How did I get my articles to view 6.2 million people and subscribe 144,920 people?

This article should not be missed, as any company on the Internet needs to be able to blog. This small 15-minute guide will help you understand how you can gather a million people for a penny.
So, we begin:
15-minute blogging guide, online marketing and development
Let me get straight to the point, because I need to share a lot.

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A long background in two words:
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Strange things began to happen, starting in the morning of September 12, 2014, on that day 1009964 people watched the history of my life.

This was my second article, which received a massive response from readers, and since then my life began to develop at an accelerated pace at the intersection of freelancing, start-ups and blogging.

Here is the basic idea that I would like to share with everyone in this article:

I will begin with a set of specific scenarios that have repeatedly shown their effectiveness in massively increasing traffic and visitors, as well as their further transformation into subscribers and followers in all networks.

I obtained this information from the theory of online marketing, the management of social media, the history of the development of the companies of my friends and clients, and also from my own experience.

But I learned most of the information from the field of content marketing and writing articles, especially from the 21 articles I wrote for clients on their behalf over the past few months, as well as from my five own articles in my Media blog.

Below, I also shared the latest statistics on media work and some transfers, including data on the first week of traffic on the article you are currently reading.



First of all, I must admit that not every article has become a hit. Of the 26 essays I wrote, only 5 received more than 100,000 views. Two of them scored 81 and 54 thousand after publication, while the remaining 3 scored an average of 8.3 thousand views each.

However, the statistics are still impressive, since most of the blog giants I know averaged from 1 to 10 thousand visitors per article.

In addition, in almost every article I managed to test various writing styles, in various topics.

This instruction is not for you if ...

... you are looking for clues from a professional in literature. I am not a professional writer, and I am not able to create a literary bestseller in English.

On the contrary, this guide is primarily for people like me who do not have any outstanding abilities or an enormous budget that they could spend on artificially building up clicks. For those who want to attract the attention of their audience through the most natural way.

This guide will help you gain readers in this noise-filled world, and then turn those readers into long-term followers.
I will break the instruction into several parts:
Part 1 - Before writing: Preparing for an assault and determining the right set of tools.

Part 2 - In the process of writing: Writing style and basic techniques aimed at attracting a large amount of traffic.

Part 3 - Before Publishing: What you need to do before clicking the "Publish" button.

Part 4 - After publication: How to become one of the media giants, how to double the traffic of your blog using distribution channels and other opportunities that no one thinks about.

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Let's start with a few simple things before going into technical details.
→ Part 1 - Before writing ←
Creating a text is only part of the story. Preparing for the process of writing an article is no less important than the process itself. And that's why:

1. The “second chance” effect: Why page views mean nothing.

People give you a chance by turning your attention to your article along with many other open browser tabs that distract them.

Traffic can fall very quickly, and the next morning no one can remember your name.



Using the right tools, you get a "second chance" to read - the "second touch point", which will allow you to reconnect with the visitor and remind him who wrote the same article.

Here are some key tools:

1.1. Electronic Subscription: Pros and Cons

For quite a long time, I ignored the advice of one of my favorite marketing experts, Noah Kagan, and finally added an email subscription option to my blog only after I lost more than half the traffic.

I was late, and I managed to dial only 32 thousand email addresses.



After a number of e-subscription campaigns, I have to admit that the use of email tools today is the most effective for me. This technique works smoothly, not only for me personally, but also for absolutely all of my clients, without any exceptions.

This is how I get the first 100 reposts. I just use email to attract my subscribers, and they are already launching the process of distributing my work among a huge number of my friends and acquaintances, who, in turn, can share with someone else ...

Therefore, immediately add the e-subscription option before it is too late.

1.2. Other tools for an extra “second chance”

Determining the right toolkit depends on your goals.

What reaction do you expect from your readers in the process of reading or immediately upon its completion?

What will they sign up for on your Instagram? Log in to your site? Read another your post? Watch the video? Fill out the form? Will they advise you to a friend, share it on social networks or leave a comment?

Let's say your goal is to achieve a “second chance” for your Twitter account: have you added your @ Name to the short name of the post?

