The viral marketing business model was first described by Tim Draper and popularized in 1997 to describe Hotmail’s practice of adding advertising to the outgoing mail of their users. Viral marketing had been around for ages. So, it is word-of-mouth marketing.

It is in the nature of a person’s tendency to “tell their friends”. The terminology, or what we refer to this as, is new. Surveys tell us that the average individual online has at least six close friends they communicate with on a regular basis. If they have a great experience with a product they will on average, tell six people.

When an internet user finds something valuable, informative, hilarious, interesting or free online, they will share it with up to 12 friends. Thus the internet is the backdrop for the most successful viral marketing business model.

Marketing pros insist that in order to sell something, you need to give something away for free. I recently read an e-book about dieting and it was completely free. It made perfect sense. It was written by the marketing department of a supplement manufacturer. He suggested that you share the book with everyone. His goal, of course, was to sell supplements.

He might have sold the book. It contained as much information as many of the diet books that line bookstore shelves, but he realized the value of giving something away, in order to get something. Not only do people love free stuff, they have a tendency to “trust” people or companies that give them something with no strings attached, especially when that something has value.

You will see numerous software programs on the web that offer a free version and a “pro” version. This is another example of a viral marketing business model. If a person sees any free software program, they usually share it with up to 12 people they know would like to try it as well.

Social networking is becoming increasingly popular. People with a Facebook account have thousands of online friends and they communicate with some of them daily. If you can provide something that they want to share, then you may have a viral campaign waiting to happen.

There are other elements of a successful viral marketing business model. The key element is designing the free item campaign for something free that people can share with others.

Alex Jeffreys has created a buzz with a video he put together about a new report. He’s promised to write about the #1 thing that hold us back from making money online.

Aside from the content of his video, I learned three very important lessons that I’ve included in this short little video.

1. Start off with an eyeball-grabbing, gotta-find-out-what-he’s-talking-about subject line.

2. Create curiosity in the first paragraph or 30 seconds of your message.

3. Use a call to action. Give them something to do, site to visit, or action to take.

Watch this little video and let me know what you learned from Alex’s video.

Using Twitter more Effectively

At the moment it seems you can't escape stories about Twitter.  With all the hype and celebrity endorsements, lots of people are asking “how do I use Twitter?”.   

There are plenty of sites out there that will tell you how to use Twitter, but not so many to warn you of the pitfalls.If you take a minute to learn from this list of useful Twitter tips then you'll be Twittering away with the best of them.

DO self censor.Unless your updates are protected, anyone can see what you are currently Tweeting.Bear in mind the story of the girl who managed to Tweet her way out of a job because a hiring manager read her thoughts on the position she interviewed for.

DON'T confuse Twitter for a chat client.No one wants to see their screen full of irrelevant Tweets from a conversation they're forced to eavesdrop on.

DO remember to retweet.This can be a good way to build up a following of like minded Twitterers.

DON'T endlessly try to sell things.Okay, we get it - you have your own blog.Twitter isn't a one way street - talk back!

DO follow back, but….

DON'T be offended if not everyone follows you back.Users with thousands of followers are unlikely to see your Tweet through the hundreds of other tweets anyway.

DO be funny, informative and creative.

DON’T automatically DM.  This is the Twitter equivalent of spam and a faceless “hi – thanks for the follow” is impersonal and off-putting.

DO use it to get help.When you have built up a reasonable following you’ll find it easy to find answers to your questions quickly.

DON’T twit if your message is likely to exceed 140 characters.Spreading messages over the course of several tweets is just going to confuse and irritate your followers.

These handy hints should see you on your way to getting started.  If you are likely to spend a significant proportion of your online time on Twitter then there are plenty of guides on the net telling you how to use Twitter effectively.

Calling all publishers, editors, journalists and freelance writers. Give your copy a boost. Turn your articles into living pieces that spark measurable debate and that allows you to engage with your readers mind and soul – we’re talking revolution.

As it was in the beginning

Publishers have for many years relied on letters to get feedback from their readers and although email has opened up this method of communication it is still time consuming and difficult to monitor and process, and for the more popular articles, it is either a case of only a fraction of the received correspondence ever being used, or where online comments have been allowed, well written and good comments can be buried under poorly written and abusive comments.

