Since its inception in 2005, reddit – the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet” – has become one of the web’s most popular social news sites.
How does it work? Users, known as redditors, submit content that other redditors vote on using “upvotes” and “downvotes” to determine its value to the community and its position on the site.
Content must be submitted to an appropriate subcategory (called a subreddit), and submissions with the most upvotes in the shortest amount of time across all subreddits land on reddit’s coveted front page. Earning a spot there can mean getting your content in front of hundreds of thousands of people in a single day.
The problem is there are only 25 spots on the front page – two of which are perpetually occupied by the day’s cutest animal pictures (from the popular subreddit: /r/aww).
So how do you make it to the front page, of the front page, of the internet?
With so much content vying for so little real estate, there’s no guaranteed method, and luck is a huge factor. But there is a strategy that will increase your chances – a strategy that I used to promote a friend’s video to the third highest spot on the front page yesterday.
Before you submit
Step 1: Choose and place your content wisely.
This is by far the most important step. You can fail miserably at the rest of this strategy and still stagger your way to the front page if your content is great, but if it’s flawed, there’s nothing you can do to save it.
If your submission is timely, original, entertaining and/or useful, it’s time to find a home for it by choosing a subreddit that makes sense.
If it’s a video, /r/videos is the way to go. If it’s an image, try /r/pics. These are massive subreddits with a lot of competition for attention, but making it on one of these larger forums is the only way to get enough upvotes to have a shot at the front page.
Step 2: Craft the perfect headline.
Millions of eyeballs scan the pages of reddit over the course of a day, and most of the time, the direction is north-to-south – reading the first word or two of each headline and continuing down. Your goal is to get them to stop at yours, move east, then click through.
Headlines that work on reddit are straightforward, informative, clever or witty. Brevity is always good, but don’t be afraid to use a longer headline if the situation calls for it ̶ the headline I used for my front-pager was 16 words-long.
Whatever you do, don’t make it vague, overly sensational or deceptive. And anything that looks like you’re trying to sell a product or service will be downvoted to oblivion.
Step 3: Think about timing.
With users from all over the world, reddit never sleeps. However, if you’re aiming for a US-based audience, the site’s busiest times are in morning and evening (Eastern Time). But remember, while there are more people around to see your content during these peak hours, you’ll also be competing against a higher volume of submissions.
The good news is you can experiment to see what time of day works best for your content and audience. If you submit something that falls flat in the morning, simply delete the post and try it again later in the day.
Immediately After you Submit
Step 4: Consider a follow-up comment.
Click the submit button, and your content will move to the “new” tab of the subreddit for its first test. There it will compete with other recently submitted links for the most upvotes and fewest downvotes in the shortest amount of time.
One way to make your post stand out is to add a brief comment – maybe a little more back story or clarification. Redditors will see that your post has at least one comment where most of the others have none, and this may be enough to compel them to click through.
Step 5: An upvote boost.
This early stage is also your lone opportunity to beat the system in very small way.
In most cases, you don’t need very many upvotes to graduate from “new” to the next level ̶ “rising”. You just need to earn a handful of them quickly.
So, if your friends and colleagues have reddit accounts, get them to upvote your post as soon as you’ve submitted it. If you can get them to leave comments – even better.
This trick can potentially move you out of “new,” but the rest of your success will depend on the strength of your content.
When it reaches the front page… of the subreddit
Step 6: Nurture the comments.
If the upvotes keep rolling in quickly on the “new” and “rising” tabs, you’ll soon find your post on the front page of the subreddit (not the “whole reddit”) – no small feat if you’ve chosen one of the larger ones.
To ensure the momentum keeps moving in your favor, take a look at the comments and answer any questions people may have raised. They may ask you to authenticate your content so they know they aren’t being duped, or they may just be seeking more information.
In the case of the video I submitted, people needed to be able to watch it on YouTube because its original home, Vimeo, wouldn’t load for them. Others wanted to know if there was a site where they could buy prints of the artwork featured in the film.
Fueling the discussion, answering questions and validating your submission in the comments section enhances the functionality of your content and keeps upvoters from turning into downvoters.
On to the front page of the internet
Step 7: Sit back, and enjoy the ride.
If you’ve managed to stay relevant, avoid controversy and quell all doubt, you might see your post start to move up the subreddit’s front page. If it’s a big enough subreddit and you’ve cracked to the top ten or fifteen, then congratulations – you can rest assured that your post will spend at least some time on the main front page.
Watch your post’s points (upvotes minus downvotes) go from 500 to 550 in five seconds ̶ then on to 1000, 1500 and so on. The front page is harder to ascend as you’ll be competing against everything from cats to causes to comics, but any one of those 25 spots ensures your post is reaching the masses.
And if that’s not enough, other news sources like Mashable, Huffington Post and Buzzfeed have been known to swipe stories from reddit’s front page.
I hope this guide helps. I’ll leave you with the incredible film (by Josh Bogdan and Ryan Lasko) that carried my post to the front page: