The Power of Viral Marketing

Lauren · Posted: June 22, 2006, 2:30 am Post subject: The Power of Viral Marketing

Mommy's Helper - Mom's Market Ezine
Issue #132
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

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Editor's Rambling:
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Note from Anita

Summer has officially arrived! Okay, so maybe it's been here for a little while but I know for sure I'm really starting to feel it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm leaving for vaction here very soon? (I'm sure it does!)

So, just to give you a heads up, I will be on vacation from June 28th to July 10th. All emails and/or advertising purchases will not be processed until after I return. I hope you've made your summer vacation plans ... we ALL need a break from time to time you know?

Till next week...

~Anita DeFrank
Mommy's Helper

Note from Kara

Still doing SEO work on Idea Queen, so not too much to talk about here, aside from the occasional craft show. Speaking of which, we've got another coming up just this week. Since it's also our town celebration, the kids will be with us. I'm looking forward to it!

It's been a very busy summer so far, and we've barely scratched the surface. There's still 4th of July, swimming lessons, school registration, and trips to interesting places still in store for us. It will be fun I'm sure, but very exhausting!

See you in two weeks!

~Kara Kelso~
Mom's Market

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Article
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The Power of Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is one of the most powerful forms of marketing on the Internet. Viral Marketing is giving something away for free and allowing people to pass it on to others. The concept of free has fueled the imagination and the success of the Internet itself. And, although the free business model has been greatly scaled back in the post-bust Internet days, it is difficult to argue with the viral marketing success achieved by the early pioneers of free email, free web sites, free autoresponders, etc.

For those of us that cannot afford to give away such expensive resources, we can give away other free items. The following are just a few examples of how you can cash in on the power of viral marketing. The possibilities are endless. Let you imagination run wild and be creative. Besides, you?ll soon find that being creative makes you unique and being unique can be your best marketing tool available

---> Ebooks
Write your own Ebook and include your logo, message and website inside. Give your ebook away for free and offer others to do the same. As a matter of fact you can make your very first page about how others can give your ebook to friends and family or better yet visitors and newsletter subscribers. Offer your ebook as a free gift for signing up to a mailing list.

Affiliate marketers can write ebooks on whatever they are passionate about and include references inside with affiliate links. Example: You can write an ebook on how to take perfect pictures with digital cameras. Inside the ebook you can include affiliate links to cameras, memory cards etc.

Direct Sales representatives can use free ebooks to help their sales. Example: Let?s say you?re a sales rep for a company that sells spices, condiments and other goodies. You could write an ebook full of recipes using the ingredients you sell.

---> Reports and Mini Courses
So you don?t have enough content for an entire book. An easy solution would be to do something on a smaller scale such as offering free reports and mini courses. Let?s say you are either an affiliate or a sales rep that sells candles. You can offer a free report on candle safety. Be sure to include your website in your report. Using the example above for those who sell spices, condiments and other goodies again. Set up an autoresponder to send out a recipe every day or every other day. You can find free autoresponders online. Just do a quick search.

---> Tell A Friend
Make it easy for your visitors to share your website with their friends. Incorporate a ?Tell A Friend? link your website and within a couple of clicks your visitors can share the good find of your site with others. You can also find free scripts online for this via a quick search.

---> Articles
Write articles that pertain to your product or service. Allow people to reprint your articles on their website, in their ezine, newsletter, magazine or ebooks. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article. If you have an affiliate program, let them include an affiliate ID in the resource box!

As I mentioned above, be creative! I?ve once heard about a woman who designed coloring pages and included her website address at the bottom of each page. She offered the coloring pages for free re-print and presto, juniors best artwork and her website address on mom and grandma?s refrigerator! The possibilities are endless!

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Anita DeFrank is a Work-At-Home mom, publisher and webmaster of many websites including www.MommysHelperOnline.com and www.WahmStateDirectory.com. With the Mission to provide the best resources for all that are working at home and to make the dream of working at home a reality to those who wish to. Bringing together the perfect balance between working and working at home.
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Childcare
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Childproofing Your Home

This is a must read article which can only be read at Mommy's Helper. To read this article, visit:
http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/childproofing-your-home.html

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Coffee Break
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Mornings are for the Birds

?Lisa Barker

I?m not a morning person and this morning proves it.

At 6AM I?m up packing lunches, fumbling around in my state of near unconsciousness, hoping that it?s peanut butter I?m spreading on bread and not Crisco, and there is a cat hanging on the screen to the window over the kitchen sink looking very much like somebody shot him there from a slingshot.

Not only does he refuse to meow at the back door to be let in like all the other cats, he bleats loudly like a goat.

Mature adult that I am, I open the door and let him have it. ?What?s the matter with you? I told you NOT to do that anymore. Look at my screen!?

Now the toddlers are awake.

In my agitation, I shuffle to the fridge to get the jam and step barefoot into the bowl of cat food. There?s nothing like the feel of turkey and giblets oozing between your toes...unless, of course, it?s tripping over the bowl of water and slipping face first into the fridge.

Helpful suggestion: Always place pudding in a plastic bowl with a lid. Then, if you happen to lurch forward into the refrigerator and reach for a shelf to regain balance, you don?t end up grabbing a fistful of banana pudding.

At that point, I have to ask myself this question. Do the kids really need to eat lunch?

So now I have cats licking my foot while I attempt to rinse the pudding off my hand and out of the sleeve of my robe.

Needless to say, I?m pretty perturbed and grumbling. Of course there are no dishtowels in the cupboard, so I blindly make my way down the dark hall to search for a towel in the laundry. My theory is simple: if the toddlers don?t see any light in the rest of the house, they?ll stop crying and go back to bed.

Naturally, this means I fail to see the gridlock of Matchbox cars the boys have left in the hallway and step on a few, performing a stunning pirouette and hop to the dryer while I curse and ram my knee into the very solid appliance.

At this point, I?m absolutely certain that mornings are for the birds.

And the cats. Hobbling back to the kitchen I find a cat sampling the peanut butter sandwiches. What on earth? If it were tuna, I?d understand. But peanut butter?

Sandwiches get tossed in the garbage and new ones are made. Chips, fruit and juice boxes are found and deposited in lunch bags. Success at last! My motherly duty has been performed and I have to say I?m somewhat proud of myself when I hear a small voice behind me.

?Mom? Can I buy a school lunch today??

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Jelly Mom? is written by Lisa Barker, author of "Just Because Your Kids Drive You Insane...Doesn't Mean You Are A Bad Parent!" and syndicated through Martin-Ola Press/Parent To Parent. To publish Jelly Mom, buy the book or leave comments, please visit http://www.jellymom.com.

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Recipes
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AMISH MAPLE CREAM PIE
1 can condensed milk
2/3 c. maple syrup
Pinch salt

--TOPPING:--
2 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Pinch salt

Cook on low heat, very slow, stirring constantly until it bubbles in the middle. Pour into a baked pie shell. Chill for 1 hour. Whip ingredients until thick. Pour on top of pie filling and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Do you have a favorite recipe to share?
Post them at Mommy's Helper Community!

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