Viral Marketing for your Internet Business Opportunity

Actually, viral marketing is not really new despite its climb to prominence in internet marketing in the last few years. It is not much more than one way the internet seeks to capitalize on a tried and true marketing technique - word of mouth. This is the same thing network marketers have been doing for years. However, with the advent of the internet, it has become possible for people selling candy in Louisiana to reach thousands of people from all over the world.

In fact, several daring internet entrepreneurs have constructed huge empires on the internet using various aspects of viral marketing. Just a few of these are SFI, Cognigen, Plug-In Profit, GDI, InstantBuzz, and UltimateRep. Other older, more recognized network marketing companies which were around before the computer have also adapted and adopted. Today, you can find Avon, Ameriplan, Amsoil, Mary Kay, Shaklee, and Tupperware exercising their online, viral marketing muscle.

All of these internet businesses depend on old fashioned word of mouth transmission of their message from one internet user to another.

So, HOW is viral marketing done?

Just to remind you, the focus is on one telling another. However, the idea behind viral marketing on the internet is to have one telling many, and some of those telling many more. This is quite commonly done through broadcast emails and newsletters. The goal here is to provide information of value to the recipients. The information should be relevant to the product or service you are marketing. If the information being provided is valid, it creates a feeling of trust. This may bring the person who received your information to buy your product, join your internet business opportunity, or refer someone else to you. To make the communication even more viral in nature, each recipient should be encouraged to relay the information, including your links, to others they think may be interested.

Another viral marketing technique is done by writing articles, or buying them already written, and posting them on article directory sites. There are many of these around, and an article can be posted on several of them. Each time you post an article, you can include a link to your business or internet business opportunity. This becomes viral because other people will go to the sites where you have posted your article and post it on THEIR site, blog, or in their ezine. Sometimes, people will even pick it up from THAT site and post it on another site in true network marketing form.

Just to give you an example of how this works, I recently posted an article titled "6 Simple Steps for A Search Engine Optimization Strategy" on a major article directory site and a couple of other smaller article sites. By the end of the following month, approximately 45 days, it could be found on over 120 sites. If it follows the usual pattern of these sorts of things, in another few months it could very well be on several hundred sites, displaying my link to visitors and search engine spiders which will follow the link back to my site. This will provide more potential customers, more site traffic, and a higher search engine ranking.

One technique which has been around since long before anyone had an internet business has been the distribution of free items: water bottles, key chains, pens, which had the company's name, contact information, and perhaps a sales message imprinted on them. A friend of mine has handed out water bottles for years with his company's information, and these days a website and email address, printed on them. He finds out in advance what their favorite drink is, and sends them a small packet each month. He buys water bottles in bulk for 69 cents each, and the packets he sends each month cost only a few cents more. From this simple viral marketing technique, he has generated thousands of dollars in commissions.

On the internet, it is harder to hand out physical items, but many sites offer free eBooks on subjects related to their business. These eBooks commonly contain links to the company's website, and people are generally encouraged to forward the ebook to friends who might be interested in the information, or, if they have an ezine, website, or blog, to offer the free ebook as a gift to people visiting their internet business.

A twist on this is the brandable ebook. That is, an ebook that can be customized with the recipient's own business information. This can be used as a viral marketing technique in two basic ways. In the case of an internet business which forms a downline, the downline members can be allowed to brand the book with their website so that they can use the ebook to grow their downline while growing the downline of the person above them. In the case of a different business, the author of the ebook will usually include some unchangeable links to his or her internet business.

Another means of viral marketing on the internet is again the offering of something of value for free on my website. In this case, the information could be something that needs regular updating and which would be of interest to visitors to a company's website. Let's say my internet business has to do with stock trading. If I can offer free, updated stock quotes, or a ticker, and maybe some form of stock trading software at my website, I may encourage people to come back frequently, and perhaps refer my site to others who are interested.

Along the same line as the free ebook, and the regularly updated information of value, I could offer some other free download. Many companies offer free, limited versions of their software in hopes that someone who downloads and uses it will see the need to buy the full blown version. I have search engine submitter software that I have used for years which I originally downloaded for free.

As you can see, ways for an internet business to go viral are many and are limited only by the imagination of the internet entrepreneur.
 
 
About the Author
Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer, a University of West Florida alumnus, and member of Mensa. He offers a free 10-day course on MLM lead generation at http://free-mlm-leads.ws/generation.html

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