Write a great list with this listicle template

6 tips for crafting list articles, blog posts

People love listicles. Lists get attention, reach skimmers and scanners, get remembered and shared.

No wonder you see so many communicators write listicles and long-form list posts for their social media and content marketing streams. But not all listicle formats are created equal.

What format works best for listicles? No matter what type of listicle you’re writing, use this six-step template for formatting high-quality listicles and list articles:

1. List lists.

If you have a series of three or more items in a paragraph or sentence, make it a list. Take this example, from an FDA page on produce safety:

One way to make it easier to read is to simply hit Return between steps:

2. Don’t drop the bullet.

While web visitors look at 70% of the lists they encounter, according to Pernice, et al., they look at only 55% of lists without bullets. So add bullets:

“A few tiny dots attract the eye and can make a complex concept understandable,” writes Hoa Loranger, vice president at Nielsen Norman Group.

Numbering your list? Odd numbers perform better than even, according to data scientists. (29 is the optimal number for lists, claims Gilad Lotan. Others think shorter is better, but that depends on the type of post.)

3. Show the parts.

But simply adding bullets doesn’t make a list scannable. Add bold-faced lead-ins so skimmers can see at a glance what the list items are:

4. Show the whole

Now I know what the items on the list are. But what is this a list of? Add a subhead so skimmers can see the whole as well as the parts:

How to wash produce

• When preparing any fresh produce, begin with clean hands. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after preparation.
• Cut away any damaged or bruised areas on fresh fruits and vegetables before preparing and/or eating. Throw away any produce that looks rotten.
• Wash all produce thoroughly under running water before preparing and/or eating, including produce grown at home or bought from a grocery store or farmers’ market. Washing fruits and vegetables with soap, detergent or commercial produce wash is not recommended.
• Even if you do not plan to eat the skin, it is still important to wash produce first so dirt and bacteria are not transferred from the surface when peeling or cutting produce.
• Scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush.
• After washing, dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel to further reduce bacteria that may be present on the surface.

Now this list is a free-standing information package. Flippers and skimmers can get the gist of that message without reading every word.

5. Introduce the list.

Now add an intro to set up the list.

How to wash produce

To make sure your produce is free of pesticides and bacteria:

• When preparing any fresh produce, begin with clean hands. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after preparation.
• Cut away any damaged or bruised areas on fresh fruits and vegetables before preparing and/or eating. Throw away any produce that looks rotten.
• Wash all produce thoroughly under running water before preparing and/or eating, including produce grown at home or bought from a grocery store or farmers’ market. Washing fruits and vegetables with soap, detergent or commercial produce wash is not recommended.
• Even if you do not plan to eat the skin, it is still important to wash produce first so dirt and bacteria are not transferred from the surface when peeling or cutting produce.
• Scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush.
• After washing, dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel to further reduce bacteria that may be present on the surface.

6. Make the list parallel and tighten it.

Bonus points for creating a verb-based list.

How to wash produce

To make sure your produce is free of pesticides and bacteria:

• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after washing fruit.
• Cut away damaged or bruised areas. Throw away any produce that looks rotten.
• Wash produce under running water — even if you don’t plan to eat the skin — and regardless of whether you grew it at home, bought it at a grocery store or picked it up at the farmer’s market. Do not wash produce with soap, detergent or commercial produce wash.
• Scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush.
• Dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel to further reduce bacteria on your work surface.

Don’t overdo lists.

One reason lists are so effective is that they stand out.

Overusing formatting is “like wearing your best cocktail dress every day to the movies, work, the supermarket, and out to walk the dog,” write Pernice, et al. “By the time you wear it to a party, you and everyone else, including the dog, are sick of it.”

List everything, and you might as well list nothing.

Next steps

Find out how to format case studies, survey stories, tipsheets and other content marketing and inbound marketing pieces.

___

Sources: Hoa Loranger, “7 Tips for Presenting Bulleted Lists in Digital Content,” Nielsen Norman Group, April 9, 2017

Kara Pernice, Kathryn Whitenton, and Jakob Nielsen; How People Read on the Web: The Eyetracking Evidence; Nielsen Norman Group; Sept. 10, 2013