The next step? Grow it!
That’s the whole purpose of this guide.
In this guide, I am going to walk you through the steps to get you from where you are now to having a successful viral video site (or a few, if you ordered a few sites).
Intro
Before we get to the specifics, here are a few things I want to address:
Thing #1
This is not going to be a very long guide.
Just because a guide is long doesn’t mean it’s good.
There are already hundreds of PDFs and online courses out there – some longer than you’d care to read. Most of them look good and promise much, but do not bring solid results.
Quantity does not equal quality. Most of the time, the more content you get, the less valuable it is.
In this 3900+ words guide, I do my best to go straight to the point so that you aren’t overloaded with complicated theories.
I deliberately made my points short and simple so that you can cover them quickly, take action and see results ASAP.
Also, I’m not going to spend a lot of time to explain basic stuff which you can easily Google.
If you are stuck somewhere with background information, just drop me a line, I can always point you to the right place to pick up on the basics.
In short, this guide is not like other online courses. There will no fluff inside. Each step is short, clear, and quick to implement.
It’s a result-orientated guide to make your site fly as quickly as possible.
Thing #2
When it comes to monetizing your site, don’t start with display ads (like AdSense).
When most newbies set up their viral site, they like to copy what the giant viral sites do – they set up display ads to monetize their site visitors and end up getting pennies.
Don’t make the same mistake.
Display ads shouldn’t be your primary source of income until you have successfully grown a huge site.
When you are just starting out, you have much fewer visitors. Therefore, you should focus on using high-margin offers to squeeze more money out of the few visitors you get. That’s smarter.
As we are running a niche-specific site, we regularly get visitors that share the same interests. We want to target these people with niche-specific products that pay better rates.
I have tested my site with lots of offers… and found the best choice:
T-shirts.
T-shirts make me more money than everything else combined.
2 reasons:
#1: It’s a high margin product. When I use POD (print on demand) services to sell tees, I get to set my own profits. I make between $9- $15 for each shirt I sell.
#2: The volume is big. T-shirts appeal to everyone, so it is not only easy to get people to buy, folks will also spread the word for you. When someone shares your shirts on FB, people who haven’t visited your site can be your customers too.
But here is the thing… when you are starting out, you have no idea which tee will sell well. And that’s normal. Everyone needs to go through a testing stage to find out the right tees that will appeal to their audience.
So, what do you do?
Find out by using Amazon.
This is what you do: pick a few Amazon best sellers and place them on your site to find out which sells. Once you have narrowed down the winners, replicate them on POD (print on demand) services like Teespring.
This way, you’ll make a lot more money than what you’ll make from Amazon as an affiliate.
To avoid copyright issues but still replicate a good seller, we need to “borrow” people’s ideas the smart way. Later in this guide, I will show you how to do just that.
Now, let’s get the first step going… let me grab a few best sellers on Amazon to your site.
To do that, I need to access your Amazon affiliate account.
If you haven’t already signed up for an Amazon affiliate account, head over to this page.
It doesn’t matter where you live – choose to sign up for a United States associate account.
Why a US account?
Simple. You get to access to the biggest selection of t-shirts with Amazon US.
You don’t have to be in the US to sign up for an US account. Even if you stay overseas, you can still do so, free of charge. When you make commission, they will send you a check to clear it with your local bank.
Hit the “sign up” button on their site and they will guide you through a simple process. When they ask for a website in the online form, just enter your website URL.
If you ordered several sites from me, submit any one of it (you just need 1 account, you can use it for multiple sites) and you are good.
Next, follow the instructions I sent in my email to allow me to access your Amazon affiliate account. I’ll help you pick a couple of best-selling tees (within your niche) and set them up on your website.
Thing #3
Not every video that you share will get a gazillion views.
Getting videos on your website to go viral is a numbers game.
So, what do you do?
Play the numbers.
When you are just starting out, you want to post new videos every day, at least for the next few months. Some videos will work, others won’t. And a few will go viral, bringing you an unimaginable amount of traffic. Those are the ones that will make you rich.
This is what you have to do before your “brand” gets out. Keep sharing videos every day and you’ll begin to grow. (I’ll show you the best place to share them later, and prove how I got 2 out of 10 videos to go viral.)
