* What does story mean to me? * How does this story affect my life? * What does it make me think about? * What feelings rise up as I think about it? * Why do others need to hear this story?

What you are doing here is mining essence of story so you can impart its wisdom to your readers in way that will affect them positively.

Sub it...

Once you have broad idea for your story. Write it down. Then go through it a number of times with a fine tooth comb and pick out 4-5 places where you can insert a sub-heading.

Sub heads grab readers attention and draw them into next part of story.

This will also tell you whether your story has continuity. Does it make you want to read next paragraph.

Publish it...

Once you have your story written, researched it so its factually accurate, told it in plain English, woven your enthusiasm throughout it and you're happy with finished product...

PUBLISH IT...

Get it out there. Send to ezine owners who are looking for good articles to use in their ezines. There are thousands of publishers on web who constantly search for good articles to share with their readers.

Here are a few good places that may publish your finished work and they are free...

http://www.goarticles.com/ http://www.ideamarketers.com/writers.cfm http://www.ezinearticles.com/ http://www.articlecity.com/index.shtml

And point is...

Don't be afraid to write an article or submit it. If it's accepted and gets published you could see a sudden influx of new readers and buyers fast.

It’s all about what you include to promote your product and where you send people that enjoyed your ‘viral’ product.

Ideally, anything that you give away (or sell) with purpose of spreading like a virus should ultimately get reader, user or customer to take a desired action.

You might simply want to get people to visit your site or perhaps you want them to follow a link to your order page and immediately purchase your product or service. The key here is that your viral marketing tool must show users why they should take your desired action.

If you sell vitamins and you give away a report about benefits of vitamins then your report is going to have to show readers why they need to buy your vitamins and it’s going to need to send them out to buy your vitamins. In other words, once you’ve shown your patrons why they need to take this desired action then you’ve got to ask to them act.

INCORPORATING THE INFECTION

Another point I would like to bring up is this; your viral product can be your ‘main’ product as well. Don’t limit viral marketing to just ‘add-ons’ that market your main product. You can build these ideas right in to your next product by adding features that will make customers (want to) recommend it to others.

Remember this, Hotmail didn’t make users ‘want to’ recommend Hotmail, instead, Hotmail gave users no choice. Currently, I believe that you can probably upgrade and remove those messages (if they even still have tiny add at bottom), but for years Hotmail had enjoyed ‘free advertising’.

STEP BY STEP

Before I leave you thinking about these ideas, let me throw out a ‘step by step’ plan. This is by no means best or only way; this is only a starting point.

1. Create a ‘viral’ product by providing information (or entertainment) while bringing interest to your ‘main’ product.

Keep in mind, this can’t be ‘just an advertisement’; your viral product has got to be useful for users. If people don’t need it, they aren’t going to pass it on to others.

2. Include information that pulls user toward taking your desired action (such as following an order link). Once again, be sure that this does not come in form of advertisement; this has got to be subtle.

3. Show user how to give away ‘viral’ product, show them how they can benefit from giving away your ‘viral’ product and ask them to give it away.

Many ‘viral’ products are brandable; this means that a user can change out some links or add their link to a specific area of product. Letting people customize your product will make them want to give it away.

The preceding steps will serve as a guideline to creating a viral marketing tool; they are basic ‘must know’ steps to virally promoting your product.

CONCLUSION

With so many ‘marketing tactics’ available to us, it can be hard to pick or choose a good one. Don’t get overwhelmed, get educated. With a little bit of research and a clear idea of which promotions will work for you, you will be building a successful business that will push you towards and even beyond success.

Viral promotion is a powerful way to drive targeted customers to your product or to your web site. If you haven’t already tried it then I urge you to explore advantages of this explosive marketing strategy.

As you rummage through myriad ways to market your product, service or your self, always keep in mind that if your marketing is contagious, it will spread it’s self for free.

Stay positive and enjoy your success!