Should you allow people to use your website and promotional freebies to promote traffic for themselves? Let’s get straight to the point. The answer is yes, unequivocally, yes. Why? Simple, the answer is traffic which can equal money. I don’t understand why anyone would want to keep a free brand all to themselves, especially if it is actually branded. By this I mean the product shows an undeniable reference to you, your site and other products you are promoting. If you don’t understand viral marketing then you probably won’t make it in any industry, Internet or not.

The reasons to allow anything thing you have that is branded to be used and reused, free of charge is that it will not only bring traffic to those who use and reuse it but it will eventually bring more traffic to you when they realize the source of the branded product or service that they are using. Think about it, why use second hand when you can get it first hand for the same deal? Why deal with an intermediary when you can deal with the creator, or technician, him or herself?

This is why I am pro and not con for allowing anyone to reprint my articles, redistribute any ebooks that I may create and any other branded product. It will bring you traffic!

Viral Marketing is all about exponentially increasing your chances of exposure for you, your company, your product and your service. To not participate in some type of viral marketing campaign is tantamount to business suicide. Take for instance Google. Even though their search engine works well it doesn’t work any better than any other search engine theoretically. What made Google so huge was its unobtrusive viral marketing campaign that made it a house hold name. It allowed everyone easier access to ranking and search engine statistics by essentially being more accessible. Everywhere you look today you see google, because in the beginning they gave it away and it paid off in the end.

I study viral marketing and the Internet in general but by no means am I an expert. I can only go by what I have personally witnessed and what I saw and continue to see is that google will allow you to download just about anything that is branded with their name in the name of promoting your business while simultaneously promoting theirs. Its a win win situation. Imagine if you had one product that you could get every website on the Internet to promote, the thought brings visions of grandeur, I knwo but not visions that are unobtainable. These dreams can be realized as also shown by Nike, Adidas, Pepsi, Yahoo, Paypal and The great Microsoft. The list goes on but mostly unnoticed. By its very nature viral marketing is free after any inception cost.

On the downside, the proof of viral marketing can only be shown after the fact and there is plenty of proof around. On the plus side, people will pass it on for free, which means lower costs and the fact that most people perceived viral brands as cool and coming from a well put together product. Why else would others sponsor it? Surely not plain popularity but usually so. People like to jump on band wagons, especially those that may seem to be able to further their goals.

When developing your viral (brand) marketing campaign, it is crucial to entice those in similar and related fields to use your brand to promote yours, otherwise what would be the point? If I sell widget's, I don’t want to promote gadgets. Another key factor is to make sure that their is some inherent benefit to the sponsor. Free traffic, free products, association recognition , these or just some of the point to keep in mind when entering the arena of the viral marketer.

I like to write so I offer my articles for free. This increases traffic for my site(s) in which I can then have the chance to sell or at least get the potential customer exposed to my product. Even though they may not buy, they are now aware and may possibly pass on the information to someone who will purchase my product or service. This is how the exponential factor of viral marketing comes into play. Suppose you promote PC security software that cleans the PC registry. You may want to promote a free software product in the same field just to get potential buyers to your site and possibly get the free promotion along with your product. I often use may, possibly and potential because nothing is written in stone. You can never really keep ahead of the consumer trend or buzz but you can put yourself in a position to ride the current wave and hopefully any following ones.

One thing is for certain, which history shows. No exposure, no sale. The easiest way to get the most exposure is to let others do it for you. Also, make sure you have a quality product or service to offer or all of your planning and work will eventually be in vain as consumers come to realize that your product or service is not exactly what its cracked up to be. If you put a so so product out on the market you can be forgiven so long as you don’t make a habit of it. If you put a bad product out on the market you will soon find yourself cut off. No one wants to deal with a company, product, or service that turns customers away.

One final piece of advice, take your time. Nothing worth anything comes quickly. Plan your moves wisely, it will pay off in the end. If you need things to pay off now, get a job but if you want to have control over what you produce and make, nurture your ideas and your plans as if they were your own children because in a sense they are. You may not see direct results right away but you will see results sooner than you think. Just keep plugging away.