Just imagine how excited you will be when your current blog post is your most popular post ever? Or maybe the most admired one among your peers?
Audience is one of the key factors that transfigures a good blog post to a popular blog post and helps you increase blog traffic. Anyone with the knowledge about what they write and suave writing skill can write a good blog post, but it takes a few more tips, tactics and tricks to make it readable and admirable.
Here are some of the tips and tricks, that not only help you to improve your blogging skills but also provides your blog a standard of quality thereby improving the popularity of your blog posts.
Tip 1: Do some background work before writing your blog post
Anything from cooking to blogging needs certain background work to be done in order to draft a perfect final copy. The work to be done here is research the most popular blog posts from some of your favorite blogs.
Trick: Many blogs have a list of most popular blog posts right in the sidebar or footer.
Tactic: When you research popular blog posts, compare those blog posts and try to find out the similarities between them. The similarities can be in the genre of the post or the writing style. Uncover these similarities and start following them, but of course with your own uniqueness.
Tip 2: Use Established framework
There are certain well established formats that help you to create a standard to your posts, hence resulting in striking raise of the popularity.
Trick: When you start with a certain format, bond to it until the very end.
Tactic: Some of the well known and standard formats are as follows:
How to (instructions on how to do something)
E.g.: How to write popular blog posts?
List of (“Top ten”, “10 reasons for”)
E.g.: Ten reasons that made CSK win the IPL trophy (Well, that's so Indian, I know :))
Inspiration (helping people get past fears, about improving skills, etc.)
E.g.: Tips to get rid of paranoia
You get the idea…
Tip 3: Genre Selection
When you are about to create a blog post and your major aim is to make it a popular one, you have to concentrate on picking the right genre for the blog post.
Trick: Select a topic such that it will have immense response from your audience in the form of comments.
Tactic: To gain popularity, try to choose current trends, controversial topics, media related topics. These topics generally pave the way to discussions in the comments. For example you could write about the latest Amazon plugin for WordPress or Twitter Profile app.
Tip 4: Killer headline for your blog post
“Face is the index of the mind”; similarly the headline of the article depicts the quality of its content. The headline can make or break a potentially great post.
Trick: Spend extra time for your headline; constantly think about the headline; because headlines most of the time strike our mind, when we are indulged in any other work.
Tactic: Do background work even for headlines; correlate your proposed headline with that of other popular blog posts. Alternatively you can post the summary of your proposed post and ask for public opinion about the title in social networking sites; this may give more publicity to your post.
Tip 5: Invest more time and energy than usual
Writing a normal blog and writing a blog posts to get it to the level of popularity are two different standards; the latter takes double the time and energy than the former.
Trick: Create a schedule for each and every module, research work, genre selection, headline selection etc.
Tactic: Spend the optimum time on writing the blog post and spend the rest of the scheduled time in publicity (via Facebook, Twitter, blogging networks), and other background work.
Tip 6: Encourage readers to share the blog post
Popularity is like gossip, it increases only when people share. Your post must have a few ingredients that entice readers to share it with their friends.
Trick: If you tag someone in your blog post or mention about them in the post, they are more likely to share (but don't tag them just to improve popularity, have a valid point to tag or mention them).
Tactic: Few things that make a reader share your post are awesome content, controversial topics, useful tips or stuff. You can alternatively ask them to share if it's really special content you want to share with the world.
You can alternatively email your friends and fellow bloggers about your new blog post (your email list is great for this). However don't overuse this technique; don't email about every post you publish, because it will annoy people.
More techniques to promote your blog post
Additionally add relevant images to your blog post, use themes to match the genre of your post. Finally don't forget to share your blog post in your own Facebook and/or Twitter profile – that's a no brainer, isn't? What are your favorite techniques to promote your blog posts?
These are some great tips, there are many times when we can just throw a post together quickly and then just post it on our blogs and completely forget to read and re-read the post, give it that “killer” title etc.
Personally, I do the majority of what you have listed and it shows when posts are popular and commented on 😉
I usually spend some extra time after finalizing the post to get a killer title. Killer to both people and bots (Keyword winners helps me with this).
Jane
Wow Jane,
This is really an awesome summarized “guide” to writing a killer viral post. Some great points that you have mentioned like researching, finding the proper niches and the proper titles, many people just omit or forget these points. Thanks a lot for this post
Regards,
Shiva
Yeah Jane gave a lot of tips. One of the idea that grabbed my attention from reading is that writing a viral post is something that does not come by accident but rather through planning. I don’t know if it always happens that way, but I agree that a post on which a lot of effort has been spent is not like a simpler one.
Hi Tiyd,
It is true that not every blog post can be a killer and not every post could be preplanned. Sometimes there are quick announcements or filler posts too. But it is nice to have a general plan 🙂
Jane.
