Content marketing is the holy grail of online business. No question about it. Through effective content marketing, you get natural backlinks, social shares, a dedicated following and loyal customers.

Of course, content marketing isn’t easy. In fact, it’s one of the more “difficult” ways to market your business. Because it’s not about “techniques”. Content marketing is about providing VALUE, and not everyone can do that right out of the gate.

Content marketing is a lifestyle. And until you’re willing to dedicate everything you have towards providing value in your business, you most likely won’t get the results you’re looking for.

The cornerstone of content marketing is the viral post. Through a viral post, you get thousands of unique visitors, backlinks, email subscribers… the whole nine yards.

Viral posts generally have a few factors in common – factors we’ll be discussing in this article. Use these tips in your own content marketing efforts. But, like anything else, realize that content marketing is about practice. You probably won’t hit the jackpot on the first article. But if you are consistent and follow the tips in this article, you will get there.

Let’s dive in.

Content Quality


Content isn’t King – QUALITY is. You can have all the content in the world… if it’s junk, filler content, nothing will come of it.

So what is quality, and where does it come from? Quality is VALUE. It’s hard work and sweat, transformed into words. I’ve worked with many entrepreneurs with valuable businesses that make a lot of money. And one thing is in common: they all SWEAT.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with an entrepreneur who had close to 2,000 email subscribers after his first month blogging on a personal “make money” blog. That’s almost unheard of in that space. How did he do it? SWEAT. I watched him spend HOURS writing content. Then rewriting it. Then editing it. Then making custom images for every post.

On top of this, every post he created was packed with value from his own life experience – mistakes he made, lessons he learned, etc. He provided VALUE with his posts. As a result, people read them, shared them, and they went viral.

Expect to spend some serious TIME and WORK writing your content. But don’t let this scare you… it’s not “bad” work. It’s very rewarding. And, when you submit your post and it goes viral, you’ll know that it was all worth it.

Content Length

Viral posts are long. In general, quality content is long. Why is that? Because the longer the article, the more value you can pack into it.

But let’s get one thing clear before we move on: it’s not about LENGTH, it’s about VALUE. In other words, if you have 5,000 words of nonsense fluff, that won’t do you any good. On the other hand, if you have 5,000 words of incredible value, case studies, statistics, etc, that’s going to do a world of good for your business.

Here’s one core idea to keep in mind when writing your content: always simplify.

After you write your first draft, go over the post and delete literally EVERYTHING that can be deleted. Try and shorten it as much as possible. Then read it over again and do the exact same thing. Then do it again. And one more time! Figure out EVERYTHING you can remove that doesn’t provide massive value right out of the gate. James Altucher, one of the most popular bloggers right now, says that literally, every line should be a cliffhanger. You only get this level of quality if you simplify, simplify, simplify.

Easy to Share

Lastly, make sure your articles are easy to share. It blows my mind how people can create incredible content, but make it difficult to share.

Make sure there are social buttons on your site. Don’t put them EVERYWHERE, but make them very clear. Put them before and after the post, and on the sidebar (where appropriate). Use some good taste with social media placement.

Lastly, make sure your web design is up to par. If it’s not, the odds of your post going viral decrease significantly.

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