How to Spread Your Ideas Like a Virus

Blogs are about ideas, and the best blogs are have ideas that are worth repeating and spreading.

That’s how they do so well — the power of their ideas attracts people to them, and the ideas spread widely, attracting even more readers.

Sure, it’s nice when a blog is beautifully written, exciting, controversial … but without powerful ideas, a blog is empty, and will only go so far.

So how do you create ideas that are powerful enough to be spread on their own? How does this idea get spread out? Some ideas:

1. Be an observer. Observe life, trends, the secrets behind events and successful people. Try to figure out the “why” not just the “what”.

2. Find the game changers. What ideas can you think of that will change the world, or at least a part of it? Think of some of the major ideas that have changed the world: from Darwin’s evolution to Marx’s communism to Gandhi’s non-violence to Jesus’ message of love (to name but a few big examples). You don’t need to think that big, of course, but the key is to think of something that will change the world in some small way — even if it’s just the world around you, that you operate in.

3. Be bold. Wishy washy doesn’t cut it in the world of ideas. The best ideas are ones that are stated positively and strongly. They tend to resonate well. However …

4. Be open to change. Ideas are meant to be tested and explored, and if they work, they will go on to be adopted more widely. If they fail, you have to drop them or you’ll cause harm by trying to stick with an idea that is wrong. So test out every idea, and if it works, show proof.

5. Be short. People like a quick read. Don’t go on forever. Small messages are also easier to pass on.

6. Hit it from other angles. State the idea in small doses, hitting it from different angles, adding to the idea in short bursts.

7. Be exciting. Your idea can be important but kinda boring. If people get excited about something, they’ll pass it on, and soon your idea spreads like wildfire.

8. Make it easy for others to spread your idea. You want other people to share your idea. So encourage them to spread it via their blog, email, or social media. Put it in a format that’s easy to share. Make it something that will help their readers or friends.

9. Be in more than one place. An idea doesn’t necessarily spread by itself, if you don’t already have a huge name. If you’re President Obama, you can just say a few words and they’ll spread instantly … but if you’re not a recognized name, you may have to do a little more work. Repeat your ideas on different blogs so that others can have a chance to get excited by the ideas and spread them themselves.

 

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About The Author

Leo Babauta

Leo Babauta is the blogger behind the superblog, Zen Habits, which is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of life.

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