“New Blogger? Create a Viral Post in 5 Simple Steps!” plus 1 more

New Blogger? Create a Viral Post in 5 Simple Steps!

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 01:07 PM PDT

This guest post is by Greg Digneo of Cloud Marketing Labs.

Admit it: you think I'm nuts. There's no way a new blogger can write a viral blog post with five simple steps!

Well, as the saying goes: "I said it was simple, but it ain't easy." In fact, it will take a lot of work, but it can be done.

The myth of the viral post

There isn't a blogger alive who hasn't dreamed of writing that perfect blog post that will be read by thousands of people.

You spend time researching a trending topic. You relentlessly pursue the perfect headline. And you pour your heart into creating epic content.

Raise your hand if you've done this and have not created a viral blog post.

Writing about a trending topic, creating a perfect headline, and writing epic content are vital to having a post that goes viral.

But you are missing one thing: relationships.

In order for a post to go viral, it needs to be seen by the right people.

What is a viral post?

Before we get into how to build these relationships, I want to first share with you my definition of a viral post.

Math geeks will tell you that a post goes viral when the viral coefficient is greater than one.

But for the rest of us, a viral post for a new blogger is when one of your posts gets read and shared exponentially more than the others. It's as simple as that.

Below are the steps you can use to create a viral blog post.

Step 1: Find a topic

There are two key ingredients that make a successful topic.

First, the topic should be one that's trending. If you are a blogger, there is almost no chance that a "Twitter" topic will be successful. It's been done. However, the topic Pinterest will generate more interest. It's a new social media company, and bloggers and marketers are still trying to figure out ways to leverage it.

To find a trending topic, read blogs in your niche and take note of which topics are getting the most comments, shares, and links.This will give you a good indication of what your audience wants to read and share with their social media following.

The second ingredient to a successful topic is the ability to write five unique posts on the topic.

For instance, you might write one post called "3 Steps to Drive Traffic with Pintrest," and another post called "10 Companies Profiting from Pintrest." But make sure you can write five posts, each taking a different angle on the topic you’ve chosen.

Step 2: Find four blogs to submit guest posts to

Once you have your topic, find four blogs to submit guest posts to.

ProBlogger has a lot of advice on successfully submitting guest posts to popular blogs.

For this process to work correctly, ensure that the blogs you are submitting your guest posts to have large Twitter followings.

Step 3: Time your posts

The most effective way to guest post is to write multiple posts that go live around the same time. That will give your audience the impression that you are everywhere.

To do this correctly, prepare to schedule your posts to go live in about 60 days’ time. Some of the more popular blogs receive a lot of submissions and have a large queue of posts they have to publish before they get to yours. But as long as you plan ahead, most bloggers and content managers will work with you to publish your post on the day you request.

Step 4: Publish a post on your own blog

By now, you have written five blog posts and four have gone live on popular blogs. That leaves one post for you to publish on your own blog.

Publish this post two or three days after your final guest post has gone live.

Step 5: Email bloggers

Before you email the bloggers you've submitted guest posts to, check to see how well your post did relative to those around it. If it got a comparable number of shares, comments, and links, then you’re good to go.

Here’s the exact message that I write to bloggers.

Hey (Popular blogger),

I wanted to let you know that I created a follow up post to the one that went live on (date the post went live) that I think your readers will enjoy.

Pinterest is a hot topic these days and I couldn't possibly provide all of the information in one post. I would love to know what you think.

Regards,
Greg

The goal here is to get the bloggers to tweet your post, but you’ll notice that in this email I didn't ask for the tweet. There is a chance that the post won't resonate with the blogger’s audience. If that's the case, you don't want to ruin the relationship and ask for a commitment they are not willing to fulfill.

The bottom line

The truth is you might have to guest post two or three times on a blog in order to build the kind of relationship you’ll need to have that popular blogger tweet your link.

And if even you follow this process, there’s no way to guarantee that the post will go viral. However, getting your content seen by top influencers does give you a fighting chance.

Like I said, it is a simple five step process, but it's not easy to execute.

Most of you are going to read this post, file it away somewhere and go about your business. And that's fine. I do that all the time. But there are a few of you who know deep down that your content deserves to get read on a consistent basis.

You know that your content is as good as, if not better than, the influencers in your niche. You just need your big break. Do yourself a favor. Stop waiting for someone to hand you your break, and go grab it.

The world needs to hear what you have to say. So, what are you waiting for? Get your content seen. Like right now!

Greg Digneo is the founder of Cloud Marketing Labs which works with B2B companies who want to generate more online sales leads. You can download his free ebook which shows you how to generate 100 sales leads in 30 days.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

New Blogger? Create a Viral Post in 5 Simple Steps!

How I Run a Successful Blog Without Writing a Word

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 07:06 AM PDT

This guest post is by Ashkan of iPhoneAppCafe.com.

