Everybody with a web page wants website content that has the ability to go viral; it’s the Shangri-La gold of traffic-generating ideas. However, actually coming up with viral content is not so easy. A website owner needs to not only be able to develop the content quickly but also pick the topics that will catch people’s attention, causing them to share the information with others. Here are 10 tips that can help develop viral content:
1. Keep Tabs – To understand what make social media traffic tick, a website owner has to be paying attention to social media trends. Doing so gives a better idea over time what people are paying attention and what’s being ignored, including content type.
2. Make Content Matter – Sizable content of at least 400 words gets people’s attention enough that they are more likely to share the material. Short content tends to be ignored.
3. Good Titles are Important – Content with eye-catching titles and sub-headings tend to get more information versus just a wall of text. Titles allow a reader to easily and quickly scan material to determine its importance. When the reader finds the right part he likes, he tends to share it faster.
4. Manage Keyword Density – Nothing drives a reader away faster than content jam-packed with too much keyword density, especially when it doesn’t make grammatical sense. Proper placement of keywords in the context of the material works far better and doesn’t offend readers.
5. Include Emotions – Content that is emotional is often found to be far more interesting for readers, enough that they are willing to share it voluntarily with others. Emotional writing strikes a cord, causing people to remember specific content and value it more.
6. Pack Content with Simple Titles – Using a basic title and then supporting it with lots of good content follows a principle of "under-promise" and "deliver with gusto." Readers feel rewarded finding a content gem packed with lots of information. The opposite approach tends to let readers down, irritating them that the content didn’t live up to the hype in the title.
7. Plant, Seed and Harvest – Farmers don’t get crops sitting around wishing things to grow. They go out, till a field, seed it, and help the plants grow. Making content viral requires the same kind of effort. People need to know the content exists to find it and share it. Website owners who go to other sites and use backlinking, sharing, and regular linking where possible generate far more traffic to find content that could then go viral.
8. Get Feedback, Revise, Publish Again – Feedback tells people what they are doing right, and what’s going wrong. Based on return information, content can be improved to get a better response the next time. Mistakes can also be avoided once identified.
9. Lists and Lessons – Two formats that people like to share involve summary lists and lessons. Both provide concise packaging of information that can be quickly scanned and consumed for their salient points.
10. Do Reviews – Readers are often looking for information about things they are considering buying or trying. Reviews tend to draw readers because it offers a free snapshot of something people often have to pay for to access. Reviews can also save people money avoiding purchases for what they may eventually not actually want. As a result, they have a high potential for being shared among readers of the same mindset and opinion.
Viral content doesn’t happen automatically just following one of the above tips. Many website owners and writers often use multiple methods simultaneously to increase the change of catching readers’ attention and interests. The more triggers included, the more often people are will to carry an idea forward to their friends, which is the main goal. Once the viral effect hits, though, hold on as the traffic can be significant and immense. Then the challenge comes in trying to figure what to do with the huge response while its occurring.