What HubSpot's Highest Performing Blog Posts Have in Common & Why These Elements Work

By mbretous@hubspot.com (Martina Bretous)

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Wondering what elements make up a successful blog post? We reviewed our top 8 blog posts on the Marketing Blog in 2022.

Traffic-wise, each of these posts has received over 500,000 organic views since publishing and earns at least 40,000 views monthly.

Let’s see what they have in common and what marketers can learn from them.

1. Eye-Catching Headlines

What you’ll notice with all of our top-performing posts is that they have an attention-grabbing headline.

Some of the components of an eye-catching headline are:

Numbers
Action verbs
Descriptive adjectives

In 2013, Moz ran a study that found that articles with numbers in the headlines outperformed those that didn’t. Our data suggests that the same is still true nearly a decade later.

All but one of our top-performing posts features numbers, at the beginning of the headline. One reason why numbers are effective is that they set expectations. Blog posts can be a bit overwhelming and when you add a number in your post, it removes some uncertainty and lets the reader know exactly what they’ll get.

2. Descriptive Intros

When a user lands on your blog post, the first thing they’ll likely read is your introduction.

Your intro should cover three areas:

Who this article is for or about
What will be covered in the article
Why the reader should care

Your intro can also be a good place to present a new piece of data or an anecdote that leads into your topic. You can also present a situation or a question that invites the reader to keep reading.

For instance, the 20 of the Best Professional Bio Examples We’ve Ever Seen [+ Templates] post starts by posing a question: “Be honest, does your professional bio make a statement?”

From there, the writer outlines a common challenge that many readers have likely experienced and then highlights the importance of a professional bio.

There are so many ways to approach an intro but as long as it covers those three Ws and has an empathetic lens, it will surely keep your readers engaged.