I started iPhoneAppCafe.com back in 2010 with the aim of making it a profitable blog—a goal that I eventually achieved. However, after my first blogging venture, one thing became clear to me: writing is not actually my greatest strength.

I have always had lots of ideas and I recognize a good article when I see it. But when it comes to actually writing one, it often takes me far too long, and time is something that I can't really spare because of my day job and other commitments.

So, here was my challenge: how could I approach the blog with a more businesslike attitude and employ the right team to help with the content?

That's when it occurred to me that I could start a multi-writer blog.

If I focused on what I was good at, which is the design, development, and optimization of the blog (I manage ecommerce projects for a day job), then all I had to do was find writers who would write about what they are passionate about. They wouldn’t have to worry about the other boring jobs that go along with creating a successful site, such as how to setup a blog, publish content and promote it, and so on.

In 2010, the iPhone was still fairly new and everybody was talking about apps, with hundreds of new ones filling up the App Store every month. There wasn't too much competition from the likes of Android to worry about either! iPhoneAppCafe's promise was to share each app's experience and help iPhone users discover great new apps.

How did I get writers for my blog?

This bit was pretty simple: I placed a number of ads on a local classified website and also on the ProBlogger job board. To my delight, what I found was that there are many iPhone enthusiasts who would happily rate and review their favourite apps for next to nothing. I even managed to get a number of people to write for free!

In addition to the standard app reviews, I also came up with ideas for a number of good top-10 lists and delegated the writing to the most suitable contributors. Some of the lists got shared on social media and did really well in terms of traffic; even today, some of the best ones still get top ranking in Google and generate lots of traffic.

5 keys to a successful multi-writer blog

Hiring authors is the first step, but there are five key elements you’ll need to work on if your multi-author blog is to be a success.

1. A popular subject

Blogging about a topically popular subject will enable you to find passionate writers. In my case iPhone and apps were very popular at the time I launched the blog and still continue to be topical and talked about.

2. An appealing job ad

Create an appealing ad and communicate your vision in a way that involves and includes your contributors. Here are two of the ads I used.

Get Free iPhone Apps By Writing For iPhoneAppCafe

If you love your iPhone and enjoy reviewing apps, then why not apply to join our team of contributors? You will receive promotional codes for free apps and get the opportunity for your reviews to be featured on one of the foremost iPhone app websites on the Internet!

To apply, simply send us a short (200-300 word) review of any iPhone app, along with a star ranking, the name of the developer, the latest release date, the price and an image caption, (all of which are available from the iTunes store) and a picture or screen shot of the app. Those who get through will join the iPhoneAppCafe team and will receive free apps, a showcase for their writing and the opportunity to advance to paid article writing!

Get Paid For Writing About Apps You Love

Do you have a certain passion in life? Can you write enthusiastically about that passion? Could you use some extra pocket money? Most importantly, do you have an iPhone?!

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then we want to hear from you! There are a few openings in the team at iPhoneAppCafe.com for talented writers who can write reviews of apps that are relevant to what they love. For example, if you are a teacher then you could write about apps that help educate children; if you are a whiz in the kitchen, then you may want to write about cooking apps.

We are looking for contributors from different walks of life, in particular:

Sports people

Health and fitness enthusiasts

Food critics

Photographers

Entrepreneurs

If you are interested in earning money to write about what you love, then simply send us a short (200-300 word) review of one of your favourite iPhone app, along with a star ranking and a picture or screen shot of the app. Those who get through will join the iPhoneAppCafe team and will receive free apps to review, a showcase for your writing skills and, best of all, you'll get paid £10-£15 to write top 5 and top 10 lists!

3. Create author profiles

Allow each contributor to have a profile containing their contact details. This will encourage graduates and those just starting out to write for free for you in the interest of building up their profiles and CVs. We have had writers who wrote for free and used their profile on our blog to get writing jobs in the tech industry.

4. Select a topic that benefits from multiple viewpoints

As an example, I had a musician writing about his favorite music apps, and a keen globetrotter writing about good travel apps. This goes hand in hand with our blog's community aspect and the sharing of mutual and individual experiences.

5. Share behind-the-scenes info

Keep your writers engaged by sharing website statistics and traffic figures with them. You can also create traffic-related incentives—something that I experimented with, which gave mixed results.

There were certainly times when I felt the traffic-related bonuses motivated the writers to spend more time in sharing and bookmarking the articles.

What’s your story?

These are the basic strategies I’ve used to build a successful blog without writing a word. What’s your story? Do you run a multi-author blog—or write for one? Share your experiences and tips with us.

Ashkan is the founder of iPhoneAppCafe.com, a community blog dedicated to reviewing and sharing the best iPhone apps. He started the blog in 2010 and got it to 5000 visitors a day within 9 months. He shares his experience on Twitter: @AshkanTalk.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How I Run a Successful Blog Without Writing a Word