Some of the most successful content channels on YouTube, such as Buzzfeed, WatchMojo, Top Trending, and Screen Rant, have been utilizing a specific type of video as their main content for years, with great success.
The Listicle videos from these channels alone have accumulated over 7 billion views, showcasing their popularity.
By studying 137 viral videos with over 5 million views each, we have identified a winning formula that can be adapted into a customizable template for immediate use.
By implementing this strategy, you can start generating significant traffic similar to these channels.
What is a Listicle?
Listicles are essentially articles presented in a list format, making them easier for people with short attention to consume.
The simplicity and brevity of listicles make them quick to read and understand, leading to higher consumption rates.
Numbered lists also play into our natural inclination to finish tasks, keeping readers engaged until the end of the content.
This is crucial for boosting audience retention and driving traffic, especially in the competitive world of online content.
Despite their concise nature, listicles offer valuable information in an interesting and entertaining way, making them highly shareable and potentially viral.
Their ease of creation allows for a high volume of content production, with endless possibilities for new lists.
By following the steps outlined below, you can create engaging listicle videos that will attract traffic to your business effectively.
The Anatomy of a Listicle
A Listicle is made up of 4 Parts:
PART ONE: Compelling Title
PART TWO: Introduction
PART THREE: Bulleted List
PART FOUR: Call To Action
PART ONE: Title
All great Listicles start with a compelling title. It should be short, to the point and include a number, it should sound interesting or useful, and it’s a good idea to include a benefit if you can too.
EXAMPLE:
5 Kitchen Storage Solutions That Are Borderline Genius
5 Simple Plumbing Fixes You Can Do At Home
5 Common Mistakes Homeowners Make When Renovating
5 Questions You Need To Ask When Choosing A Kindergarten
5 Tricks Electricians Use To Save Energy And Money
Simply copy and paste one of the 42 pre-written headlines at the end of this document and fill in the blanks with your own content.
PART TWO: Introduction
The aim of your introduction is to briefly introduce the topic and mention any criteria that you’ve used in choosing the items on the list. Once again keep it short and sweet, 1-3 paragraphs is all you’ll need.
EXAMPLE:
Did you know that the average adult spends more than 3 years of their life in the kitchen? With so much time spent in this culinary workshop you’d expect it to function like a well oiled machine.
However, with most kitchens being so poorly optimized, the reality for most people is that preparing a meal can feel more like a tiresome game of Tetris as you juggle pots and pans, appliances and groceries that ooze from every cupboard.
So in this video we’ll show you 5 incredibly simple kitchen hacks you can apply in your house to better use the space you have, and transform your kitchen from a place you dread, into a well organized creative studio fit for a chef.
PART THREE: The List
The list makes up the bulk of your content, however don’t let that intimidate you. The beauty of the list is that each item is a little self-contained bite-sized piece. They’re short, only a few sentences each and are simple to write.
Ideally you should keep the list between 3-10 items. Less than 3 and it’s not much of a list. More than 10 and you’ll risk overloading your viewers.
Here’s the formula for each item in your list:
List Item #1
Step #1: State what it is:
Example: #1 The Pantry
Step #2: Add a few short sentences of commentary.
These could be interesting facts, things people don’t commonly know, the answer to a question, solution to a problem, or simply your personal opinion. All have been proven to work well.
EXAMPLE:
For most people the pantry is the most frequently used cupboard in the kitchen. Unfortunately though it can also be one of the most frustrating, with it’s deep shelves often forcing you to juggle multiple items from the front in order to access items at the back.
A great way to make every inch of your pantry easily accessible without sacrificing any usable space is to turn your shelves into drawers. This way you can simply pull
them out one at a time bringing every single item within easy reach.
You can then repeat this process for each list item. It’s important not to overthink it either, short and punchy will win every time.
List Item #2
EXAMPLE:
State List Item:
#2 The Dreaded Corner Cupboard
Add Commentary:
Quite possibly the most annoying space in your kitchen, the corner cupboard beneath your bench is home to vast amounts of painfully awkward space. This is because the front access point is disproportionately small compared to the overall storage area.
What you need is a simple way to get items from the back to the front, without having to get down on your knees and reach aimlessly into the abyss. A great way to do this is to add a Lazy Susan to each shelf, allowing you to rotate items to the front like a carousel. And you can pick these up for a few bucks at you local hardware store.