As well as being an overhead for the publisher, it can also be an unrewarding medium in terms of the amount of effort required and response that is received, just consider the number of letters that go unread and unpublished.

As it is now

New channels of communication have been created by the Internet and this in turn has created opportunities that allow us to challenge traditional methods. The Internet is now a mature technology, no longer the preserve of the new fad brigade but a technology that has been embraced by a global population, young and old alike and it allows us now to re-evaluate the way things are done. Newspapers, trade journals, magazines and ezines now have the opportunity to change the mental process.

Readers like to have the opportunity to comment and traditionally they may have composed a letter or send an email or write a comment. Emails make communication easier but they still take time to craft and time for the majority, is what they haven’t got.

Although interesting a letters page or a list of comments are at best a snapshot of views or an endless unmanaged list of comments; a well crafted and well written letter on any given subject may hold the view of the minority, or the majority but due to the free text form it is difficult, or near impossible, to measure.

As it should be

Now consider the advantages of linking articles to online surveys where as a publisher you will have the ability to obtain valuable readership feedback in a form that can be easily measured. Just as important as you communicating with your readers is providing your readers with a channel to communicate with you; a method where they know it will count.

Want an instant snapshot of opinion? Did they like the article? Did your readers agree with what was said or do they take the opposite view?

Now it’s easy

In the past surveys would have taken considerable effort to design and publish and altogether was a process too long winded and therefore reserved for the niche and bigger topics.

However, using sites like www.surveygalaxy.com surveys and questionnaires can be created and published via the Internet by anyone who has a pulse. Professional looking questionnaires and surveys created in minutes make the perfect complement to articles that prompt opinion and debate.

The advantage over letters, e-mails and comments are that all the feedback is properly managed and measured and sites like Survey Galaxy will provide you with a real time poll that you can either keep to yourself or share with your readers.

It can be complementary

By linking each article to an online survey it will not only extend the life of the article, as people have a channel to express their views, but it will involve your readers in the discussion and in a way where they know their opinion will be counted.

You think they would rather send an email? – no problem – include the facility within the survey and get the best of both worlds.

It’s low cost, fast and easy to do; it will not only empower and engage the reader but will establish a valuable communication channel that will provide you with measurable feedback and give you the opportunity to promote other related articles.

Join the revolution and record your opinion of this article here:- Readership Feedback Survey

Who wouldn’t ask how to start blogging for money. Learning how to really make money using Google Adsense is what some would coin ‘webmaster welfare’. And in reality, the chances are that you have thought about ways other webmasters have generated mammoth checks from Google and have pondered how you can get the something similar. You might even be a webmaster already, searching for a way to boost your earnings.

Who cares what your rationale for seeking to learn how to make money online with blogs. All that matters is that you want to learn how to make money online. Just realize, success does not come overnight and you have much to know. And know that if you are going to comprehend how to make money online correctly, then you must to be familiar with the tricks and tools of the trade.

The real secret to learning and knowing ways to make money blogging fast take action immediately and learn over time. Of course, you can always simply outsource another person to do it all for you, but you still desire to keep yourself rounded.

A strong system can handle all of the requirements. The important pieces are: keywords, competition, management, potential revenue, and more. A strong method will be worth cash should you wish to sell it. Don’t waste your time with online seminars and spam emails. Be careful, take my word for it.

Finally, you will have to do whatever it takes to stay on top of your competition with online business. Congratulations for being part of the intelligent few that takes time to improve yourself. Now get out there and make some money! It won’t take much more than a little dedication and open minded experimenting to succeed in this game.

It seems as though everyone is getting into the blog writing game. Blogs are fun to write. Many folks enjoy writing a blog about their passion or hobby. Others do it to bring attention to their business offerings. At some point you will most likely want to monetize your blog. Once you learn how to start a blog, start writing good content, and gain visitors, you will be able to make some money.

You can make money blogging in numerous ways. You can sell advertisements. You can join an affiliate program and collect a commission on products you recommend and your readers purchase. Selling your own product is also a great option. You can make money blogging in just about any method you can creatively think of.

