Publishing viral articles on your brand new blog is a way to start getting traffic to your blog. Therefore, you must know how to write a viral blog post.
In this post, you are going to learn that.
There are many factors to it. Content that goes viral on the internet is not created coincidentally.
There’s a lot of research, thinking, and work behind it. In this post, I’ll introduce you to the process of viral content marketing and how you can get more blog traffic from it.
Before learning how to write viral articles I think you should understand some important points that are also in the play.
SAVE THIS POST FOR LATER.
So, let’s begin.
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What Is Viral Content?
The blog posts that a lot of engagement in a very short time are termed viral blog posts.
By engagement I mean, a lot of shares, page views, likes and comments, etc.
Is there anything common in them?
Yes. If you look at some of the examples of the viral content present on the internet you will notice some of these things.
- Controversial Topic.
- Catchy Headline.
- Attention-Grabbing Graphics.
- And etc.
So you see, there’s so much thinking done behind most viral articles.
Obviously, there are some lucky ones but not all. But, you can easily learn how to write a viral blog post and with some practice, you will also start seeing results.
There’s one more point I would like to cover before diving into it.
Writing catchy content is not enough. There’s more work to it. That is, after writing it you have to promote your blog post – I’ll come to this later.
Let’s come to the topic first.
What Kind Of Content Goes Viral?
If you notice most viral blog posts, even in your blog niche, they are not just any random topics.
For example, how to do this or that. Not everyone is interested in reading this.
But viral content ideas are those that are curiosity generating. Something that your readers haven’t read anywhere before.
For example, on this blog, I have written a blog post “How a blog comment can help grow your blog?”
Now my readers got curious to know how to get backlinks easiy and that post got 30+ comments in the first month only.
I know these are not the stats I should be bragging about but this is the High my blog has gotten so far.
And I think it got this response is because not many bloggers have written about getting backlinks by commenting on other blogs.
Here’s a good way to find potential ideas.
Find Trending Blog Topics.
Your blog topic is the first reason if your readers will read it or not.
Just like I said above if it is a random “how to do something post” that is shared a million times before then why would your readers be concerned about reading your content that they can find anywhere.
If you still have trouble understanding this here are some examples of trending content that has the potential to become viral.
- Any recent news update (Find out the latest news in your industry and create a viral post of it)
- Trending fashion updates (a good choice for fashion bloggers)
- Celebrity News (you can write on famous personalities in your industry)
How To Find Trending Blog Topics?
To find trending blog topics you can use Google Trends, a free tool by Google.
Just type your topic and see how that topic would perform in different months of a year.
You can also compare two or more different terms to see which one would perform better.
PRO TIP – Make sure that very few people (or no one) have written on that topic. So that people can be interested in reading it.
Or you can also take inspiration from my list of 150+ free blog post ideas.
Once you have come up with an idea it is time to start writing your viral post.
How To Write A Viral Content?
I follow this process to write all my blog posts, please note that this is an updated version of this blog post so if you find different information on other blog posts I am updating them slowly.
However, I share information as I learn.
STEP 1 – Structure Of The Blog Post.
Even before your keyword research, you have to plan your blog writing format.
To do this, do your own research and analyze the top 10 blog posts that are ranking for a similar term.
Then outline the structure. Once you have this done go through the structure to see if you want to add anything.
Now you have your blog structure template.
STEP 2 – Do Your Keyword Research.
For this, you can use the free tool Ubersuggest or Moz. Head over to my keyword research guide to learn how to do it exactly.
I use both of them for my keyword research.
STEP 3 – Create Amazing Content.
This is going to be the deciding factor in making your blog post viral.
So, how to create amazing content?
Here are some of the qualities of amazing content.
- Shareable Content – It should be interesting enough that people want to share it with their friends.
How to create shareable content? – Add facts that people don’t know about the topic.
- Informative Content – Your readers must find value in it.
I read on the Ahrefs blog that every line in your blog post should be informative in every way possible. Make it educational content.
- Engaging Content – Your blog post should be engaging enough to keep your readers on your page till the end of the blog post.
Avoid using robot language instead write in a conversational tone.
Here are some tips on how to create quality content.
How To Write A Blog Post?
- To write a wonderful post you have to do a lot of research on the topic. A lot of research!
- After the research, prepare a layout of the post. One of the qualities of a viral post is that it is properly structured.
- Write a remarkably detailed post. Always aim for 1500+ words.
- Put all of the information but covering one thing at a time. Make sure that information flows naturally.
- Use a conversational tone and easy language. Robot language is generally boring to read.
