Thanks for that introduction Harold! As Harold stated, I’d like to talk a little bit about what type of quality we are looking for in terms of submissions to Viral Content Buzz, as well as EXACTLY what makes these types of submissions great. Then we’ll dive into a little bit about the things you shouldn’t be submitting.
Over the past several months, I have come across some very cool submissions. While these submissions ARE quite different from each other, they all have some things in common in that they are either:
- Very interesting, entertaining or funny
- very useful
- Extremely unique in some way
- Or a combination of all of the above
And while there is never a guarantee that your content WILL actually go viral, having these key components is the foundation so that you will have the best chances of your content spreading far and wide. But before Viral Content Buzz can be of any help, you first have to come up with really stellar content. Only then can VCB help give your content a nudge in the right direction.
If you take these principles into account and think of them as the foundation of your content marketing strategy, then you will be ready to go viral. And when it happens, it’s like magic you’ve never felt before!
Now, without further ado, here is the list of cool submissions:
Chipmunks Ate My Lettuce: A Preventable Gardening Tragedy?
At first, this post seems just ok. But once you get towards the end, they follow it up with an extremely funny gopher montage from the classic movie Caddy Shack. That gopher is just hilarious! By adding a humorous video, they turned what might have been a dry or maybe just an ok post into something very funny and entertaining. It definitely made me laugh!
Playing Guitar During Brain Surgery
Do I really need to explain this one? Playing guitar during brain surgery, ’nuff said!
48 Things You’ll Get Arrested For Mailing
This one falls under the kind of whacky but interesting category. Who would ever think you’d get arrested for mailing dead badgers or human organs?!
7 Famous Beds Throughout History
There’s just something very cool about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s protest bed that they stayed in 24 hours a day when they did their “bed in.” Same goes for Elvis Presley’s hamburger bed.
Australia’s Top Ten Deadliest Animals
From the blue ringed octopus to saltwater crocodiles and sharks, this is one infographic that will scare the hell out of you!
5 Ways To Use Gmail For Productivity
Written by none other than our other founder, Ann Smarty, this post is the perfect example of how to write something that’s truly useful.
Your Favorite TV Characters and Their Business Cards
This post checks the boxes for both creative and humorous.
Top 10 Rare Natural Phenomena That Occur on Earth
If you want to see why images can play such an important role in a post, be sure to check this one out.
42 Popular Cocktail Recipes
Not only is this post useful, but it also includes a great picture of every cocktail.
Breaking Bad – Jesse Pinkman’s Complete “BITCH” Compilation + Random Funny Moments (Revised)
Even though videos can take longer to create than a standard blog post, the 1,000,00+ views this one has racked up proves they can definitely be worth the extra effort.
As you check out all of those examples, keep an eye out for the themes we discussed at the beginning of this post. If you focus on creating content that has some similar qualities, you’ll point your content strategy in right direction.
Things to Avoid Like the Plague!
Now that we’ve covered some of the types of posts that you SHOULD submit, let’s discuss some of the types of posts you should NOT submit to VCB.
Because it wouldn’t be very nice, I’m not going to call out any specific posts and pick on anyone. But what I will do is outline the types of posts that we see over and over that are things we don’t want. This will help you know what type of content to avoid submitting, and help increase your chances for success here at Viral Content Buzz.
Thin Articles Written Purely for SEO Purposes
This is by far the most common offender we receive. And it’s also the type that’s usually easiest to spot. Typically this type of post has little substance, only has a single image (or none at all), and serves no purpose other than to get a quick backlink. In many cases, that quick backlink leads directly to a sales page. We also see posts that are stuffed with a certain keyword. Not only is keyword stuffing ineffective, but both forms of SEO posts don’t have actual users in mind.
When people stuff the same keywords over and over, it generally reads oddly. And when you have an anchor text link going straight to a sales page, again it’s highly unlikely that a user is going to actually find that link useful. Links are supposed to elaborate on a part of a post to help the user better understand or better elaborate, and sales pages rarely accomplish that goal.
Affiliate Reviews or Sales Pitches
Simply put, this is not the type of content people like to share on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Affiliate sales pitches generally have a slim chance in hell of ever going viral. The reason? Because “IT’S NOT WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO SHARE WITH THEIR FRIENDS!”
Pages That Are Overly Promotional in Nature
There’s no reason for a company to submit their main sales page. As with affiliate reviews or direct sales pitches, even if this content has value, it’s not what people want to share through social networks.
Posts That Lack Visual Appeal
If a post doesn’t have any images, it’s very hard on the eyes and your content has much less “share appeal.” Images are what help to catch people’s eyes and entice them to read further. No one likes reading a solid wall of text.
The Home Pages of Business Websites or Blogs
It’s amazing that I have to explain this one, but I guess I do because we get this A LOT. Same concept here: people like to share individual posts, not the home page of business websites or blogs.
Posts with Primarily Ads Above the Fold
If all I see above the fold are ads and I have to actually scroll down the page to read content, then that creates an incredibly bad users experience. This is annoying and people don’t want to share it. Also, it could get you in the bad graces of Google.
Overly Intrusive Popups
I’ve written before about how much I dislike over the top opt-in popups. Like most people, I find them extremely invasive and annoying. Now, this doesn’t mean we will reject every single blog that has an opt-in popup. WE do allow some. But if it’s a HUGE and immediate popups that covers the entire page, you can bet that will get your submission rejected.
I hope this post has helped clarify the types of things we are and aren’t looking for, as well as the overall goal and purpose of Viral Content Buzz. If you have any questions or opinions, be sure to share in the comments below!
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