The following are but a few of the options available to a blogger for making money from their writing and content. Not all are worthwhile for every blog. If you are writing a political blog with conservative views then posting Google Adsense advertisements may not work as well as getting a commission from selling political books.

Probably the most common means of making money with your blog these days is through the Google Adsense program. This program allows you to place Google Adwords on your blog, otherwise known as Adsense, and if visitors click on an ad then Google will share in the revenue.

Is Adsense right for your blog? Let’s say you have blog about golf and posted an article about ladies golf clubs. The advertising block from Adsense would most likely show ads about ladies golf clubs, if available, and at the least golf clubs. Google allows you to share in the revenue when your visitor clicks on one of the ads in their program, or network. When your earnings reach at least a hundred dollars, Google would then send you a check.

Other ways of making money with your blog include affiliate programs where you promote products and services in exchange for a commission. There are numerous programs such as Shareasale, Commission Junction and in-house programs like Amazon.com that you can submit an application to. If your blog is popular enough and gets a lot of traffic you might be able to sell advertising space to companies. An online store could be set up, linked from your blog, to sell goods you create or dropship.

The means to make money from blogging are many and quite easy to implement. You will have to promote your blog and entice visitors to buy the products that you are marketing.

Businesses are beginning to realize that a website isn’t enough to make a powerful online presence. Marketers have started to include blogging as a vital part of their online search engine optimisation and marketing mix. Surpringly there are still many businesses out there that have no idea how blogs can help them.

They simply came up with a blog, not knowing how to make it work to their favor. Blogs are highly versatile tools that are capable of executing the different aspects of marketing—from the basic market researches down to creative guerrilla marketing, blogs offer businesses a lot of breakthrough opportunities.

Below are 5 of the most practical ways in which a blog can help your online business.

1. Writing blogs can create stronger links with your target market
Your brands gets a personality or at least its easier to get one when you publish a blog. Your blog allows people to directly interact with your brand, and they expect some sort of reply or acknowledgement that someone in your company has received and read their messages.

Maintaining this feedback loop allows you to keep an eye on your market and gives you a better conversion rate of prospects to loyal clients.

2. Blogs attract fresh insights and inform you of new category trends
Keeping communication lines open for your blog visitors, you will undoubtably gain fresh insights and new suggestions. The beauty of this is that you don’t need to pay anyone to talk to the consumers for you, but you still get the information straight from the primary source.

It’s now up to you how you organize the information that you’ve gathered; make them work towards your advantage. You can take it a step further and cross check your data. Visit your comptitors blogs and see what their visitors have to say about them. Doing so would definitely give you a better view of your marketplace.

3. Blogs allow you to test your market before a full launch
Before fully launching an ad or any creative promo and campaign, you can execute a mini version of your plan through your blog and see how your audience responds. Suggestions and comments will pour in, giving you ideas on how you can improve and tweak it to better suit your market.

Companies spend a lot of money conducting FGDs and researches. These end up costing as much as—sometimes more than—a full-blown campaign. While blogs cannot replicate the accuracy of professional research groups, they can work well for a lot of market-driven studies.

4. Increasing your online exposure is possible through blogs
The blog network survives on a complex link network. Bloggers are usually fine with linking fellow bloggers that they find interesting. It pays to befriend top-ranking blogs in your category and those that belong in other related categories.

Ensure you make available, regular content and keep it updated to make sure your credibility is high.

5. With blogs there is more room for creativity
Your blog can be the fun alter-ego of your corporate website. While this doesn’t mean a complete dissent from your brand’s identity, blogs allow you to close the gap between how you define your brand and how your market perceives your brand.

What is blogging to you and can you really make money from home using blogging?  The answer is yes and you can indeed earn money now with the proper blogging technique.

There are so many new-age terms floating around these days. This apply to the internet especially. Many older individuals and even some younger people have trouble keeping up with all the changes and nuances our high-tech world has to offer. If you had said you were going to check your email account on a cell phone 20 years ago, obviously everyone would have thought you were mad. But, this new world is filled with gadgets and mediums. Take voicing your personal opinion as example. While folks used to do this on the radio or television, they now do it on the Internet. So if you ever question yourself; what exactly is blogging? It’s basically a way to vent your thoughts, emotions and opinions via the web. You have anything to say?