If you are involved in the electronic promotion of a fashion brand, have you added any information at the end of the article that, say, would be associated with the reader with your most successful products?

By analogy with the way you turn your visitors into subscribers by e-mail, you can use other tools to turn them into social network followers, customers, viewers or participants.
I do not claim that every article I write is brilliant - I’ll simply increase the use of “second chance” tools with each subsequent one, increasing the number of subscribers, followers, customers, etc.

1. About corporate and personal brand.

Perhaps this is the main thing with which you need to decide before you post content on the Internet.

If I could go back, I would definitely make a choice in favor of the business and refuse a personal brand.

In the case of a personal brand, every time you need to share something or say something, you should start the sentence with “I”, while you could start with “We”.

After some time, you start to feel like a ridiculous madman. It seems to you that you are too much, or that your “voice” is too loud.

I don’t think that a personal brand is anything awful. You just have to be 100% sure that this is exactly what you need. Gary Weinerchuk (Gary Vaynerchuk) writes wonderful things about this, perhaps they will be useful to you.

Just think carefully which option is best for you personally and best meets your goals before making a final decision on this matter. You can also try to combine both options and create the perfect combination of them.

1. Check the specifications.

Huge traffic can attract anything, anytime. More on this later.

But for starters: Did you find out if your hosting service can withstand a huge influx of traffic to your post? Have you tested the work of an electronic subscription to your site? Is your blog supported by mobile devices?



→ Part 2 - In the process of writing ←
So, let's start writing, since all the preparatory stages before the assault have been completed, and all the tools are in place.
a. Writing style

1. Write as simple as possible, but not primitive.

Every time I wanted to impress my readers, I tried to write complex sentences, pretending to be a real writer. However, in the end, something overly complicated turned out, and my editor continued to leave notes in the text like: “What do you mean here?”

It is obvious that none of the readers could not fully understand what I had in mind, despite the fact that my sentences were getting longer and longer.

Here are two tips to help you simplify your text:
1.1. No more than 25 words in a sentence.
Let real writers amaze our imagination. Our task is to simply convey a certain thought to the reader as simply as possible.

25 words is a check digit that I refer to every time I feel stuck on a sentence. Usually I just break a complex sentence into two simple ones. By the way, the Hemingway app can help you with this task.
1.2. No more than 3 sentences on the paragraph.
This is my personal rule, which I adhere to. But I do not at all insist that everyone use it, because I do not think that this is the only correct way of writing articles.

The concentration of our attention decreases every day, so your article competes for the attention of readers who have 12 more tabs open at the same time in the browser, not to mention endless notifications in mobile phones.

In a world where people don't even read my 140 character tweets, I have to really try not to go beyond the three sentences in a paragraph and not depart from the main point.

1. Treat your article as a startup.

Each article has its own unique audience, and each viewer has their own problems. In the same way as you solve the problems of your users on a startup, you can make certain decisions regarding your articles.

Regardless of the subject matter or the client, I start my articles by identifying the problems of the audience for which I am writing this article. This does not mean that you should always share intimate or personal things to attract an audience.

Are you writing about the independent publishing music industry? Before you start, just find out what problems these musicians face? You can also in your narrative on a trusting tone and and write, as if your reader was sitting next to you.

Seriously. Treat your writing as a startup.

1. The ideal trio: long texts, valuable information and practical advice, for which the reader would have to spend a tremendous amount of valuable time for independent obtaining.

For most of my clients, I’m using a take with this trio, which I learned from the guys at Buffer and Crew, and I must admit, this technique works flawlessly.

Writing long texts (1000–1500 words) is always justified. Practical tips increase the number of reposts by 45%. And if the article is supported by data from an unusual source, this percentage increases even more.

PS Below I give an article in which I do not share some practical knowledge.



b. The basics of blog posts
Each person has his own style, and this is how I see the structure of the blog post:

1. The perfect combination: A curious headline and eye-catching image.

Check for yourself. Try to temporarily remove the corresponding picture, and you will be amazed how drastically the statistics will change.

