Trying to find something to write about when you’re looking to add content to your Website can be a daunting task. If you start out by considering the many different forms that online content can take, the task may just seem not only easier, but also more fun.

These 12 different types of online content will give you a variety of ways to get information to your readers, making your site more interesting in the long run not only for them, but also for you, the writer.

The How-To

The how-to is a great article format to use in that 1) how-to’s are generally eagerly sought out, and 2) they are often linked to at a higher rate than other content types. The how-to is an instructional piece that walks the reader through a process or system for doing something. It involves easy, clear steps, to the point of often using numbered or bulleted steps. Clarity is the key to writing a successful how to article.

Guides and Tutorials

Similar to the how-to, the guide or tutorial tends to be lengthier and beefier than its how-to cousin. Where how-to’s cover a slice, guides and tutorials can cram in several slices, if not the whole pie. These are good for longer, multiple-page articles.

The Tip Article

The tip article moves the how-to in the exact opposite direction, concentrating on very short ideas that quickly present a problem and then promptly solve it. These are often something simple that you want to share with your readers, such as a news story or video. They can also do double duty by providing quick, compelling content for newsletters.

The News Article

Everyone loves to be kept abreast of the latest, be it general interest, political, sports-related, a regional story, industry/organization happening… if it’s “breaking”, it will fit in a news article and pull in readers. You get to employ your reporter skills here, making sure you concentrate on the who, what, where, when, and why of the story.

The Review Article

The review article is not only popular with readers, but also a good way to monetize your site. You can either do a round-up of products, say three, and offer advantages/disadvantages, pros/cons for each, or concentrate on reviewing a single book, web app, video, breakfast cereal… the list of thing you can review is nearly endless. The goal here is to try and offer an objective assessment of the product’s features and strengths/weaknesses to help readers make up their own minds.

The List Article

What you’re reading here is a list article. Essentially you select a group of related things that are the best of their category (or the worst, most popular, etc.), and then present them with brief descriptions of each. These are easy to pull together, very informative, and many times actually have a number (ex. 12 Types of Online Content You Can Write) within the title. Bottom line: people love their lists.

The Round-Up Article

The round-up article is similar to the list article. In the round-up, you select one topic and then go out and grab everything you can on it — news, opinion, stats and other data, advice, forecasts, etc. You’re basically giving the reader a broad pallet of information from various sources on the topic, so they don’t have to go out and find it themselves.

The Interview Article

Interviews are great in that the subject does most of the heavy lifting for you. Start with three to ten questions (depending on how lengthy you expect the answers to be), and the interviewee will provide the rest. You can do these face to face or via email, and if you’re interested in dabbling with audio or video for your site, this is a great content format to do that.

The Trivia Article

Another popular form that is easy to research, the trivia article pulls together a variety of facts, many times quirky, on a particular topic.

The History Piece

Everything has a history, a tale or trail that got it to where it is today, be it products, places or people (the latter we call biography). Interesting facts about where something (or someone) came from or how it got to be where it is today always make for interesting copy.

The Inspirational Piece

These are usually in essay form, often using a first-person narrative, that provides hope or encouragement to readers. The inspirational article builds off the fact that we all face very similar things as we make our way through life. Leaning how someone else has overcome difficulties we’re now facing (or will face) can be a great source of comfort and strength. Many times the inspirational piece will end with links to additional coping resources.

The Assessment Article

More to do list than article, the assessment piece comes largely in the form of a checklist that people can download and print out, or just print from the webpage itself. The assessment article lets people more easily evaluate some aspect of their lives and gives tips for improving the same.