Written on November 5th, 2009 at 01:11 am by Darren Rowse
14 Types of Stories You Can Tell On Your Blog
Yesterday we explored WHY stories can be such a powerful communication tool on your blog.
Today we’ll look at 14 types of stories that you might like to try on your blog.
14 Types of stories can you tell on your blog
- Personal Discovery Stories – tell how you discovered a lesson. These stories show your readers how similar you are to them and also might give some practical advice on how they might learn from your experience.
- Stories as Analogies and Illustrations – tell a story that on the surface has nothing to do with your topic but which illustrates a principle that is relevant.
- Success Stories – tell how you achieved something. These stories can be inspirational and motivating for your readers.
- Failure Stories – I find that these stories are incredibly powerful – particularly if you are able to show some lessons learnt through a failure.
- Tell Someone Else’s Story – sharing the journey of someone else and how/what they learned can be effective
- How I did it Stories – these practical stories can be effective because they talk your readers through a process in a relatable way
- Biographies – pick a key person in your niche and tell your readers that person’s story – pulling out useful parts that can be applied and used to enhance your readers lives.
- Autobiographies – tell your own story from start to finish. I’ve done this a couple of times (example) and find readers really respond well to it. It can also be something to link to from your About Page for further reading.
- Picture Stories – using images or video can be another great way of communicating a story because it engages the senses in a way that text can’t (similarly – audio posts/podcasts can do this too).
- Case Studies – quite often pulling apart someone else’s experience in a case study can be a powerful way to connect with readers. Similarly you can use your own story, or the story of a project, brand or company that you had something to do with can be useful.
- Fiction – if well written a made up and imaginative story can be a good way to lead into a post. You’ll probably want to come clean about the fact that it’s not true though :-)
- Reader Stories – ask your readers to tell you their stories/experiences on a topic. You might kick things off with a short one of your own but then quickly hand it over to others to share.
- Collective Stories – sometimes telling the story of a group of people, industry, niche etc can be very powerful. This might be presented as a ‘history of….’ your niche/industry which chronicles key developments over time. These pieces can almost become reference material for others in your industry.
- Imagine If…. Stories – another type of story that I’ve seen used well on occasion is one where you get your reader to imagine a hypothetical scenario that they are in. Here’s an example of this where I told a story in the 2nd person (with YOU the reader as the main character). These posts can be particularly useful for getting readers to FEEL something or to help them to understand that the problem that you’re writing about is one that is personal for them.
I’m sure there are plenty of other types of stories to tell. Feel free to suggest your own in comments below. I’d also love to see examples of where you’ve tried some of these story telling techniques (and others) as part of your blogging and to hear your stories of how they went!
80 Responses to “14 Types of Stories You Can Tell On Your Blog” - Add Yours
Sam Diener
November 5th, 2009 1:24 am
Love it. I have done a couple of these.
Emily-Sarah
November 5th, 2009 1:35 am
Having started a company (in pre-blog 1995) that, at the heart of every thing it does, helps people/companies/places tell their stories, this post is beyond excellent. As Muriel Rukeyser (American poet, political activist) said, “The universe is made of stories, not atoms.”
In the last few years we’ve seen how vital and POWERFUL stories are becoming, and this personalization and “connection” will only gain importance. Earlier this year Forbes.com published an article about “The Ceo as Storyteller in Chief.” This is true in business and with your own life story (on your blog, in talking with someone in the coffee shop, wherever and whenever). When you successfully share stories, you ratchet up potential connections and relationships with people.
Thanks for a great post to help people know how to share different kinds of stories in a variety of ways!
Guillermo
November 5th, 2009 1:38 am
Oops! Watch that title Mr. Rowse!
Alice Anderson
November 5th, 2009 1:38 am
How about memories and traditions? In my niche I often bring up family traditions. Most everyone can relate to those. And memories…I recently did a post why I didn’t dress up for halloween (the story explained why that was important to me.) and it got visitors talking.