Solid tips, without question the more work and time you put in to something the better the chances are that it will be viral.
Very true John. Hard work, a plan and focus surely pays off.
I haven’t experienced that my post will be viral or popular online. Most likely I would just be glad if the search engine would just indexed it. Researching popular blog post seems a good idea but I was thinking that other bloggers have already made posts about it before I do. But I agree that investing time and energy in the social networking site could be valuable thing to do.
Lola, that is a very apologetic statement :). It is normal for newbie blogs to be denied any attention in the beginning.I know how it feels when you write a really quality piece and there is no one except you to visit your post. But things will change as long as you put enough time and effort to promote your blog.
These tips are really nice! I like the idea you started with, which is comparing the most popular posts on various blogs. If you can figure out what it is that makes them so popular, you have a recipe for viral content, or at least one heck of a start. thanks for sharing 🙂
At the beginning a blogger has to invest more time than normal time and potential of viral lies in the running topics like marketing ,gadgets etc.
Hi Jane,
Wow, these are some awesome tips! I’ve bookmarked this post to be able to come back and check off the points when I write future blog posts.
I know #6 is kind of a no brainer, but a lot of bloggers forget to add a “call to action” at the end of their posts and ask their readers to share it.
Thanks for sharing these great tips!
All the best,
Ilka
Good basic tips indeed, Jane. You can emphasize number 6 even more, as that’s where most of the bloggers fail.
Emphasizing users to comment and react to what you present engulfs all other points, and it also becomes your daily habit of making sure people are noticing what you have to say and are taking appropriate action. This may be the greatest reason why majority of all blogs [maybe 99%+] will never “succeed” or gain any momentum.
Hi Jane
very nice tips..a must read for everybody who aspires to be a good blogger. As u said the headlining should be really killing and awesome that attracts people towards blog reading and definitely a good background will make an interesting bait for a reader
It’s good to see you out and about Jane, especially here on this fine blog.
“Trick: Create a schedule for each and every module, research work, genre selection, headline selection etc.”
I don’t know one blogger to which that wouldn’t strike a nerve. Oh how i wish it were even possible for me.
Hey Dennis,
LOL. That is a reasonable wish. I can relate to your feeling. However when it becomes a practice you won’t even realize yourself doing it.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane, just to mention one of a few obstacles.I have some physical disabilities to which I take pain medication throughout the day; that alone is a massive schedule killer.
Nice to see you posting here, Jane and it is a great post as always. These tips show why you are increasing in popularity as a blogger and expert in the field. 🙂
Ana, that’s one cool appreciation from a tough lady. Thanks 🙂
Jane,
Some awesome tips, tricks and tactics here. Thanks for pointing out that writing great content is not enough for it to go viral (O:
This one is going straight in my bookmark bar.
Later..
Adam,
Glad you liked it. Ya I know how I felt when I started out as a newbie and was writing killer articles that nobody real. At that time, it was my content alone that was killer, but it was short of many of the above mentioned aspects 🙂
Cheers,
Jane.
Great tips! I believe the most important one is having all your research and information down and then being able to translate it into an enjoyable piece. Lots of pieces I read have tons of potential if they were just more interesting. Thanks again for the tips.
Hello Jane, nice tips and especially number four. It’s a must to add a good title when you post an article. The title can attract or take away your visitor! It’s like you are reading a newspaper. If you like the titles you buy it, if you don’t you just go to the next one.
Hi Jane, you have got some nice tips out here which can help a blog post go viral. I really find it tough to cover tip 6. Now I am going to follow the tactics you have suggested and I hope I find success in getting users to share my blog posts.
Thanks for your comment, Shree. I wish you good luck with implementing these tips.
Good post Jane. Like the analogy of Cooking and blogging. You were spot on with that point. Writing good content will automatically make the posts viral if coupled with some/all of these factors.
very well explained. All are the true aspects, really i noticed the things after reading this post, and i got some good results,, will surely follow them in future posts 🙂
Solid tips Jane, as usual and once again I think that every single point you mentioned should be followed. Leaving one of them aside will defeat the purpose of trying to have a blog post go “viral”. Obviously, it is easier said than done, but nonetheless, you have provided here the necessary ingredients to attain that goal. In my case, I usually do them most of the time, when I don’t find it necessary to do a few “filler” posts occasionally 🙂
Hello Jane.
‘Invest more time and energy than usual ‘ is very good advice but to get people to share your stuff is easier said than done. You have to build relationships first and have people trusting you before they’ll share your stuff.
Ivin,
That’s true. You can share your content as much as you wish. But if you want others to share it, they simply won’t unless they completely trust you for what you provide.
Jane.
Hi Jane, really liked this article. I’m still fairly new to blogging and while I try to do a lot of these things already, it’s great to have everything written down in a list like this.
