What if your fingers typed up a blog post that got 50,000 Facebook likes in 24 hours?
How hard would your heart beat if your video got 50 million views on YouTube in 3 days?
You’ve seen it done. I’ve seen it done. So, clearly, it can be done.
This blog post will show you the 5 tests that your blog post must pass in order to earn viral status.
If you play your cards right, you can increase your odds of clinching those millions of views. Let’s get to it.
#1. Does it Have Visuals?
I need you to think beyond photos and videos here. Your words can paint pictures too. No visuals, no virality.
#2. Does it Have More than One Central Idea?
The majority of viral blog posts convey ONE central idea. It’s okay to share your feelings. It’s okay to ramble. It’s not okay to create a pointless post (or worse, a post with 20 million different central ideas).
The fewer points you make in your blog post, the more likely that it will go viral. No central point, no virality.
#3. Does it Connect?
Blog posts go viral because they connect us in some way. We see something that we agree with — disagree with — laugh at — hope for. This is why we share (and make your post go viral). Is there anything in your post that would make a reader go “YES! That’s what I would have said too!!! *LIKE*”
#4. Is it Like the Soup?
One of the most famous TV shows in life is The Soup. One of the most famous online content creators is Ray William Johnson. What do these two have in common? They provide commentary on something that is CURRENT. No currentness (sp?), no virality. It’s as simple as that.
#5. Does it Make the Right People Look Good?
I hate to break it to you, but your viral blog post is really not about you. It’s about us, your readers. We share things that make us look good (because they’re funny, insightful, relatable, catchy, ridiculous, etc. etc.). In other words, forget about you and focus on what makes your readers shine when they click that like button.
NOTE: This list of 5 tests is only half of the story.
This blog post only tells you how to structure your blog post for maximum virality. The next step is to entice us to share your posts with all our friends. In keeping with #2 above, we’ll address this next step in an upcoming blog post.
