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…
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