It can be difficult to get posts noticed because there are so many great bloggers out there.
Hi Jane… I agree that the audience is one of the factors that can affect our blogs… They have the control if the blogs can generate topic…Anyway, thanks for sharing this post because I have learned a lot…
Killer headlines! For me, these killer headlines are the main reason that drives me to a post. This is why I love commentluv because it makes blog hopping easier. 🙂
It’s nice to read your post and see that I’m doing it right, sometime self doubt can kick in- thanks for sharing!
Hi Jane!
Great tips and I really will learn from these points.
Eventhough one point that is very important is making a useful post that people definitely needs it.
If one visitor comes to our sites and find one helpful information, he or she will spread it all over, which is something I love lol..
Thanks
Yes, we can talk about making a post viral, only if it is of value and worthy to be published. If there is no quality, people will hate you more since you dragged them with fake identities (like killer headlines or SEO).
Ana over at TrafficGenerationCafe.com has a wonderful post up about over a hundred ideas for blog posts, and some of the most successful are explained in her blog posts, as well. They’re really great for getting the creative juices flowing, as well as forming some popular blog posts!
Delena
Here you have got some great point to be a successful blog writer. Nowadays there is a huge trend of Guest blogging which increases the number of post in a blog and even it makes the platform more social as more than one shares an interesting news from his point of view. So there is definite increase in overall conversation.
Hi Jane! wonderful ideas and tips really appeals to heart, now I’ll adopt these tips and strategies to write more eye catcher blogpost which should attract to users. Thanks for in-detailed useful post.
Thanks Jane,
Even Tip #1 is excellent:
When you see other blogs’ posts in your niche that are consistently popular, think about what they do that you can too–in your own unique style.
Ask: What makes THEM so appealing? What NEED do they fill for readers that turns them on–that keeps them coming back for more?
Do my posts answer my readers’ needs–do they give them what they came to my blog for?
It’s ALWAYS good to keep learning from successful people!
My own site, The Secret Vault of Visions, is an unusual work in progress–& I just try to keep learning something new every day.
Scott that is a wonderful point you mention here. Learning from others. Yes if it works for someone it would work for me too. So instead of seeing and day dreaming one should observe, analyze and practice their steps.
There were some great tips here for bloggers. Some may seem common sense, but you may not think of them until they’re written down. New and old bloggers should print this list out and make it a checklist for more effective blogging!
The tips you share are vital in the field of blog posting. We must take note those important ideas that are efficient to use in making blog post. You will find it if you try to use it in your work now. Don’t wait give a try and enjoy the benefit of the basic blog tips. Compare it in your previous work and see the big difference.Don’t hesitate try it I tell you.
Hey thanks for the post, as a very beginner of blogger, i must need to all the ways mentioned above.
Thanks for sharing your tips.
thanks for very well written tips very usefull for noob like me
thanks Jane & Ileane, nice to see a Post like this very helpful in my line of work of blogging. Really useful and effective Tips, tricks and tactics to write blogposts.
Will, it’s so nice to hear that you have “committed” yourself to become a better blogger. As far as you are confident that you are providing “valuable” and “engaging” content, you should be fine. It usually takes a while before you begin to see results.
I think the first point is so crucial. Doing some research and knowing what will get readers to view the post is vital. If you have quality content, it is much easier to go viral.
Some very useful tips jane, have bookmarked already.
Audience interaction is primarily vests with the content you generate. Some kind of interest generated and sustained finally results in useful comments. It’s not just sharing some information but generating useful content which you think your audience would like.
thanks for very well written tips very usefull for noob like me
Very timely post for me since I am looking on how to work for viral post.Keep it up!
Nice tips, picked up a lot from this.
“Trick: If you tag someone in your blog post or mention about them in the post, they are more likely to share (but don’t tag them just to improve popularity, have a valid point to tag or mention them).”
I see this a lot on the popular blogs, it probably helps create relationships as well. And maybe get someone to guest post or get a guest post at their blog.
These tips are really nice! I like the idea you started with, which is comparing the most popular posts on various blogs. If you can figure out what it is that makes them so popular, you have a recipe for viral content, or at least one heck of a start. thanks for sharing
I agree with your tip about doing some background research. Nowadays I see so many posts that lack information or are just redundant. With some research you’ll be able to give your readers new information in your own unique way.
My site is still in its infancy and this article will help in improving my site’s traffic. I probably would do some Tips and How to articles to encourage more visitors. Also I’ll apply some catchy titles to my posts. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Really nice post!! I will use this trick to post viral blog posts!!
I really love your tip about the “popular blog posts ” list on the sidebar. I know about this plugin for a long time and I use it on my own blog, but I never really thought about using it to find article topics and ideas with a high potential to go viral.