Escalating Business Growth & Profits Through Online Viral Marketing

There is no better way for a small business or entrepreneur to distribute information about their products and/or services than through viral online marketing. With a little effort and energy and very little if any cost, viral marketing can literally spread a message worldwide and over night, expanding a company’s market share and profits through lead generation, customer acquisition and referrals.

To appreciate viral marketing, all one has to do is to think of Susan Boyle and her YouTube video that spread through the Internet like wildfire. In one day, Susan Boyle was transformed from a nobody into a famous international sensation. Hopefully by now you are beginning to understand the value of viral online marketing.

As a form of powerful word of mouth advertising, messages shared in a viral way through social media sites, social bookmarks, podcasts, video, RSS feeds and email marketing, can be one of the most effective methods of branding, lead generation and sales. This requires however, that messages are easily accessible and communicated effectively and efficiently to the right market.

Most websites and blogs are not designed to provide easy access to engaging information that can be shared in a viral way. This is generally because of these problems:

Design and content that does not laser focus the visitor on one topic with a single and powerful call to action.
Formatting of text, images and multimedia that detract from the message.
Design with inconsistent navigation or inappropriate link names on pages that frustrate visitors in finding information.
Limited or no access to viral sharing tools, the company’s social media sites, RSS feeds and multimedia that are likely to be valued and shared by visitors with their network.
Websites that do incorporate list building for staying in touch with leads and customers through autoresponders and email marketing.
Websites that do not allow for businesses to easily make money through eCommerce.
Websites that do not allow the website owner to instantly manage their own content. By the time the webmaster makes the website changes, the market may have changed, costing a valuable window of opportunity for making an effective BUZZ that results in viral sharing and profits.
Websites that are lacking in search engine optimization fields and elements for drawing a targeted market to relevant pages on the website.
Costly website development for creating a powerful web presence through effective design, content and viral sharing tools where content can be immediately added, modified or deleted by the website owner.

Most web design and development companies are not skilled in producing effective web projects that are conducive to conversions and viral sharing of information.

The sad truth is that business owners and entrepreneurs are often left to direct the design and development of their own websites. As good as these businesses are at producing or providing products and services, they are not professional marketers and often do not understand what is needed for their Internet marketing to be effective. It is not uncommon for a company to have their website redeveloped several times by different web development companies and at great expense, before they achieve a website that meets their needs.

A Well Designed and Effective Viral Marketing Website Will Have These Elements:

A professional design that is clean, easy to navigate and displays each item of content in a way that interrupts, engages, educates and provides a low risk offer while encouraging viral sharing.
Design that easily guides the business owner to create a powerful website by presenting required and optional fields of information for list building, creating headlines, sub headings, formatting descriptive and optimized copy, adding video and audio podcasts, incorporating keyword tags and displaying a viral sharing tool for each individual item of content.
Changes that are made are instantly available on the website. The website should be an easy and effective content management system where information can easily be stored and managed by the website owner through a password protected administration area.
The system is all ready to use. The website owner does not have to direct a web designer or developer to configure a custom or customized solution that may or may not meet their needs.
Navigation is consistent on all pages and descriptive of content that will interest the visitor. Navigation also makes it easy to access supporting links to an additional company website and blog, eNewsletter registration form, participating social networks, RSS feeds and contact information.
Only content that the business owner wants to display is available to the visitor. The visitor never lands on a page with no information or a coming soon message.
The system integrates list building, SEO, eCommerce and viral sharing but makes all of these elements optional and easy to turn on and off.
Lack of financial risk. The website is cost effective and ready to use for a reasonable and affordable monthly fee. This reduces the strain on the website owner’s budget, giving them an effective website presence for acquiring traffic and conversions. It should not exhaust their marketing budget for capturing their greatest market share through the Internet.

Why Viral Marketing Online is so Important for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

Viral marketing methods levels the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Using social media, blogs, RSS, video, podcasts and online press releases, it is feasible to get the attention of a market without spending a fortune on costly advertising, PR and branding. It is also quite possible to capture the attention of the media when content is valuable, innovative and timely. Success no longer depends on being part of the “good old boys” network of the elite and powerful. Good news spreads throughout the Internet rapidly and effectively.

Uses of Viral Online Marketing

Viral marketing works best when the content helps your market with an important need or desire that they have, is powerful, easy to share and leads to conversions through an appropriate call to action. Video and audio podcasts offer excellent viral sharing methods through social media sites, social bookmarks, blogs and email. Flash movies and PowerPoint are additional choices for sharing through email marketing. Your goals for your viral message may vary. Some possibilities to consider include:

Education: provide information about innovative products and services that solve an important problem for your market while helping to establish your credibility and expertise. This should not be tied to the sale of a product or service initially but can lead to sales later on.
Communication: pass along information relevant to your market that demonstrates your desire to be helpful and allows you to build rapport and a trusting relationship.
Promotion and Branding: people remember what is valuable to them and what they see often. Repeating your powerful message with some variation over time, will help your market to associate you as a trusted expert in your industry – someone they will want to do business with.
Entertainment: let your market enjoy your music, inspirational movie or comical performance that leads to product sales and getting booked as a speaker or entertainer.
Training: teach your market something that improves the quality of their life and they will not stop talking about you through Facebook, their blog and email list. Consider giving something away for free in addition to offering a paid version.

Making Your Content Powerful for Viral Marketing

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs do not appreciate the importance of having a highly professional presence with well written content and powerful images and multimedia. Investing some time and financial resources in developing content including professional video and audio productions, is much more likely to produce a significant return on your investment.

Learn how to instantly integrate powerful viral marketing into your website.