My First lesson in virality

[kurtyordy]

For some time now I have been writing a religious blog. I average about 60 readers a week, most from facebook friends. Not much, but I love doing it, and it is fun.

So a few weeks ago, I wrote a post challenging my readers (my target is those who are of the same belief system as me) to crank it up a notch in a certain area of their lives.

So for two weeks, this just sat there getting my regular readers and that was it.

Then today, I notice I am starting to get some nasty comments, and I look at my analytics, and my traffic is through the roof.

Apparently, a friend on facebook posted a link to my site, and friend of his saw it, took offense, and posted it on an anti religious site. According to quantcast, this site gets 150k visitors a month.

Before this, I had never considered the viral nature of hatred, but it seems to be working for me (meaning people hating me). I mean, it seems so obvious, hatred is a very strong emotion, but I just never thought of it.

It made me think, for every strong opinion, there is usually an opposite opinion just as strong. So an idea came to me, search out these sites, and post my site in a negative slant just so the others jump all over it.

Just my thoughts, maybe it does not make sense, but it was an odd moment of clarity for me.

 

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[bflbob]

That's the stoopidist thing I've ever herd!!!

You must be a MORON...Loser!!!

(Hope that helped.)

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Religion and politics carry a lot of passion and with that passion, comes strong emotions. It is why it is banned here.

I've been tempted to start a satirical political blog because it is naturally viral and draws in both camps ... those that love you, and those that hate you ... that mix works wonders for repeat traffic that can be monetized.

 

[mtnman]

lol Well the first thought that comes to mind, is be sure to get some cash out of those mr. negatories if I have to put up with them. Adsense at the least.

Bet you could run an amazon sidebar with the "hater" books on them.

 

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[kurtyordy]

Religion and politics carry a lot of passion and with that passion, comes strong emotions. It is why it is banned here.

I've been tempted to start a satirical political blog because it is naturally viral and drawns in both camps ... those that love you, and those that hate you ... that mix works wonders for repeat traffic that can be monetized.

yeah, it just never hit me today how one can use the hatred side.

In case I was not clear to everyone what I am espousing, lets say I wrote an article loving on Obama.

A great way to garner traffic would be to go on a Rush Limbaugh type blog or forum and comment, look at this idiot I came across (provide link). Then the rabid nature of these passionate folks will drive them to my site.

It seems so obvious now, but it took some hating on me to get the big light bulb to come on.

 

[kurtyordy]

lol Well the first thought that comes to mind, is be sure to get some cash out of those mr. negatories if I have to put up with them. Adsense at the least.

Bet you could run an amazon sidebar with the "hater" books on them.

lesson 2- be ready for it to hit i.e. have your site ready to make money.

Due to the low key nature of this, not well monetized at all. Good reminder to keep it up to date on that end.

 

[mtnman]

That's ok, if you did it once, you can do it again. You know the process now.

Set it up, and turn on the traffic. Have some fun with it too!

 

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[mtnman]

Oh, if there's any savvy haters, viddler has a video commenting plugin you can get to allow them to comment for more social interaction... dunno how far you want to take it though.

 

[fanocks2003]

Religion and politics carry a lot of passion and with that passion, comes strong emotions. It is why it is banned here.

I've been tempted to start a satirical political blog because it is naturally viral and draws in both camps ... those that love you, and those that hate you ... that mix works wonders for repeat traffic that can be monetized.

Don't forget private finance and especially all things related to debts. When I started my finance company I got nasty mails and comments from all parts of Sweden. It was a witch hunt.

Fortunately, people have started to accept my company. That is always fun and comfortable. Maybe they have come to understand that my company wasn't a scam company after all. It took stamina too muster that bloody monster thing. But what is life if not a lot of ongoing challenges? Someone needs to take the bull by the horns.

 

[MattThomas]

I think your idea for promoting your blog is a really great idea. However, you should probably keep mindful of how you want to position this site. If you want to stay true to your roots, than this would be the wrong tactic to pursue as it will drive the wrong traffic to your site and discorage many like-minded individuals from posting. Some may respond back to the hate comments with greater emotion, others may be turned off.

