11 Tips to Increase your Chances of a Viral Blog Post

KeciaBlogging56 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links.

Every blogger dreams of writing a viral blog post. Once you have had one, it’s like a drug – you want to write more posts that bring that much traffic and have social media shares that are off the charts.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up to a zillion page views and comments you could never hope to answer?

What exactly is a viral blog post?

The term is very subjective. For some, a viral blog post would mean one that gets 1,000 page views in the first couple days of publishing. Others may think 500 page views is enough to be considered viral. Still other bloggers may want 10,000 page views to the post in order to think it’s a viral hit.

Getting your first viral blog post

The problem is, obtaining a viral blog post is not an absolute science. Once you have a huge readership, you have a much better chance of course. Just put it out there and let your minions spread the word, right?

What about the little bloggers though? How do we give ourselves a good shot at the viral blog post?

11 Tips to Increase the Chances of a Viral Blog Post

1. Pick a solid topic that will make people talk.

The topic has to be interesting, timely, and one that will appeal to many people. If you write too narrow, you are limiting your blog post’s reach. For example, a post that deals with potty training a child (something EVERY parent will experience at least once) has a better chance of being more popular than a post about potty training a ferret.

2. Make sure your topic and keywords are searched regularly.

You will want to do some keyword research before your write your post if you want it to go viral. The phrase you target needs to be one that gets a fair amount of searches each month. Use good SEO tactics to get the post on the first page of Google and other search engines. This, along with social media, will help boost your post into viral status.

3. Keep the posting reasonably short so that people will finish and share.

Avoid a lot of fluff in your epic blog post you are hoping will go viral. It needs to be straight to the point, solving the issue for the reader that is coming to get the information you present. Add images and break up long blocks of text so it’s easier to read as well.

4. Make sure you have no typos or errors.

A blog post with tons of glaring errors will not become very popular. Your grammar doesn’t need to be perfect, but it’s important that you at least proofread your post before publishing. Send it to a friend to read over if you can, or use Grammarly to check for any issues.

5. Add pics and diagrams when possible.

Not only do images help to break up the text of the blog post, they will also help you get your point across to the reader. Illustrate your content as much as you can so it’s easy to understand. Sometimes, it’s the fascinating images that cause a post to go viral.

6. Make it easy to read and use a simple font.

A common, easy to read font is essential if you want a viral blog post. Avoid fancy scripts, even for headlines. Break up your text with subheadings, which help your reader move from one point to another. They also help the search engines determine what your post is about, so they are great for SEO too.

7. Submit to all social media.

You must get the ball rolling on a post if you want its view to skyrocket. Make sure you publish updates on all of your social networks for exposure. Use CoSchedule to schedule updates for the next two months on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Tailwind will help you get the word out on your pins for the post as well.

8. Communicate with your readers on the post and on social media.

Be sure to answer any and all questions and comments about your blog post. This shows you are there for a two-way communication and aren’t simply throwing words out there for people to read. Loyal readers like knowing there is a human behind the posts they are reading, and if you create a connection with your fans, you greatly increase the chances of a viral blog post.

9. Share others work and encourage them to do the same.

Blogging is a lot of “you do mine, I’ll do yours”. In order to get your blog posts shared by more people, share content from your favorite blogs. There are many Facebook groups that make this sharing easy. Participate and give so that you can receive!

10. Link to other posts and also to your own.

Sharing links to back up the claims you make in your blog post increase your authority. They prove you know what you are talking about, so people are more likely to share your helpful posts. Plus, the more you interlink your own posts, the more exposure you give them when someone clicks on any post on your blog.

11. Make your posts easy to share.

Social share buttons are vital on every blog post if you want one to go viral. Social Warfare makes it easy to place buttons at the top and bottom of each post on your blog. With this WordPress plugin, you can also specify which image will be used when a reader shares to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

You can do all of these things and more and still not guarantee a viral blog post. The best you can do is follow a pattern and routine of good practices and set yourself up for success. If you do this, sooner or later you will hit a big one.

Never Miss a Post!

Get all the online income juiciness right in your inbox!

Powered by ConvertKit

56 Comments on “11 Tips to Increase your Chances of a Viral Blog Post”

  1. Ahhh, the topic of going viral. I’ve had content go viral, but not “crash your site” viral. That’s the one I’m waiting for. 🙂 I think point #1 is one of the most important. I’ve seen content go viral that had horrible images, fonts, etc. But the thing they always have in common are a great topic that appeals to a lot of people.

