If you do a lot of guest posts, at some point you’re going to hit the “I don’t know what to write” wall. Instead of trying to come up with a completely unique article concept every time, you can cut out a lot of time and frustration by using an article template.

Here are seven guest post article templates you can use to instantly come up with new post ideas.

==> X Tips

Post titles with a specific number of tips often do very well. For example:

101 Tips for Traveling the World
10 Tips for Training Your Pet
7 Tips for Raising a Healthy baby
55 Tips for Effort-Free Dieting

Make sure you pick a specific number of tips and place it in the title. Odd numbers seem to work better than even numbers.

==> How To

How to titles is another popular type. For example:

“How to Repair a Broken Desk”
“How to Meet the Man of Your Dreams”
“How to Write a Great Guest Post”

Ask yourself, “What does my target market want to know?” Then write a how to for them.

==> Pitfalls and Mistakes

Talk about the common pitfalls and mistakes people make in your industry. For example:

“The Seven Deadly SEO Mistakes Bloggers Make”
“The #1 Mistake Beginning Chefs Make”
“3 Common Pitfalls of Intranet Networking”

==> Tell a Story

Telling a story is a great way to attract an audience and communicate a message.

One of the most famous direct response ads in history had the headline:

“They Laughed When I Sat Down … But When I Started to Play!”

The piece then went on to tell the story of how nobody thought the main character could play – and were then shocked when he did.

Use stories to invoke emotions, convey a point and connect with your audience.

==> Share a Success

If you sold a website for $50,000, share how you did it. If you built a company from the ground up then put it on passive mode, share how you did it. If you learned how to play an instrument in a month, share how you did it.

People love to read success stories, especially if they’re filled with nuggets they can use in their own lives.

==> Image Tutorials

One great way to bring real value to someone else’s blog is to create an image tutorial for them. Creating image tutorials, which involves step by step pictures, takes quite a bit of effort. Most bloggers won’t go through the trouble.

That’s why if you’re willing to do it, they’ll be very grateful.

For example, if you’re writing a tutorial about how to get rid of squirrels, take pictures of securing your garbage, securing your house, etc.

==> Controversial Opinion

Finally, you can share a controversial opinion. If everyone is buying gold, share why you’re shorting gold. If everyone thinks paid backlinks are the way and you think guest blog posting is the way, share why.

If you’re ever at a loss on what kind of guest blog post to write, try using one of these templates.