This is the second part in a series on different kinds of content you can write for your website to attract social media links. There are no guarantees that your content will go viral, of course, but if it's well-written and appeals to your visitors' passions, you have a better shot at it.
In the previous part, I talked about some of the reasons you might want to add content to your site that might go viral. I noted that it can help you rank better in the search engines. If you add content regularly, search engine spiders will find it when they crawl the web. And if you make a point of staying focused on your site's topic, it will grow more and more relevant in relation to your keywords. That can only help your standing on the search engine results pages.
I also stressed that you'll need to work to make sure your content is very good, regardless of which approach you use. I listed four out of 21 ideas suggested by Jordan Kasteler in his post for Search Engine Land. I dug into each idea in some detail to help you think about ways they might apply to your particular niche. I'm going to pick up where I left off, so let's get started.
These next few ideas for great content are variations of lists. What really differs about them is the approach and purpose of each list. We'll start with the one that probably begs for the most work: “The Epic.” You might say the Internet at large ripped this off from other industries. Magazines were doing this long before computers came along, and you'll find The Epic in magazines of all sorts even today. Why stop at the top 10 things when you can go to 50 or 100 or even 300?
One very cool aspect of “The Epic” is that you can easily adapt it to fit just about any industry. Try “50 Tools For Fixing Just About Anything” for a local hardware store website, or “75 Legal Terms Every Layman Should Know” for a lawyer's site. Whether your visitors want to lose weight, increase their productivity, enjoy some truly wonderful travel experiences, or what have you, you can come up with an epic list to suit the topic.
Creating such a literal epic will, of course, take a lot of work, but the results can be worth it. You might even be able to turn it into an e-book. That's not nearly as strange as it sounds; there are plenty of dead tree editions of books that are nothing more than big lists. Too much to bite off all at once? Consider doing it as a series of posts, then compile the full list and include a permanent link when you're done. (Be sure to consult with your SEO about potential duplicate content issues).
To really do the job, a good execution of “The Epic” should justify every item on the list. Don't just tell me that I should drink lots of water to lose weight; give me the science behind it. Don't simply translate the legal term “voir dire;” explain what it means in context. Tell me why and under what circumstances it would matter to me. This explains why such a list, done well, is a lot of work – but it also helps make it viral. It's useful information, all collected in one place. You've done all the work for your readers; how can they resist?
Search Optimization 