“How” and “Why” in the title always attract attention, while “List” is annoying on the contrary (but remember that these are not the only factors). You can get acquainted with the most interesting headlines in the list of “ Medium Top 100 ”, it is enough to get acquainted with the lists for the past months.

Choosing a good title is great, and picking the right picture is even better. If you manage to combine these two components - it will be just perfect.

1. Introduction

In my opinion, this is the most important part in the article.

You have only a few seconds to convince the reader that your headline is not empty, and you are able to reveal its content in your article. It is during these few seconds that he or she decides whether to open a new tab.

Draw the reader's attention step by step. Get hold of his attention so that he will forget that at the moment he is just reading the article. Start with some shocking, surprising fact, unusual detail, personal story.

Try to start as if from the middle of the story. When did it happen? Who was with you at this moment? Pay attention to the recent article by Andrew Wilkinson, in particular, on its amazing introductory part:

“It’s stupid to build a business on a lifestyle,” the investor croaked threateningly across the table, giving me a look of hatred.

A few seconds later I read his article to the end.

1. Main part.

Here are two main things that I pay attention to in the main part:
3.1. Let the reader catch his breath
Remember, you have already experienced the introduction and reached the reader to the main content of the article.

However, the reader is still in the middle, and it seems that he can easily get tired and lose attention to your article by opening a new tab in the browser.

Add a visual component and let the reader catch his breath.
3.2. Do not use distracting links.
There is a significant difference between using links to really useful (loyal) resources and clogging an article with unnecessary links, ostensibly to prove to your reader that you have written a high-quality post.

Always ask yourself, is this resource important? Is it interesting to your audience?

1. Finish off on a high note.

Here you need to post your latest cards. The reader is really tired, while sorting through a huge number of open tabs in the browser and notifications on mobile devices.

Try to relax and slow down the story. Write more simple sentences. Reduce the size of paragraphs, filling them with the most useful information, without distracting from the topic.

Sum up what has been said, as if confirming that you have fulfilled the promise to reveal the subject of the title as much as possible, and release the reader on this high note.

→ Part 3 - Before publication ←

Now, after the article is already written, the real game is just beginning.

1. Ask people to share with others.

Unlike most other authors, I use this technique often enough: I ask the reader to recommend my article and share it.

This technique allowed to increase the number of reposts of some of my articles by 32%.

People are not so picky at all - if they do not share your link to your article, this does not mean that they did not like the article. This only means that some people simply do not have the habit of sharing information, or do it as often as you do. But often, if you ask them about it, they will easily share your work with their social environment.

1. Publishing your article during the periods of greatest activity (peak hours)

The ideal time to start your email newsletter depends largely on the characteristics of your audience, its time zones, business lines, etc.

As a rule, Sunday, 12 o'clock at night is a win-win time for a global audience because, starting from this time, people are looking for new information that would be interesting at the beginning of a new week.

However, I would recommend that you test the newsletter in different time periods. There are a huge number of email applications that offer relevant tools, such as Mailchimp, with which you can send the same email to two different groups of your subscribers.



Above, I give an example of one of the most long-standing email companies that I conducted for clients. Pay attention to the striking difference in initial readings, although initially it seemed that the temporary difference in these two groups is not that significant.

1. Make the first launch simultaneous.

Suppose, by experience, you have determined that the ideal time to send to your audience is Sunday evening, 18:45. Try to send the same information to other information channels immediately after you start the process of email distribution.

Try to organize the first information one because in such a way that the information available to you on all the channels available to you passes simultaneously.

Always repeat the posting of your post on social networks several times in a row in order to cover different time zones.

1. Try to play the same content in different versions, using all available channels.

This is what will provide you with impressive additional traffic. After confirming the article’s success once, convert it to a new format for a new channel. The following options for further action are possible:

- Articles are processed into slides and placed on Slideshare, turned into pictures that you post on your Instagram account or on a Facebook page, infographics on Pinterest, or you shoot a video based on the article, which you then post on YouTube.

One of the best reproduction options is a website or software or a separate application. Here is a small example of what I turned into a site after the article of the same name collected over a thousand likes on Product Hunt .

→ Part 4 - After publication ←

In the screenshot below, you see only a portion of the available Media channels that you can use to distribute your article. By involving giants in the process, you can double your numbers.

