"Viral Marketing"

Viral marketing can be a very effective way to market on the internet.  This type of marketing usually starts by giving something away free and encouraging others to pass it on.  The free give away can be in the form of an e-book, joke, email, free information report, white paper and others.

Within one of these viral marketing forms should be a link or information back to a website.  The viral action happens when people pass it on to others.

Viral marketing campaigns can last for a long time and very successful ones cannot usually be stopped once they are started. 

They can be a good way to get traffic back to a website.  However, the viral action that is released should be made sure  the message is targeted to a certain group or market.  If it is not targeted properly, it could bring back untargeted traffic.  This will result in a lot of hard work for nothing. 

The most common form of viral marketing is to write a short report or e-book and then place that e-book on a website and also post it to free e-book directories.  The book can also be given away as an incentive to sign up for a newsletter.

The viral e-book should offer very good information and not be a sales pitch.  You may not want to give away all of your secrets but you should include some to make sure the viral e-book is read.

Usually a free report on how to do something will do the trick for a viral marketing campaign.  The report does not need to be a full book but a short 5 to 10 page manuscript.  If a viral report creates buzz then is should be successful.

Other ways to use viral marketing are articles, starting an affiliate program, giving away part of your book or service as a free trial.

Affiliate programs are the ultimate form of viral marketing.  You spread the word about your affiliate program and if you have a good program, people will usually hear about it and want to join.  These people then promote your product or service for you and you do not pay them until they sell your products or services.

Resources for this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm