Do You Use Viral Marketing?

by Terrence Markle

Published on this site: March 8th, 2004

Viral marketing is an extremely powerful and effective form of Internet marketing. It is the online digital equivalent of the offline word of mouth advertising. In viral marketing, one person passes on a marketing message to another person and so on. The message spreads in a viral form in a manner similar to the spreading of a common cold virus from person to person. It is a great way to market your product or service and increase your opt^in subscriber list. If you are not using viral marketing then you need to seriously consider it in your online business.

It combines advertising and the leverage of duplication to spread your marketing message to an untold number of persons on the Internet. You reap the benefits of viral marketing by attracting more customers to your product or service and increasing the number of subscribers to your opt^in mailing list. It enables you to advertise your business without spending huge amounts on advertising campaigns.

There are many forms of viral marketing. Some examples of viral marketing include fr^ee products or services such as: ebooks, web sites, e-mail service, classified advertising, links, traffic exchanges, banners, greeting cards and refer a friend.

You are in complete control of which method of viral marketing is right for your business. In order to promote viral marketing you need to create an incentive or reason for your customers, subscribers or website visitors to duplicate or pass on your advertisement to other individuals. This incentive is usually in the form of fr^ee valuable information.

For most online business owners, the viral ebook is probably the easiest and most effective form of viral marketing. Your viral ebook must have links back to your website, products and affiliate programs in order to successfully promote your business. Viral marketing is a great way to get your ebook recipients to promote you to their customers, friends and acquaintances. These recipients will then promote you to their customers and the promoting cycle continues to grow. It is a
very effective method of marketing.

The viral ebook can be created using special software that is relatively inexpensive. Ebooks can include different types of media including text, html, graphic images, animation and video. The media information is inserted into a compiler that produces an ebook in an "exe" or "pdf" file. Once created, a viral
ebook can be easily distributed by downloading from any website.

The original author has ultimate control over what information in the viral ebook can be changed. The ebook should include an opt^in subscription form that can’t be changed by the ebook recipients. You can earn money from the affiliate links in your ebook up until the time they are changed. Most important, you can continue to build your mailing list due to the newsletter or mini-course opt^in subscriber form in the ebook.

The ebook compiler enables the ebook recipient to edit specific information as allowed by the author. The recipient needs to be able to change the affiliate links to their affiliate links and add their name and URL link as a distributor in the ebook. This enables them to earn money from the affiliate links and get marketing exposure because their name and link is in the ebook.

This will give them incentive to market the ebook to their customers or e-mail list. These next level individuals can then download the ebook and add their name and URL link and change the affiliate links to their links. The net result is your business gets promoted many times over without additional involvement on your part.

Your viral ebook can be distributed in many different ways to promote your name and business. Some of the common methods of distribution include giving the ebook away as:

• An incentive to individuals to join your opt^in mailing list
• A bonus to get individuals to buy your product or service
• An inventive to get other websites to link to your website

The free viral ebook is a very effective way to market your website, products or services and affiliate programs. People love free things. Many of your website visitors will download your free ebook if it contains information that is valuable and useful to them.

The key to creating a successful viral ebook is to make certain the information in the ebook appeals to your niche market. In order to draw traffic your ebook must have a killer topic and meet the needs or solve a problem of your targeted audience. A viral ebook on a topic that has been beat to death will not get you a lot of viral advertising.

There must be quality information in the ebook that meets the wants and needs of your audience or addresses a problem of your niche market. Your free exposure and the number of visitors to your website will be affected by the number of visitors that download your free viral ebook. Make certain your ebook contains the message that it can be freely given away and the affiliate links changed to the recipient’s links. Your positive marketing exposure increases with each download.

Viral marketing can be a huge advantage in your business advertising. Is it the right choice for you? Your response should be a definite "yes." It is not difficult to set up and the results could be well worth the effort. It is free advertising that works if done properly. Give it a try and you may be very surprised at the results.

Copyright © F. Terrence Markle – All Rights Reserved FR^EE e-mail course on list building "How To Build Your Own Opt--In Mailing List" at:
http://www.QuikSystems.com/OIC/OpInCourse.htm
FR^EE ezine on improving your biz and building your list http://www.QuikSystems.com/EzineSub.htm.