As a content marketer, you know that growing your email list is one of the most important things you can do for your business. And, with online marketing, it’s easier than ever to build your list. But, how do you create the ultimate guide? How do you make it the best possible guide?
Few things are as effective and as well-known as a list building guide, and yet hardly anyone uses them to their full potential. I have always been a big advocate of using free guides to build a list, but even then, few people do.
These days, there are so many content authoring tools available that it can be hard to find the right one to build your marketing list with. There’s WordPress for the blogger looking for a simple platform, there’s Squarespace for the professional who wants a fully featured website, and there’s even a tool for that one person on your team who has a special interest. What about the moonlighting freelancer or DIY blogger who needs something a little different?. Read more about how to guides examples and let us know what you think.
There are numerous ultimate guides available. You’ve probably read a few, and maybe even written a few yourself.
They can be a terrific way to gain visitors, establish connections, and boost your authority, but they’re not easy to put together. The overwhelming volume of content available nowadays is the problem that most individuals face. How can you write an ultimate guide if your chosen topic already has a plethora of posts?
In this article, we’ll go over how to make the ultimate guide on almost everything.
What Is the Purpose of an Ultimate Guide?
What transforms a long blog post into a comprehensive guide? Well, practically every comprehensive guide has a few things in common:
- It delves into a wide range of topics.
- It is divided into multiple chapters that examine the subject from various perspectives.
- It is written by an industry expert or researcher.
Apart from that, you have complete control over what you include in your ultimate guide and how it is designed.
Why Should You Write an Ultimate Guide?
Here’s why you should start making ultimate guidelines right now if you don’t already know how powerful they are.
Rank for a Variety of Keywords
Ultimate guides are a terrific tool in your SEO armory because of their length, depth, and authority. Because they are so thorough, they should be able to rank for a large number of keywords. Internal links to your other blog pieces also help them rank higher.
Obtain Backlinks
An ultimate guide, for example, might be a good source of links because it is a large, in-depth resource. Not only can you utilize it to request a backlink as part of your link-building strategy, but it also encourages other sites to link to an authoritative resource. So much so that your ultimate guide will continue to generate links for years.
Build Your Credibility
Few pieces of marketing collateral are more effective at establishing your brand as an industry authority than an ultimate guide. This is your chance to show the world how much you know about your subject and to go above and beyond what has already been written about it.
How to Choose Your Ultimate Guide’s Topics
For many prospective authors, deciding on a theme is a major roadblock. But don’t get too caught up in the details. Here’s how to rapidly locate the ideal topic.
Choose a topic that you are familiar with.
This first point is self-evident, yet it must be stated. If you want to produce a great guide, you need to know everything there is to know about your subject. That isn’t to say you can’t hire a freelance writer to assist you; nevertheless, you should give them a detailed brief and build the guide’s framework yourself.
Choose a topic that has a lot of search traffic.
Although not every guide should be prepared with the goal of ranking in Google, it can significantly aid in driving traffic and generating sales. That’s why I propose using a service like Ubersuggest to view the keyword volumes of the main topic as well as the volumes of any other connected keywords.
However, don’t merely choose a topic based on the major term with the largest search volume. You might discover that a different topic has so many more related keywords that it generates more traffic overall.
Choose a topic that is currently popular.
When you write ultimate instructions regarding hot topics, you’ll have a lot of success. When people are enthusiastic about a subject, they want to learn everything they can about it. Your guide should also be included.
However, it isn’t the only reason you should pay attention to what’s popular. If someone is looking for posts from the last week, month, or year, the newer your post is, the better it will appear in search results.
How to Make an All-Inclusive Guide
It’s time to go to work on your guide now that you’ve decided on a theme. Here’s how I suggest you go about doing it.
1. Take in as much information as possible
Even if you’re an expert in your field, you should read blog entries about your subject before you begin writing. This will assist you grasp the present level of content, the common threads that writers use, and the points you need to make.
Pay attention to the Google search results as well. You’ll notice that certain formats are more popular than others, and you should aim to follow suit when composing your content.
2. Determine What Is Missing
Make a list of everything that’s lacking from other people’s postings while you’re reading it. If you’re writing a how-to, go through the steps yourself after reading other people’s posts.
Then, as you go through the process, jot down anything you observe that others may have overlooked or not fully described. It may also be beneficial to sit down with someone who is unfamiliar with your issue and ask them questions.
3. Conduct research
You can produce an ultimate guide based solely on your knowledge, but if you undertake your research, you can make it stand head and shoulders above the competition.
For some, it’s a case of polling their colleagues and contacts for their thoughts on a certain subject. Others may prefer to invest in more in-depth research and work with a market research firm to conduct a study on their behalf.
The more time and effort you put into your study, the more useful and linkable your ultimate guide will be.
4. Put everything together
Simply combine the essentials with the additional details you discovered were missing from other postings and your study to create the ultimate guide. This manner, folks who are reading your guide for the first time will get all of the basic information, but those who have read a lot of other guides will be astonished by all of the missing bits that you provided.
5. Always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always,
No one will read an ultimate guide if no one reads it. Given how much time and effort you put on your ultimate guide, you owe it to yourself and your readers to properly advertise it. To do so, follow these steps:
- Share it on all of your social media platforms, with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn being the most popular. If at all feasible, promote it on your personal and professional channels.
- Sharing it in social media groups: LinkedIn, for example, has some excellent groups on a variety of themes. There are plenty on Facebook as well, albeit many are full of spammers who are only there to promote their products. This will broaden your guide’s reach beyond your personal network to include all members of the groups you choose.
- If you have a mailing list, let them know about your latest and greatest piece of content by emailing them.
- Repurposing your content: You may distribute your ultimate guide even further if you convert it into an infographic, video, slide presentation, or PDF document.
