Welcome to the fifth and quasi-final part of my series on The Anatomy of Viral Business Content. (If you’re on my email list, you’ll get a bonus link tomorrow — good reason to subscribe if you haven’t already.)
If you haven’t read the previous parts in the series, here are the links: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.
So, you’ve created compelling content…
In a bold voice…
Maybe with an edge of controversy…
And you’ve found your starving crowd to start sharing it with…
Now it’s taking off — and the traffic is hitting your website in droves!
… But what next?!
Let’s take a second to talk about the difference between viral BUSINESS content and viral CONSUMER content…
Viral CONSUMER content is created by publishers…
And — especially online — the publisher revenue model is advertising.
Which means eyeballs = money.
If you’re running a website that’s just full of advertising for other people’s stuff…
And you just need eyeballs…
“Our business model is to collect eyeballs… Lots and lots of eyeballs!”
Knowing a few will turn into clicks…
And clicks are what you use to generate cash…
Fine! You’ve succeeded!
Time to move on to try to create your next viral hit.
But if you’re trying to build a BUSINESS this is the WRONG model entirely!
I’ve already been clear that my daily posts and emails here at Breakthrough Marketing Secrets are the start of something much bigger.
That I’m looking for sophisticated, serious marketers and business owners (who IMPLEMENT!) to join me…
Because I want to work with you to help you multiply your profits in your business…
With a level of engagement that goes WAY beyond a few minutes of morning reading.
And yeah, getting thousands of people to read my content and know who I am is great…
But I care about real business results — and you should too!
Viral is NOT success. It’s only the first step to success.
It’s what you do once you have all that traffic coming to your website that matters.
Because a visitor who comes to your website today, reads a piece of content, and leaves to never return again… Is absolutely WORTHLESS to you!
Traffic without conversion creates COST… NOT PROFIT!
So your goal with every piece of content…
And ESPECIALLY with viral content…
Is adding to your tribe… Your herd… Your audience…
You need to add (qualified) readers to your list!
(You are building an email list, aren’t you?)
And so, shortly after my post “My response to a copywriter looking for career advice” started blowing up (but not fast enough)…
I got the idea to put this series on The Anatomy of Viral Business Content together…
And I posted this note below the main post, right above the opt-in form that I have at the bottom of every post…
The amount of interest and traffic this post has received has gone far beyond my expectations.
Which led me to ask, “Why do some business posts go viral?”
The answer? Well, you won’t want to miss it!
It’ll be part of my upcoming series on The Anatomy of Viral Business Content. And the best way to make sure you get instant access to it — the moment it’s released — is to be subscribed to my daily Breakthrough Marketing Secrets emails.
Go ahead and sign up below — and the moment you confirm your email address you’ll ALSO get a pile of insights on how to multiply profits in ANY business, fast.
Prior to posting that note, I had a system in place to convert interested readers into email subscribers…
As I said, I have an opt-in form at the bottom of every post.
But as soon as I added that note with a specific offer relevant to writers (who doesn’t want to write viral business content?), the number of opt-ins I was getting from that page increased dramatically…
It’s all about having an effective system!
The single-best “next step” for someone interested in what they’ve read is to offer them more of that. Even better if it’s a specific, compelling offer. (When this series is complete, I’m going to offer it as a download for opt-ins.)
Moving forward, once someone is on my email list, I’ll make more compelling value-driven offers.
The key is to sift and sort…
Finding the high-value prospects…
Driving the first transaction… And the next… And the next…
But that critical first step after someone hits your viral content… Is to get them to raise their hand and say “yes,” I’m interested in more from you!
And before we wrap up, one more way to extract value from viral content!
The only reason you’re reading this series on The Anatomy of Viral Business Content…
Is because I had another piece of viral content in the first place.
I turned one success into five more posts…
Plus a free report…
And from there, I know I can leverage that content in even more ways yet to be revealed…
For one, I know I’ve developed at least a segment of my list that’s interested in copywriting career advice (more on segmenting your list in future emails)…
And it certainly doesn’t stop there.
When something you’ve written goes viral, your work is just beginning…
It’s time to consider all the other ways you can use, re-use, leverage, and expand the success of the original content.
Now I want YOU to comment.
Let me know what your biggest takeaways from this series have been.
What have you learned?
What assumptions did I reinforce?
What do I have wrong?
What are you going to do in the next 48 hours to create your first or next viral content hit?
Let me know…
And then turn what you’ve discovered into real action (because that’s where the results are generated!).
Leave your comments below!
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