  2. It always amazes me that so many blogs don’t have sharing buttons! I have visited a lot of blogs where I looked everywhere for their sharing buttons to share their fabulous post and found nothing! I have had a few recipe posts go viral. It’s funny because I always predict a different recipe than the ones that go viral. I don’t even try to predict anymore!

  3. Great tips! I think it’s every blogger’s dream to have a viral post. I don’t like to limit myself to creating ONLY content that I think will go viral, as I feel like that makes me inauthentic. Clickbait makes me so angry lol!

  4. I didn’t know what the definition of viral was, it seems that no one really does. haha!
    I try to follow these rules on all of my posts, but thank you for the reminder. I am going to print this out and put it on my desk to remind me.

  5. I’ve had several posts go viral in the 8 years I’ve been blogging. Mostly because a larger site shared my content. I’m sure they find me because I follow many of these suggestions.

    1. Hi Terri, excellent question! You can find the hottest trends in cooking by looking at magazine covers, checking out the best selling books on Amazon, browsing Pinterest, or reading/watching news stories. It doesn’t always have to be a trend, however. Do you have a hack or trick that makes someone else’s life easier in the kitchen? That could definitely go viral!

  6. Great tips! The proper font that is not only easy to read but also appropriately conveys the message is SO important – as is grammar! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve LOVED a graphic I have seen and wanted to share, but didn’t because of poorly spaced or hard-to-read font, or because of a spelling or grammar error. These are all excellent!

    1. I am the same way, Marlynn! I will skip sharing an image on Facebook because I don’t want people to think I misspelled it 😉

  7. I’ve yet to share any of my new posts on Pinterest. I gotta get on that so I can cash in on all the viral loveliness. 🙂

  8. Great tips! It took me nearly a year to figure out how important social share buttons are – my states definitely went up once I figured that out. Still, the most viral post I’ve ever had went viral on a small scale. I keep working at it. 🙂

  9. It’s totally hard for me to take someone serious when they have spelling and grammar errors in their posts.

  10. great tips! I haven’t had a viral persay but I had a pin get a TON of repins and learned a lot from that . I definitely blog differently to how I did when I first started!

  11. I’ve had one article thats been super popular. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to use it to my advantage yet.

  12. I haven’t gotten into my blog fully yet but I am working on it. Thank you so much for sharing these tips. I can’t wait to have my first viral blog post!

  13. These are some great tips! I’ve had some posts that have been extremely successful over time but nothing I would consider viral. Will definitely start using your recommendations.

  14. These are all such amazing tips! I have not had a post go viral yet but I have had a couple to get mega page views that were not normal for me.

  15. These are some really great tips!!! I’ve had several viral post before, but myost viral would be a lost I did on HuffPost. I hit all the social shares and all so my post was internet famous for like a week

  16. Short content vs Long content?

    I enjoy writing longer content but it seems that mom bloggers or lifestyle bloggers (etc.) do better with shorter-form content.

    If your content is long, add sections and social share points to each section. (tip via Robbie Richards)

    What do you think?

    1. I think each length has its benefits, Sara. If you are writing a recipe, for example, there is no need to make it 1000+ words. However, if you are writing a how-to/tutorial, I think it would need to be longer to cover everything. Parenting blogs tend to be okay with the shorter form. Here, however, I want my posts to be thorough and as beneficial as possible – so I try to write long content for bloggers and entrepreneurs.

  17. This is a really great guide! I am forever and a day going over all my posts for errors and mistakes, its a pet peeve of mine too – but happens so I am always going back over posts!

  18. As a new blogger, this is extremely helpful! I need to start using social media more, and this post is super helpful! Thanks for sharing your tips!

  19. Awesome tips to get our posts to go viral. Although virality cannot easily be predicted, these are the best practices that greatly increase our chances of getting there!

  20. I’ve had a few posts go viral over the last few years blogging, but I don’t feel like I had a good idea on what I even did! I’d love to be more strategic with my posts this year!

  21. I had a few post go viral before. I want consistent virability! Great tips and I would love to incorporate more illustrations and just my own visual photography with my post to PIN better.

  22. I think having solid photos and infographics really helps enhance the chances of writing a viral post. I am the type of person that stays much longer if a photo has caught my attention.

  23. Great tips, not just for going viral but for writing good posts in general. I especially like the one about sharing other people’s posts. We often forget how important it is to give first! Thanks for sharing!

  24. What? You mean there’s no exact science to going viral and for 9.99 and fifteen ebooks later you can’t teach me? Ha! Bummer. This post is exactly on target. There is great information here and I am totally sharing it. More people need to hear this!

  25. It is always important to watch stats for possible viral posts! I know that I have had to contact my server to make sure they could handle the traffic.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *