How to Craft a Viral Article

Two years ago BuzzSumo conducted a survey, which analyzed more than a million posts on various websites. They determined that more than 50% of these posts have received less than eight shares. Viral posts are just a small piece of overall web content, but at the same time, they create bigger influence than all other posts combined. That is why many bloggers and digital marketing gurus are trying to provide us with the one-works-for-all recipe on how to make a viral article.

The truth is, there is no such recipe. We are all trying to find our way in the dark here, which makes the online writing so cool and exciting. Still, there are some rules that will help you to improve your writing process and make your posts more viral.

Finding the Perfect Topic

Although sometimes the perfect idea may just come to your mind, in most cases finding a topic of an article requires lots of research and constant following of the latest trends. Great articles start as broad topics, which are then shaped into catchy titles. Searching for an idea that will spark the interest of the online community is not an easy task. One of the leading online influencers Jeff Bullas has shared his five principles for creating viral content. These principles can easily be implemented on online articles. These include:

Unique definition – present a well-known topic through a new angle;
Contrast – write about two (or more) dramatically different topics;
Comparison – explain new information in your article by comparing it to the well-known things;
Parallel – use analogy to make your info more understandable;
Ask the right question – find a problem your audience stumbles upon on a regular basis and offer them your solution.

Creating an Enticing Title

The title is one of the most important parts of every article. Its purpose is to draw readers’ attention and motivate them to click and read the article. Today, even some of the most respectable news companies use clickbait titles for their articles, but you should abstain from doing this. You can always fool a reader once with a clickbait title, but your goal is to create a steady audience that will check your blog on a regular basis. Sensational clickbaits will only place you on the ad blocker ignore list.

The title needs to sum up the topic you are writing about in a short sentence. Of course, abstaining from clickbait titles does not mean you cannot use power words. You can add one or a few mild power words to the article to make it look more intriguing.

The Article Structure

There are many types of article structures you can choose from. Most writers divide their articles into three separate sections:

Introduction – introduces readers and provides them with basic information about the subject;
Body – tells the article story and analyzes information;
Conclusion – closes the article and sums up all of its information into a memorable closing sentence.

The fact that most writers use this form does not mean you should also stick to it. If you have a great piece of content you want to add to your article (like a rare or beautiful photo or a video), you can skip both introduction and the closing or replace them with only one or two sentences.

Break up the Plain Text

Online articles are different from the written ones. Their text needs to be broken up with photos, videos, and colorful graphics. Websites like Mashable and Buzzfeed became popular for inventing a completely new form of an article that includes up to several dozen photos and videos. This multimedia is usually followed by short depictions and an interesting trivia.

The Right Timing

Timing is an essential criterion for making web content go viral. This also includes articles. You need to closely follow the news and the latest trends and to craft the article about a new subject that still cannot be found anywhere else on the web. You should also make use of special dates. For example, the April Fools is a very convenient internationally recognized date for posting humorous content. On this day many popular websites and bloggers play with their audience and release funny sounding fake news.

Search Engine Optimization

Your articles need to be readable to both your website visitors and search engine crawlers. Optimize them with one or a few main keywords. These keywords need to be customized according to the search patterns of your targeted audience and the buyers’ persona you are trying to attract. They should be placed in the article’s title, at least one header and in the beginning and the end of the article. If you choose a good c ontent management system and adequate plugins or modules, you will also have the chance to place the keyword inside the article’s permalink, meta-tags, and a search engine snippet.

Promote Your Content

The promotion on social networks is also very important for an article’s overall popularity. You should choose social networks that are popular among your targeted audience and create an optimal posting pattern that will follow their interests and daily habits. Interesting and innovative articles can easily become viral if they are promoted in the right way. All I can add now is good luck and I hope to see your content all over the place.