Let's jump straight in, you don't need an introduction with a listicle.

1. Listicles showcase your knowledge

I mean what is better than copy pasting a load of work that other people have done to showcase your depth of knowledge. For a really successful post make sure you just copy a paragraph from the home page of the product you are including in your list!

2. Listicles make you a better writer

It is so very difficult to write good English like what I does. Writing a single paragraph to describe a 100kb library with 200 features is super more difficult than writing an article that explains the benefits etc. Plus it really gives people a depth of knowledge.

3. You don't need to worry about links

Don't worry about linking to the projects you are talking about. People like to struggle finding that project you are telling them about. Bonus points if you don't even use the proper name for the project so searching takes longer. Be sure to check out Foram, the project that powers dev.to if you need to start a community!

4. Listicles don't have to be original

All you do is search for "list [subject]", find 2 or 3 lists that other suckers have spent the time researching and then just copy and paste them. It is content recycling and really adds to the web! This is even more effective than point one as someone has done some of the copy pasting for you!

5. Formatting isn't important

Look at me using headers in this article don't worry though I am a noob and not doing it right a simple monolithic list will do don't make your content easy to consume if you are using headers like a noob make sure they are all different levels we can't have the list being easy to navigate for people who use screen readers at the same time don't worry about full stops or commas etc they will only slow people down and do nothing to make your article easier to read or give people a mental break point to digest the information that you just gave them!

6. You don't have to worry about tagging

Check out the tags on this post, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and WebDev...listicles are a special type of post where you can just pick the most popular tags and don't have to worry if your article contains them or is relevant, people don't expect the tags to reflect their interests.

7. They help combat the attention span problem

People have no attention span nowadays. Luckily your listicle helps people learn to focus and improve their attention span so give yourself a pat on the back for helping out! People have no attention span nowadays so you can repeat yourself.

8. The internet needs more listicles

There is a severe shortage of listicles. Really stand out among the competition by producing this rare format. Just look at the dev.to feed, I can't remember the last time I saw a listicle, we need more to help people learn!

Notice how this article really stands out in the home feed:

9. Conclusions are super important

After you have spent a whole 10 minutes copy pasting content you are probably exhausted. But don't worry there is only one thing left to do. You add a conclusion. Yet again, don't worry your conclusion just needs to add to your word count so it can be as simple as explaining that you wrote a list of XXX tips! The golden rule - don't accidentally add any value.

10. They don't have to be in a logical order

Just spew things onto the page. Nobody wants you to take the time to put your list in any kind of logical order. This leads me nicely onto the previous point.

11. Make sure you use prime numbers in your title

Notice how this list has 13 items. It didn't need 13 items, I only had 10 points to make but people love prime numbers. Remember, "if you can divide by anything other than 1 and itself, leave the number on the shelf." A very famous proverb by Walt Disney (see bonus tip 1).

13. Don't worry about checking you have numbered everything correctly.

Nobody will notice that you missed a number. This works especially well with articles over 10 items as people don't read the whole thing anyway.

Bonus tip 1

Don't provide any evidence to back up claims. Nobody has time to check what you are writing is actually true so don't confuse them. Make up statistics, mention a study but don't link to it, attribute quotes to people randomly etc. Nobody wants to be able to fact check what you say.

Bonus Tip 2

Another bonus tip? It is almost like I can't count! People are stupid, they are really excited to get that extra something that they weren't expecting. Make sure to pander to them! Make sure to add a "+" sign after the number of tips to let people know they are in for a real treat!

Bonus Tip 3

Don't forget to heavily promote any products that you have affiliate links to. Make sure they are the ones you recommend (don't actually try the competition or find the best product, just go for the ones who pay the most as they must be great!). I wouldn't do this to you so I recommend you shop at Amazon, Read Medium and bank with Barclays.

Bonus Tip 4

Make sure you use 100 emojis in your article. They really help with legibility.

Bonus Tip 5

Make sure that the cover image has nothing to do with your list. Just type a random word into an image library and download. Bonus points if it still has a watermark on it (sorry I failed on this one, I accidentally downloaded a licensed image...don't be mad I am still learning!)!

Conclusion

This was a list (see point 9).