Are You Viral?
By Denise Hall
Posted Wednesday, December 22, 2004
No, I'm not asking if you have a cold. Or if you're spreading a computer virus.
I'm talking about your business. Do you have hundreds of visitors to your website everyday? Are you making lots of sales? Can you afford to quit your day job?
If the answer to these questions is "no" maybe you need to revamp your business plan.
A fellow ezine publisher recently asked me how I get new subscribers to my newsletter.
The key is to PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE! And when you're done, PROMOTE some more! I can't stress that enough.
You don't have to be an ezine publisher to use these resources. They pertain to running any internet business. Everyone needs to get VIRAL!
What exactly does that mean?
It means spreading the word about your business every possible way and everywhere you can. It means making your name and your website known to the world! There are many ways to do this.
Advertising in ezines gets good results because they have targeted audiences. Subscribers are reading the information provided so they can learn. They're also looking for quality money-making opportunities, good advertising resources and tools to help them with their businesses.
There are many directories available to find quality newsletters and ezines. This is just a small sampling:
(http://ezinexchange.com/index.html?m=56364207) (http://www.freezineweb.com/more-directories.html) (http://www.ezineworld.com/index.php3?refid=1208)
Banner exchanges are a good way to advertise, too. We all see banners displayed at just about every website we visit. If a banner catches our attention we click on it, don't we? Get the point?
A banner exchange means your banner is displayed on other websites in exchange for displaying their banner on your website. It's a free service.
Here are a few sites that offer banner exchanges:
(http://freeautobot.com) (http://www.adtactics.com/index.php?ac=itsallfree2002) (http://QuickPayPro.com/x/qpp.cgi?adminid=1946&id=40550&pid=0)
This website is just FREE banners for you. No exchange is necessary. Check it out here: (http://www.unlimitedbanners.com/?a=gifts_n_things2002)
Many websites offer banner displays for a fee, also. If you don't have your own website you may want to buy some banner displays as an alternative since you can't display other people's banners.
Banners get attention, and you want attention! Here are some good sites to visit for paid banner ads:
(http://QuickPayPro.com/x/qpp.cgi?adminid=1946&id=40550&pid=4597) (http://www.autohtml.com/a.cgi?id=itsallfree2002)
Most duplicated websites come with banner URLs and information explaining how to use your banner for exchanges. However, if you don't have a banner for your business or newsletter, or if you'd just like to have a different one, you can make them here for free:
(http://www.addesigner.com)
Do you have a knack for writing? If so, consider writing articles to submit to ezines. Most publishers accept guest articles from their readers. At the end of each article you can add a resource box containing your name, business name and website URL or newsletter subscription information.
Other sites to submit your articles:
(http://www.MakingProfit.com) (http://www.ideamarketers.com) (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articlesubmission) (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freezinecontent) (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/I_Need_Content)
Submitting your site to search engines and directories is a MUST! If you don't, you're losing potential customers because they can't find you!
But please submit your website only once every 30 days or so. Otherwise, the search engines think you're SPAMMING them.
Here is a good way to put your search engine submissions on autopilot:
(http://www.worldwidepromoter.com/?itsallfree)
Other types of advertising include safelists, classified ads, FFA (Free For All links) pages and ad or message boards. This website contains several suggestions:
(http://www.mylinksite.com/tons_of_offers)
Startpage programs will also produce traffic to your website. They can be joined for free and you can purchase more credits if you'd like. Here are a few good ones:
(http://PowerFulHits.com/?ref=200) (http://QuietSurfer.com/?ref=1880) (http://freetrafficboost.com/g.o/itsallfree2002) (http://www.magnetichits.com/default.asp?userid=its_all_free2002)
Some people think startpage programs are a waste of time. But you never know who might see your website!
Exchanging links with other website owners will also bring traffic to your website. This is similar to banner exchanges but these can be either banner or text links.
Each time you visit a site or read an ezine check to see if the website owner participates in link exchanges. Send them an e-mail and swap links with them.
Take advantage of every opportunity you find to send feedback and profiles to ezines that you read. Publishers normally allow a 2 or 3 line signature file with your submission.
If you're an ezine publisher ad swaps are a great way to gain subscribers and visitors to your website. Similar to link exchanges, you simply trade ezine ads with other publishers.
The internet contains millions of websites. Becoming viral means linking to as many of them as possible. The more you link to other sites, the more visitors you'll receive. This will also give you higher rankings in the search engines.
In a nutshell, if you don't make your website well-known, you'll be invisible.
You don't want to be invisible, do you? Of course not!
About the Author
Denise Hall is the publisher of Home Business on a Budget Newsletter. Her weekly publication contains helpful tips, articles and resources. To subscribe mailto:home_business_on_a_budget@rapidreply.net or visit (http://www.home-business-on-a-budget.com) This article may be reprinted in its entirety with this resource box included.
