Viral Marketing may sound horrid to you, especially with the
negative rap the that word virus has on everybody. However,
viral marketing isnít something illegal or bothersome. Mostly
viral marketing is embedded advertisements on freeware programs
or letters. Its how you use the ads in the program that matters.
Viral Marketing is a term coined to describe marketing
strategies that have a potential to balloon overtime, it is self
propagating and very cheap as your relying on the consumers
actions to promote your web site.
When your programs generate pop ups and connect to servers
without your clients knowing about it, then your program is
called spyware, if your program bombards the users with pop ups
of advertisements, then its called adware, both are very
frustrating and illegal.
To be successful in viral marketing, you should know when your
advertising is too much advertising, and where to actually put
them. Of course thereís always research and surveys, but there
are things you could do to explode your viral marketing without
having to do all the work and research. All you need is five and
youíll have enough exposure to go on.
Write Articles Articles are a good way to promote your website,
both offline and online. You can plug your site somewhere
between the article if itís about something that is contained in
your site, and if its not, then you can always put your URL on
the about the author part of the article.
Another plus with writing an article is building your
credibility. When you do contribute an article to a certain
website or newspaper, give them the right to reprint it, so long
as they include your URL in there.
Edit Your E-mail Signature Simple, yet effective, this is the
simple beauty of this tip. Just make sure that your name and
your slogan is in the signature of every e-mail you send out,
whether it is formal or informal. Separate it with dashed lines
to make it stand out from the rest of the text. And if you can,
have the colors of the signature in your website colors. Visual
memory is after all longer lasting than text memory.
Keep your tagline short but exciting, something that could embed
itself on the readerís mind, kind of like that elevator music
that keeps playing in your head over and over again.
Take Part in Forums Most forums allow for a single picture as
well as a signature for everyone that posts. You can use your
banner as your picture and your web URL as your signature. Some
sites even give you the option of two or more pictures, so you
can change pictures for variety.
But donít just choose any other forum. Post in ones that relate
to the theme of your site, this is so that those who read your
post will actually be interested in viewing what is in your site.
E-mail to a Friend Scripts For the frugal marketer, you can find
free tell a friend script scattered all over the net. If you
have the budget, you can have one specially made. Youíll be
surprised as to how many people actually would want to share
their finds from your site. Some scripts even contain short
thank you messages that are sent to the referrer. You can even
give small incentives to the referrer if he writes a certain
number of e-mail addresses. Just be sure that the script youíre
going to use is user friendly and efficient.
Create a Screensaver Yes, a screensaver will do you good
especially if your website is about something in entertainment,
like a boy band or a TV show. Naturally, a celebrity is more
likely someoneís crush, and that someone wonít bat an eyelash
just to get his/her beloved, forever immortalized in his
computer through a screensaver.
You can make a screensaver that features a reel or a random
slideshow, with effects of course, of pictures of the boy band
members, or scenes from the TV show, or even exclusive pictures
that will only be found in the screen saver. Along with these
pictures would be one clickable slide that links your potential
viewers to your website. Itís subtle and its cheap. You can then
give away copies of the screensaver and make it available for
download in your website.
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