Eat Smart Age Smart
November 5th, 2009 1:43 am
Darren,
It’s great that you are continuing this series on “story telling on your blog”.
I’m a big believer in story telling and to be honest my blog and the stories I tell on my blog have saved my life in the sense that my first blog started, in June 2007, at a moment of incredible personal, emotional, financial and career low for me.
The blog and my stories and knowing a few people were reading gave me a sense of existance … the blog allowed me not to feel so isolated/alone.
I quite like this point you make: “Failure Stories – I find that these stories are incredibly powerful – particularly if you are able to show some lessons learnt through a failure.”
Talking about failure is important because it helps show other people that success is NOT overnight and that sometimes success comes after MANY failures. I guess as long as you keeping learning everytime you fall flat on your face, then you should be moving forward.
I find it quite important to read that people I admire admit that it wasn’t always Champagne & Caviar and that they’ve had to work hard at getting where they are.
It gives me hope and keeps me going!
Krizia
lucy
November 5th, 2009 1:44 am
These are great suggestions. I really enjoy reading your articles bevause they are always informative and you don’t have spam/ads all over your page. Thanks!
DFDub
November 5th, 2009 1:45 am
Great article, but there the post is titled “14″ with “12″ in the subheading.
DFDub
November 5th, 2009 1:48 am
The fail story is probably the hardest one, since you have to admit to making a mistake… Going to make a solid effort to do this in a future post, if I ever make a mistake… :)
Jessica Nunemaker
November 5th, 2009 1:55 am
Check. Check. Check and hooray!
I’ve got these story-type posts in the bag. ;)
I’m sure this will serve as a good reminder and quick inspiration for writers block.
Gabe | freebloghelp.com
November 5th, 2009 2:03 am
Really nice looking list there! As a university instructor and keynote speaker, I find that telling stories is the best way to get through to my audience. I use the same tactics when I blog and have had pretty good success.
Often times, even if I have to take several minutes to tell a story just to deliver a quick punchline, I know it’s worthwhile since the lesson will be burned much deeper into their brains.
Kevin (strongandfit.net)
November 5th, 2009 2:03 am
Fantastic list. I think I can apply some of these to my fitness niche.
Kosmo @ The Casual Observer
November 5th, 2009 2:16 am
I write fiction every Friday on my web magazine ( http://www.observingcasually.com/category/weekly/fiction-friday/ ). We try to style ourselves as more of a magazine (along the lines of a New Yorker, with varied content). Fiction is just one of the many types of work feature each week.
Free Laptops
November 5th, 2009 2:18 am
I love reading personal stories, so that I can learn from the person’s mistake.
MAS
November 5th, 2009 2:20 am
Love the bit about the “How I did it” stories…
People really do want to know how others make things work – especially in making their dreams reality!
Thanks!
MAS
CathyWebSavvyPR
November 5th, 2009 2:45 am
Great post. Stories really help support the underlying premise of the Social Media trend, that making a connection has value.
During a #SmallBizChat Live call the other day @TPEntreprenuer said “those who make mony in social media, will be those that successfully build rapport.” Rapport leads to people wanting to know more, it leads to them taking that next step. Telling a genuine story, or helping someone else tell their own story, can make a concept easier to understand. We can often relate to some ideas better when couched in the form of a story.
FYI, In order to motivate myself and some of my fellow blogging people on Twitter, I have declared this to be #BtrBlogNov or Better Blog Month. Story posts are a great addition to the list of suggestions I’ve been collecting. Thanks.
We are focusing on content – taking one month to increase the Quality, Quantity & diversity/or focus of our blog posts. I will be linking to this post (as well as to your 31 Days to a better blog – both the posts and your ebook) for inspiration. We are doing just 3 exercises a week, to jump start our blogs.
