Discussions

Get Your Blog Posts to Go Viral...

Posted by TonyB • 3/09/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: lifestream, widgets

The new social widget is a really powerful little tool that has the potential, if you follow these steps, to really become the most valuable tool that you have for getting your posts and your friend's posts to go viral.

Steps to boosting your readership and following:

1. Install the widget by going to
www.blogcatalog.com/account.widget.php?type=feed

2. Update your blogcatalog personal profile to include your Digg, StumbleUpon & Twitter memberships

3. The widget has an RSS subscription link. Get as many of your visitors and readers to subscribe. Run a contest, come up with something creative to get them to sign up. It will be valuable to you.

4. Install the StumbleUpon toolbar if you haven't already.

5. Join Twitter

6. Start Digging and Stumbling your favorite posts and articles. Send out Twitter Tweets that include a link to the posts.

7. Get as many blogcatlog members to add you to their Dashboard subscription as possible. So that they see when you have Dugg/Stumbled or Tweeted.

8. Your blog traffic and following will increase because everytime you digg or stumble or tweet something the following will happen:

* all blogcatalog members who follow you will see what you have dugg/stumbled/ tweeted about and are likely to digg & stumble the article too.

* your subscribers will be notified via RSS what you have done and many will do the same

* members on blogcatalog who visit your bc personal profile will see what you do and some will do the same

* your diggs/stubmles/tweets will also show up on your social stream widget that you have placed on your blog, for anyone reading your blog to see. Some of them will then follow your diggs/stumbles and twitter recommendations.

It's really easy to underestimate the power of the new widget unless you step back and put all the pieces together.

If you use it the way I've described and get your friends to do the same, you will end up creating one of the most powerful tools in your social media blogging arsenal.

I am sure there are other ways this widget can be used to boost traffic. Please share your success stories here or any frustrations that you have so that we can continue to improve it for you.

User Comments

3/09/08

crkian

Is that viral like in infection

[reply]
1. 3/10/08
  
  TonyB
  
  RotorBlog.com, a blog that focuses on social networking and online communication said this about the News Feed Widget:
  
  "This product is the ultimate in a portable “calling card” for people to follow your Web activities. By not favoring any of the old social network standbys, the product does not play favorites. A universal public reader is something every blogger can get behind."
  
  www.rotorblog.com/2008/03/09/blogcatalog-widget-lifestreams-your-online-act...
3/09/08

TonyB

viral like an infection on roids

[reply]
3/09/08

br3adman

Long as it Don't come with "crabs"

promomaker
www.promomaker.blogspot.com

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3/09/08

TonyB

br3...your'e a superstar online marketer. Test this system and write about your results.

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3/09/08

br3adman

Can I just get the widget for my toolbar?
I would be interested.. btw sent you a mess site.

promomaker
www.promomaker.blogspot.com

[reply]
3/09/08

TonyB

we are creating something for your toolbar that will work with the social stream widget plus the dashboard.

the widget works on your blog since you'll get subscribers plus all your guests will see what you are digging etc.

[reply]
3/09/08

br3adman

I'm going to look into it real fast and see what size are currently available
oh
My Infamous Alias Biohazard is reveled "as you see now" lol

promomaker
www.promomaker.blogspot.com

[reply]
1. 3/09/08
  
  TonyB
  
  Let me know how successful this is for you.
3/09/08

br3adman

I just added the widget I wish there was a option to tone down the "Orange" or any color we choose,This will Help match my other color on the blog.

promomaker
www.promomaker.blogspot.com

[reply]
1. 3/09/08
  
  TonyB
  
  will talk to Nine and see about adding another color to match your blog.
  
  I just upgraded your blogcatalog membership to premium one for the
  next 6 months b/c of www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/birthday-cake-offer-for-bc-members
3/09/08

br3adman

Wow Thanks site

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3/09/08

TonyB

br3 ... I can't see what colour you need as Im not seeing the widget. Which blog is it on.

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3/09/08

markstoneman

I don't see how this can make blog posts go viral, but I would certainly be interested in hearing more about your reasoning.

[reply]
1. 3/09/08
  
  TonyB
  
  Stoneman.. its pretty logical.
  
  "Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use preexisting social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet" from the USA Today.
  
  The addition of the News Feed widget to your blog, combined with the BlogCatalog Dashboard and your blog readers who sign up to receive your widget's RSS feed will result in each of your Diggs/Stumbles/Tweets being automaticall distributed to a large audience.
  
  The nature of the social web is that a certain % of your friends and followers will also Digg the same posts. Their Digg will then be displayed both on their News Feed widget, their Dashboards, RSS readers.... resulting in a viral effect.
2. 3/09/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  That makes sense. The key phrase though, is perhaps "a certain %." I think my readership is small enough, and not all from here, that I'm not sure that % makes it worth it. Also, I have different blogs for different topics. I'm not convinced some of what I digg will be relevant to users on certain blogs. This is not to knock the idea, but I am skeptical of there being a one-size-fits-all solution.
  
  The one blog I have where it could make the most sense, my personal blog, won't work, because it's on Wordpress.com.
3. 3/09/08
  
  TonyB
  
  stoneman...you're right. The operative words are a "certain %". Perhaps Im using marketing hyperbole .... though the widget provides more value than many other widgets. It has also received some really great reviews by a number of top bloggers
  
  www.widgetslab.com/2008/03/08/blogcatalog-aggregated-lifestream-news-feed-w...
  
  www.blogherald.com/2008/03/09/lifestream-all-of-your-social-network-activit...
  
  www.901am.com/2008/blogcatalog-launches-portable-social-network-activity-ag...
3/09/08

mikeny07

And I thought all I had to do when I started blogging was comment to get a million people to my blogs.

