Viral eBooks Drive the Masses to Your Site … Forever

By now, seasoned online marketers know that the way to grow massive traffic in a short time span is to have something on their site or product that is viral. It should be something that spreads across the net on its own, with zero marketing dollars, like a virus, at an ever-increasing rate. That is how Hotmail, Blue Mountain Arts, Napster, and others gained such large followings so fast and with so little marketing. The mere act of using these products meant that you had to tell someone else about them, and so they grew.

 So how do you get the viral power on your site?

Granted, not all sites and products can be made viral. If your site markets tractors, you cannot make the use of a tractor viral. However, you can create something else that is viral! Every Webmaster can, every site can! That is the good news today. You can create a viral and highly informative eBook. Good eBooks, with built in viral capabilities, keep spreading from person to person perpetually, without any end! In fact, the more time passes, the more they are spread around. Every reader gets to know about your site through your eBook. Moreover, it costs you nothing for this spreading to happen. We shall first look at the content of the eBook, then ways to make it viral, followed by how to make this eBook, and finally ways to get people to start spreading it.

What to write

The content is the most important part of a viral eBook. The golden rule is, make it relevant, informative, free and useful. Do not make an eBook that merely advertises your products. No one finds that useful and no one will pass it on. People, however, will always treasure and pass on information that is relevant and helps them with some aspect of their life. To make it viral, all you have to do is make that kind of information free and give an incentive for people to pass it on. Let us go back to the information creation first. For example, a person marketing tractors online would create an eBook that offers free, useful information on some aspect of farming or the right way to buy and save on farm equipment, or how to market farm produce overseas using government grants. If on the other had you sell web services or software, create an eBook on online marketing and search engine promotion. If your business is in the adult industry, you may want to create one on Tantric sex or a guide to romantic dates. The idea is to keep it closely related to your line of business so that it is passed on to people who would be interested later in your business. The eBook should be about 20 or more pages long, depending on the topic. Don’t worry if you are not a writer. Where do you get the content? Well, research. Buy books on the topic, or go to your library. Get magazine articles from the web. Compile your research in your own words and that is it (but don’t copy someone else’s work, that is against copyright laws). One way to find out what topic is popular in your subject field is to see what books are selling the most in that subject on Amazon.com. Now, you must remember that the end goal of creating this free eBook is to bring people to your site. So, remember to have a descriptive link to your site at the footer of every page. A text link is usually better than a banner. If appropriate, but only in very few places, you may also work your link into the content of the eBook – but don’t over do it.

How to make it viral

There are three main things that you will need to remember to make your eBook spread like a virus. First, it has to be free. You don’t charge for any part of it! Secondly, it has to be relevant, informative, free and useful, not just an advertisement of your products. It has to be something people will read and feel glad and enlightened that they did. Thirdly, it has to offer an incentive to the reader to pass it on. The fact that it is informative is already an incentive but you need more than that. The most powerful incentive is money. Remember that your eBook has links to your site. If your site is selling products, or if you are willing to pay for clicks, set up an affiliate program. Then create your eBook in such a way (see below for how) that it allows the reader to easily and quickly add their affiliate code to those links to your site. That way, when they pass the eBook on, the recipients will read it, go to your site using the links in it, and when they do so or purchase anything on your site, your affiliate gets an automatic commission. The easiest affiliate system to set up for this use is AffiliateShop. You can sign up free for 30 days and it very easy to get running, no installations necessary. For a review of AffiliateShop, see http://www.aboutwebmasters.com/reviews.shtml. The other incentive is that people want publicity, for personal or business reasons. Again, making your eBook easily brandable will allow readers to add a suitable personal message to the eBook automatically. They will then want to pass it on so that they too get the benefits of having people down the chain read about them or their site in the branded sections of your eBook. They also want more traffic or fame. For an example of branding an eBook and adding affiliate links that can be changed by each reader, see http://www.aboutwebmasters.com/reviews.shtml.

How to compile the eBook

This is the easiest part. The best way to create an eBook is using the Ebook Paper software. This package will compile HTML files into an eBook, complete with page turning and other features. Al you need to do is write your book in HTML as web pages. You don’t even have to link the pages together; the software will do that for you. The most powerful thing about it is that it also comes with a branding application that you can distribute free with your eBook. This allows the reader to personalize and brand your eBook and add their affiliate codes. See a review of it at http://www.aboutwebmasters.com/reviews.shtml.

Ways to get people to start spreading your eBook

Let people know about it. It is that simple. Whenever you let them know, tell them of its benefits to them. Tell them about the free and useful information it carries. Also, mention the affiliate commissions they make when they pass it on, and the publicity they get when they brand it and pass it on. You should tell your web site visitors about your new eBook by placing links to it in as many appropriate places as possible, tell your newsletter subscribers, tell your friends, and mention it in forums and articles as appropriate. The most powerful way to spread it is to have joint venture agreements with other webmasters. Find some webmasters who have large mailing lists and busy sites. Tell them you will add some content from their site to a special edition of the eBook created for them and add permanent branding to the eBook for them so that it looks like it is co-produced by the both of you. Also, sign them up in your affiliate program and add their affiliate codes to the eBook. That way, when they spread it, they will also benefit by getting more traffic to their site and earn commissions for sales on your site. They will definitely spread it – they have nothing to lose and a lot to gain!

The viral power of a good eBook that keeps being passed on from friend to friend, associate to associate, web site to visitor, with nothing to stop it, is immense! You will forever gather the fruits of your free eBook, as time only makes the total number of readers larger and larger. The best part of all is that it will cost you nothing once you create it, but keep working diligently for you. Start writing – or get someone who can for you!

courtesy of postitionweaver.com

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