In actual, many took to the internet to blogging about their opinion. As anyone guess, what is blogging merely five years ago, today it’s all the rage and in full effect. Now, think why you might want to start a blog. Now, hold on! We should establish a few formats first. Online websites like Blogger.com and Wordpress.com allow you to sign up for free blogging accounts and start blogging about whatever you please. It really is that simple. You can published it within minutes. Anyway, what would you prefer to blog about? Perhaps you want to start a blog on politics, religion, money making or movies. The endless possibilities are there and they are all yours.

Now, if you still do not know what is blogging and why you should start blogging, think of the monetary gain. That’s right, you guess it correct! You can earn from blogging on the internet. Essentially webites platform such as Blogger.com, which is part of Google, and allows you to place ads on your blog. This allows one to profit from anyone who click on the ads. This is mainly why many will want to create blogs in the first place. You can earn money with your skills. At this moment you need not ask anyone; what is blogging? Now you are aware!

My online marketing career started off with freelance writing. Although that was more than 3 years ago, my freelance writer gigs helped me quit my full time job and launch my Internet marketing business as well. I highly recommend everyone who can write, or want to write, to get a few writing gigs as a legitimate and sustainable way to improve your cash flow.

Although there is a really good freelance writing guide available, in this article let me give you an idea of what you can do:

1. Ghost write for other people’s books and ebooks
2. Write content for website / blog owners
3. Become a regular columnist for offline / online media in various topics
4. Become a paid blogger using a get paid to blog like Review Me
5. Become an editor / proofreader and help edit someone else’s work
6. Become a web copywriter and charge for every web copy written

Being an editor requires more of a critical eye and amazing grasp of grammar and writing styles. This is a skill not everyone, even world-class writers, possess. Copy writing is another highly paid skill that requires creative thinking and therefore is not really in the reach of most people. If you can write a proper sentence in English, most other types of writing is good for you.

For ordinary Joes, focus on the remaining types of writing namely ghostwriting, paid blogging and content writing.

Ghost writing can potentially add between a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to your bank account every month, but the flip side to this is that no one will ever know who you are or appreciate the work you’ve done. A lot of content publishers and ebook sellers are on the lookout for ghost writers or ghost writing services.

Writing for blogs or other online media is a good idea since you usually get credit for your work. If you’re writing for blogs, you have your author credits on each blog post. This helps other people know who you are, and get addicted to your style of writing, ideas, and personality. For the sake of your freelance writing career, writing on blogs is actually much better than ghostwriting.

Another way of making money from freelance writing is paid to blog. The basic idea is you set-up your own blogs and start accepting writing offers in networks like Pay Per Post, Review Me or Sponsored Reviews. Advertisers want to create buzz about their products and they will pay you to participate in doing it. How much you can demand per article written depends a lot on the popularity and traffic of your blogs.

The plus side to this is that technically you own the web content you have written, which means you can always make income using your growing blog with Google Adsense or even affiliate offers.

You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and sought expert advices from seo services and have read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you assume you are an expert with opt-in lists and have followed the advice carefully but you still end up not getting a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, your still losing profit. You’ll realize that after a few months when you see your statistic, sales figures, and web traffic reports.

So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a topic, let’s say website design, where you think could be quite popular and would earn you money.. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here I will offer more advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, there is still hope for your failed venture. For those who are starting, here are three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list.

1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller.. Put many articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know and have started and used for your site. Try using the forums first to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advices and recommendations.. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list.. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what you’re business is all about.

The certain truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. They definitely want quality service or a good product in exchange for their hard earned money. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it on forward.. Invest your time, effort and money that you could sell as well as the buyers or subscribers of your opt-in list can use.

It is true that its best to sell a products that you have interest in but there are not many people who have the same interest that you have, then you end up selling a product or service which is not popular at all. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. Ths is a very good strategy, if someone has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people that have the experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you in the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust..

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful.. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.

Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. Opt-in lists are built from scratch, as your list grows, you also need to maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure your customers and subscribers are happy and they will be willing to buy from you.