One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month’s worth of your usual content.
In this post, I want to set you a challenge with the potential to launch your blog into the stratosphere.
Make the next post you write your most popular post ever.
The following ten tips form my key advice for tackling this task. I used all of them when hitting the Digg front page for the first time. There’s no blueprint you can follow to write an incredibly popular post, but you won’t have a chance unless you try. I’m confident these tips will give you a good shot at success.
1. Time is more important than talent. Work on something for eight hours and you can bet it will be good. You don’t need to spend that long, however (though that’s how long it took me to craft the first post I wrote that hit the Digg front page). More time means you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value. Take the time to really craft your content. It will show in the finished product.
2. Use your best idea. A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. What’s something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet? Can you assemble a whole lot of really awesome (targeted) resources in one place? The more your posts helps people, the better it will do.
3. Use formatting to your advantage. These days, social media is key when it comes to launching your posts into the stratosphere. Social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice, however. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.
4. Brainstorm headlines. There are probably one or two bloggers who’ve completely mastered the art of writing headlines for social media (you’ll know who they are). The rest of us haven’t been blessed with such skills. When you see a great headline, chances are it’s option #12 of a dozen choices. Few of us can think of a great headline straight away. Spend ten minutes brainstorming and you’re bound to stumble across something that works. A weak headline will cripple your post’s chances of success. It’s essential that you put a lot of work into getting it right.
5. Invest plenty of value in your post. Ever bookmarked or voted for something without completely reading it? We’ve all done it. It’s because of the ‘Wow’ factor — the presence of enough promised value in one place gets the reader enthusiastic about the post straight away. Instead of 5 tips, why not share 50? Instead of 9 resources, why not 40 or more?
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.
8. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Readers will skip your waffly introduction. You can say the same in less words, particularly when you’re writing for an impatient reader: someone who wants to get straight into your tips/resources/opinions. Use your introduction to highlight why the reader should stick with your post. There’s a reason my post introductions mainly consist of: “In this post, I’m going to do this, this and that.” It’s what people really want to know: what am I getting in exchange for my attention?
9. Send messages with links. The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We’ve got a natural desire to know what’s being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it’s ultimately more promotion for them.
10. Utilize your network. If you want people to Digg, Stumble or Reddit your post, there’s no reason why you need to sit back with fingers crossed and hope it happens. Ask them. Your loyal readers like you. You entertain them, or teach them, or help them. If voting is a simple matter of clicking a link they’ll be more than happy to do so. Ask for votes in your post and email readers and social media influencers. In most cases you will need to get the snowball rolling. After that, others will do most of the work for you.
Bonus tip:
11. Examine what worked before. Study your most popular posts so far. What’s common about them? Why did they work? What needs did they address? In creating your most popular post, it’s important to learn by example and build on what has worked for your blog in the past. Another good idea is to analyze the most popular posts on other blogs in your niche. Why did they work? What’s remarkable about them? You can transfer those qualities over into what you write.
Great article..Excellent post especially for those who are just stepping into the blolgging world to make their blog one, right from the start.
but four more things are very important that is..
Is it compelling?
Is it easy to read?
Is it grammatically correct?
Is it optimized for search engines?
nice blog.thanks for sharing….
Tomorrows task… write my most popular post ever!
Thanks for the tips and the motivation.
Sir, thanks for 10 tips + bonus how to Write my Most Popular Post Ever. It’s great.
I must learn it and prectice it in writting
I would like to add one more point, that is, make the message as simple as possible. Good messages should be made easily scannable and readible, so that their value can be realized. If you would make your articles short and valuable, your readers will appreciate and follow you.
thanks hopefully my next post will land on the digg front page
Another great post Daniel and some very needed tips for many bloggers including myself.
Thanks.
alright i guess i mis typed few words there.. “anyway 72nd is still good enough”.. and they daniel thank you so much for your tips will definitely use them.. :D..
wow.. 71 comments..!! that’s a lot.. and i am sure i won’t be the last one to comment in here.. anyway 72nd is still goog enuff.. Hey Daniel, if you still read the comments of ur old posts.. Hello and thank you so much for the tips.. Will definitely use ur tips. @ Aaron yea do not skip #6… wud have never noticed if u hadn’t mentioned it.. hehe.. Happy Wednesday everyone..!!
my most popular , was to predict and talk about Michael jackson’s death 2 months before 🙂 , my blog simply has reached its maximum bandwidth that day
Thanks for your good tips
I am a newbie to the blogosphere… one day I was reading a post about spring cleaning and I felt the need to share a tip to fold towels, so when they got to the day of fixing it they knew it before hand. I commented on that blog and provided the link to my post. I didn’t know if it was right to do it but a lot of people visited my site that day. From 10 visitors a day that day I got 100. I kept commenting on that blog and I see that most of the visitors come from there. I think that was a popular post because I got 10 readers from it! 🙂 I need to write more posts like it, since I haven’t got that much traffic since then. 🙁
But I am a newbie, I will have patience. 😀
Writing is art. sometimes, we need something different to express the idea and create amazing articles.thanks for great guide
thanks for this tips but when i added many blog my site link it’s not listed from google
Writing is art…. sometimes, we needsomething different to express the idea and create amazing articles….thanks for great guide
nice , usefull and masterpiece of blogging advice.
greetings…
Many thanks for giving me this great opinions. God Bless You always! ^_^
Nice useful tips… i guess comparing two products brings more visitors to your site….
great ideas! i learned a lot~
very good post.. thanks for info..
I often using up to date informations such as daily news but because of low pagerank, it gives traffic only one or two days.
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All the products that you want to sell online are ready. You have already signed up with the Google Adsense program or with other affiliate marketing programs and you have already prepared the ad you want to post on your affiliate’s site. Your mind is now set to being the next most successful online businessman. But is there anything else that you might have forgotten to prepare? Maybe none. But how about your landing pages?
Wow great article..! I will apply your guides soon.
These tips are great, I just have one question 😀
where is tip #6 ?
Nice post!
thanks
Great tips! You’ve made me realize I really need to spend more time on my headlines… thanks!
Thank you for the useful post. I’ll follow your advice. It can only be up from here!
good article and advices. Will implement it on my sites.