Do You Want To Write Viral Articles?
The psychology of grabbing attention and drastically improving your viewership
If you’re reading this, my title worked.
The human mind craves attention. By simply starting this article with a question in the title, I’m already engaging you — the reader — directly. Follow these steps if you want to write articles that grab attention, keep readers interested, and make you money.
1. Include statistics
Did you know —a 2001 study shows lefties have better memories than righties?
Does this stat have anything to do with this article? Not at all. But statistically, people are 76% more likely to engage with a story that provides numbers and statistics.
And yes — I just made that number up to prove a point.
2. Use lists
We deal with lists every day — grocery lists, to-do lists, bucket lists — but why?
Lists are easy to follow and make logical sense to our brains. In this article, it’s clear I have specific points I want to get across, and they are all listed as a numbered header.
To get (and keep) a reader’s attention, you need to make sure they stick around until the end. An ordered list will work because the human mind favors completion — leaving before reaching the end of the list goes directly against this.
3. Stay away from passive voice
Which do you prefer?
“This article was clapped for by 85% of readers.”
or:
“85% of readers clapped for this article.”
Chances are you prefer the second one, and this is because it is written in active voice.
With active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. With passive voice, the subject receives the action.
Looking at the first sentence, the subject (this article) is receiving the action (the claps), as opposed to the second sentence where the subject (the readers) performs the action (the claps).
Active voice is preferred because passive voice leads to wordy, vague, or confusing sentence structure — all of which will cause a reader to lose attention.
4. Ask questions
I started with a question in the title, and most people would assume the answer is in the article. When presented with a question, anyone with a little bit of curiosity is immediately engaged.
I also planted questions throughout the article, which gives it more of a conversational feel than a lecture feel. This tone helps keep you, the reader, engaged and interested.
5. Keep it simple
Numerous studies have shown humans have short attention spans. Some even say it’s shorter than a goldfish’s. Whether the case or not, the ease of access to information and the speed of technology has made us impatient.
Get to the point and keep it short and sweet. Any longer, you risk losing your audience’s attention and defeating the whole purpose of this point.
Wrapping it up
Viral writing doesn’t have to be a challenge — you just need to know how the human mind works. As long as you can maintain your audience’s attention, your stories will gain more engagement and views.
