I’m not terribly good at most things online except one.
I’m not a crackerjack marketer. I can’t write sales copy. I have no eye for graphic design. I can’t code.
It’s surprising I’ve been able to carve out a living online.
Yet despite all my weaknesses, I’m fairly good at one thing. That one thing is being able to come up with tons of sound content topics within my niches and then put together in-depth outlines so that the topic is covered well.
Some of this content I write entirely; most I outsource. I’ve learned over time that the better the instructions and more detailed the outline, the better outsourced content I’ll receive.
Fortunately, content is an important part of websites and so it’s served me well.
There are times I wish I could write better copy or code better or design better websites because there may be a better business opportunity with those skills. However, those aren’t my strengths so I focus on what I’m good at which is planning out and publishing lots of content (and I mean lots of it).
Another important point is I’m certainly not the best writer. I’m a passable writer, yet that’s sufficient. In fact, it works well in non-fiction content (i.e. niche sites) because people visit and read websites for information, and providing information in an organized and thorough manner is my strength.
Over time, I strive to publish the best content possible and do so in as systemic way as possible, I’ve come up with several “content enhancers” that can be applied to most content.
The following I set out and explain 22 different types of content that make up articles.
Please note that the following are content options that form part of articles. If you’re looking for article concepts for your blog, check out my list of 40 types of articles here.
22 Content Enhancing Ideas
Here are some ideas on how you can enhance your content:
1. Add Facts
I love this technique. I forget to do it way too often, yet as a reader of websites, I love it when they toss in some interesting facts regarding the topic. You’ve probably seen this done… you’re reading along and then there’s a little box or highlighted text with an interesting fact on the subject. I love this and so I do it occasionally. It’s a great way to enhance your content.
Mind you, this won’t add piles of words to your content, but it will make it more interesting.
Here’s an example:
- Cost to implement: $0
2. Add a quote or two
If you can find a terrific quote or two relevant to the topic, put it in the article. This is an easy and fast way to make your content more interesting.
TIP: you might consider putting the quote in an image so that people can pin it. Quotes are a very popular type of pin.
Example:
“Making money from blogging requires you to do only two things: drive a lot traffic, then maximize the income from that traffic.” John Chow
- Cost to implement: $0
3. Data (Charts and Tables)
This is something I’ve added to quite a bit of content in my niche sites extensively in 2017. In fact, when I can get my hands on enough data, I create dedicated data-focused articles.
TIP: Leverage data by adding it to many blog posts
If you’re able to get plenty of data in your niche and create dozens or hundreds of tables or charts, you can incorporate bits and pieces in many articles. This enhances each article.
What is data?
Data is usually in the form of numbers such as statistics, volume, percentages, etc. Within every niche there is loads of data. The trick is finding accurate sources.
Collateral benefit of data
Charts and tables can attract links. I publish my charts as images and if another site uses it, chances are they’ll source it with a link.
What if you can’t find data?
Get your own.
How?
Create piles of polls and collect responses. Use those responses as your data from which you can create tables and charts. If you have an email list, you can create surveys and have them fill it out. That too is excellent data.
Each niche is different, but when you turn your attention to gathering and finding data relevant to your niche, you’ll soon learn that there is a goldmine of information you can use, leverage and publish about that your audience will love.
Example:
Auto niche:
The amount of interesting data you could write about is crazy. You could compile tables of vehicle sales volumes, recall information, car accident data, horsepower comparisons, 0 to 60 mph comparisons, popular colors and so much more. All of this is information people interested in cars would want to read.
Each niche is different, but turn your attention to what kind of information the industry would collect. A really good starting point is the annual reports produced by publicly traded companies within the niche. These reports are a wealth of information. Get all the annual reports for all the companies in the niche and you’ll be swimming in reliable data (unless they’re cooking the books).
- Cost to implement: $0 to 1,000s. Depends on how much research is involved and who does it. If you outsource it, it could cost a lot of money but it could be worth it if you get a lot of data that you can incorporate into many posts.
