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10 Contagious Viral Marketing Techniques

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by znitch-search, Nov 1, 2006.

  1. #1
    I've been marketing my blogs and websites since before the first dot com and came up with several techniques that have stayed constant. The key to succeeding online is letting the web DO YOUR MARKETING FOR YOU. at $4.50 PER CLICK THRU with google adwords, you'd go broke faster than a blind man at a Vegas Four Card Stud Table.

    I've listed below 10 of my strategies for doing minimal work to get the internet communities and GOOGLE to virally promote you...

    1. Pick a niche with no competition.Then expand into a bigger market AFTER you have a core following. Dont set up an online Book store. Set up an Online Ant Lover's Bookstore. Then expand to include all insects > animals > nature > travel books.

    2. Differentiate with a. CONTENT (see above)
    b. FUNCTION (add ruby on rails voting/registration for comments, user ranking etc...)
    c. FORM (get a minimilist css designer see lukestotler.com a buddy of mine)

    3. Become a valuable member of other BIG forums
    (like im trying to do here by giving away some of my best techniques) if you support the masses, the masses with support you.

    4. Pick the right forums and communities.
    make sure the SAME readership is also YOUR target market. If you have a foreign car website, dont join the CHEVY forums.

    5. Make sure that the forum is GOOGLE-NOFOLLOW dissabled.
    If you spent a million hours making valuable posts BUT google cannot see your posts, then ONLY that small community knows you. you want google to feature you to the world at large!

    Most ALL (97%) of the worlds phpbb forums are NOT GOOGLE friendly. you see, each post has a DYNAMIC URL that generates based on user session ID. so google (net being a user) cant find your posts. unless you modify the PHP (hire a programmer for $200)

    6. ONLY join websites and forums with High Google Rankings.
    THEN find a post and google for that post. IF google has it, then join it...

    for example, if you google, "THEN find a post and google for that post. IF google has it, then join it" and you get "SORRY, No Results," Go somewhere else. (but give google 8 days to find this ;) )

    7. Start a blog.
    post a new topic twice a day. enable the link field in blogger.com blogger is owned by google and google ranks you based on recency of last link. In other words, IF you have a million links today and none 4 weeks later, google will treat your site as OLDNEWS and you'll only be on page 1 for 3 days.

    8. Join Digg.com Reddit.com Fark.com Del.icio.us Stumbleupon.com and Netscape.com

    In the beginning, i got 100% of my traffic from these sources. And they talk :D

    9. Submit a $11 press release at PRweb.com
    It'll get you into googlenews and yahoo news. The best part about this? Google Alerts and Yahoo Alerts automagically put your press release into millions of email inboxes IF your pr has keywords that match their filters so...

    10. use google adsense traffic estimator to SELECT your keywords. Use these same keywords in your press releases, webpage, TITLE tag and EVEN page URL... very important. URL the keywords!

    do a google search for MAPLE SYRUP
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=maple+syrup

    see all the page one sites with have the words maple syrup IN THE DOMAIN NAME?!?!?

    TIP use dashes. if you use an underscore "_" then google only features your webpage if someone googles "maplesyrup"

    in other words:
    maple_syrup = maplesyrup
    and
    maple-syrup = maple syrup
    in googles eyes

    #11 BONUS. put a website/blog update email alert system on your site. Dont send out newsletters. newsletters keep people AWAY from your website. you want the recurring traffic to raise your website's networth... you'll find ZNITCH email alert simple copypaste javascript code at http://znitchit.blogspot.com
     
    znitch-search, Nov 1, 2006 IP
    LadyHoldem likes this.
  2. Raisin

    Raisin Active Member

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    #2
    So does that mean you were blogging on a BBS system?
     
    Raisin, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  3. WillB

    WillB Peon

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    #3
    I think only number 8 counts as viral marketing, but thanks for the tips :)
     
    WillB, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  4. arkueckelhan

    arkueckelhan Active Member

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    #4
    yeah, none of these seem to be "viral" marketing but marketing techniques in general. some good advice though
     
    arkueckelhan, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  5. xboxundone

    xboxundone Well-Known Member

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    #5
    no really anythign to do with viral marketting but some decent tips
     
    xboxundone, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  6. emmaonline

    emmaonline Active Member

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    #6
    Agreed... Marketing tips yes... Viral marketing No!
     
    emmaonline, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  7. jbeaul

    jbeaul Peon

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    #7
    Update: Regarding item #9 - PRWeb is now offering releases starting at $80 each. The option you referred to (doing an $11 release) is no longer possible. But doing an $80 release is certainly going to provide the results you mentioned and much more.

