Viral marketing is an efficient and effective means of generating website traffic and sales.
Take for an example of a viral ebook, it can be passed from one person to another bringing benefits (profits) for both the publisher and the readers. How this win-win situation can be achieved? It bases on the concept of mutual benefit. The ebook involved contains links to affiliate products. An affiliate receives commission when an ebook reader make a purchase by clicking the link. The creator/author of the ebook, in order to create incentive for others to pass the book around and begin the viral progression, will allow some of the links to be 'rebranded' and replace by other's affiliate codes for their commission generating.
There are 3 factors should be noted for maximizing the benefit of everyone and create a perfect viral ebook:
1/ Wide Distribution
There are many permutations in the ways that you can offer an ebook. It can be free or paid, and for either option you can charge for rebranding or offer it free; plus you can have part customization or full customization. On top of that, for a paid book you can offer resale rights and even the right to grant resale rights. Let's keep it simple. What we want is the widest possible distribution so that we get the most commission from the affiliate links. So we will have a FREE book and FREE rebranding rights.
2/ Quality Affiliate Links
It goes without saying that your book should contain good content on a topic of interest. But will readers click on those affiliate links ? The answer is 'NO' if you copy the poor example of many authors, for instance: - have you ever opened an ebook and been faced with a barrage of affiliate links ? - or seen affiliate products which have nothing to do with the theme of the book ? For example in a book about hypnotism you get a link to a web hosting company. So what is the best way ? The secret is to have highly relevant links and weave them naturally into the content in a low key style without appearing to push for a sale. So when you discuss a particular topic and want to show where more detail can be found, or how a particular problem can be solved, that's where you can mention the affiliate product as a source of further information. If you want to see really good examples of how to do this read the free book at the end of this article. See - that last sentence was an ACTUAL working example of how to weave in a link.
3/Maximum Return For Both Parties
You need to get the rebranding balance right. If you give away an ebook and allow all the affiliate links to be rebranded that is a great deal for the rebrander - but what do you get out of it ? No affiliate commission, just subscribers maybe for your mailing list if you have a sign-up form in the book. Conversely if you hand out only a few affiliate links for rebranding then that provides little incentive for the rebrander to distribute the book.
What is the method to generate the maximum motivation for your rebrander? Below are the possible methods:
- to allow free rebranding
- to allow ALL the links to be rebranded but in a way that you can still benefit.
Can that be possible ? Fortunately it is, using any of 3 different methods:
- if the links in the book are for your own products
- If the links are for products for which you have resale rights
- If the links are for 2-tier affiliate programs so that you collect the 2nd tier commission when a rebrander, who has signed up under you, makes a sale.
There are only two minor possibilities need to be considered which may lead to unsucces of your viral ebook campaign:
1) What happens if everyone rebrands the book and only makes purchases from their own copy ? Well, I have found that in practise only a minority (say 10%) will take the time to rebrand a book which means that the majority (90%) will be reading your book and purchasing from YOUR links. So only 10% will be 'lost' to you .
2) Suppose you plan to produce a viral book. It's about a popular topic - so it's bound to have a wide circulation - but you can't find any of the three types of suitable links to put in the book, i.e. links to a product of your own, to products with resale rights.
You can have a successful viral marketing campaign by incorporating the above mentioned ideas and techniques.