Viral Marketing : What is it and Why Use it?

When I say "viral marketing," most listeners would assume I'm talking about something negative. A computer virus can be nasty and deadly to your computer and its contents - surely no one would want that, right? But these types of viruses don't have anything to do with viral marketing. Viral marketing is a positive, efficient business tool.

Viral marketing is an internet marketing tool that spreads your product message to the greatest number of online users possible. It is called viral because it increases in number as it is passed from one email user to their (potentially) many addressees. Through viral marketing the original message can reach thousands if not millions of people!

To most people familiar with the terms, network marketing or word of mouth is what best describes viral marketing. Viral marketing is like a fire in which smoke spreads in to every little crevice, eventually attracting everyone's attention. To be successful, viral marketing makes use of a product that has a universal appeal and which is freely and readily available to most people. Aside from easy transmission, the product must also be easily accessible to the receivers, for it to become viral.

People out to do viral marketing typically offer free downloadable products, such as free videos or e-books, which will be of interest to their target market. The original download is usually passed to friends, and before you know it, the product downloaded by just one person has been uploaded onto the computers of millions of users all over the world.

Sending out free email courses to target clients is an example of a simple viral technique. The original targets will want their friends to benefit from the service and so pass along the email. The email will then spread via a multiplier effect. Another viral technique used to increase website traffic is the use of email signatures. This is done by adding an email address and a few short notes under your name. Giving away free screen savers with the a mandatory email sign up process is another way to generate traffic. The email addresses can then be used to send out emails to redirect even more internet traffic.

Another type of vial marketing method is the use of an affiliate program. Giving your customers the ability to refer friends and colleagues to your site, in order to earn a small percentage of each sale, is an effective technique. It's easy to find lists of affiliate programs on the Internet.

Some owners of websites will hire individuals to participate in their forums and discussion boards and will also make them use signatures that will be linked to the owner's website. Using this method is effective mainly due to the people from all areas of life that will use and post to these forums and most often, they go to the signature link when redirected. One must be sure that the postings which are there on the forums should be related to ones websites. Signature link should be used for the authentication purpose to get what one wants.

One of the best viral techniques is the use of articles to increase website traffic. Under this technique, numerous articles of different topics are created and are redistributed for reprint in other websites but with a resource box which serves as a link to the original website. This way, the website owner who lacks articles and materials for his website benefits from the free articles. On the other hand, the article owner gets to advertise his website link for free in exchange for the article. Among the most popular articles are do it yourself articles, how to articles, self employment articles and usually articles about beauty, health and money. People will always be drawn towards anything that will give them the most benefit at little cost.

Having a good website is a start but it is not the be-all and end-all of internet marketing. A website owner has to take advantage of email marketing tools to generate more traffic to his website. These marketing tools like the viral technique, does not cost much but requires creativity and persistence. Other ways to enhance the traffic flow to ones website is to collaborating with the partners who have different products then our websites. The exchange of links will send different kind of people to both the websites.

Regardless of the specifics in your plan for email marketing, it's vital to get enough people genuinely interested in or excited about your site so that traffic continually increases.