Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Viral Marketing and You,
5 critical factors for success

A few years ago I had an idea that I could create cruise countdown clocks that anyone could create for free and use on their websites, discussion boards, signature files and anywhere else that they would like to. The site would have to create various types of code that users could employ depending on the application they were going to use it with. I initially got some quotes and it seemed too expensive for an unknown result. The more I studied .php, the better I was able to understand what it was that I wanted. I ended up bidding the job our on one of the global sites that connect people that create sites using .php and those that want sites built. I ended up getting the site (www.CruiseTickers.com) built for a whopping $350.00. Because the gentleman that built the site was in India, I decided to host it with a company in the U,K, so that we both could access it if we needed to.

About three months after we launched the site the hosting company yanked the plug on it without notice. It seemed that the site had become so popular that it had slammed their server farm with activity. It was hard to believe, but that is the nature of viral marketing. Because each countdown clock contained a link back to the site, people that saw them followed the link to get their own banners. And so it went, the more banners that were built, the more people that saw then and wanted their own until thousands of banners were on the Internet putting a heavy strain on the host server that was delivering the banners all over the world.

As it turned out, the gentleman that built the site for me reconstructed a new site and convinced the host server to once again house the site where it resides today serving tens of thousands of banners on the Internet. Did I mention that the banners also include keywords and a link to my various cruise and port review sites? The tens of thousands of banners being used by cruises around the world generates a ton of traffic to my review sites.

If you are considering using viral marketing to boost your traffic, here are 5 things that are critical for a successful effort, no matter how you campaign takes form.

     1.  Your Viral Marketing Program Must Offer Value: Giving away something of value for free is a critical element of a successful viral marketing program. eNewsletters, widgets, gadgets, software, applications, eBooks, videos, articles or whatever you are using has to have value to the user. Simply giving away advertising is not going to motive people to spread the word. If you are distributing a free eBook on a specific travel topic, then it should be complete and offer the readers a compelling reason to pass it along.

     2.  It Must Be Able to Withstand Rapid Growth: If your program is successful expect geometric growth. This was the problem with by www.CruiseTickers.com site. I never anticipated that it would grow at the speed that it did. Allowing for scalable growth from small to huge is critical should your viral marketing effort gain traction. Never enter into a viral marketing program if rapid growth cannot be accommodated by the existing distribution structure. Not being able to distribute your “product or service” when people request it is likely to do more harm than good.

3.      Offer Your Product or Service With Effortless Accessibility: When someone sees your product or service and wants their own, they should be able to click to your site and get it without any interference. If you are offering software, widgets or other downloadable software, the user should be able to obtain it without giving any information whatsoever. I have no idea who is using my cruise tickers and clocks and really don’t care. The fact that they are easy to generate anonymously is just one of the reasons that they are so popular. If you are offering digital material that must be delivered via email, then simply request the email address to deliver it to and nothing else. Trying to obtain additional information will only deter potential users.

4.      Use Other People’s Resources to Fuel Your Campaign: There are virtually millions of on-line chat groups, social networks, article libraries, communities and other resources that can serve as distribution venues for your viral marketing project. Penetrating these resources is critical to rapid growth and care must be invested in doing so without being intrusive. Populating across the Internet’s resources is essential to a successful viral marketing program.

5.      Be Creative and Entertaining: Why not offer “Bon Voyage” cards that people can send to anyone that they want from your website? Instead of traditional cards, invest in creative designs and formats so that your cards are completely unique and entertaining. Some videos have been seen millions of times because of their uniqueness and entertainment value. Does this mean that you have to spend thousands of dollars to create a professional video? Of course not. But, an entertaining and clever product or service will go a long way towards getting you the kind of maximum exposure from your viral marketing promotion and is well worth the effort it takes to make it a reality.

My second countdown clock site (www.CruiseClocks.com) uses variables of art and technology so that users can create countdown clocks with their itinerary and ship so that the ship sails across the various sights they are going to see on their itinerary until the day they actually depart on their cruise. The clocks are free, fun, immediately accessible, entertaining and unique. Check out the site to see why viral marketing can be your answer to rapid growth.