delve deep into specific topics or tasks, ultimate guides are more comprehensive. They dive deeper into the chosen topics and provide readers with extensive information and insights. While how-to posts are for people with specific questions in mind, ultimate guides are for those looking for in-depth knowledge. 

Taking the same healthcare example we discussed previously, an ultimate guide post for healthcare brands will be topics like “The Ultimate Guide to Sleep Disorders”. 

Ultimate guides can also make great pillar content for your blog. They act as evergreen pieces that consistently drive traffic to your site. Additionally, by delving deep into the topic you are establishing your expertise in the arena which can be a great way to boost your brand’s credibility. 

For example, HubSpot provides users with a variety of CRM and digital marketing tools. Hence you will find several ultimate guides in the digital marketing segment on their blog. 

Now for some quick tips on curating ultimate guides: 

• Do thorough keyword research to identify topics most relevant to your industry and to your audience. 
• Scratch beyond the surface and dig deeper by providing readers with data, statistics, and research findings. 
• Include plenty of visuals including charts, diagrams, and illustrations to keep the content engaging and easy-to-understand. 

KIMP Tips: 

As for the visuals to include in the ultimate guides: 

• Ensure that the visual theme you choose for your visuals aligns with the topic. 
• Since ultimate guides are long and text-heavy posts, you need plenty of images to go with the post. Maintain visual consistency across these images – color schemes, visual style, etc. 

3. Listicles 

Concise numbered lists are some of the most convenient types of blog posts irrespective of the industry and topic. They provide readers with quick takeaways and easy-to-follow advice. 

Given that listicles are easily scannable and engaging, they are great ways to engage busy readers and boost website traffic as well. 

Going back to our healthcare brand example, listicles could be something like “7 Superfoods to Boost Your Immune System”. 

Let’s quickly talk about some tips for crafting listicles: 

• Identify a clear central theme for your listicle. 
• Keep the list short and consistent for better readability. 

KIMP Tips: 

Now for designing graphics for listicles: 

• A catchy featured image is a must-have for listicles. This can be a great tool especially when you share the listicle on social media. 
• Opt for icons, numbered graphics, or single-object photos that directly relate to each list item.
• Prioritize clean and simple visuals that don’t overwhelm the reader.

4. Case studies 

One of the most valuable types of blog posts to leverage social proof will be case studies. They work because they delve into the unique challenges faced by actual clients and how your business provided a solution that yielded positive results.

Therefore, case studies can serve as testimonials building trust with potential customers by showcasing your expertise. Since they provide credible proof of the effectiveness of your services and some real-world scenarios, they can be just what it takes to sway purchase decisions. 

To capitalize on these types of blog posts to boost your brand’s credibility: 

• Choose the most relevant client experiences that resonate with your target audience. 
• Outline the initial challenges and highlight the specific areas where your business made a difference. 
• Provide visual proof of the results in the form of progress charts and graphs, before/after images, and relevant video demos. 

KIMP Tips: 

The below image shows a snapshot of some of the case studies featured on the Microsoft blog. As can be seen, featuring the respective brand names and logos makes it easy for a reader to get a quick glimpse of the clientele. 

5. Expert interviews 

Insights from industry leaders are the next best types of blog posts to add value to your website. Hence these are the types of blog posts that can give users insider information and tips based on actual experience and exposure. 

These can also be great ways to showcase your collaboration with diverse talents which further helps enhance your brand image. Moreover, these types of blog posts can be great ways to initiate conversations about trending topics in your industry. Possibly thus tapping into the search trends as well. 

In short, expert interviews can deliver fresh perspectives and engage with users with diverse viewpoints. Consequently, this can help position you as a thought leader in the industry. 

Take Forbes magazine for example. Among the many technology-related and business-related news and discussions they share, they also have plenty of expert interviews in the niches that they cater to. This helps them retain their position as one of the most credible authorities in business news. 

To make expert interviews work in favor of your brand: 

• Choose interviewees whose expertise aligns with your niche and your target audience’s interests. 
• Choose unique thought-provoking questions and retain the question-and-answer format to preserve the authenticity of the content. 

KIMP Tips: 

When it comes to designing for these types of blog posts:

• Keep the visuals minimal so that the focus is more on the interviewee’s story. 
• When you do include visuals, these could be photos of the interviewee and relevant pictures that capture their story. 

6. Industry updates and trends 

One of the most important types of blog posts is those that talk about the latest updates and trends in your industry. Similar to expert interviews, these types of blog posts help infuse fresh perspectives into your content structure. 

Furthermore, posts talking about industry updates help you stay on top of current conversations and pose as valuable content to grab social media attention as well. 

In addition to all these benefits, these types of blog posts demonstrate your awareness of the ever-evolving landscape and show your customers and investors that you stay up-to-date with trends. 

For example, Neil Patel’s Digital Marketing Blog is one of the best-ranking blogs for anyone looking for quick insights into digital marketing. Amidst informative content, he regularly shares posts that talk about the current trends in social media and marketing. Like the post here talking about the potential TikTok ban which was recently one of the hottest topics of discussion. 

To craft the most effective industry update posts: 

• Actively monitor industry news sources, attend relevant conferences, and follow industry leaders on social media to quickly grab trending topics. 
• Instead of a generic overview, provide a fresh personal perspective and experience-based insights into the trend you cover. 

KIMP Tips: 

As for the design aspects of the blog images for these posts: 

• While including visual cues about the news being discussed, add on-brand elements as well. 
• Identify the most relevant visual styles that align with the chosen industry trend. For instance, the below image uses imagery that can easily be connected with AI. 

7. Business update posts 

These are the types of blog posts designed particularly for existing audiences. These could be posts informing your audience about your company’s developments, milestones, specific product-related updates or even future plans. Hence they are great ways to keep the existing audience engaged and make great add-ons to your business newsletters. 

Evidently, they nurture a sense of community and build trust through transparency, by showcasing your brand’s growth and achievements. Therefore, these are the types of blog posts you cannot ignore. 

After all, customers receiving regular updates about your business feel invested in your business. Therefore business update posts have a strong role to play in boosting customer loyalty. 

For example, OpenAI is currently at a stage where there are several updates to their products happening almost every week. Therefore, in addition to the informative research-related posts they also regularly share product updates on their blog. 

Here are some quick tips to craft the most engaging business update posts:

• Keep the presented information clear and brief. You do not want to overwhelm the readers.
• Provide context so that readers understand what these updates mean for your business and for their future transactions with your business.

KIMP Tips: 

• These are the types of blog posts that specifically talk about your business. Hence stay away from stock images and use branded visuals in these posts. 
• Incorporate your brand logo, colors, and brand fonts for a more cohesive look throughout the post. 

Create Engaging Blog Images with KIMP 

To conclude, the world of blogging offers a treasure trove of formats for brands to explore. And the popular types of blog posts discussed here help engage your audience, establish your brand as a thought leader, and ultimately achieve your marketing goals. However, there’s one thing you cannot ignore: creating visuals that complement the different types of blog posts. 

These visuals help elevate the overall reader experience. Moreover, visually engaging blog images also help grab attention, enhance understanding, and solidify brand identity. Do you find creating high-quality blog visuals time-consuming? That’s where an unlimited design service like KIMP comes in. With a dedicated design team working on your brand, you can get a steady stream of custom graphics for your blog and other marketing channels as well. 

So, are you ready to unlock the full potential of your blog with captivating visuals?

Sign up now for a free 7-day trial!