There’s a good chance that you’ve come across the word “meme” at some point or another in the past few years. It’s an arcane academic concept but at the same time it’s also one of those things that you can identify, but can’t describe easily.Richard Dawkins coined the phrase in an effort to help explain cultural evolution in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, where it’s defined as a shared element intended to be passed around within a culture, a societal analog to a gene. Everything from Tamagotchis to “That’s what she said” count as memes. On the Internet , memes are more visible than ever before, and what’s more, they’re also serious business. Now, even though it may not be immediately apparent, there are a number of universal qualities that all successful viral memes have in common.

1. Nice Content

No body wants to visit a page with neither style nor substance. Your content can be highly original and super-cool or juvenile but fun to read. But they ought to be relevant to people. And remember, nobody but you are the content creator. Be true to yourself and write the way that best represents you.

2. Keep It Simple

“Going viral necessitates a universal understanding of the joke,” says Lauren Leto, co-founder of Texts from Last Night. “There’s a reason commentary on quantum physics doesn’t pull the attention of the masses, but a joke about a cat stuck in a box does – because it’s a quick laugh. The easier to digest, the more people will forward the content around.” Beyond the content, your site should be simple to interact with as well. We all know that every type of person is on the web now, so by designing a simple, elegant, and intuitive site for users, as well as administrators, may save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Interaction on your website should be as simple as the content. Don’t make the administration system complicated, for it will drive you nuts as more and more visit your websites. Hire someone or try a platform that saves up your resources on all those website constructions.

3. Connect

People will love your site for their being related to its content. Choose a topic with which people can associate themselves, whether it is about family or pets. It will then be much easier to gather people who feel the same way.

4. Claim That Sovereignty

What do sites like Texts from Last Night, Urban Dictionary, My Mom is a Fob, and FML have in common? They’re all masters of their own space. They’re original concepts unattached to any other properties, and by virtue of that, their owners can do things like make T-shirts, produce iPhone and iPad apps, and even develop TV shows (Shit My Dad Says landed a TV deal with CBS not too long ago and its slated to star William Shatner). Then there are a those other sites that are inherently related to some third party “black box.” Sometimes that third party has no problem with what you’re doing (Remember Rick Astley Rickrolling the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?), sometimes they do. Avoid any potential messes by working on something completely unique and independent.

5. Share It

Nothing will happen to your website if there is no promotion. However interesting your content is, you need to install tools like social plugins to get close to the public. Make your entrance to social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and Stumble Upon. You will be amazed how much more accelerated your traffic is.

6. Guard Your Intellectual Property

If you don’t want your written content to be riped off by any Internet users, get some help from Google Alerts. If necessary, hire a lawyer to send out warning letters to those shameless copycats. In most cases, unauthentic content will be removed immediately.

7. Satisfy The Audience

Self evaluation is all good but allowing others to evaluate your content and make suggestion is of equal importance. There is no bigger secret of keeping the running of a website than to serve what people want.

Want to find out more about social media, then visit Queenie Ang’s site on how to choose the best sharing content for your needs.