Affiliates Today

This post is apart of the 7 EASY STEPS SERIES

Armed with your affiliate links as well as your USP, you are ready to announce to the world your entry into the playing field.

And how else should a winner like you announce his arrival?
With a bang, of course!

Here’s a great tactic that I employ for every major product launch that I promote.
I create viral products. What’s a viral product?

Basically, a viral product is a digital product – capable of being distributed digitally – that is of outstanding value. This digital product promotes my affiliate link. It can be a timely eBook or special report, the pages of which contain my affiliate link. It can be a software program where my affiliate link will appear in the user interface.

Now, here’s the clincher… I distribute the viral product for free.

Yes, for FREE. A product of high value, distributed for free!
What’s my purpose for that? What results do I expect?

Well, suppose you receive something valuable, for free. Wouldn’t you feel special? Wouldn’t you feel lucky? Wouldn’t you feel happy? Wouldn’t you want to share such
feeling with your closest friends? You family members? The people you chat with in your favorite online forum?

This is why it’s called a “viral” product… because like a “virus,” it spreads quite quickly, at an exponential rate at that. What if every person who gets to enjoy my viral product
refers it to 5 of his/her friends?

1 prospect can quickly become 5 prospects.
5 prospects can quickly become 25 prospects.
25 prospects can quickly become 125 prospects.

And so on and so forth.

It can become a juggernaut of a cycle for the first few days. And often, such lasts for many, many months, if not years. Heck, I’m still generating clicks from a viral eBook I
distributed 3 years ago!

Creating a viral product is actually easy. Ask yourself, what are you good at?
If you can create software programs, create software programs.
If you can write, write eBooks and special reports.
If you have a flair for videos or broadcasting, create a video or audio product that can be downloaded.

If you can’t do any of these, hire a freelancer from websites like www.elance.com, www.rentacoder.com and www.getafreelancer.com. Package the created product well and upload it to your website.

Voila!

Promote the viral product on your landing page and the people who visit your website can download it.

Just make sure that the following guidelines are observed:

1. Make sure to CLEARLY remind your visitors that they can download the said product for free. People are generally hesitant to download anything on the World
   Wide Web, believing that there is no such thing as a free lunch in the real and the online world.
2. Make sure to CLEARLY remind the people who will download the said product that they are free to distribute it to other people. Sometimes, that reminding push goes a long, long way.

The usage of a viral product is part and parcel of the powerful promotional strategy known as viral marketing. Viral marketing is basically word-of-mouth advertising in the virtual world. You want people to talk about the product you are promoting to generate that much needed hype. Viral marketing has the following elements that are worth studying:

1. Viral marketing makes use of existing networks. There is no need to create your own web of contacts.
2. The business message must be easy to seed. It must be made apparent at the earliest stage. A convoluted message would just make the viral marketing campaign useless. If your business message, for example, is the promotion of your website’s link, make it appear conveniently and immediately.
3. The business message must circulate naturally. The goal is to reach as many people as possible. The means to achieve that goal is to promote persistent circulation of the business message. Circulation must be facilitated with minimal interference from the business owner. The message must replicate on its own. We should keep these in mind as we formulate a viral marketing plan.
4. You must have a value proposition. Let us illustrate this maxim through an often used technique. Suppose your business offers a software package. How do you promote it through viral marketing? You could use the strategies suggested in the preceding sections to offer a free trial of your software for a certain period. This is your value proposition. As more and more people get exposed to your software, they’ll come to know of its worth and spread the word to their friends. Soon, after their trial period expires, they will have to order the full version. This is your contingent proposition. From the latter, you will derive the profit to replace what you have spent in your initial investment. Once Return of Investment, or ROI, is achieved, everything else is your net profit, and you’ll have lots of that as people will continue flocking to avail of your product, thanks to the exponential character of viral marketing.
5. You must have a contingent proposition. Do not lose sight of your bread and butter. The point to viral marketing is to sell your goods and services. Your goods and services are your contingent proposition. Once your value proposition has lured the attention of your prospective clients, it is time to win them over to purchase your contingent proposition.
6. You should provide benefits for the participants. One thing that predominate viral marketing campaigns is the constant use of the word “free.” As many marketing resources have stated, the said word is probably the most powerful weapon to attract customers. Offering free goods or services to potential clients is an old and established rule in marketing, both offline and online. It makes good use of basic human inclinations: the golden rule. Do unto others what you want them do unto you. Potential clients who benefit from the freebies you distribute will feel that they have to repay the kindness you have shown them.

Observing these principles of an effective viral marketing campaign will ensure a fruitful experience for your website.

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