    Transparency disclaimer: I work for PRWeb.
     
    jbeaul, Nov 1, 2006 IP
    Smyrl likes this.
  8. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #8
    For working for them, you should know a bit more about their policies, b/c it's not true that they're offering them "starting at $80 each." When you go to post a press release, below the 3 package options, you still have the ability to name your own upgrade amount. And the simple fact that the automatic entry is $40, and the fact that it's still $40 per star, and you can order only one if you want, proves that you can start less than $80.
     
    jhmattern, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  9. Hoosierhunter

    Hoosierhunter Peon

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    #9
    I actually like this post. It is full of some really great ideas. I prefer to join forums I enjoy though. I don't worry too much about the PR of the forum sites because I am joining them to enjoy the company of others.
     
    Hoosierhunter, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  10. rosiee007

    rosiee007 Notable Member

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    #10
    Thanks for the tips znitch.

    I think if you make an interesting enough newsletter with a few highlights, and a few teasers which are intended to attract users to come and visit your site, I'm sure people will come and visit the site. Maybe give a short summary of what new changes you've added to the site, or some offer you've recently added. Im sure it will bring the visitors to your site. Just my two cents.
     
    rosiee007, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  11. kingrage

    kingrage Peon

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    #11
    So hard to get Diggs on digg, I just submitted something about my Zune4Free.com site and it got some traffic, some signup but no Diggs :(
     
    kingrage, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  12. mralan

    mralan Peon

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    #12
    I think that YouTube is affective, but overall I prefer and have been addicted to MySpace marketing in the past. It has done the most for me.
     
    mralan, Nov 1, 2006 IP
  13. eb0la_reston

    eb0la_reston Peon

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    #13
    Nice list !!!

    But, there's also a good way to get promotion and backlinks: Mootion.com viral video backlink.

    Here's how it works:

    1 - Take a look at http://mootion.com.
    2 - Grab a video and put it on your site (just copy and past the embed code for your blog/myspace site).
    3 - The video will show on your site/blog/myspace page with a "add to your site" option.
    4 - When someone (say, Alice) clics on the "add to your site" link on your site, she will get a sharing html code with a link to your site, so:
    5 - When Alice publishes the video on her own blog/myspace/etc..., she will link you back automagically (google loves backlinks).
     
    eb0la_reston, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  14. rosiee007

    rosiee007 Notable Member

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    #14
    Is this allowed?

    If the actual video was taken from mootion.com, and you are also linking to mootion.com, shouldnt Alice be also linking to mootion.com ?
     
    rosiee007, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  15. PayItForward

    PayItForward Peon

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    #15
    Dynamic URLs are not, not search engine friendly because of session IDs, that actually has nothing to do with it.

    http://www.amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1111 (this just an example)

    This URL can be indexed perfectly by search engines. The problem is that by using a php script and numbers to identify the URL, you are hindering yourself from certain SEO advantages. If a keyword(that someone is searching for) appears in your URL then you immediately have a significantly higher chance of being listed closer to the beginning of the SERPs. By using a dynamic URL, you are taking away any chance of a keyword match in your URL.

    Let's take a look at a static URL for a forum:

    http://www.amember.com/forum/general-chat/love/why-am-i-so-hot/

    ;)
     
    PayItForward, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  16. fluid

    fluid Active Member

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    #16
    Is this true?

    Dashes instead of underscore?
     
    fluid, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  17. eb0la_reston

    eb0la_reston Peon

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    #17
    In the embed code there's a link back to mootion.com to catch the referer and add it to Alice embed code as a link back to the original source.

    And yes, It's allowed.
     
    eb0la_reston, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  18. znitch-search

    znitch-search Peon

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    #18
    Rosiee,

    Agreed. BUT this is where it gets TOUGH. How many webmasters do YOU know who actually have the WRITING skill to be able to

    1. Say enough to be engaging and Interesting
    2. But leave the punchline out so the reader has to visit the site
    3. Know their market well enough to know what time of day to e-blast
    4. Know their readership well enough to know how long or short to keep their e-blast

    I agree that IF you have a writer, a TEASING email blast is more powerful than a simple "ZNITCH.com" alert.

    BUT if you dont have the skill to write effectively, then you'll just end up bothering your subscribers and "giving away the milk for free so they dont have to buy the cow" :D
     
    znitch-search, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  19. znitch-search

    znitch-search Peon

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    #19
    Dear PAY,
    What does this page mean then? I'm a marketing and biz guy and a weak programmer so this is a genuine non fececious question:

    http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=29 :eek:
     
    znitch-search, Nov 2, 2006 IP
  20. znitch-search

    znitch-search Peon

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    #20
    I'm starting a new thread on how to get diggs on digg, I'll update this post with a new url soon.
     
    znitch-search, Nov 2, 2006 IP