- Make sure you proofread your work. I use Grammarly to proofread all my blog posts.
- Write persuasively. Do you know that controversial and factual posts do well?
- Use different tricks to write a wonderful post.
Following these steps has helped me create good blog posts for my blog. They will help you once you start practicing them.
So this is how to create quality content.
Related –
STEP 4 – Attractive Visuals.
Using visuals on your blog posts make it skimmable so that your readers are not bored.
And many times it is just one viral graphic in a blog post that gets shared around.
The best way to do this is to use images. But you can’t just Google an image, download it and use it.
These images are subject to copyright.
So, how to use pictures on your blog legally?
Stock photos.
Here’s a list of the 4 best stock photo sites that give amazing photos for bloggers. You will get free photos.
It will also tell you how to use images in blog posts.
Now that you have written your blog post and added beautiful images it is time for the second important thing.
STEP 5 – Creating The Best Headlines Ever.
A heading is the first thing on which your reader’s eye falls. It has to be powerful enough to convince them to click on your post.
It has to be click-worthy. One that gets clicks.
To make it clickable, you can simply learn to create awesome titles. How? By practicing regularly!
Follow these steps to learn how to write catchy headlines.
- Take out some time to think of some creative headings after you have written your post. Most bloggers generally neglect this. Keep in mind that you may have written an awesome post but if your heading is boring or even simple no one is going to read it. Best, take out at least half an hour to create titles.
- Try to evoke an emotion through the headings.
- Show urgency in your headings.
- Describe the importance of your post.
- Help your readers by solving their problems.
- Make a controversial statement.
- Keep them short. In 55 characters.
- Practice using an exclamation mark, they work well.
- Odd-numbered list headings work well because they are more random.
- Try to add action.
Here are some examples of catchy headlines.
- 5 medicinal plants you must grow in your garden! shows urgency and information. The reader will think, “Okay, I also want medicinal plants in my garden”
- Step by Step guide to sketching a car like a pro! Convincing. The reader will think “Oh look! This post will make me pro in sketching a car!”
- Facebook – the best app for your time pass! a solution to a problem. The readers will think “Am I missing something?”
- Incredible tips to rocket fire your email list! Helpful. The reader will think “I always wanted to grow my email list!”
So you see all of them have a curiosity-generating factor.
I have a 3 step formula to help you learn how to create click-worthy titles.
There are free tools for analyzing headlines.
STEP 6 – Publish Your Post.
Once you have finalized your blog post and confirmed its structure of it you should publish it.
Related – How To Structure Your Blog Post?
Creating a viral blog post is one thing and promoting that post is a whole other thing.
STEP 7 – Promote Your Blog Post.
This is the third most important thing.
Since it is your new blog there is a chance that people will not know about it.
Therefore, you have to promote blog posts to increase traffic.
So, how to promote your blog post? Here are some ways to do it.
Related – 19 Ways To Explode Your Blog Traffic
Create A Blog Schedule
The best way to grow your blog is to make a plan and follow it religiously. Here are some guides (step by step) to help you do it.
- Guide To Content Marketing.
- Top Content Marketing Tools
- Types Of Content Marketing
- How To Create A Blog Plan?
Conclusion
So this is how you create a viral blog post.
While creating new blog posts we always aim to make them viral but not every post is going to give you results.
With practice, you will start writing better.
I hope you have ideas to create viral blog posts. Please note that promoting blog posts will help you get blog traffic to your blog.
So don’t forget to check out these 13 ways to promote your blog posts.
I hope this post helped you. If you have any questions please let me know in the comments section.
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Now when you know how to write a viral blog post why not try with these 31 blog post types?
Very informative post. I think most want to create viral posts but don’t know how and this would be a good start. Thank you.
Hi Katricia,
Thanks for your interest. Creating viral posts helps to get recognized instantly especially when you are a new blogger.
Thanks for sharing, I accidentally created a viral post (it was arguing against a controversial post) so it was useful to read something that articulated what I had done right and also give me some ideas to be able to repeat this in future!
Absolutely James!
It’s very nice when you know that whatever you are doing will surely get you results!
I’m also planning on creating a controversial post. These are easy.
Looking forward to reading more viral posts from you.
Ekta
All good tips Ekta. I am finding that writing amazing content is the key step in ranking on page 1 of Google along with generating more organic traffic from social shares and backlinks on blogs. Give freely, take your time and the post gains momentum on its own merit.
Ryan
Right. Quality content is what will help you in the long run. I’m learning myself. Thanks Ryan for your valuable comment.