@CathyWebSavvyPR
Matt
November 5th, 2009 2:58 am
I always find that How I did stories offer the best results on blogs. This is because it allows the audience to learn and ask questions about your experiences.
M
Jeffry Pilcher
November 5th, 2009 3:09 am
Darren,
Lately there seems to have been a lot of stories addressing writer’s block and other issues related to the act of writing.
I understand that writing is a central component of blogging, but these articles make the site feel more like a clinic for writers than for people who run blogs. The subject of writing feels very remedial. People can learn to write teh English good somewhere else — starting with public schools — but they can’t get what you specifically have to offer anywhere else. (What they didn’t teach me about blogging in college is a lot. Writing, on the other hand? Check.)
If someone is a sucky writer and/or struggles coming up with topics, you probably should bother blogging in the first place.
I would prefer to see articles here more focused on managing, marketing and monetizing blogs.
FYI – I checked the feed. This is a repeat post. Also, the title says “14 types” while the subhead says 12.
Donny Gamble
November 5th, 2009 4:00 am
Telling stories is important for branding and selling. If you don’t know how to tell a story to help someone relate to something, then you won’t be able to properly brand yourself. Everyone has their own unique story to share that I am sure at least one person on the earth will benefit from. So help someone else out by telling your story
Nathan
November 5th, 2009 4:10 am
Indeed, I found this kind of entries on my blog quite popular – people just love learning on someone else’s experiences.
Eric C
November 5th, 2009 5:54 am
Even if it is just the intro paragraph, a story sets up a good post. This advice is especially useful to how to posts, because we forget to do this.
Mike Skel
November 5th, 2009 7:48 am
I think, case studies are very important, specially in technical blogs. Case studies help establishing blogger authority as well as experience on the subject.
Ms. Freeman
November 5th, 2009 8:21 am
Currently I am blogging about my Journey in to Entrepreneurship and the failures and successes that come to light during the week. I find that there are more and more bloggers using the story methods as opposed to the “Term Paper” or “Just the facts” methods. I feel that may have to do with the youthfulness of bloggers and the free sprit that comes with that.
Needmoney.com
November 5th, 2009 9:14 am
Solid post. I’d add “interviews”.
Jackie Lee
November 5th, 2009 9:18 am
There’s something about telling stories, especially stories that involve YOU, something you’ve experienced, learned, or failed at that really brings readers in. It truly helps people get to know, like and trust you. I’ve seen this as the absolute truth on my blog. The more ME I allow in to my blog the more my readership grows, and the more my income grows because people trust that when I actually recommend something I’m not doing it just to make money but because it’s really something that will help them in their journey.
To Jeffry’s comment ~ you may know how to write, but a huge part of monetization ~ for me ~ was learning how to build this kind of relationship with my readers ~ and I did that by telling stories. Once I really “got” my income grew rapidly. It’s not so much about “ad placement” that made me money but really becoming a trusted adviser to my readers ~ and I did that by telling stories.
Jeffry Pilcher
November 5th, 2009 9:37 am
Jackie, my comment was not simply about this one post (which was posted twice). It’s a broader observation.
Broderick Durisseau
November 5th, 2009 10:10 am
I like this list. I never thought about telling fiction stories, but I’ll definitely give em a try. If constructed right I can see how those stories could really drive a point home.
Oleg Mokhov
November 5th, 2009 10:42 am
Hey Darren,
Stories are the most effective communication tool. Personal success and failure experience not only is helpful to readers, it also builds your credibility.
Your personal experience makes your article personal, so people in a similar situation can relate.
Your personal experience makes your article convincing. Your results shows that what you’re saying works – it’s not just an idea or theory. And your failures serves as lessons for readers, in addition to building up your honesty and credibility.
Thanks for your other suggestions, and just the overall reminder to continue telling stories and making them more personal.
