As I’m dedicating myself to blogging about human resources as an HR blogger here at Blogging4Jobs now everyday, inevitably I’m asked questions about why I blog, how to blog, and the types of blogs and articles one should blog about.

The 6 “Types” of HR Blogs

In my mind there are 6 types of quintessential blogs.  Each type provides benefits, information, and an intended result which doesn’t always turn out the way one planned.  Whether you are an HR Blog, Leadership Blogger, or general topic blog, these types serve different audiences and provide different benefits.

• Cupcake. This type of blog is easy to write and provides solid traffic to your site.  Headlines like “7 Ways to Motivate Your Boss” or  “The Top 10 Blogs of the Week” are blogs that help generate interest with no real call to action.  Yes, my friends, this blog post could just be considered just that — a cupcake.

• Flambeed. These blog types are full of passion, anger, frustration, and just emotion.  Firey words, inappropriate language, and demanding your attention.  Depending on the blog timing and topic, this topic can motivate a group of individuals and help channel customers or readers.  My post, We Should Be Here was written last year about how HR should remove themselves from the iron curtain and attend non-human resources conferences and events did just that.  Just minus the inappropriate language.

• Lunchbox. These are your regular run of the mill content posts that drive the heart of your website traffic.  It’s your usual stuff ridden with SEO keywords and solid predictable content.  A word of caution, sometimes your regular can be laced with pablano peppers or Irish creme.  It can light a fire in others, which is good, although it’s not the article’s original intention.

• Cristini. A great appetizer or blog series that serves up your content in multiple servings, courses or parts.  This is a great tool for SEO and a way to condense your content into a much more readable length.  As a general rule, I don’t like blog articles to go beyond 500 words while many traditional publication articles are expected to be 1,000-1,5000 words.

• The Salmon. Salmon is said to be the ultimate brain food because of the high Omega-3 essential fatty acids.  Not just any old salmon will too, but wild not farm raised organic salmon.  You know, the good stuff.  Blog posts like this are for academic purposes to reach a more prestigious audience.  Heavy on the research, numbers, and academia.  Think Harvard Business Review.
• The Toast. As in champagne toast.  A blog with the purposes of an announcement or information about a change in your corporate vision, new client services, or the event you are sponsoring.  These kind of posts should be used sparingly but are helpful because they give the reader more insights into who you are as a blogger, writer, and company.  Consider it your new age PR release and champagne toast.