ultimate guide meaning

There is definitely some Matrix-like inception going on in today’s blog. We’ve created the Ultimate Guide on, well, how to write an Ultimate Guide. Here’s a fun fact: in this information age, it’s relatively easy to find guides on anything you want. The results are good, but then there comes a showstopper that immediately makes you pause in your random clicking and reading, and absorbs and holds all your attention. You’re actually learning something, and you don’t want to click away. This is the benefit of building an ultimate guide on the internet. We’ve all seen these pieces. They are referenced repeatedly, get tons with traffic, and see non-stop shares across social platforms. From how to groom your Labradoodle, to the entire guidelines for changing guitar strings, a mind-boggling Javascript tutorial, or the ultimate whammy guide on creating great social media posts. Psst…we can help you with that last one. The ultimate guide that truly adds value could be called the holy grail of content pieces. They’re some of the most comprehensive, authoritative, and popular pages you’ll find. If you’ve ever turned to cyberspace to learn something, chances are you’ve used one at some point. Today, I’m sharing tips on how to create an ultimate guide of your very own. This will cover it all. Starting with strategy and brainstorming all the way through revising and updating, this comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know to get started. 7 Steps on How to Write An Ultimate Guide 1.    Why You Should Create an Ultimate Guide (and What it Means) 2.    Topic Research: Study Your Topic, Audience, and Competitors 3.    When Writing, Start Off with a Format – or Better Yet, a Template 4.    Conduct Keyword Research AFTER Your Outline is Created 5.    Go Heavy on Examples, Images, and Statistics if Applicable 6.     Get a Designer Involved 7.    Do Ultimate Editing and Tracking for Your Ultimate Guide All of these are coming in our blog topic today, complete with a visual infographic on the topic. First, let’s share a story about why and how ultimate guides work so well. The Story of an Ultimate Guide That Helped Put a $7 Million Business Together We will start with strategy – but first a little preface on exactly why you should get excited about building your ultimate guide. Creating an ultimate guide means giving your readers a comprehensive content piece they can’t find anywhere else. There’s another advantage to that – you’re associating your name with that outstanding piece. Many readers will have already heard of Unbounce. While you may know them for their landing pages, popups, and sticky bars, you might have also seen the ultimate guide that skyrocketed their brand to success. The year was 2011. Oli Gardner created a free six-month guide to marketing for Moz. Between the great content and the massive infographic, it racked up views in no time. Below is the top part of the graphic – we won’t show the whole thing here, but recommend checking it out in its entirety. Nice, huh? The piece clearly told readers what they wanted to know. It took an already-talented brand and strapped a rocket to their back. The results? This guide was downloaded over 150,000 times and earned thousands of backlinks. Blogging was their survival, and epic content put them on the map, according to their lead Content Strategist Dan Levy. Just five years after the company’s founding, Unbounce went from nothing to over 9,800 paying customers and $7 million in annual revenue. How’s that for the “ultimate guide success story?” A good guide is as useful to you and your brand as it is to your readers. One look at that graphic shows the main reason why this guide was so successful. You can tell the people behind it knew their subject matter – they didn’t just know it, they lived it and breathed it. When you’re creating this type of piece, you need to be a knowledgeable, trustworthy authority on the topic. This takes years of work honing a craft, tons of practice, and hours upon hours of research. You’re doing this so your readers don’t have to – that’s why they’ll appreciate it and you. Your Ultimate Guide on How to Write An Ultimate Guide (The Infographic) Scroll below this guide for our more in-depth written guide on the topic. Beginning Stages: Research Your Topic (and Other Ultimate Guides) Content creators know all about preceding their creation process with strategy. If you’re looking to build a piece that’s more informative and in-depth, you should expect a research period of the same complexity. The amount of time you spend on a piece isn’t always proportional to its quality – but if you’re doing things the right way, it should be. This stat is just for blog posts, but if it works for those, you can imagine how much better it works for an ultimate guide. Image from Orbit Media The interesting observation is the lack of significant variation between the 1-6-hour mark. Yet, when you go beyond that, results tend to be much better. As for specific research strategies, a lot of your research will come from doing. Your ability to give someone a guide to something is related to your knowledge of it. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t search the web for additional insight. When you’re in the strategy phase, think about the following: How to Explain Things You Already Know: Don’t fall into the Dunning-Krueger Just because you are an expert on something, doesn’t mean everyone else is. In an ultimate guide, you want to explain everything. The fundamentals, the nuances, the maybe-you-should-know-this-too parts. The more comprehensive your resource is, the better. It should be a one-stop piece. How to Explain the Same Thing in Multiple Ways: Searching for insight about your chosen topic isn’t just so you can explain it. You need to explain it in multiple ways, if need be. If the same advice can be given from two different perspectives, make the effort … Read more