4 Ways to Make a Fantastic Ultimate Guide
Keep these four writing guidelines in mind if you want to take your ultimate guide to the next level.
Write in a clear and professional manner.
You don’t have to be Ernest Hemingway to create a great ultimate guide, but you should learn from him about clarity. Short, straightforward, and snappy phrases win out in this situation, especially when writing thousands of words on your subject. Long, winding paragraphs may assist you in conveying your message, but they will merely cause the reader’s mind to wander.
In this case, formatting will also help. Your guide will be much easier to read if the titles and subheadings are clearly identified. Short paragraphs will also enough. Remember that the majority of your audience will be reading your advice on a screen, so think about how they’ll skim it for the information they need.
Include screenshots and images.
Good screenshots are something I occasionally find lacking in other ultimate tutorials. Instead of using generic stock photographs, take yours using your own account of the topic. Others will be able to follow along and visualize the process more easily as a result of this.
Use Real-Life Case Studies
Look for some good examples of your tips in action once you’ve nailed down the fundamentals and missing components for your ultimate guide. Include some examples from sites in various industries if you’re talking about how to make amazing timeline cover photographs.
Link to top Pinterest users who are doing things well if you’re talking about using Pinterest to boost traffic. Consider your target audience and come up with instances that they can easily relate to, so they feel compelled to follow your advise in order to succeed.
Don’t take a break from your hard work.
There is a lot of advice out there that suggests you should split up large pieces into series so that visitors would return to your website again and again. When someone comes across a piece of content that states 101 Tips on and the post only has steps 1–20 with the promise of more to come, I find that they move on to find what they need elsewhere.
People do not want to wait for knowledge; they want it quickly. They’ll expect everything in one go when they see the words “ultimate guide,” so unless you’re aiming to write 5,000+ words on a topic, keep everything in one piece.
Great Ultimate Guides Examples
There are many excellent ultimate guides available, but these are a few of my personal favorites.
The Ultimate Startup Marketing Guide
If you’re wanting to expand your startup, I’m confident you’ll find my comprehensive guide to be really useful.
The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Logo
There’s no need to read another tutorial before producing your logo because this one has 12 chapters and covers almost every perspective.
The Complete Guide to Shopping Cart Abandonment
If you’ve ever wondered why customers abandon your website during the checkout process, this comprehensive guide from VWO will provide all the answers.
The Ultimate Guide to Writing & Illustrating Your First Children’s Book
As this guide by Eevi Jones demonstrates, ultimate guides don’t have to be about marketing.
How to Decide on a Career
While Tim Urban doesn’t call this an ultimate guide, you won’t find a more thorough or detailed blog article about choosing a career anywhere else on the internet.
Additional Ultimate Guides Resources
By no means is this a comprehensive list. Check out these five resources if you want to learn more about generating high-quality long-form content:
- HubSpot’s How to Create an Ebook From Start to Finish
- Copyhackers’ Ultimate Guide Template
- Express Writers’ Ultimate Guide to Writing an Ultimate Guide (Infographic)
- Search Engine Journal’s The Ultimate Guide to Creating a True ‘Ultimate Guide’
- Marketing Insider Group’s The Ultimate Guide To Content Promotion
How to Write Specs for a Comprehensive Guide
You don’t have to create your own ultimate guide. If you’re employing a freelance writer to write your guide, here’s how to make a brief that they can easily follow.
- Give a high-level overview.A high-level overview can assist a writer in rapidly grasping the topic and objectives of the ultimate guide.
- Make a structure that is easy to understand.Take charge of the situation and create an outline that includes all of the important points you want the writer to cover. This ensures that all of the holes in other pieces of content are addressed.
- Include keyword research in your plan.If one of your main aims is to enhance your rankings, make a list of the keywords you want to rank for.
- Make a note of or a record of your knowledge.Make notes for the writer to advise them where necessary. You can also record yourself talking about the subject.
- Additional resources should be provided.Make a list of a few high-quality resources that your writer can use for inspiration.
- Make a deadline for yourself.An ultimate guide will take much longer to write than a typical blog post.
Frequently Asked Questions: The Ultimate Guide
What should the length of my ultimate guide be?
Although there is no set length for an ultimate guide, most are at least 3,000 words long.
What is the best way to get my ultimate guide in front of my target audience?
To get your ultimate guide in front of your target audience, you can use social media and email.
Is it necessary for me to produce multiple ultimate guides for my website?
Absolutely. Ultimate guides provide a lot of value in terms of SEO and authority building, so write as many as you can.
Where are ultimate guides most beneficial in the funnel?
Ultimate instructions can be utilized at any point in your funnel, but they’re most effective at the very top. They’re fantastic at drawing people into your funnel and converting them into email subscribers.
Conclusion on How to Create Ultimate Guides
Ultimate guides are a very useful marketing tool. I’ve utilized them to drive massive amounts of traffic, establish myself as an industry authority, and boost the SEO of my site.
If you follow the tips I’ve provided, you’ll be well on your way to accomplishing your content goals while also offering useful information on your chosen topic.
Do you have a comprehensive guide on your website or blog? What more suggestions would you make to ensure the success of your ultimate guide?
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What is your true marketing goal? What are you trying to accomplish with your business? Are you making money? Are you growing the business? Are you building a community? Are you trying to educate? Are you trying to build a brand? You need to have a clear, goal-oriented business plan in place before you can successfully achieve it. **Goals: Write an intro paragraph for a blog post titled “How to Write a Good Hook to get Your Blog Readers to Read on” on a (writing) blog called “Good Writing” that is described as “Helpful writing tips, how-to articles, and sometimes reviews of writing-related software and other helpful writing items.”. Read more about the ultimate guide and let us know what you think.
