7) Newsletter: If you're going to have a website you need to offer a newsletter, even if it's strictly going to be about sale items, specials or site updates. You need to start collecting a list of your visitors' email addresses so you can keep in touch with them. Ezines help to keep your site fresh in client's mind and helps to establish trust and credibility. For more on how to start your own ezine see http://www.ezineuniversity.com

8) Browsers: You'd be amazed at how differently your website appears in different browsers. Make sure you take a peek at your site in Netscape and Internet Explorer. Recent stats show IE has about 80% of market share, but you'll still want to make sure other 20% can view your site without any problems.

9) Resolution: This is a highly debatable subject. "What resolution should I design for?" The norm these days seems to be 800X600 although there are still a small number of people limping along in 640X480. Look at your site in different resolutions to get an idea of what I'm talking about. If you don't mind letting small majority scroll right and left, I say go with 800X600 (that's what I do) and it still looks acceptable to those surfing in mega resolutions of 1024 and higher.

10) Index Page: This may seem like a given, but I'm going to mention it anyway. On very first page of your site (the homepage) first paragraph should answer "5 W's"; basically telling them who you are and what you're offering. You'd be amazed at number of websites that leave this out; making me think "what do these people do, and what's in it for me?" You need to answer these questions and do it fast. Surfers are a very impatient group. Stop them before they click away.

If you remember above 10 pointers when putting together your next website, you'll create a winning site that visitors will want to return to, and not run away from in frustration.

This viral tool has helped Seth receive more than 100,000 downloads on website and more than 400,000 readers in just 30 days time. According to website, IdeaVirus is "The Most Read Full-Length eBook Of All Time."

Yet another amazing example of viral marketing in action.

How To Use Viral "Refer-A-Friend" Promotions:

So how do you use this technique to leverage and increase your traffic, sales, and "word of mouse" publicity? It's simple, just "Tell-A-Friend" or "Refer-A-Friend" about everything! You can add Viral "Refer-A-Friend" forms to all of your...

> Articles > Contests > eBooks > Freebies > Giveaways > Information > Sweepstakes > Thank you pages > Etc.

Constantly think of ways that you can use a "Refer-A-Friend" pages to leverage each visitor into many more visitors (and sales).

Viral "Refer-A-Friend" tools are available for a wide range of needs and budgets.

For example:

BirdCast http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml

BigNoseBird.com offers an excellent "Refer-A-Friend" script for your website that is totally free called BirdCast. BirdCast will even log each referral so you can measure how often it is used. You may even want to have a programmer customize it to fit your own needs.

qbiquity.com http://www.qbiquity.com/

qbiquity is a "relationship marketing company" that offers "Word of Mouth" solutions to increase online sales, boost site registrations, or extend your brand's reach. qbiquity is a solution for highly trafficked websites who want all "bells an whistles" such as real-time tracking and convergence to other communications mediums like pagers, telephones, faxes, and direct mail.

qbiquity is considered a "high-end" solution and has a large price tag in thousands of dollars per month. Consider online marketing guru Seth Godin's experiences with qbiquity which he used with tremenous success for this IdeaVirus book...

"When you send junk mail to 100 people, on average one person does what you ask. Using qbiquity, 50% of people who get a recommendation from a friend visit my site, and almost everyone downloads book. That's astonishing!", said Seth Godin.

It sure is.

Action Step:

All of viral "Refer-A-Friend" programs that are available are based on same simple concept. They use power of referrals and "word of mouse" publicity to multiply how many people see your message. I suggest that you add "Refer-A-Friend" and other viral techniques into your marketing mix before someone refers your competition to this powerful marketing technique...