10 lessons about "going viral" I've learned writing 3,000+ articles on the internet, and 1,000+ ghostwritten articles on the internet. Thread 👇
1/ What you think people want to read is not what people will end up reading (especially in the beginning). Articles I've spent hours on ended up getting no viewership. Meanwhile, my most popular article to date (8 million views), I wrote in 20 minutes.
2/ Follow the data. 99.9% of people show up to the internet thinking they know what readers want to hear about from them. The reality? They have no idea. You need to write in order to learn. Write 10 things. Find the 1 more people read. Double-down on that topic. Repeat.
3/ "Going viral" is overhyped. I've had 100+ articles "go viral," accumulating anywhere from 100,000 views to 1M+ views each. Every time, it's cool for 24 hours, but nothing changes long term. Only consistent output matters. "Fireworks" vs "Constellation." Be the latter.
4/ Social platforms > major publications. I wrote for @Inc for 3 years, and I rarely crossed 300,000 views in a month on all my articles. On Quora, between 2015 and 2018, I consistently averaged 1.5M views per month on all my content. On Medium today, I average 500k/mo.
5/ 800-1,200 words is the "sweet spot" for a viral article. It has to be long enough that the reader feels like they got something in return for their 45 seconds of half-skimming-half-reading, but short enough that they don't feel mentally exhausted.
6/ Big lists are great: "19 things" is better than "9 things" is better than "3 things." The longer the list, the shorter each number (and its paragraphs) should be. These "win" because you are appealing to readers who just want to skim subheads but feel like they read it all.
7/ The "Golden Intersection" is giving readers Actionable Advice while simultaneously telling them a Personal Story (how YOU learned the thing you're explaining to them). The more specific the advice, and the more memorable the story, the "better" the piece is.
8/ In order to "stand out" on the internet, you need to be publishing at LEAST 1x/mo, ideally 2x/mo. If you want to be competitive, you need to be publishing 1x/week. And if you want to compete with me, you need to be publishing something, somewhere, every day.
9/ The bigger the Question, the bigger the potential audience. Niche topics rarely go viral because people don't wake up in the morning asking themselves niche questions. BIG questions like, "How do I make more money?" or "How can I be happy?" have big audiences.
10/ DO NOT START A BLOG. The only time you should start a blog is if your website is ACTUALLY your business (aka: your business is to monetize the site with ads and/or sell products like a store). If you want readers, write in social environments. Period. End of story.
For more writing tips, and insight into how to become a professional writer in the digital age, check out my weekly paid newsletter: howiwrotethis.substack.com
PS for those who don’t know, I’m the founder of a content writing agency for founders & executives called Digital Press. To date, we’ve written thought leadership content with 300+ Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, VCs, Fortune 500 execs, NYT best-selling authors, etc.