List Item #3
EXAMPLE
State List Item:
#3 Appliances
Add Commentary:
Whether you get by with just a toaster and a kettle or you collect them like they’re going out of fashion, there’s no escaping the fact that every modern kitchen will have at least a few. The problem, is that they take up tons of working bench space, and unless you’ve bought the expensive designer kind, they’re likely to make your
kitchen feel more like a stand at a swap meet, rather than a free flowing work space.
An elegant solution for making your appliances both easily accessible but at the same time easy to conceal, is to move them into a cupboard and convert the standard swing doors to retractable pocket doors. This way you’ll have unrestricted access to them when you’re using them, but when guests come over, hiding them is as simple as closing a door.
List Item #4
EXAMPLE:
State List Item:
#4 Pot Storage
Add Commentary:
Pots and pans are one of those things that you use just about every day, and if you’re like most people, you probably have them sitting inside a cupboard stacked on top of each other like a half finished game of Jenga. And each time you reach for one you risk the whole stack falling down in a symphony of clanging and banging.
A simple solution is to install a retractable hanging rack allowing you to pull them out like a drawer and pick the one you want with ease.
List Item #5
EXAMPLE
State List Item:
#5 Under The Kitchen Sink
Add Commentary:
Under the sink is a notoriously awkward space, mainly because of the plumbing required for draining water. However, just because this space harbors and obstacle
doesn’t mean it should be condemned.
By installing custom drawers that navigate the pipes (similar to those in the pantry) you can bring typically difficult to access bottles, brushes and sponges within an
arm’s reach. Another neat hack is to add small fold down flaps to the very top of this space, for even more convenient access to your sponges and brushes, which get used multiple times per day.
PART FOUR: Call to Action
If you’ve done a good job of the first 3 parts, this is where the traffic will start to flow. All you have to do is tell your viewers what you want them to do next.
As a baseline you should ask them to like, comment, or subscribe (to boost your engagement score), but you could also suggest watching your other videos or visiting your website.
Here are some suggestions:
EXAMPLE:
Subscribe, like, leave a comment.
To get more storage solution videos like this, hit the like and subscribe button, and leave a comment below to let me know what you’d like to see next.
Ask a question and request the answers be left in the comments.
Do you agree with our list? Join the discussion and let us know in the comments what you think…
Visit my website.
If you’d like help putting these cool ideas to work in your kitchen, get in touch via the link below, or call us on this number, we’d love to help you.”
Bringing it All Together
Now that you know how each section of the listicle works, copy and paste this template, and fill in the blanks to create your first listicle video script.
Swipe & Deploy Titles
5 ______ That Are Borderline Genius
5 ______ You Won’t Believe About ______
5 Simple ______You Can Do At Home
5 Proven Tips For ______
5 Facts You Won’t Believe About ______
5 Simple Tricks To ______
5 Mistakes People Make When ______
5 Common Mistakes ______ Make When ______
5 Tricks You Need To Know Before Attempting ______
5 Questions You Need To Ask Before Hiring a ______
5 Questions You Need To Ask When ______
5 Skills Every ______ Should Know About ______
5 Truths About ______
5 Secrets For Doing ______
5 Secrets For Achieving ______ Without Having To ______
5 Reasons Why ______ Don’t Use ______
5 Tricks To Free Yourself From ______
5 Ways To Bulletproof ______
How To Finally ______ In 5 Easy Steps
5 Hacks To Guarantee You Always ______
5 Hacks To Guarantee You Never Have To ______
5 Steps To Shortcut Your Way To ______
5 Tricks Pro ______ Use To Get ______
5 Tricks Pro ______ Use To Achieve ______
5 Tricks Pro ______ Use To Avoid ______
5 Simple Tricks Used By ______ To ______
5 Ways To Give yourself An Immediate Boost Before ______
5 Ways To Give yourself An Immediate Boost When ______
5 Ways To Give yourself An Immediate Boost After ______
5 Struggles ______ Have When ______ And What To Do About
It 5 Unwritten ______ Rules You Need To Follow When ______
5 Cool Things You Can Do With ______
5 Simple ______ Solutions For ______
5 Fastest Ways To ______
5 Most Incredible Facts About ______
5 Best Places To Go When ______
5 Ways To Know When You’ve ______
5 Most Popular Things To Do When ______
Top 5 Things ______ Do When ______
5 Ways To Motivate Yourself When ______
5 Things You Probably Don’t Know About ______ But Should
5 Lies About ______
How To Avoid ______ In 5 Simple Steps
5 Ways To Shortcut ______
5 Things To Do Before ______
So you now have a “fill in the blanks” formula to crank out scripts for hundreds of engaging traffic-pumping listicle videos…
