Viral marketing is an extremely powerful and effective form 
of Internet marketing.  It is the online digital equivalent 
of the offline word of mouth advertising.  In viral marketing, 
one person passes on a marketing message to another person 
and so on.  The message spreads in a viral form in a manner 
similar to the spreading of a common cold virus from person to 
person.  It is a great way to market your product or service 
and increase your opt^in subscriber list.  If you are not 
using viral marketing then you need to seriously consider it 
in your online business.

It combines advertising and the leverage of duplication to 
spread your marketing message to an untold number of persons 
on the Internet.  You reap the benefits of viral marketing by 
attracting more customers to your product or service and 
increasing the number of subscribers to your opt^in mailing 
list.  It enables you to advertise your business without 
spending huge amounts on advertising campaigns.

There are many forms of viral marketing.  Some examples of 
viral marketing include fr^ee products or services such as: 
ebooks, web sites, e-mail service, classified advertising, 
links, traffic exchanges, banners, greeting cards and refer 
a friend.  

You are in complete control of which method of viral marketing 
is right for your business.  In order to promote viral marketing 
you need to create an incentive or reason for your customers, 
subscribers or website visitors to duplicate or pass on your 
advertisement to other individuals.  This incentive is usually 
in the form of fr^ee valuable information.

For most online business owners, the viral ebook is probably 
the easiest and most effective form of viral marketing.  Your 
viral ebook must have links back to your website, products 
and affiliate programs in order to successfully promote your 
business.  Viral marketing is a great way to get your ebook 
recipients to promote you to their customers, friends and 
acquaintances.  These recipients will then promote you to their 
customers and the promoting cycle continues to grow.   It is a 
very effective method of marketing.  

The viral ebook can be created using special software that is 
relatively inexpensive.  Ebooks can include different types of 
media including text, html, graphic images, animation and video.  
The media information is inserted into a compiler that produces 
an ebook in an "exe" or "pdf" file.   Once created, a viral 
ebook can be easily distributed by downloading from any website.

The original author has ultimate control over what information 
in the viral ebook can be changed.  The ebook should include 
an opt^in subscription form that can’t be changed by the ebook 
recipients.  You can earn money from the affiliate links in your 
ebook up until the time they are changed.  Most important, you 
can continue to build your mailing list due to the newsletter 
or mini-course opt^in subscriber form in the ebook. 

The ebook compiler enables the ebook recipient to edit specific 
information as allowed by the author.  The recipient needs to 
be able to change the affiliate links to their affiliate links 
and add their name and URL link as a distributor in the ebook.
This enables them to earn money from the affiliate links and 
get marketing exposure because their name and link is in the 
ebook.  

This will give them incentive to market the ebook to their 
customers or e-mail list.  These next level individuals can 
then download the ebook and add their name and URL link and 
change the affiliate links to their links.  The net result is 
your business gets promoted many times over without additional 
involvement on your part.

Your viral ebook can be distributed in many different ways to 
promote your name and business.  Some of the common methods 
of distribution include giving the ebook away as:

* An incentive to individuals to join your opt^in mailing list
* A bonus to get individuals to buy your product or service
* An inventive to get other websites to link to your website

The free viral ebook is a very effective way to market your 
website, products or services and affiliate programs.  People 
love free things.  Many of your website visitors will download 
your free ebook if it contains information that is valuable 
and useful to them.

The key to creating a successful viral ebook is to make 
certain the information in the ebook appeals to your niche 
market.  In order to draw traffic your ebook must have a 
killer topic and meet the needs or solve a problem of your 
targeted audience.  A viral ebook on a topic that has been 
beat to death will not get you a lot of viral advertising.

There must be quality information in the ebook that meets the 
wants and needs of your audience or addresses a problem of 
your niche market.  Your free exposure and the number of 
visitors to your website will be affected by the number of 
visitors that download your free viral ebook.  Make certain 
your ebook contains the message that it can be freely given 
away and the affiliate links changed to the recipient’s links.
Your positive marketing exposure increases with each download.

Viral marketing can be a huge advantage in your business 
advertising.  Is it the right choice for you?  Your response 
should be a definite "yes."  It is not difficult to set up 
and the results could be well worth the effort.  It is free 
advertising that works if done properly.  Give it a try and 
you may be very surprised at the results.