Seriously? You Will Not Go Viral With Your First Blog Post

Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash

A few years ago, someone emailed me asking why their article didn’t get curated on Medium.

I needed some more context, so I asked them to explain..

They said it was their first attempt at getting curated, and that they followed ALL the advice from other great bloggers to do so..

Long posts.. highly structured.. etc. etc.

Yet they didn’t get curated.

And they were actually pretty pissed about it.

I, on the other hand, was getting frustrated with their mindset and outrageous writing entitlement.

I had to explain a few things to them (calmly).

What The Heck Are You In This For, Anyway?

We all care about metrics. Every writer that has ever published anything on the internet cares about views — we get it.

But if you’re getting really frustrated at the performance of a post after publishing just one story.. I think you’re in this for the wrong reasons.

Here’s a better reason to publish online…

To grow as a person.

To document your thoughts at a specific moment in time.

To meet cool people.

To exercise your creative muscles.

And here’s a little newsflash.. if you don’t enjoy any of these 4 things in the slightest.. you’re never going to be a successful writer.

Because you’re going to burn out.

Think about it — if your goal for the day was to create something, then simply writing a blog post and hitting publish would feel amazing.

Everything else after that — views, shares, getting curated — would be icing on the cake.

And that’s the psychological space more of you need to be in.

If you want views, run some Facebook ads.

Going Viral Isn’t The Holy Grail, Anyway

I think going viral is overrated.

I’ve heard stories of people getting a 10,000 subscriber email list basically overnight because of mega-viral articles.

A 10,000 subscriber email list is a 6-figure business.

But then reality sets in. After they send that list the first email, 200–500 people unsubscribe. And then the next time another 200–500 people unsubscribe.

And they get low click-through rates on newsletters because nobody had the time to actually understand who the heck they were.

They read one article, subscribed, then forgot about the name of that person.

True influence is built over months and years.

I can’t stress this enough.

I survive as a creator because of 200–300 loyal readers— not thousands and thousands of followers. And loyalty can only be built after showing up day after day for 6–12 months.

Going viral is cool — and it can definitely be a huge boost to your business..

It can change your life, actually..

But it’s such a flash in the pan and a little superficial to be honest.

You should not care about going viral — you should care about the 5 people that read your work right now. If someone leaves a comment that should make you feel like a million bucks.

Great, now make them feel like a million bucks. Follow them everywhere. Read their blog posts. Support them. Rinse and repeat.

Enjoy the community. Enjoy creating. Enjoy documenting your thoughts.

This is where the real fulfillment lies. Don’t worry about going viral. Just enjoy the attention of the 1, 2, 5, 10 people that read.

They will be the ones to support you in the end, anyway.

Get my free 6-day course ‘How to get 100 subscribers on Substack in 30 days’ right here. Let’s keep real writing alive together.