Best,
Oleg
poorblogger
November 5th, 2009 11:21 am
Good tips.. Don’t take all of the method.. Just grab 3-4 method and elaborate it to become a great article
Taylor
November 5th, 2009 12:41 pm
Darren,
I stumbled upon your website from http://www.cenaynailor.com, she linked to your 21 blogging mistakes article. I wanted to comment on that one but it is old and closed. Anyway, your website is very informative, thanks for your posts.
To Jeff, perhaps you shold proof read your original post. Also, I visited your website and the menu’s are messed up. The search button and the contact button are merged. Not sure if you saw that but just thought I would let you know.
Annabel Candy
November 5th, 2009 1:39 pm
We all have to be story tellers these days to get people’s attention and maintain it. I’ve already tried Personal Discovery Stories, Analogies, Success Stories, Someone Else’s Story, picture stories and Bios in the form of interviews but plenty more ideas for other stories to be told here.
My only contention is the Failure Stories – If they’re about you I think you then have to show how you turned your faliure around into a success story! And how do you do that without coming across as boastful? It’s tricky….
Latoya
November 5th, 2009 3:22 pm
Thank you for sharing this post! You have given me some great ideas for sprucing up my story telling methods on my blog.
Rita
November 5th, 2009 3:50 pm
I’ve done eight of these. I’ll look for opportunities to do the other four.
Rita Blogging at The Survive and Thrive boomer Guide
Srinivas Rao
November 5th, 2009 4:20 pm
I’m glad to have read this since I”m about to publish a story about how I got held up at gunpoint after a high speed car chase in Tijuana, Yes it’s a true story :)
brenda engler
November 5th, 2009 5:41 pm
Hi i was wondering how much you would calculate to set your blog design up on my web blog for me, because i really like the look of your web logs but i don’t know how to build such a great design.
TheInfoPreneur
November 5th, 2009 7:16 pm
As like the rest of the crowd on here, I agree an excellent list, in a really easy to read style!
I tend to lean towards motivational and success stories with grab headlines.
Great Work Darren
TheInfoPreneur
Victoria
November 5th, 2009 7:22 pm
I truly appreciate your story emphasis as I’m about to start a blog site that will primarily be anecdotal stories. Developing this method truly causes us to connect with ourselves and our audience.
Spare Time Blogger
November 5th, 2009 7:33 pm
I think failure stories can have a tremendous effect, if you can also provide a positive outlook by showing what lessons can be learned. Obviously, it takes some courage to “strip down” in front of your audience, but chances are you will be rewarded.
Christine Holroyd
November 5th, 2009 9:23 pm
Hello Darren and thanks for this post. Came across it on Twitter today. I was stuck at my blog, not knowing what to write and I’ve been in a funk for a couple of days, so I thought I’d check in to see if what I was writing about was in your article which I have Bookmarked.
Sure enough there it is : Failure stories. LOL I’m afraid I’m going for that one first. I have 3 blogs to write before 1pm Aussie time tomorrow, so I’m sure this post will come in handy many times.
So, if you don’t mind, I’ll go and wallow in my failure story, get it off my chest, then I can stop this victim mentality and get on with living. LOL
InternetHow Blog
November 5th, 2009 10:21 pm
I think people like to know other people’s business. that is human nature and we can’t deny that. They would also be very interested to know, how did you come out from those difficult situaution? How did you manage to beat your fears? and what routes did you follow towards the success?
So, creating post that relates to yourself always help to draw readers. Because, they can also relate those situations to themselves as well.
The Blog Is Mine dot Com
November 5th, 2009 11:17 pm
Good tips.. Don’t take all of the method.. Just grab 3-4 method and elaborate it to become a great article
Deb Lamb
November 5th, 2009 11:51 pm
I totally agree with story telling. I’m currently writing a story to post on my blog about a SNAKE in my TUB! Yes, true story! And I have many, many more that I can add.
When you share who you really are, readers are able to connect with you a little better. We are all human (or at least some of us) and it is important to show that.
