While link building may optimize your blog content for search engines and increase publicity for your blog, the success of a blog article also depends on how you tell your stories, or methods of narration.

What, then, are some of the more eye-catching types of blog articles that contribute to high page views and large numbers of inbound links?  

An analysis of the most popular blog articles published by HubSpot since 2006 found 6 types of articles that won support from a wide range of audiences.

1. Best Practices and Tips

Tens of thousands of people visited blog articles sharing best practices, and it is not surprising that best practices draw a big crowd. After all, who doesn't want to learn from others' experiences to avoid making similar mistakes and thus take short cuts? Needless to say, best practices become more convincing when offered by experts in corresponding industries, which, if widely read, can reciprocally raise the credibility of the blog writer or the company that he/she represents. In other words, sharing best practices is one way blog writing can achieve business promotion.

2. Involvement of Famous/Successful Professionals

Tips become even more credible when offered by acclaimed public figures. Their proven success adds weight to their words, and interpretive summaries of their advice are likely to work just as effectively, if not more so, as sharing your own expertise.

3. Data-Driven Analyses

Blog articles can succeed without the backing from renowned people as long as they are based on well-conducted data analyses. For example, empirical studies of thousands of small businesses regarding inbound marketing may prove helpful by providing small business owners an overview of current trends and helping them make more informed decisions on internet marketing strategies.

4. Guides on How To Do ______ More Efficently

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...there are so many social media sites that the simple phrase "site presence monitoring" ends up sounding formidable. A guide that teaches people to master social media by spending 10 minutes per day consequently helps break down the problem into concrete, manageable steps. Guides of the sort will likely sustain popularity in the context of a world loaded with more ideas, work, and thus a greater need for efficiency.

5. Comprehensives Guides to New/ Puzzling Technological Features

Though technology is becoming an increasingly important aspect of daily life, not everyone can understand newly emerged tech products as well as their developers do. At the same time, the rise of information technology and internet marketing encourages many to understand new tech features. What is RSS and what does it do? What are the new features of Facebook and how do they benefit businesses? Blog posts that provide comprehensive explanations and teach people how to utilize new features to their benefits are capable of drawing lots of attention.

6. Useful Information Presented in A Fun Way

It's true that people read blogs for resources and insights, but no one will hate the idea of having fun while doing serious learning. Four out of the 10 most widely read HubSpot blog articles in 2009 are fun-based: 3 cartoons and 1 music video. Of course, there are many other ways of making educational materials fun. Adding a bit of humor in your blog writing might be a good start.

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This list is, of course, not exclusive, and the eye-catchiness of blog articles may also depend on a viewer's profession, culture, and expectation. Your blogs will have a chance of achieving long-lasting success only if you devote time and efforts to observing preferences of your blog followers.

Photo: coincoyote on Flickr

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