IMPORTANT: In my course I have a video tutorial which shows you how you can get unique data for pretty much any article in any niche and then turn that data into a great chart in minutes. I do this across most of my sites. This is just one more really great way to incorporate fantastic content on your site that attracts links naturally.
4. “Pros and Cons” Section
You can add a Pros and Cons section to many article topics. What I like about the “Pros and Cons” addition is it’s a very high-value snippet of info.
You can keep it short or make it expansive.
If you find the Pros and Cons section turns into 350+ words, you might consider publishing a stand-alone article focusing on the pros and cons. You can link to it from the article in which you considered inputting the pros and cons.
- Cost to implement: $0
5. Photo gallery
If you’re in a visual niche, add a photo gallery if possible. If it’s a massive photo gallery, you may want to add a few images and then link to a dedicated photo gallery.
Cost to implement: $0 to $100. Depends on which photo gallery tool/plugin you use.
6. Additional Resources Section
This chunk of info could be many things including:
- Links to cornerstone content;
- Links to related articles on your website;
- Links to related articles on other websites;
- Links to relevant products and/or services; and/or
- Suggested books for further investigation.
Cost to implement: $0
7. Poll and/or Quiz
I love polls and quizzes on websites. I enjoy taking them and I enjoy offering them to readers. Fortunately these days there’s many software options to create really good polls and quizzes. I like Opinionstage, but Thrive Themes and MyThemeShop also have solid options.
I have polls and quizzes displayed site-wide as well as very specific polls and quizzes for individual articles. My site has tons of these. To date, I’ve had 92,000+ poll votes plus thousands of people take the quizzes.
Here’s a poll example:
[socialpoll id=”2440852″]Here’s a recent summary screenshot of my Opinionstage polls/quiz software account:
- Cost to implement: $0 to $100+. It depends on which software platform you use. I have a business subscription with Opinionstage which costs me $99 per month which is probably a lot more than you need to get started.
8. Table of Contents
Whenever I have more than 5 headings, I add a table of contents toward the top of my posts. I use Table of Contents Plus plugin. I love table of contents as a reader of longer articles and so I figure my readers will appreciate it as well.
At the top of this post you can see an example of the Table of Contents Plus plugin in action.
- Cost: $0 (free plugin).
9. Summary
If your article is extensive, it never hurts to write a summary at the top. That’s a nice way to give readers the bird’s eye view of the article.
- Cost to implement: $0
10. Social Media Embeds
Plenty of large sites do this regularly, especially for news. They’ll include Twitter posts or FB posts or Instagram posts that support or enhance the news item.
Twitter embed example:
Content is King! How to write better content in 13 steps. #DigitalMarketing #SocialMedia #ContentStrategy #storytelling #ContentExperiments pic.twitter.com/louwEA3PhA
— FireTap (@FireTap_Digital) May 9, 2017
- Cost to implement: $0
11. Videos
This is too obvious, but I’ll include it because it really is a great way to add a ton of value to an article. You can embed YouTube videos anywhere to make your article better.
YouTube embed example:
- Cost to implement: $0
12. “Cost” Section
You can discuss the “Cost” of a topic more often than you think.
For example, I could finish this article with a “How much does doing this cost?” or I could add that to each individual item in this list. For this article, the best option would be to add the “cost” to each item in the list because each will vary.
However, if your article discusses something in a more singular fashion, you can discuss cost generally at the end
Example: Auto niche
Suppose you cover cars that go from 0 to 60 mph in under 5 seconds, you could discuss cost extensively. In this case the cost will be high because those are mostly high performance cars which cost more. You could present cost as a range and explain briefly the differences in price. If you get sufficient data, you could create a chart measuring cost agains 0 to 60 mph. I’m sure there’s a correlation that could be charted between the higher the cost, the lower the time for a car to get to 60 mph.
- Cost to implement: $0
13. FAQ Section
This is a classic and it’s one I do a lot, including on Fat Stacks.