Great ideas on the 14 list and I’ll have to incorporate more of those in my blog.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Deb :)
Marketing Consultant and Freelance Writer
Lam Nguyen
November 6th, 2009 12:32 am
Hi Darren
I’m very new to blogging and am also one of your students for 31DBBB.
After reading this i am now going to start implementing stories onto my blog but i have one question,
For a new blog such as mine, http://www.richwealthsecrets.com , how would i know if something im implementing such as stories posts is going good or bad?
This is a problem that im having!
Cheers
Lam
SEO Company Pakistan
November 6th, 2009 1:23 am
Both success and failure stories are eligible to be written. Both types of experience can guide others. Your success story can become a light house for others, and your failure story can become a lesson for others and precaution. Anyways, blog stories are always have good impact.
work at home
November 6th, 2009 1:26 am
Hi Daren I also read your previous post that you write on it. The topic you mention here is really nice for tell story to our reader. Now I will try to follow this guideline while I write new post.
Siku
November 6th, 2009 2:26 am
Basically, you can write about anything. It all depends on the “type-of-blog” you have. i.e., Your target audience.
Kelvin Servigon
November 6th, 2009 2:27 am
The no.s 1, 6, 11 and 12 look interesting, and I think I can apply them at my blog. :)
columbus travel insurance
November 6th, 2009 3:14 am
Are we not see point about inspirational story? I think it’s worth to put in one point stand..
Natalie
November 6th, 2009 4:25 am
Thanks for the tips. Even as I read through the list I was enlightened with ideas!
Ahmad Barirani
November 6th, 2009 4:47 am
Great source of inspiration. I often think of this and get lost in my ideas…
Jon | Adventures of The Fearless
November 6th, 2009 5:58 am
Great post Darren, a nice reminder of areas to cover for future posts.
Jason Clegg
November 6th, 2009 7:30 am
Great ideas. I might also suggest telling some “off subject” stories that could potentially surprise/impress your audience. This might also be a great way to find out what kind of additional content your audience would like to see.
bayilik
November 6th, 2009 7:36 am
Great article,great points.I am telling success stories of business world in my blog.
SW @ Social Bookmarking Service
November 6th, 2009 8:31 am
5 and 10 will be quite useful if you are active blogger.
David Walker
November 6th, 2009 8:50 am
Stories are worth the time you spend crafting them into your article or blog. It’s inspiring to learn someone successful had the same problems you’re tearing your hair off over, and overcame them. They motivate you to keep going forward. .I sometimes use personal discovery, success, failure, how I did it and autobiography style stories to illustrate my points and find my readers are more open to discussion, commenting and even giving suggestions after, as opposed to ‘dryly’ lecturing the information.
Buzzlord
November 6th, 2009 9:13 am
People also love lists of the top (whatever number of) things in a given topic.
Great list though.
Peter A. Brown
November 6th, 2009 9:35 am
Darren,
Your content continues to inspire myself and other bloggers.
I get so energized and enthusiastic when I read your blogs.
I’ve been thinking about setting up a new blog for awhile. Finally, it was set-up over the weekend. Thanks to your energy.
I’ll definitely post a personal or a failure story on my blog someday.
Keep up the good work!
Peter
Jannie Funster
November 6th, 2009 10:24 am
Last month a few of my blogging buddies actually believed my flight of fancy that the president of Bulgaria whisked my family and friends over to his country in his mach17 jet for a weekend of traditional Bulgarian-style camping. So, any such fictions will be confessed to at the bottom of the post. Great learning experience for me.
Bill Morgan
November 6th, 2009 3:05 pm
Excellent! I keep hearing how people run out of things to write but using stories you have shown that there is no end to the things you can write on your blog.
My most recent blog, ‘out of work, build a website’ uses video to tell the story but you have given me many more ideas.
Thanks for all you do.
