Online course: Write great blog posts that go viral

This is really the course I’d like to teach every day of my life. But for now, I’m teaching it only four days: May 2 -5 each night for one hour, from 7pm to 8pm Eastern. All videos will be available on demand if you can’t come to the live session. The cost is $195.

Sign up now

One of the best methods for figuring out what you should be doing with your life is to think about times you have totally loved what you were doing. One of my favorite jobs was giving lectures about writing at Brown, Harvard, Boston University, and University of Paris.

For the most part, I loved it, except when I had students who’d confess that they wanted an A in my class only because they were applying to law school. But then there was the kid who wrote every assignment describing his summer working as a garbage collector. It was a joy for me to get him an agent.

Writing a great blog post can bring you plenty, like Recognition! Appreciation! Money!

And writing great blog posts has helped me solve a wide range of problems:

  • I received numerous corporate job offers because people recognized expertise in my blog posts.
  • I can work from home and support my family financially.
  • I figured out if homeschooling is right for me by starting a blog about it.

I want to help you solve your problems by writing great blog posts. I want you to know the amazing feeling of writing a blog post people love, and watching the conversation bloom from your ideas and your outlook. I realized I have a formula that works for routinely coming up with the type of blog post, and I want to share it.

Also, I’ve noticed that in the last year, people are paying a lot of money for good blog posts. Maybe we are in the Golden Age of Writing. While the disruption of newspapers was terrible for journalists, and the automation of reproduced content was terrible for readers, we have come to a happy spot where product-focused companies are paying for top-flight writers to create engaging content for their sites. Which is one way to say that I’m making about $1,000 a post for writing on corporate web sites. So I can teach you how to write that kind of post.

This course will teach you how to write for both your own blog (where you will represent yourself as a someone who has a lot of interesting things to say) and how to write posts for companies that will pay you to be interesting.

We will also have a workshop night, where everyone will read your blog post (if you want) and I will comment on it.

I really cannot tell you how much I love this blog. It’s saved my life so many times. And there are perks I never expected. Like learning faster than I ever learned in school, and meeting smart, engaged people every day of my life even though I’m at home, and having somewhere special to post my favorite family photos. And getting to meet you. So sign up.

Here’s what will happen in the course:

Day One: Master the elements of a popular post

  • What makes a post interesting (interesting is not as subjective as you think!)
  • The secret litmus test great bloggers use to tell if we are saying something new.
  • My own list of rules for writing a good post (I use it myself – on every post!)
  • Spend as much time on the headline as you do on the post.
  • Avoid time-wasters: SEO, design, promotion and copyediting.

Day Two: Make your posts go viral

  • How to get more comments.
  • How to get more likes.
  • How to generate media requests about your post.
  • How to cut corners to go viral: expert roundups, lists, and video.
  • How to avoid pitfalls: newsjacking, shock-jocking, and leg-jerking.

Day Three: Get writing gigs on other sites

  • Write guest posts to drive traffic to your own site.
  • Get paid by companies to write posts for their site.
  • Get a job as a full-time blogger (even if you’ve never had a job before.)
  • Make money from blog affiliate programs without even having your own blog.
  • Turn your blog post into a magazine article (get paid $1 per word!)

Day Four: Ask me anything!

I’ll answer any questions you have that we did not cover in the first three sessions.

And, special bonus! During this session I will critique any blog posts you send to the group. It will be a mini blog-writing workshop to kick start your own amazing blog post writing extravaganza.

Sign up now.

43 replies
  1. Alanna
    Alanna says:

    I am in the process of falling in love with blogging again. I would sign up for this in a heartbeat. But 7 pm Eastern is 2:00 am here in Cairo, and I think I wouldn’t get much out of it.

    • Penelope Trunk
      Penelope Trunk says:

      Oh. I forgot to write the part about how all the videos are on demand. So a lot of people take the Quistic courses live, but they do it delayed, and send in questions, writing assignments, etc., along with everyone else, but listen to the live session a few hours later.