Almost any topic could have an FAQ section added. In some cases you’ll regurgitate information buried in the article and highlight it as a question and answer. In other instances, your questions and answers may be information not included in the main article.
Regardless, the FAQ is a great way to provide concise and helpful information to readers.
- Cost to implement: $0
14. “What is it?” or Definitions Section
You never want to assume your readers know what you’re talking about. Many article topics could include a “what is it?” or “Definition” section to help clarify the concept or terms.
Example:
Content (def.): something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing, or any of various arts [source: Dictionary.com].
15. “How-To” Section
Usually this would make up an individual article because how-to topics are usually fairly lengthy; however, in some cases it may be simple and may fit in nicely in a longer article.
TIP: Any time you want to include a how-to section, check YouTube for a video too. I find there are how-to videos on pretty much everything.
- Cost to implement: $0
16. Personal Story / Anecdotes
I think this is a highly overlooked way to personalize what are usually fairly mundane topics. My niches aren’t super exciting but the information helps people. Most websites offer the info in a fairly dry manner so one thing I do often (not always, but often) is kick off the article or gallery with a personal anecdote or example of how the topic applies to me. This turns dry content into something more personal. I also enjoy writing these types of intros much more than the usual boring intros.
In fact, I instruct all writers to not include an intro. This saves me money on word count and it gives me a chance to personalize the article, which only takes a few minutes to do.
Frankly, writing services are decent at writing on concrete topics but are usually bad at writing engaging introductions.
- Cost to implement: $0
17. Dress Up Images so They’re More Informative
If your article is even a bit visual, you can mark up photos with arrows and text to help explain or inform. This takes a bit of time to do, but when it’s applicable, it’s a huge value-ad.
I actually do these myself. I don’t worry about making it beautiful. I just open an image editor on my Mac and add text with arrows.
If you’re a perfectionist (I’m clearly no perfectionist) or you’re way too busy to do this, then hire a graphic artist or get on board with DesignPickle to do this for you.
Cost to implement: $0 to $370 per month+. DesignPickle costs $370 per month, but if you cranked out several of these each month it could well be worth it. Hiring a graphic designer could cost more (or less).
18. Graphic Version of the Post
I’ve started doing these for my longer posts with plenty of images and sections. The graphic is a synopsis of the content with a focus on the images but includes the headings and in some cases some of the text.
I pin these. I guess you could call this an infographic, but my approach is to basically turn the post into a graphic.
Cost to implement: $0 to $1,000s+. It all depends on who you get to create the graphics.
19. Editor’s Comments
I noticed that Authority Hacker does this when they have guest writer do the content. I think it’s super smart and highly effective because it reads a bit like a conversation.
Obviously this only works when it’s a guest post or it’s publicly made known that it’s not you who wrote the article. Of course you could make it look like 2 people contributed as well to incorporate this effect.
Basically you just add highlighted sections, often in the form of a content box where you indicate it’s an Editor’s Comment and then you add your own insight or praise or criticism or personal story to that part of the article.
This could easily be done for every article simply by manufacturing the effect. You the writer write the article. You the editor, comment on it. It’s a great format and technique.
- Cost to implement: $0.
20. Expert Opinion or Quote
Almost any article could benefit from the input of an expert in the field. It could be a short answer or longer contribution.
One huge benefit about links being so valuable for SEO is that whenever you need a contribution to your article, your offer of a link to the them is a very good incentive. Unless they are totally clueless about SEO, most people will be delighted to provide a 2 paragraph answer to a question in return for a link.
When you contact experts, especially if small business owners or professionals, you might consider briefly explaining that you’ll provide a link to their site and that such links are good for helping getting ranked higher in Google search rankings.
21. Embed a Map
If your content includes mention of a location, why not embed a Google map? It’s free and takes about 30 seconds yet can be a very helpful chunk of content for your readers.
22. Add product tables
This isn’t a new idea, but it is a good idea for content that discusses multiple products. I do this for quite a bit of product-oriented content.
