Most people in 2023 may not be aware of Scott DeLong, but for one brief, shining moment, he was one of the most well-known people on the internet. A self-proclaimed small-town Ohio boy, Scott went from being an introvert no one knew to having his face plastered all over an article in The Atlantic because of his unique success. His fascination with the internet started from an early age.
Learning That The Internet Makes You Money
Scott DeLong’s foray into the internet began at age 15 when he got his first computer. For the first time, he could experiment with what he wanted to do and see where it went. Naturally, for a fifteen-year-old, video games were the bread and butter of his existence. He set up a few sites in those early days of the internet and started raking in the cash.
Yep, all of $1 a day. DeLong admits that it’s not significant, but it was enough to help him pay off his internet bill. Yet maybe there was something more here? There was, but it would take him a little more time to refine his strategy and realize how to make money online.
Learning About SEO and Targeted Ads
We take the internet for granted these days because anyone can look something up and get an expert opinion on how it works. In DeLong’s case, a happenstance meeting at a place he was working at clued him into Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If he could offer ads that were relevant to the pages he was running through Google’s Ad Sense, he could double his earnings.
With nothing to lose, DeLong gave Google Ads a try and surprisingly, it worked. However, it worked far better than DeLong had originally thought; before long, he had multiplied his earnings from the website five times over. Learning this introduced him to how SEO could affect earnings and traffic. This lesson stuck with him for life, but it was only when Facebook first opened its doors that DeLong realized his knowledge could make him wealthy.
The Facebook Deluge and Social Marketing
Years ahead of his competitors, DeLong is one of the earliest adopters of social media market. When Facebook rolled out, before the era of paid ads, DeLong aimed to build a following using Pages and Likes. Over time, providing viral content to his followers, he amassed over a million visitors to a site daily, translating into thousands of dollars in income.
However, DeLong’s big break came when he combined marketing from Facebook with viral posts about anything he could put his hands on. ViralNova was born – a site dedicated to finding and sharing obscure things on the internet. But he wasn’t done yet. In one of his late-night searches for ways to compound his success, he came across Upworthy and their clickbait guidelines and was immediately hooked.
Clickbait But With A Heart
DeLong learned through a PowerPoint presentation provided by Upworthy that even though he was doing many things they suggested, he could make his content far more viral. Overnight, he updated and optimized headlines, content bodies, and the flow to match what Upworthy was doing with theirs. He even optimized where the share buttons on the ViralNova site were.
It worked, and by building his content around this well-defined system, he was able to garner a lot more people. Moreover, the site was very limited in its ads, keeping it down to a maximum of two. That left more space for the content. It also helped users to focus on what he was doing and less about what he was selling.
Helping Others Through Viral Content
DeLong’s approach to content combined covering viral stories alongside interesting discoveries. He would spend hours trawling the Internet, looking for new artists or creators to introduce them to the world. Yet one of the most amazing things happened as a fallout of this sort of content sourcing – he introduced people to audiences that would otherwise never see them.
DeLong recalls an artist writing him a heartfelt thank you for introducing so many people to his work. He was on the verge of giving up when over a hundred thousand people subscribed to his page, giving him the hope and motivation to continue doing what he was doing. DeLong was making money but also forged strong connections between his audience and the people he covered.
Landing In The Limelight
DeLong is a self-described introvert, and running a site like this anonymously was the best thing that could happen to him. Unfortunately, when you have a site that regularly hits millions of visitors, the press will take notice. One fine day, DeLong woke up to realize a ton of his traffic was coming from The Atlantic, only to see that they had published an article about him.
It was this focus that saw him try to escape the limelight. Before long, he was a celebrity that didn’t want the status. Hounded by reporters and copyright trolls alike, he decided that selling ViralNova would be the best for him. He eventually settled on a deal that saw him stick around for just a few months to ensure things ran well.
What DeLong Learned From His Success
DeLong is still a content creator, helping other entrepreneurs find their niches and develop websites that make them money. He’s learned the importance of avoiding the spotlight and staying under the radar. He’s also been far less open about meeting and talking to others. Having been in a place where everyone wants something from you, he’s learned that trust comes with time and shouldn’t happen immediately.
What’s DeLong Doing These Days?
DeLong is a lifelong content creator, and while he doesn’t need to worry about his websites making money anymore, he still offers consulting for others who want to learn from him. He’s been featured several times, but for the most part, the internet has forgotten about him, and that’s precisely how he likes it.
DeLong’s success shows that one doesn’t need to start from a position of wealth and power to make things work. DeLong himself states in some of his coaching material that his success was due to knowing what people wanted and combining it with getting that message in front of the right audience. It’s something a lot of small businesses could stand to learn.