Bill Morgan
The Job Swami Career Blog
http://www.thejobswami.com
Blogging Tips
November 6th, 2009 5:49 pm
Great post.Got a lot inspiration to write from this
JessyLing
November 6th, 2009 5:54 pm
helor Darren,
I like your blog posts very much. Your writing are very inspiring. I already addicted to your writing.
r4 ds
November 6th, 2009 8:24 pm
What can i say about your article. Excellent write up.
It will help me a lot because i am new to the blogging. Thaks for everything.
titan
November 6th, 2009 8:47 pm
agree. Too many stories we can share with our readers.
Primary Work at Home
November 6th, 2009 8:53 pm
I love reading your post. This is a perfect guide. Thanks for sharing this one.
alwaysLovely
November 7th, 2009 12:47 am
Darren, this post has given me so many ideas that are so helpful. Going to bookmark it and reference the points when I intend to use story. I strongly believe story is a great way to engage and connect with online and offline audience of ALL age groups. Being a trainer, I experienced the power of story in delivering a message or concept.
I like to use aesop fables, my personal and others experience as my story to tell.
Thanks so much!
Rajput
November 7th, 2009 6:32 am
Stories are great. But it should be told in such a way that it does not makes the reader bore.
money online
November 7th, 2009 3:06 pm
thank you, I am happy to visit your blog. you think, should we write a story that favored visitors or stories that we like? if writing stories that I liked but not in the interest many visitors, making me get bored quickly
John H from Brisbane
November 7th, 2009 5:33 pm
Other types of stories include back in time and forward in time. eg. What will blogging be like in 25 years?
Korean Ginseng
November 7th, 2009 7:54 pm
Thanks for the post it too informative.You provided information for Promoting blogs is really valuable.I appreciate it lol and seems to me too interesting.
scheng1
November 7th, 2009 10:30 pm
Good article. I bet it’s not such a good idea to tell embarrassing stories about our bosses
Pet Society Help
November 8th, 2009 6:22 am
I like using picture stories, they tell a thousand words. :)
Paul Hassing
November 8th, 2009 11:03 am
Dang! Who’d've thought there were so many variations! That’s a fertile mind you have there, Darren. Many thanks for all the ideas. Best regards, P. :)
Elliot
November 8th, 2009 11:11 pm
I think spreading out your story types will confuse readers of your blog, this is a great list but I think people should stick to a handful of these types. It’ll be great to see which type of story makes more money or gets more clicks, someone get the stats up! :)
Sawranw
November 9th, 2009 3:42 pm
Good article. I love reading your post. This is a perfect guide. Thanks for sharing this one.
Prasanga
November 11th, 2009 2:13 am
I think failure stories are not welcome, because people want to hear success stories. There are many bloggers losing their credibility because they blog about how they failed. This is quite boring to read. Thanks for sharing. Great post.
Christine Holroyd
November 11th, 2009 8:58 am
Prasanga, I think if the failure story shows the lessons as mentioned then people can learn from it which is why, for me, these stories can be powerful.
I like real human stories and we have all experienced failure, so why not include them?
imergent181
November 11th, 2009 4:06 pm
Thanks a lot for sharing this Incredibly useful article with us. You have a cool blog, just keep adding more interesting posts, I have you bookmarked. Will be back again.
Brandy
November 14th, 2009 6:32 am
I am so bookmarking this for the next time I get a writers or Bloggers block!! Great ideas!!
James
November 19th, 2009 2:16 pm
Aside from articles and pictures, videos too tells more! Mine is not a story its a videogame blog. Glad I bumped to this post added new insights in writing articles..Thanks
koreanwoman
November 19th, 2009 9:01 pm
I think so nice posting.
I’ll follow your way
George Estremera
November 20th, 2009 3:29 pm
It’s good that you pull no punches in pointing out the power of failure stories can be so powerful. In fact, many sales blogs and letters use them. Many times the writer says he used to be broke and had his car reposessed. I’ll have to try it.
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