Remember, the hardest part about doing something is at the beginning. Once you gain traction, it’s easy.
Alright, enough talk.
Let’s get to the meat now.
In our first section, I’ll show you how to find popular videos on YouTube to update your site.
Let’s dive into it.
Section 1: Locate popular videos on YouTube
We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here so the easiest option is to look for the most popular videos that are already posted on YouTube.
What I would personally do is head over to YouTube and use their search box to look for videos on my niche.
Use these keywords in YouTube search box:
“viral + niche videos”
“funny + niche videos”
“interesting + niche videos”
“awesome + niche videos”
“amazing + niche videos”
“best + niche videos”
“top 10 + niche videos”
“most popular + niche videos”
Once the videos pop up, use filters to sort them by view count.
Grab the videos with the highest view counts.
To post a video on your site, login to WordPress by going to
Next, start a new post and then insert a YouTube video link on a new post for your WordPress site.
When you do that, WordPress will automatically generate a featured image for it. Next, give your new post a nice title, hit publish and you’re done!
No idea how to create a new post for your WordPress site? Head over to this page.
Look for the video that says “Creating a WordPress post”. It should help.
How many videos should you post on your site daily?
Shoot for at least 10 videos a day.
Now that you know where to find and post videos on your site, the next step is to get the word out for your videos.
Section 2: Promote your videos
Here’s the truth. No one will magically find the videos you have posted on your site, no matter how good or funny it might be.
We need an effective traffic generation system in place to drive traffic.
Speaking of traffic generation, which social channel is best for us?
There are lots of social sites out there.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit— the list is already long, and it’s getting longer all the time.
The problem is, many of them are just a waste of time.
Organic reach on Facebook is 5%, and falling every year. So, even if you have built up a ton of fans on Facebook, not many are going to see your new posts.
Twitter click through rates average 0.5% across all niches. Just like FB, you want to rule Twitter out.
Instagram? It doesn’t allow clickable hyperlinks on your Instagram posts. Not good.
Reddit? You can’t promote yourself on Reddit aggressively. If you do that, you get banned pretty quickly.
Building a following on these social platforms with the plan to promote your videos isn’t the answer.
I’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Don’t waste your time on them.
After trying out a lot of social sites, I have finally found one that works for me.
Every time I post on it, I can except very consistent traffic.
Imgur is an image/video hosting site with a focus on social gossip. The site has hosted viral images, gifs, videos and memes, particularly those posted on Reddit.
It’s one of the easiest platforms to go viral on.
Unlike Facebook or Instagram, you don’t need a huge following or pay for ads to get people to see your content. You can register a brand new Imgur account, make your first post, and stand a good chance of getting 100K views.
I’m serious.
This is impossible with Facebook.
Also, unlike Reddit, there aren’t a lot of rules on posting on Imgur. You won’t get banned on Imgur unless you post inappropriate content.
And the best part is, posting on Imgur is free.
It takes 3 minutes to create an account, 1 minute to upload your first video, and 10 seconds to hit publish.
Of course, not every post you make will go viral. However, as someone who has hit the front page many times, I can confidently say that there are some tips and tricks to make it go big. Furthermore, since making a post is so easy, you can make multiple posts a day to increase your chances.
Remember, you want to nurture your Imgur account a bit before linking out to your site. Linking outright from a new account might not work. It shouts spam to the community.
So, when you are starting out with them, try uploading some images + videos without linking out for the first 1-2 weeks or so to sort of warm up your account before going for the traffic driving.
When I started linking to my viral site, I already had nearly a hundred images + videos on it (without linking out to my viral video site). Also, I always try to share a couple of images on it between my link-out activity. Keep nurturing your account. It will benefit you in the long run.
In this section, I will show you the step-by-step process on how to create an account, make a post, maximize the chance of the post going viral, and funnel a spike of traffic directly to your website.
To walk you through this process, I’ll also make a brand new account, and show you how I got over 200K views in under 24 hours.
You can find that exact account here.
Ready?
Let’s get started.
Step #1. Sign up for an Imgur account
Before you make your first post, you need to sign up for an Imgur account.
Hop over to this page.
Use whatever username you like. You can always change it later.
Fill in the required fields and click Next.