      Penelope

  2. am
    am says:

    Will you teach ENFP again? Being an ENFP I missed it.
    I’m seriously considering taking this blog course even though I have no blog, I am a primarily a visual person, not a writer and I know little about blogging . However, I do have a dream and a mission I need to write about! Thank you Penelope!

  3. Geoffrey
    Geoffrey says:

    As a professional blogger who’s made six figures a year for eight years mostly blogging, I can say this much: 1) Penelope is 100% correct that it’s possible to make real money blogging and 2) Penelope is my favorite blogger–professionally speaking. I can’t imagine that her course wouldn’t be useful for anybody intending to pursue blogging as a career path. If you’re gonna learn something, why not learn from the best?

  4. melissa
    melissa says:

    I have never commented before but wanted to tell you how nice you look in that photo, happy and beautiful.

  5. Ellen
    Ellen says:

    Isn’t the most important thing about a post knowing what you want to convey to readers so it’s useful to them? That’s why I never post…I get stuck there. I have lots of things to say but I don’t post because I have read (on your posts about blogging) that you should know what you’re getting at…and not waste a readers time…right?

    • Alanna
      Alanna says:

      Probably you want Penelope’s response, but what works for me is just to start writing and eventually I figure out what I am trying to say. Then I delete all the beginning blather and publish the good bit. But I need to do the writing to get my thinking done.

    • Teach By Type
      Teach By Type says:

      My writing begins with a question I want answered. For myself and the reader. Through the research and writing process, I discover the answers and learn along with my readers. Like Alanna, I cut out a lot of fluff at the end.

      -Sue

  6. Debby
    Debby says:

    An Enfj here who is forever torn between family and work.
    This is awesome… cant wait to attend this which is what I looking for at this moment of mental block.
    Strongly encourage all who hesitate to sign up immediately.
    I attended a few of your courses and takeaway is astronomical.

  7. Danielle
    Danielle says:

    Hello, it may be premature to ask, but will you run this course again? I can’t afford it at the moment, but know it would be a great investment and a massive help to me. Thank you!
    Danielle

    • Eva
      Eva says:

      Following up the questions of Danielle – is there a possibility to reserve one place at the course now for $145 and pay in 3 weeks for it? I can’t afford it right now, but I will love to take a part.
      Thank you!

  8. Rayne of Terror
    Rayne of Terror says:

    You’re never going to do the ISFP class because there’s no money in it, are you? I have been waiting patiently, but I’m pretty sure you aren’t going to get around to it.

  9. Erin
    Erin says:

    I should probably say something about how your an amazing editor and savvy business woman and anyone would be lucky to learn from you and the price is sooooo affordable. But that’s not why I’m commenting.

    That photo? Omg. ? I freaking love your hair.

  10. Maria
    Maria says:

    I have been living in Berlin fpr past three years. I a,mRussian and I knew nothing about Russian raping half a Europe up till last year. It is so sad and scary and discustong and I hate being a child of Russian parents and a grand-daughter of a man, who was for many years away to fight the war. And a as child I was tought that these men were heroes!

  11. Lucy Chen
    Lucy Chen says:

    What if I have too many things I want to say, and my ideas are all tangled, and I don’t know where to begin, what the theme of my blog should be? Thank you.

  12. Sal Marotta
    Sal Marotta says:

    In my experience, having a professional user-friendly interface is important, but not essential. Content is king.

    I recently wrote an article that was shared countless times on Facebook because it was short and sweet, it provided immediate value.

    I like to keep the content brief but packed with emotion. If it shifts the readers mood or provides uniquely valuable information, it will get shared!

  13. jen
    jen says:

    I love that picture. You know you are loved by God when you are given not one son, but two. I hope I can sign up for the class.

  14. Rebecca Stafford
    Rebecca Stafford says:

    Dear Penelope, I would so love to do this course.

    I have learned so much already from your blog – both in relation to content, voice, and marketing. I’m often gratified by feedback that the content of my own blog is honest and ‘raw’.

    I take that as a compliment, and acknowledge your own authentic, raw influence on my work. You teach others how to be brave.

    Unfortunately, like Danielle and Eva, cash-flow issues preclude me from taking the course this time. But next time…

    Thank you for doing what you do.

Comments are closed.