I worked for a mainstream news website called The South African until mid-2024, producing freelance articles that connected its success to the amount of total article views (hits) each week. Through this wild ride, I learned how to increase post views for online writing.
Writing for Hits: How I Ranked Top 3
I ranked as one of their top three authors in December 2023.
Writing for hits means writing for maximum engagement and discussion. Likes, shares, and comments fuel an article’s popularity. Aim for topics that people will talk about, or things that are controversial and trending.
There’s no way to know what people will choose, but there are ways to guess based on trending topics, current news, and discussion boards like Reddit for the day or week.
Readers and bots hate clickbait, though, using an enticing or captivating headline and instead leading to sensational, inaccurate, or misleading content. YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE THIS ABOUT CLOONEY’S HAIRDO is typical clickbait. You do not want that.
My article Grandparents and Sex ranked high, because the topic made people talk — and the article itself focused on sexual and mental health, delivering as promised. Word-of-mouth and thought-provoking questions or topics like this are how articles get more clicks and views.
My piece Is Church Still Safe? was widely-read. I highlighted recent robberies, sparking discussion about vigilance in places of worship. Views went up.
Ask yourself if the article’s topic can be a talking (and sharing) point. Aim to be informative, interesting, and in-depth.
Expanding Trending Topics
Look for trending topics, finding room for expansion or exclusive, interesting new angles. Readers looking through the rabbit hole of different articles might just find yours.
Die Antwoord is Touring…Again?! covered the controversial band’s 2023 touring return. Today, the article is referenced on their official Wikipedia page. Other media wasn’t covering their tour details at the time.
The above also illustrates Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, which says that any headline with a question can usually be answered with no. Write headlines opposing this Law, and readers are more likely to click (versus feeling clickbaited).
Notice that one of your site’s posts has gone popular? Write a follow-up or expansion piece. Almost always, it’s worthy of hits.
Informative and Relevant
Writing for traffic (the amount of views or hits) is a mixture of being informative and relevant. For example, CONCERT SAFETY TIPS is informative — but CONCERT SAFETY TIPS FOR METALLICA’S 2024 SHOWS is informative with current relevance. Same topic, but different focus.
The South African drew relevance for its published pieces using careful keyword research. Its writers were encouraged to look for new angles or intriguing coverage for top-listed search terms and focus keywords.
Focus keywords, the top keyword for any article, are then written to appear in the headline (once), and in the introduction (once or twice). This effort is for search engines, but also used to find where information matches what’s relevant for the week.
I often wrote about the social welfare payment schedule, simply because it’s often searched for. Approximately 27 million people are listed on the social grant payment system in my country. When people look for payment dates, our articles aimed to be the most informative and timeous.
My piece The 18 Rules of Journalism has received more than 50,000 hits. Informative and relevant, the article is as relevant today as it was when originally published. Aim for evergreen topics that fall outside immediate news topics — topics that will read well later.
Premium SEO Tools Are Worth It
Premium SEO tools like Yoast and Semrush are worth their subscription fees. Popular websites like The South African use these paid-for, premium tools — and ultimately rank higher on searches. These tools are “spell-checkers” for what search engines measure.
Premium SEO tools help writers think more like webmasters and search engines, highlighting keywords to increase or sentences to reword. Search engines, for example, rank active voice articles higher than passive voice. Don’t guess what’s right. SEO tools show you.
Sponsored Posts
A sponsored post is paid-for social media advertising which makes an article appear on more social media timelines, and it’s a quick way to increase an article’s readership. Sponsored posts are more apt to be seen, and more likely clicked or commented on.
Posted something and want people to read it? Sponsored advertising gets your post in plain sight.
The South African sponsored some of their articles, naturally drawing clicks to their site (and other posts). Facebook, YouTube, X.com, and TikTok allow individual posts to be “boosted” for an increase in readers.
You don’t have to wait for readers to find your work. These methods make your work more likely to spread to its readers — using search engines, sparking discussion, and inviting shares.
About the Author: Alex J. Coyne is a journalist, author, and proofreader. He has written for a variety of publications and websites, with a radar calibrated for gothic, gonzo, and the weird. Sometimes, he co-writes with others.
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