If you do like the new direction this is going in, and find that you will enjoy this new kind of work that comes with it, then by all means, give this technique a try. It's all up to you and where you want to take the blog.

 

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[yveskleinsky]

Two people that have mastered the skill of being controversial (IMHO) are Dr. Laura and more recently, Michael Savage. What Dr.Laura does well is sticks to her POV. What Savage does well is stirs the pot. There's an old saying in marketing, and that is that you want people to love you or hate you (being in the middle is the worst place to be as you are floundering in no man's land.) That's so true.

...Did you ever figure out why you were being banned?

 

[kurtyordy]

...Did you ever figure out why you were being banned?

I think it is the very thing we are talking about here, I was banned because some people with an alternative viewpoint flagged me to get me banned. That is ok with me, I now found a much better source of traffic

 

[yveskleinsky]

I think it is the very thing we are talking about here, I was banned because some people with an alternative viewpoint flagged me to get me banned. That is ok with me, I now found a much better source of traffic

I suppose I am shocked that they would ban you just because someone flagged you. I always thought a flag was a "hey look over here, something's not right" kind of a thing, not something that had the power to ban something that was legit. If a blog/site can get banned that easy, then I would think people would be flagging their competitors right and left--and maybe they are! Wow.

 

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[PEERless]

Self-help draws a lot of naysayers, but they still count as traffic. I still remember my first hatemail, and it hurt, but it let me know I was doing something significant. Keep it up.

My favorite war of ideas right now is the atheist buses versus religious buses in London. LOL. Richard Dawkins' Humanist organization bought ads on buses that said, "There's probably no god, so stop worrying and enjoy life. Religious organizations tried to sue on the grounds of freedom of religion, but were rebuffed by freedom of speech. The only recourse: To buy their own ads that say, "There definitely is a God..." Who is the winner in all of this? The guy collecting checks for the ads.

 

[Russ H]

Interesting discussion.

I recall getting a similar "aha" years ago when I watched the Howard Stern movie (Private Parts). There's a part in it where they're describing his demographic:

"Two executives at NBC are going over polling numbers, marveling at the fact that the average Stern fan listens to him for an hour and a half while the average radio listener tunes in for a paltry eighteen minutes. Why? "Because they want to hear what he's going to say next," is the answer.

And those that hate him? "They listen for two and a half hours," the executive says. "Why? Because they want to hear what he's going to say next."

Smart marketing, that. Pulls in both groups!

I also remember Michael Moore (Farenheit 911, Bowling for Columbine, etc) being interviewed on a local PBS station, and the caller mentioned that there were so many positive, upbeat stories that would benefit from Moore's style of filmmaking-- why didn't he do them?

Moore's answer was a shock: "I don't do that kind of stuff. I do what I do. I have my audience."

Again, he has an audience of people who like to see the negative stuff he does, and get riled up-- presenting a positive story would not address the same audience (Rush Limbaugh also comes to mind, for some reason).

I found that fascinating-- esp that Moore was so upfront about it.

-Russ H.

 

[PEERless]

Moore's answer was a shock: "I don't do that kind of stuff. I do what I do. I have my audience"...of people who like to see the negative stuff...and get riled up...I found that fascinating-- esp that Moore was so upfront about it.

Within that audience, though, there are two groups: Those of us that buy tickets to his movies because we want to get riled up about the subject and those who buy tickets to get riled up at him. Fact: Both reasons = tickets sold.

 

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[Russ H]

Agreed. Similar to the two groups who listen to Howard Stern-- those that like him, those that hate him. :smx2:

-Russ H.

 

[Jill]

ROFLMAO. I opened this thread with great curiosity when I saw the title was "My first lesson in virility". Thot maybe it was a valentines-themed thread or such . . . Oh boy.

 

[bflbob]

ROFLMAO. I opened this thread with great curiosity when I saw the title was "My first lesson in virility". Thot maybe it was a valentines-themed thread or such . . . Oh boy.

I thought the same thing when I first saw it.

What a difference an "a" makes!

 

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[fanocks2003]

Agreed. Similar to the two groups who listen to Howard Stern-- those that like him, those that hate him. :smx2:

-Russ H.

As always in commerce: What makes money works.