My favorite tool for doing this is Table Labs by Spencer Haws. Here’s what the tables look like:
Dark blue:
White (my preferred color scheme):
I’ve tried many, many Amazon product plugins. Table Labs is my favorite for tables because, and this is important – display ads do not get inserted into the table. Other Amazon product embed tools can end up with AdSense ads getting inserted into them so that they look terrible.
Table Labs just creates tables and does so really, really fast. I love this tool and use it quite a bit.
I wrote an in-depth Table Labs review here.
How long should your content be?
As long as it takes for it to be great. I routinely publish 400-word articles as well as 4,000-word articles. It all depends on the content and its purpose.
Chris Lee wrote a terrific article on content length here.
The longer that I build my niche content business, the less I follow purported “rules” and instead just do what makes sense. When content needs to be extensive in order to do what I intend it to do, I publish long, detailed articles. When 400 words does the job along with a few photos, so be it.
FYI, in my niche there’s a new big player that is absolutely killing it in the search engines with 350 to 500 word content. Granted, they were able to leverage tens of thousands of links from other sites they control which kinda sucks to be up against, but I appreciate noticing that they’re killing it with short content. While it’s short content, it’s still very good and almost always delivers on the the title, so it deserves solid rankings.
2,000 Words Ain’t that Hard Now, Is It?
If you incorporate all of the above plus the actual meat of your content, you can see it isn’t all that hard to write expansive, high-value content each and every time.
The above is my laundry list I incorporate over and over and over. Mind you, I don’t incorporate all of the above in every article; I only include what makes sense to include. I often use much of the above to enhance guest post contributions as well as content written by other writers. Because I have a list of content enhancers at my disposal, it doesn’t take all that long to dramatically improve my content.
Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.
Really great article, thanks Jon. A question about pros and cons… say you are writing a long top ten product post on a niche site, is it wise to list pros and cons? Would a potential buyer be put off from purchasing the product if cons were listed?
I am curious because I am creating a fairly simple niche site and had a pros and cons section in my plan, dont know if you’ve used them in any of your niches that link to product through say amazon?
Hey Niall,
I would definitely list pros and cons for all products. There’s nothing wrong with cons. Readers will appreciate the fact you recognize each product isn’t perfect.
Another great post Jon… much appreciated!
I’ve never done a pro and con section, but clearly that is appropriate for almost any significant article. DUH…
I never come away from this site without at least one really good action step to impliment.
Thanks again
==>Jim Van Wyck
Jon is a man blessed with fingers resembling little fat sausages. A clumsy wordsmith, prone to rely upon only his forefingers to peck away his message.
How he delivers such useful information is a testament than anyone can win a gold medal in the Special Olympics of internet marketing.
Enjoyed the post.
Wow. Thats nice list, Jon. I have been using quotes and summary on most of blog posts. Infographic is something that is on the rise and can add value to your content too. Never tried polls and quizes. Looks like I need to look into it.
Hey Jon, excellent post all content writers should read. Quick question: besides the Thrive plugin, do you know of any plugins that can help add a little visual pizazz to posts? Thinking boxes, formatted pros/cons, highlighted quotes, etc.. nothing too fancy, just enough to visually break up the page and keep the reader from text overload.
Thanks!
Hey Erik,
There’s Elementor plugin and Beaver Builder. Both are like Thrive Content Builder.
Thanks Jon, will give them a look!
Hi Jon
Excellent post!
I am expecting an instruction template/email that you use to send to authors for writing articles.
It will be immensely helpful to all of us!
Thanks again!
Great article Jon!
On the point about make a Graphic Version of the article, do you have a guide for that?
Hey Brad,
No guide, sorry. If it’s a list-based article, it’s easily done with a collage in Canva or something similar.
“Content is the King” I heard this lots of time but this article explain this to me very well. Thanks.
Thank you for such a great article! Appreciate how much truly valuable content you readily share.
Awesome! Super helpful, fantastic post!
Great, thanks Now I will make a post that engages to audience.
After reading I learned a lot.
So helpful!
Thanks for sharing!