Every professional blogger dreams of writing a blog post that can go viral.
So, what makes a blog post viral? It actually starts from pre-scripting phase and extends till post-scripting actions taken by you.
Viral: It means, an article which earns tons of links, mentions, social media share (Facebook likes, Tweets, G+) and create an online buzz in a particular niche.
So, without much ado, let’s write a killer article step-by-step and make it viral.
11 Tips to Write a Viral Article
1. Choose a topic in your niche which is currently in demand, but with a bit different opinion by online communities.
2. Compose a killer article heading. Web-surfers or visitors click on an article or ready to invest their time, only when the article heading is convincing or promising enough to fulfill their needs.
3. Next, start your article with a strong opening paragraph. A paragraph which compels the readers to read more by generating curiosity and hopes. It works like a charm. In copywriting “If the opening is well, everything is well.”
4. The body of the copy or article should be in a “reverse waterfall” fashion.
It means, put the most important things at the top and gradually come down and down with a bit of lingering curiosity till the end. Online copywriter and newspaper journalists use the “reverse waterfall” technique for successful marketing of their content.
5. No matter how serious is your topic; your article should be entertaining. Info-tainment articles have the maximum ability to go viral in online world.
Everybody knows online readers have very less attention span. To make them glue to your blog post you have to be witty with your language and description. Put some funny one-liners, comparisons and examples where ever possible.
6. Make your article as simple, and as beautiful as possible.
This can be achieved by throwing some bullets, block-quotes and graphics here and there. A picture tells thousands of words. But, you shouldn’t add pictures to your article only for the sake of adding pictures. Your graphics should be well chosen and compliments the article well.
7. To make a blog post viral, you have to disagree with the online folks (few groups), or express your point of view completely different from larger audience, or write something which is legitimate but evoke an instant emotional reaction in readers’ mind.
Unless and until you tickle the mind, brain and hearts of people, they are not going to spread your words. To own the heart of certain group of people, you have to disagree with other groups.
But you should exercise caution while writing controversial posts. Apart from courage, it needs brain and extensive research.
8. Make your article length standard. People usually abandon long articles due to short attention span.
Length of a blog post usually depends on the subject matter and your audience. Don’t think, one-thousand words article works every time. In my opinion, a 700 to 1000 words article is considered standard. In that number of words you can easily convey your imagination and message.
9. Again, a strong closing paragraph acts like “Cherry on ice” for your article. The last paragraph of the blog post is completely your. You should convey your personal opinion or message to the readers and online world which can put a dent, which can create a ripple in blogosphere and social media.
10. Optimize your blog post for search engines (SEO). But, for God’s sake don’t break the flow and structure of the post in the name of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Your blog post should flow freely and naturally with a subtle touch of SEO. You can call this “Stealth SEO or Invisible SEO” where an ordinary web-reader can’t notice the SEO aspect, although the post is SEO optimized.
11. Last but not the least – Promote your blog post in social media insanely. Social media is the right platform which can help your blog post go viral. Don’t be shy, you can request your close friends to promote your post on their Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages.
Finally, writing a viral blog post requires a creative mindset, spare time and a bit of luck. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s write one…
About Nandita B.
My name is Nandita B, and I’m a SEO practitioner and part-time blogger. My sheer passion for sharing knowledge a webmaster needs drove me to create “A Webmaster’s Magazine” called SEOHour.com
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Even more important than making your article relatively short is using short paragraphs and subheaders. This will make it more easily parseable. Also, I think that trying too hard to make a post go viral will prevent you from doing so. You really need a funny, crazy, exciting topic, and an approach to it your readership will get a kick out of. And even then, it’s a lot of luck.
Thanks a Lot for these very Important and Useful Tips..
glad to see your Posts after 3 Days//
Aliakbar Fakhri recently posted…Why I Shifted to HostGator
Thanks for those great tips. I too think that writing a great heading is the most important part of blogging. Since its the first impression of your blog in-front you surfer.
But can you please explain the point number 4 : ” The body of the copy or article should be in a “reverse waterfall” fashion. ”
Vivek recently posted…Add Related Post To Genesis Themes Without Plugin
Nandita ,thanks for helping us in writing a great post.
Related to point 7 ,please share some deep tips how can we make our post go viral quickly.
pakblogger2012 recently posted…Tilting Disk Check Valve How it Works
HI Nadita,
I believe to make our post to go viral we should first optimize our article with proper seo and also sorting of targeted keywords.
Thanks for the wonderful post.
Rajkumar Jonnala recently posted…Technical Specs and Review of Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Hello Nadita,
Amazing tips. You have done a great research in blogging. Your facts and tips really informative. We have seen many recent changes in Google’s algorithm so getting ranked and targeted traffic is a quite difficult task. I really like it. Absolutely heading is the most important part of blogging. It is first impression of visitors or readers of your weblog. So it should be short and descriptive. Thanks for sharing a nice article.
Hey Nandita,
You did the best job on this article as always. Thanks for the great tips.
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Hello Dear
really your article is very interesting i am totally agree with your point i think heading is most important part of blogging really thanks for the sharing me
Thanks & Regards
Sarika
Wow, What a great post! Most of the times I really learnt great things from your blog. I’ll try the methods you shared.
Sam recently posted…Why You Should Install A YouTube Subscribe Widget On Your Blog
Probably the most important tip is “Make your article length standard”. As a web-master I know how tough it is to limit yourself or sometime stretch yourself to make sure you are able to connect with reader for right duration of time.
Ianswer4u recently posted…Do’s and Don’ts of Successful Interviewing
While basic writing talent is innate, many of the skills for writing compelling blog posts and and salient comments can be learned.
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Idea is best and make any one to say thanks, but most of the blogger start a blog with lots of energy and potential but after few days they become confused what should be write, specially in case of beginners like me. Although they start with a selected topic but it become difficult to collect content, and post materials. They wander every where on web but become tired and leave blogging i.e become fail. But for me I am on wandering stage and little bit tired. I can see @moneyctl you are pretty much successful. So its mine request please help me to do better and guide to learn and how to collect some better post ideas to convert them into viral post. I mean if possible please enlist some resources. I am following you on twitter so please you can drop direct message.
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