What is really interesting is that most people exaggerate the inaccessibility of the media giants, believing that only top authors can access these channels.

In fact, editors working for big media are very nice people. They are not your enemies, and they do not ignore you intentionally.

As a rule, they are faced with a very large work load, but the priority for them is always one thing: to get the best and high-quality content for their site.

Here are a number of actions that you need to do in order for editors to get what they need, and as a result, you will enjoy the huge additional traffic and advantages of a leading media platform.

1. Mark your goals

Go through the “feedback” pages of targeted publishers or technical blogs, find email editors. If the email address is not available, try to find these editors on Twitter. Compile your target list of editors with all available contact information.

1. Lack of feedback or results blocks further distribution.

Remember one thing: all they need from you is to confirm the actual results of your product (article). If you don’t see any real traffic in Google analytics, you’ll never be able to convince the editor to place your content on his website.

Wait a few days to collect the analytical data. As soon as you notice any real outstanding results on your article (and these are not necessarily traffic indicators, it can be an assessment of the high quality of content from authoritative experts and leaders) - take a screenshot from them and then:

1. Email the editors or tweet with some attractive headline:

Please do not need to write in your message something like:

"Hello my Name Is…,

I am such and such

I wrote an article here ... ”

Write on the case and be as brief as possible. Talk about the results. And speak only if there are any.

Here is a sample message that I usually send, and to which, as a rule, I get a response:

Caption: “42% of the readers of my article shared it with their contacts , in the screenshot application, do you want to publish it in your place? "

Email: “ Hi, the results of my article are really impressive, please see the analytical report in the appendix. I would like to place it on your portal. Please contact me if you are interested. Ali ”

1. What? Do you have 42% repost? Stop immediately and stop taking any action now!

If your article has huge traffic or if you see any active traffic on analytical data, STOP. From this point on, you don’t need to take any action at all, because anyway, literally within a few hours, the media giants will contact you themselves.

Most of them have a staff of specially trained employees who monitor such activity on the Internet and search for promising primary sources for placement on their media resources.

For example, in my viral history, I was approached by representatives of four major technical blogs within seven hours of publication.

1. Beware of exclusive agreements

Some media portals may ask you to sign an exclusive publishing agreement that will not allow you to use the capabilities of other portals.

I do not claim that exclusive agreements are bad; you just have to understand which distribution channels of your article are most preferable for your specific audience.

I posted a viral article on several available platforms, such as Business Insider, Lifehacker, and Tech in Asia. However, with some articles I appeal directly to The Next Web on exclusive rights.

1. Decide when to use the media for further distribution.

If your product is really good, give it some time so that it can disperse through the main channel that you use for this purpose (be it your blog or a specific media platform).

Leave your article alone for at least a few days; otherwise, the media giants can simply swallow up your main channel and break your holistic “bomb” into several small pieces.

Some additional channels

1. Correct channel

Sometimes your content takes time to find the right channel. This article took 2 weeks to do this: someone uploaded it to Reddit and StumbleUpon. As a result, from these two channels began its viral penetration into the Facebook network.



One of Jeff Goins' travel articles began her viral spread only a year after he published it, when one of the leaders of the student movement in Singapore shared a link to her in a Facebook group about the journey he led.

There are no time limits for viral article distribution; however, there is always a well-defined, correct distribution channel. Instead of waiting for help from the outside, try to independently enter such a channel and publish your content on it.

1. Multilingual channel

If you see that your article is of interest to readers around the world, the media will translate it into several languages ​​for free, and you will receive many new followers around the world and a new international traffic stream.

Here is an example of several articles that they translated for me in this way:



If you do not use media services, you can in the test mode hire a freelancer to translate your article (into Spanish, for example) and agree with one of the leading Spanish technical communities about its distribution.

1. False channels

Unfortunately, it also happens that people can distribute your content without referring to your authorship. Moreover, they can even publish your article in LinkedIn on their own behalf.

Personally, I was faced with the fact that LinkedIn did not even bother to respond to any of my letters in which I wrote about the violation of my copyright.

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