Viral marketing is one of the top ways to market your message, product or web site across the internet. It is a way to exponentially grow your message from one viewer to perhaps millions in a short amount of time and with very little effort.

Viral marketing is often called many different terms including “word of mouth” advertising and “creating buzz” for a product. However, no matter what the name used for it, the principles behind it are the same.

There a few major principles behind viral marketing and they include information (ebooks, software, reports, etc) that are usually given away by the provider for others to use (usually for free), the ability for these products and information to move seamlessly from one user to another and the ability for resources other than your own to be utilized to distribute these information products.

There are many ways to make viral marketing work for you, however, one of the most effective ways that viral marketing is used is as follows;

Marketing Your Information Product or Service

One of the most effective ways that viral marketing can be used is by marketing your information product or service. Many individuals and businesses that create products or helpful services on the web use viral marketing as a very low cost (usually free) and effective means to spread the word on their web site, ebook, business report, SEO software and services.

A viral marketing campaign is relatively easy to start. One of the ways you can start a campaign is with the use of free content. Free content such as articles, reviews, specialized reports, etc can be given away for free in a number of different ways. Some of the ways you can distribute your free content is through online article distribution sites. If you have a mailing list, send out your special reports, reviews or articles directly to your members or thirdly, post your information free for all to see on forums that specialize on the information that you offer.

Article Distribution Sites

There are possibly hundreds of article distribution sites on the web that allow you to post your article, review or almost any type of document that not only can be seen by viewers, but can also been downloaded by viewers and posted on their web sites or can be broadcasted through RSS feeds around the internet. This means that from one article posted on an article distribution site, you can not only reach the site’s viewers, but if the article is posted and broadcasted on various internet sites, the viewers that land on those web pages as well. Since article distribution sites allow you to include a bio or link with your article, not only does your information reach possibly thousands or millions of people, but your link can be posted on possibly thousands of web sites advertising your web site, products and services. It is very easy to see how effective article distribution sites can be.

Newsletters

Newsletters are another great way to share your information with many others. If you have a mailing list of individuals that are interested in specific topics, you might want to create certain informational products just for them and distribute it to them along with your link and advertisement. For instance, if you have a mailing list of individuals interested in acne, you might want to put together an ebook along with lots of products that can be useful for them. You can also ask your list to pass around your ebook to anyone that might be interested. With your link and web sites included in the ebook, you might create sales and opportunities through this practice.

Forums

Forums are another great way to share and spread information with thousands of others. You can find a forum that compliments an information product or service that you are selling and offer free information, tools and services to viewers of a specific forum. You can allow others to post your information on their web sites or use the information or services to help others. By having others help you market your site and products for free, you can grow your business exponentially in a short time and with out a lot of effort.

Your eBay feedback is your biggest eBay selling tool bar none. If you have bad eBay feedback you will struggle to make sales and your eBay business will suffer. Therefore you must protect your eBay feedback as much as possible. Here are 10 tips that will help you maintain an excellent feedback rating.

1. Always be polite in all correspondence. This goes without saying, always treat your customers with respect and give them a pleasant buying experience. By doing so you may gain a customer for life.

2. Avoid excessive shipping charges. If you charge $10 shipping for an item and the cost is only $3 you are leaving yourself open to negative feedback.

3. Mail your items as soon as possible. Don’t wait till the end of the week. Taking too long to deliver your goods means you are risking your feedback. You should always aim to have items packaged and sent within 48 hours of payment.

4. Make sure your item description is accurate. Don’t say your item is as good as new if it’s not. This is probably the most common reason for negative feedback.

5. Answer emails promptly. Don’t wait days and days to answer any queries. This only makes your customer frustrated and this can result in a negative comment.

6. List any flaws your item has. If the item you are selling has a scratch or mark say so or you could be left a negative comment for a poor item description.

7. Don’t retaliate to awkward customers. Sometimes you may get an awkward or offensive customer, that’s life. Don’t retaliate, just deal with their query in a polite and professional manner. This usually ends in the customer apologising and excellent feedback follows.

8. Accept returns. If a customer is not happy with your product for whatever reason allow them to return the item and refund their purchase minus shipping fees. You can then cancel the transaction through eBay and you will get your fees returned and therefore wont be out of pocket. This leaves you free to relist the item with your feedback intact.

9. Package your items carefully. If you are selling delicate items make sure they are packaged carefully with plenty of protection, the last thing you want is your customer to receive damaged goods.

10, Don’t leave feedback first. If you do you are leaving yourself open to negative comments. A happy customer will always leave feedback first, if you leave feedback first you will learn the hard way, trust me.

Remember! Your customer is a real living person. I think sometimes people forget this Try to make the whole buying experience as easy and pleasant as possible. Your customers are the lifeblood of your eBay business and your number one goal should be to make them happy. This can only result in excellent feedback and in turn success for your eBay business.