After that, you’ll land on this page:
Click the New Post button on the top left of the screen.
After that, you’ll see this window pop up.
Click Choose Photo or Video, and upload a video from your computer.
(Note: You can download any YouTube video from your web browser. There are so many add-ons you can use depending on which browser you use. I use this Firefox add-on.
My students use different add-ons they prefer. All add-ons are about the same. Just Google them up.)
You’ll then be taken to this page:
#1 Give the post a title
You don’t need to think of a clever or clickbait title. Also, don’t worry about whether the title is long or short.
Just use a title that accurately describes the content.
Many viral posts have titles like that. It’s a proven strategy.
For example, my video was about a squirrel trying to climb up a pole to reach the food inside the bird feeder. But someone had greased the pole, so the squirrel failed, and ended up sliding down in defeat. As you can see from my title above, it’s just a description of the video.
#2 Add tags
Tags make it easier for people to find your post.
Let’s say your post is tagged “animal”. If people search for “animal” on Imgur, then they might see this post.
But honestly, no one really uses this feature. The difference it makes to your post is small, so feel free to skip this step.
At the bottom of the video, there will be a space for you to write some text. This is where you will include the link to your viral video site.
You can just copy and paste the link there. But here’s the thing:
1) It doesn’t draw attention.
2) There’s no incentive to click on it.
People will just leave after they’ve seen your post.
You can fix this by writing something like:
Click here for more funny animal videos:
But this creates another problem. The people on Imgur hate self-promotion. If they think you’re just trying to drive traffic to your site, many of them will downvote your post. When this happens, the Imgur algorithm will show it to less people, and it will destroy your chances of going viral.
So what should you do?
The answer is to write a short description of the video, followed by the link.
For example:
A squirrel attempts to climb a greasy bird feeder pole –
Here’s another example:
Chief Kap Te’o-Tafiti of our Samoan Village shows how to husk a coconut – “your site URL here”.
By using this strategy, you will be able to draw attention to the link, encourage others to click on it and at the same time, avoid it being seen as self-promotion.
Great.
It’s time for you to publish your post.
A pop-up will appear. Select Post Publicly.
You have successfully made your first post.
Upload a few more posts to increase your chances of going viral. Then, click on your profile to view all the posts that you’ve made.
As a demonstration, here are 10 videos I posted, all on the same day.
Going viral on Imgur
The posts that you just made are currently under the User Submitted (New) section of Imgur.
At first, the upvotes will come in slowly, at maybe 1 or 2 per minute. If your post performs well, it should start to speed up after 15-30 minutes. The more people engage with your post, the more Imgur will recommend it to others.
After 2-3 hours, some of the posts will die off. But if one of them gains enough momentum (around 100 upvotes in 2 hours), the algorithm will place it on the front page. You’ll also receive a notification telling you that you’ve successfully gone viral!
You’re literally on the front page of Imgur.
And it keeps on coming.
What’s more, another video I posted (about a giant rabbit) also made it to the front page in that same hour.
2 out of 10 posts going viral in one day. That’s crazy!
Of course, the views will start to slow down after a few hours, but at this point, you’ve already reached a massive audience.
Even if just 1% of people click on the link to your video site, that is still a huge spike of traffic. You’ll have a hard time finding such easy, reliable and free traffic elsewhere.
I’ll end this section by sharing one secret with you:
The best time to post on Imgur
It turns out that the timing of your posts is very important. Pick the wrong time, and even a good post won’t get the attention it needs to go viral. Pick the right time, and you’ll feel like it’s too easy.
The best time to post on Imgur is 7-10 am EST.
This is the magic time when people on one side of the world are having breakfast, while people on the other side have come back from work. And that’s when they use Imgur.
Funnily enough, a guy compiled some statistics on the best time to post on Imgur, and posted those statistics on Imgur at 8am EST!
Coincidence?
Remember the 10 posts I mentioned above, where 2 of them successfully went viral?
What if I told you they were actually part of an experiment?
You see… I posted 5 videos at 2 am, and another 5 videos at 8 am.
The 5 videos posted at 2 am averaged 4K views.
The 5 videos posted at 8 am averaged a whopping 47K views, because both videos that went viral were posted at this time.
This definitely suggests that picking the right time to post is very important indeed.
It’s actually not that hard to go viral on Imgur. And since it’s free, posting on Imgur is a super powerful way of driving traffic to your website.
As with any internet marketing campaign, it’s important that you tracking what works and what doesn’t. With enough posts, you will quickly get a feel for which posts people like to upvote and which ones don’t get much social attention.
I would say that the majority of your time should be spent on creating descriptions that get people to click through to your website. Then it’s simply a matter of repeating what you’ve already done.
Section 3: Bring your winning shirts to Teespring
Since Amazon pays affiliates only a few percent of the price of every t-shirt, you won’t make a lot of money selling what’s on Amazon.
So, after a few months, you want to take your winners to PODs like Teespring.
It’s an online fulfilment site. It allows us to create and sell shirts (and other merchandise) with no upfront investment.
When you list a t-shirt on Teespring, you set your own price. They will handle production, shipping and customer support. They then send you your percentage of the sales after deducting their cost.
Say a t-shirt costs $10, and you sell it for $19. You’ll make $9 for each sale. Sell at $29, you make $19.
Work hard on your site for a few months. Then, once you have found out the exact Amazon tees that sell well for you, you can bring the designs to Teespring.
With the switch, your profit will jump at least 10X from what you make on Amazon.
How to “borrow” a t-shirt design
Here is how you can “borrow” a t-shirt design without getting yourself into trouble.
A copyright exists upon the creation of something, and protects the creator from others duplicating it in an exact or “confusingly similar” form.
In order to replicate a good seller without getting into copyright issues, we need to “borrow” people’s ideas the smart way.
You see, a copyright rarely protects ideas, such as “Pitbull is the best pet”. Additionally, a copyright does not protect phrases such as “I love my dog” or “I just want to fish and drink beer”.
Similarly, generic symbols and designs such as a gun, a motorcycle, or a skull are very rarely protected.
To replicate a winner, here’s what you want to do:
Do not copy designs exactly as they are.
Do not copy a design directly or in such a way that your design includes only a minimal modification of the original one (i.e., a font change or simply substituting a simple graphic for a similar one).
Instead, you want to take the quote on the shirt and make a new design out of it by using unique artwork. That is no longer considered copyright infringement. Teespring, in their terms explicitly declares that although the overall graphic presentation of a phrase may be protected, a phrase itself is not.
When someone buys a tee, the key is the message on it, not the graphics. As long as your message can resonate with your target audience, they will say to themselves “this is me!” and take action – thus buying the shirt.
The message expresses their thoughts, their values and their beliefs, making them proud to wear the shirts that embody it. Graphics do not play a critical role. Pretty pictures are nice, but the message is the key.
Now, here is what you can do. Hire a designer, point them to the Amazon shirts you want to replicate, tell him or her to design shirts using the messages on the tees you want to replicate. Tell your designer that he or she is free to use any font type and graphics that they deem fit. Just make sure that the message/saying/quote remains the same.
Also, remember that you will want to upload an image to Teespring with a transparent background. Make sure that your designer sends you the finished designs in PNG file types, since PNG images are able to retain background transparency.
Where to hire designers
You can do so on Upwork.com. The standard market rate is around $30 an hour.
Many designers will be able to make 2 simple text & graphic t-shirt designs in an hour, depending on the design requirements.
So, each design will cost $15.
Other than hiring on Upwork, there is another option. You can hire a t-shirt designer from Fiverr.com
Here is a listing of t-shirt designers on Fiverr.com.
Just like other services on Fiverr, freelancers offer t-shirt design services at $5 each. This is very affordable. You may browse through the listing, talk to a couple of reputable designers and try them out.
If you’re looking for higher quality designs, check out another website: the 99Designs marketplace. Here is the link.
Once you have the designs with you, upload them to Teespring and you’re good to start selling.
Since Teespring has prepared a super complete training guide for shirt sellers, I am not going to show you the technicality of using the site.
When you are ready to use them, just hop over to their training page and start learning how you can use them to launch your shirts. Here is the URL.
Ending
Wow! We’ve come a long way.
That’s all for this guide.
You already have the best knowledge you can get to build a successful viral video site. So, take action, and work on it.
You will be successful.
If you have questions or need help on anything, just drop me a line. You can reach me through the support page.