I need a T5 line first that goes faster than the Star Trek ship.

[reply]
3/09/08

bloggernoob

im interested. wondering if any bloggers have had success with this widget yet

[reply]
1. 3/09/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  How would you measure it?
2. 3/09/08
  
  Rich
  
  Mark, I would guess most would measure this in terms of traffic.
3/09/08

Rich

In the pre-widget world, hee hee, this is pretty much how television show fans worked their online campaigns. They would write a post, have a Digg or StumbleUpon announcement, and then keep promoting it thought their social networks so more people would read it, Digg it, etc.

With this widget, they could done the same thing, just in less time and much more effectively across many networks at once. There would likely be a learning curve among readers and promoters though, but probably much less than other features.

[reply]
1. 3/09/08
  
  TonyB
  
  Rich, wouldn't you say for the most part that once the widget is installed and you have selected social networks to display, this puts your Digg/SU promotions on autopilot?
3/09/08

MadameX

Here's another way it can help: If you're a dork like me, then once you install it, you feel compelled to go and Digg and Stumble stuff even though you've been largely inactive in those places lately, just because you want to watch the stuff show up on your feed and find out how long it takes and what it looks like and all.

[reply]
1. 3/09/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  That's happened to me just because I activated some of this on my BC profile page.
2. 3/09/08
  
  thegoodknife
  
  same here. I've never stumbled so much in my life.
3. 3/09/08
  
  TonyB
  
  Me too!
  
  I never stumbled anything before this silly dashboard came out. I never twittered either and rarely Dugg anything. Now it's almost all I do.
  
  Thanks to You...GoodKnife. I too, am now a certified dork.
4. 3/10/08
  
  offendedblogger
  
  Is there is a conspiracy by goodknife to make us all dorks?
  
  I am one too now, as well as an accomplice in Lord Likely's Stumble and Digg whoredoms.
  
  Top that!
5. 3/10/08
  
  TonyB
  
  offended if you turn dorky then its all over
6. 3/10/08
  
  offendedblogger
  
  Well, I hate to say it but I am officially a Stumble, Digg and Twitter dork.
  
  We may as well add signatures to our posts now.
7. 3/10/08
  
  TonyB
  
  very funny
3/09/08

thegnr

Dam all I want to do is blog.If I did all that I would be over worked.

[reply]
3/09/08

jackpayne

Gosh, I'm drowning. I'm on lousy WebTV which is a sickly way to do internet business. (Due to a bad back I cannot stand the rigors of sitting in a straight back chair for hours in front of a computer screen--that's my reason for Web TV: large screen, comfortable recliner for viewing.) Big reason I am so active on Blog Catalog is I can access 80% of it, with others I do no better than 50% navigation. Technorati and Squidoo just konk out on me. I have to pull the plug from the wall to keep my TV from blowing up on me.

If anybody can throw me a life line on this stuff, I am a willing recipient.

[reply]
1. 3/10/08
  
  Bobbio
  
  jackpayne........How about a laptop and a wireless router?
3/09/08

globalgirl

Thanks, I'll take a look at this tomorrow night - no time now. It's sleepy time!

[reply]
3/10/08

kdawg68

Dayum....yet another cool feature I can't take advantage of thanks to word "no javascript" press dot com.

[reply]
1. 3/10/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I added a note to their forums yesterday asking for a widget that would let us add outside feeds to our blog. If they had such a feature, which isn't all that unlikely, we could add the feed that fills this widget. It would just look different.
2. 3/10/08
  
  kdawg68
  
  that would be awesome - let me know if/when they reply.
3. 3/10/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  Here's the thread, in case you want to add your two bits. (The more bits the better.) Two wordpress users have added something so far.
  
  en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=23916
  
  One person says such a widget already exists. I'll have to investigate later.
4. 3/10/08
  
  kdawg68
  
  The one that said it already exists is a bit of a "club penguiner" (they cause all kinds of trouble on the forums) and I think he's wrong. He seems to be talking about the "RSS widget" in your manage-presentation-widgets screen. That only gives you the option of displaying your own feed for others to subscribe to.
  
  Even if you could enter code to add feeds in other widgets, it wouldn't take javascript, so I doubt we'll get it. I'm surprised my buddies Raincoaster and Sulz didn't chime in. They must be taking vacations from the support forums. TheSacredPath and Timethief, along with Dr. Mike were always the really good ones there.
  
  Edit: actually, that universalgeni person might be onto something, but it's way too technical for me and goes right over my head.
5. 3/10/08
  
  markstoneman
  
  I thought the one guy was out to lunch, but I thought I'd try anyway. Not sure why people chime in with answers when they don't know what they're talking about. Oh well. But why haven't you seconded the request? Maybe if more Wordpress users did, they would expand their widget options.
3/10/08

kdawg68

Ah - doing so right now.

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3/10/08

netbobz

You guys are simply dynamic. Congrats for this great addition.

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3/10/08

gosmelltheflowers

Tis a god thing - wordpress will be going social soon, we hear at flowers!

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3/10/08

dcg123

I must know more of this matter....

[reply]
4/17/08

abbycopuyoc

I've been applying your tips and tactics and I'd like to testify that those things work and really do bring a lot of traffic. Thanks. For more tips and info on going viral feel free to check out my blog

wonderabby.wordpress.com

Thanks so much.

[reply]
4/17/08

carlgalloway

stop dragging up old posts! you're looking like a spammer by doing this!!!

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