Writing blogs that actually get read & go viral is really difficult.
But not rocket science.
Here’s how to do it right.
Let’s take the example of the Hustle here.
They have more than 1.5mn readers who look forward to their content every week.
1/ Your goal is to make people FEEL. If they FEEL, they’ll act.
Your content is a journey. As if you’re writing an episode of Game of thrones.
2/ On writing the headline
Most people find the content with the headline.
Put 95% effort on the headline and 5% on the content.
The draft headline does not need to be your final headline (you can pick one later) but it should tell the story.
3/ On writing the description: Think about the audience.
“In an attempt to become the most productive person on the planet, I gave up food and lived entirely off Soylent. Here’s how it went.”
4/ The first draft
It will suck. And, that’s okay. Just write anything. Once you have a motion, you’ll keep going.
It will be horrible and simply accept it.
5/ Incubate
After the first draft. Get up walk around.
Eat. Take rest.
It could be 5-minutes or two years.
Then, go back to the article to edit later.
6/ Editing (where the magic happens)
This is where you take something from crap and turn it into gold.
Quick tips: Look in different formats.
Print it. Then, check.
Send it to the most critical person on the earth to tell you what is wrong with it.
7/ Create the slippery slope
The sole purpose of the first sentence is to get you to read the second sentence of the copy. The sole purpose of the second sentence is to get you to read the third sentence.
It’s incredible to get people to slowly go deeper and deeper.
8/ How to use the slippery slope
Tell the story half…then say “but first..”
How it happened, but let me get into that later.
Use opened ended questions and answer later.
Use but…then..to tell the story.
9/ Cut
Cut the first and last 25%.
Every word must be necessary. Nothing more and nothing less.
You need to kill your darlings aka favorite words that are unnecessary.
10/ Go back to the first sentence
Make the first sentence punch some in the face. It should hit hard. It should make them curious.
How Hustle blog made it work.
11/ Write simple
It should be with an 8th-grade reading level. No jargons. Use the Hemingway app to tell your grade-level story.
It is written in a way that you can tell your mother.
12/ Make it easy for eyes
Keep sentence shorts (2-4 lines).
Give spacing and big fonts.
Which one is easier to read?
13/ Go back to your headline
Write 25 of them.
Show your headlines to a few friends and ask them which one they would click on. Select one of those.
See which one they picked. Then, choose the best one.
14/ Pick your image
Don’t make it your logo. Make it Clicky.
Don’t use stock images
Make it more human.
Tell a story with your featured image too.
15/ Some other tips
Always optimize it for social media.
Find inspiration from your favorite bloggers and artist to get you in the mood.
16/ You get a blog post that gets viral.
This Hustle’s blog got viral.
If they can do it, you can do it too.