Viral marketing is a cool term for word of mouth on the Internet. It is where people hear about your website service or products through other people. Sending an email with an advertisement on the bottom is a good way to spread the word. Having a newsletter also increases your visibility online. There are also forums that discuss products and services and rate them. Viral marketing’s referral technique works like the snowball effect, which increases exponentially the visibility of your business. Getting personal recommendations to try a product or service is a great way to build credibility and trust in the company. Repeating these referrals to other people makes the customer actively engage themselves and not passively hear about the products advantages.

Viral marketing is a great way to keep advertising costs way down. Passing along an article from an ezine keeps the message intact, is free and easy to pass along, and doesn’t cost anything, but offers a clear benefit to both parties involved.

Here are some ways to make your viral marketing message work. You can give away a free article with a pass it on link on the bottom, or a free demo version of your product, or offer a free trial of your service on your web site and include a share it with your friend button at the bottom of the page. You could also hold a contest and capture people’s contact information and each time their friends come to the site, they are entered into the contest again. Starting your own affiliate program, where affiliates generate traffic to your website with banner ads, text links, letters of referrels, etc. You pay for results only.

Viral marketing is the way to achieve high traffic cheaply and effectively on the web. Provide your customers with a compelling reason to pass on the message and you are well on your way to big time traffic.