Viral content is an awful phrase. It's used by marketers - and generally means material designed to propagate a message or meme, usually with an eye to some commercial gain. But the content itself needn't be a bad thing - and the qualities of great viral content can be used on their own merits. Here are 7 such features of great viral content - and they all begin with Q.

Quality

An easy one to begin with: Quality. And not quality as in 'a quality', quality as in 'good'. If you want your content to be shared, you need to make sure it's up to scratch. If it's a video, make sure your production is slick. If it's written content, you'd better spell check it. A lack of professionalism can be endearing in some cases, but usually - quality is important.

Quantity

If one is good, two is better. If two is better, then the more content you've got to spread then the more likely it is that it will. Certain types of content, such as compendiums and lists, benefit the most from this - a list of 10 amusing facts is good, but one hundred? Even better.

Quantifiable

It's no good just having quantity - you also need to let people know exactly what to expect. Quantify your content - if you've got a list of the top 100 websites fit for a certain purpose, then refer to it as a 'Top 100 List'. If you've got quantity, then quantify your content so people know what to expect.

Quirky

People are drawn to the unusual - it grabs their attention, and that's half the battle. Quirkyness, if done right, can be a great means of getting your stuff to spread. Whether it's just 'different' or a full-blown case of the 'WTF!?', standing out in a crowd is good.

Questioning

If you can incite questions in the mind of your audience, then you could be onto a winner - debate, controversy and opinion can be a great way of stirring up a 'buzz'. Of course, there's a fine line between a delightfully incisive opinion point and trolling, but that's another matter altogether...

Quotidian

Meaning 'ordinary' or 'common', this might seem a little mundane - out of place - when compared to the other points. But some restraint is advised when considering more outlandish ideas or efforts - if you strive too hard then your audience simply won't 'get it'. This applies to the topics/subjects you cover, too - if they're too obscure, then finding the right audience could be tricky. Not everybody wants to read about the 'Top 10 ways to Optimise SQL in FORTRAN running on OS/2' - specialist content won't fare well virally.

Qismet

I may be stretching the bounds of the English language here, but 'qismet' is an alternative transliteration of the Arabic word 'kismet' - meaning destiny, or fate. That is to say, there are no silver bullets in viral media - sometimes a sprinkling of luck is what's needed most. Stick to the points above though, and you may just be on the right track.

What's Wrong With My Blog?
A guide to common pitfalls, mistakes & faux pas in blogging

Creating a blog is easy - but alas, building a readership is somewhat more difficult. So where do nascent bloggers most commonly go wrong?

Ensure you have enough content

If your blog is still wet behind the ears, it's likely that you don't have a lot of articles on the site. Some readers will be put off by this - new blogs are created all the time and a certain percentage of those never get off the ground. If you have a decent amount of content in your archives, then new readers will be more inclined to stick around and subscribe to your feeds for future material.

Clarify your blog's topic - diversify or focus on a niche if necessary

One trouble with personal blogs is that the topics covered can be very disparate - it's better to focus on a distinct set of topics. Clearly specifying a topic (either through consistent posts, in a tagline, or on an 'about' page) will help tell your readers exactly what you're about.

Accept that some topics are just too marginal

Some topics are more popular than others - if you choose something too obscure, you may struggle to find readers. Niche blogs can be a good way of creating a smaller, more dense and closely-knit readership, but if you're after a large following, you need to write about something with mass appeal.

Controversy doesn't wash well

Building a successful blog based on controversial content can be tricky. If you're writing stuff which a lot of people disagree with, particularly if it's written in a caustic way, then you may evoke a response but you won't find a lasting readership.

Consider your blog's brand

If you can couple your visual identity and content theme, you're onto a winner. Creating a cohesive 'brand' for your blog can be a great way of establishing a clear niche and can help build a solid readership.

Update often, but don't let quality suffer

Regular posts will make your readers want to come back more often - but that doesn't mean that you should post for the sake of it. Essentially this means you need a steady stream of high-quality articles - but you weren't under the impression this was going to be easy, were you?
Ensure linkability

Links are the most important element to growing a blog. Organic traffic is boosted, traffic elevated and exposure is increased with every link. 'Linkability', then, is ensuring you do everything you can to facilitate the process of getting links.

A few key points: Make sure your blog has permalinks, and make sure they're obvious enough for people to find. Ensure that older content stays in the same location, and isn't deleted, renamed or moved - and if you have to (for instance, if you move your blog to a new platform or domain) - make sure you redirect from old to new. Finally, make sure your content is worth linking to!

Don't over-monetise

If you plaster your blog with AdSense and have no traffic, you're not going to see any revenue. Over monetisation can turn new readers away, particularly on a new blog. It's tempting to cram ads on your site in the early days to try and drum up some cash, but you should consider restraint when it could have an adverse effect on your popularity.

Make sure your SEO is up to scratch

You don't have to don your black hat to be mindful of search engines - but make sure you get the basics right. Write headlines with search engines in mind, ensuring you title your posts with something resembling the search phrases that you'd use to find it. Technical considerations extend to the use of the headline in the page title - something most blog platforms do - and the use of H1 tags to semantically identify the title in the page content itself.

Patience, patience, patience!

Perhaps the most important piece of advice for new bloggers - patience is essential in terms of building a readership. It isn't going to happen overnight - for a new blog on a new domain it takes a spectacular amount of work. A lot of your initial work will be in assembling a set of post archives that will drive organic traffic (= potential new readers) and help you develop and improve your blogging techniques.