How to Write Popular Articles

If you are a website or a blog owner you might have been wondering why don’t your articles become popular on social bookmaking websites such as Digg, redit and stumble upon. The reason your articles aren’t becoming popular is not that you don’t write quality articles but its because people aren't reading what you write.

I am sure that you have heard the advice “Content is king” millions of times but who doesn’t know this?? It only needs above average intelligence to realize that a good content will get recognized, right? Actually real life is much more different than this, of course good content is crucial to a successful website but there are still other factors that if not taken into consideration your king won’t have a popular castle.

What makes an article popular on social bookmaking websites?

An article doesn’t become popular on social bookmarking websites because its good, but it becomes popular because it matches the taste of a big number of people who visit such a site. Lots of people feel disgusted when they see worms and I am one of them but in some villages they eat them!! If you opened a restaurant that sells fried worms in such a village you are going to get rich even if worms are considered disgusting to you.

In short, you don’t have to write about what you want nor you should think about delivering useful content in order to become popular on social book marking websites, instead , all you have to do is to understand the preferences of those people then write an article that matches their preferences.

This is the same exactly as what marketers do, they never invent products first then try to sell them but instead they study the consumer's needs then make products that satisfied these needs.

Visit any social bookmarking website you want then check out the most popular articles there. This will give you an insight about the types of content the visitors prefer and the things that they like. Write an article will good content that matches their preferences and your article will become popular articles there.

Making them reach the article is more important than the content

                          

Lots of articles don’t get lots of digs because users never check them and not because they didn’t like them. One of the most important factor you should consider when you want to make an article poplar is to force people to read it, this can be done by selecting an attractive title. But what does the word attractive mean??

• Vague: People’s curiosity can force them to click on an article and read it. A title like “20 reasons why you are going to vote for this article” will defiantly make people more curios to read the article
• Association: Associating the title with something that concerns the reader will definitely result in making more people read the article. For example a title like “Why is Face book dangerous for your life” will defiantly result in more hits from facebook fans
• Promises:Even though they have become weaker due to their incorrect use promises still represent a strong way to attract users to your article, a title that says “How to make a 1000$ from your website a day” will surely attract lots of those who want to benefit from that promise.
• Challenging popular beliefs: if you choose a title that challenges a popular belief then more people would be wanting to read the article , for example a title like “10 reasons why content is not the king” will attract lots of readers to your article.

Seo or popular title?

You might have been asking yourself why hasn't the guy who wrote this article choose a popular or attractive title for it. The reason I choose this title is that i wanted to optimize my article for search engines and so the article title had to contain popular search keywords. So the dilemmas now is, should you optimize your posts for search engines or for social book marking websites? Again the answer is simple, you just have to write both types of articles, the first type should be optimized for search engines and the second should be for social book marketing websites.

Is content really the king

No , content is the queen and not the king. Good content will insure that the users who have read your article will like it and read more of your posts but unless you find a way to let them read the first article then you would get no visitors to your website. Marketing is the king, content is the queen. And the castle needs both of them in order to become a popular one.

Use These 10 Tips to Write Your Most Popular Post Ever

           

1. Time is more important than talent. Work on something for eight hours and you can bet it will be good. You don’t need to spend that long, however (though that’s how long it took me to craft the first post I wrote that hit the Digg front page). More time means you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value. Take the time to really craft your content. It will show in the finished product.
2. Use your best idea. A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. What’s something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet? Can you assemble a whole lot of really awesome (targeted) resources in one place? The more your posts helps people, the better it will do.
3. Use formatting to your advantage. These days, social media is key when it comes to launching your posts into the stratosphere. Social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice, however. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.
4. Brainstorm headlines. There are probably one or two bloggers who’ve completely mastered the art of writing headlines for social media (you’ll know who they are). The rest of us haven’t been blessed with such skills. When you see a great headline, chances are it’s option #12 of a dozen choices. Few of us can think of a great headline straight away. Spend ten minutes brainstorming and you’re bound to stumble across something that works. A weak headline will cripple your post’s chances of success. It’s essential that you put a lot of work into getting it right.
5. Invest plenty of value in your post. Ever bookmarked or voted for something without completely reading it? We’ve all done it. It’s because of the ‘Wow’ factor — the presence of enough promised value in one place gets the reader enthusiastic about the post straight away. Instead of 5 tips, why not share 50? Instead of 9 resources, why not 40 or more?
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.
8. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Readers will skip your waffly introduction. You can say the same in less words, particularly when you’re writing for an impatient reader: someone who wants to get straight into your tips/resources/opinions. Use your introduction to highlight why the reader should stick with your post. There’s a reason my post introductions mainly consist of: “In this post, I’m going to do this, this and that.” It’s what people really want to know: what am I getting in exchange for my attention?
9. Send messages with links. The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We’ve got a natural desire to know what’s being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it’s ultimately more promotion for them.
10. Utilize your network.
If you want people to Digg, Stumble or Reddit your post, there’s no reason why you need to sit back with fingers crossed and hope it happens. Ask them. Your loyal readers like you. You entertain them, or teach them, or help them. If voting is a simple matter of clicking a link they’ll be more than happy to do so. Ask for votes in your post and email readers and social media influencers. In most cases you will need to get the snowball rolling. After that, others will do most of the work for you.
Bonus tip:
11. Examine what worked before. Study your most popular posts so far. What’s common about them? Why did they work? What needs did they address? In creating your most popular post, it’s important to learn by example and build on what has worked for your blog in the past. Another good idea is to analyze the most popular posts on other blogs in your niche. Why did they work? What’s remarkable about them? You can transfer those qualities over into what you write.