How To Write For Viral Marketing

Mention the work "viral" and we all think of a YouTube video such as "Gangnam Style". However blog posts can also be crafted to go viral, provided you capture the interests of your audience.
Below is a list of 10 things based on extensive research that will help your blog posts become more viral.




Capture Your Audience's Interest

• Make use of social trends.  Your article or post must cover a hot topic.  If it is yesterday's news, you will have little interest.  So the question is how do you make your post more newsworthy?  Consider using "Google Trends" or "Twitter Trends" to find a choice subject matter.  I had used Google Trends in the past to identify how current some products where and which products were up and coming, but I had never considered using "Google Trends" for article writing.  Likewise many of us use "Twitter Trends" without thinking to see which hashtag keywords are trending on Twitter but never consider applying this to article writing.  Now you know better.  But I will admit it is tricky mixing what you would like to cover with what is currently in the news.  Sometimes timing is everything.
• Write about universal problems as an alternative to being on trend.  As a counter-pose this strategy is more slow burning but longer burning.  There are no rules to say that you can't mix these two approaches within a blog on a particular subject matter.
• Spend time with your title. Article titles make or break the number of views your post will get.  In my early days of blogging, I used to change the title several times after publication and observe the reaction.  This is an exercise I would highly recommend.  Sure keywords are important here but so are they in they are arranged and how they are presented.  I guess the issue here is that you, the writer, has one view but your audience may have another.  So get into the mind of your audience. 
• Write longer articles.  There is a perception that longer articles are more worth sharing, as if the length of an article is social proof of its gravity.  That's the psychology and I respect this but struggle with its implementation at the same time.  Personally I have difficulty waffling. 
• Use emotion.  In the world of social media there is little room for emotion.  But do your best to build it in where appropriate.  One way to do this is illustrating when small changes bring big results and how these result effect people in a positive way. 
• Readers skim content in today's world.  Its a fact.  So organise your content with paragraph headlines or key points so that readers get an overview of what you have written.  Only 20% of readers will ever read an article in full, life is too busy. 
• Write for people and not search engines.  The viral effect is brought about by people not by search engines.  Ok, get your title found by search engines but it is people who will share your article provided it strikes a chord.  Grab their attention and interest, don't exhaust them by saying the same thing over again with different keywords.   Let the article flow naturally. 
•  
• Have at least one photograph or image at the top of the article.  This image should graphically represent the contents of the article and add interest.  This image is vital if the article/post is to be shared with LinkedIn or Facebook.  The image gives a "flavour" to the text.
• Make sure your blog has social media share buttons to allow your article to be distributed.  One important point here is make sure the share bar is below the article or post title.  Only 20% of any blogs' audience ever read to the end of an article.  So if you have share button at the article's end they wouldn't get used.  The big point here is that people will  share an article without reading the post in full, provided the headline is good enough or the subject matter topical enough.
• Always ask for feedback on your article or if the readers would like to add anything to your list of "how-to's" or "to-do's".  Your readers may have a view on the subject matter that adds to your post and gives a better understanding.  Engagement leads to share-ability.

So if I have missed anything or you disagree with any of the above, please leave a comment below.
Regards, Chris.

"Make Money Online" - What Does This Mean?

You often see the words "Make Money Online" on various web pages or posts.  You ask yourself is this a con or is there a  push button method to making money online?  The following article intends to demystify the subject.

To make money online (or offline for that matter) you need two things, customers and something to sell. 

Finding potential customers on line is often referred to as "driving traffic".  Social media is an ideal method to drive traffic as it is free.   Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and You Tube can all be employed to direct traffic to your website or blog.  These methods have all been discussed in previous blog articles.  Its worth mentioning that these platforms can be used to reinforce one another well and that the mix of platforms you use forms your social media strategy (this is a subject in itself to be covered later).  Also never depend on only one social media platform to drive traffic for you, as the rules constantly change and this one source of traffic could easily be cut off.

Selling online has a number of labels.  It is typically referred to as internet marketing and also known as online marketing or social media marketing if social media is involved.  The only difference between "making money online from home" and  running a business online is the scale at which you do things.  This is basically down to the amount of time you invest and the number of customers you target.   When selling online products there are two options:
Affiliates, here you promote and sell other peoples products.  Commissions are typically in the 50%-70% range.  Naturally it makes sense to sell an affiliate product that you have used yourself and found useful if not invaluable.  The biggest affiliate sites are ClickBank and ClickSure but there are many others.  Affiliate marketing is a good place to start earning money online.  We will cover this in more detail later.
Sell your own products.  If you have expert knowledge of something you can productise it for sale online.  Typically this can be as simple as writing a Word document and converting it into a pdf.  The graphics of your virtual product will be vital to selling online.  Luckily there are many tools to handle this. Crafting your own eBook takes time and isn't for everyone.

Other methods of making money on line include:
Blogging If have an interest or expertise in a particular subject matter, start a blog about it.  You can monetise your blog using Google Adsense.  You can also drive traffic to other peoples products and be paid per customer that buyer or earn a commission.
Selling your articles on line as a copywriter.  This can be done through freelance sites or you could apply directly to larger blog sites that require guest writers.  You can write about the niches that you know or you can research a new topics altogether.  If you are known as an expert in your field, then people will be looking for people like you to write for them.  Writing sales copy is a highly paid branch of copy writing.
Get paid to take surveys.  Numerous companies pay ordinary people money to take surveys that give marketing companies a better overview of their marketplace and its customer.  I dont know anyone making a living from this, but it could supplement your income.  One such site is ecashopinions.com
Freelancing online through sites such as ODesk or eLance.  Here you can sign up as an independent freelancer for anything from data entry, web design or SEO.  Recommendations are key to getting work.
Virtual customer representatives call potential customers and answer customer queries.  Here you work for a call centre.  In today's world this can easily be done remotely, working from home.
Selling physical goods through marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.  This is where the on line world meets the offline world.

In conclusion making money online is a good way to supplement your weekly income.  The success of your online money making abilities will depend on your ability to learn.  So "learn to earn".  Many of the social media skills we cover will help you to do so.   Start part time and see where it takes you.

If you would like to know more or if you would like a particular topic covered, please leave a comment below.
Regards, Chris