Schewanick Computer Services

Viral marketing is probably the number one method for
generating traffic and sales - IF it is set up properly.

Take the case of a viral ebook - which means a book that
can be passed from one person to another bringing
benefits (profits) for each party in turn.

How is this achieved ?

The basic concept is that the book contains links to
affiliate products. When a reader of the book makes a
purchase from a link then the affiliate receives the
commission.

The creator of such a book will allow some of the links
to be 'rebranded' which means a person (who we will
refer to as the rebrander) can replace them with his own
affiliate codes thus collecting commission. This is the
obvious incentive for him to pass the book around and
begin the viral progression.

If we want to maximize the benefits for everyone and
create the perfect viral ebook we need to have THREE
key factors in place.

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.

Ideally what you want is the maximum motivation for your
rebrander which would be

* 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

And so, if you use these techniques you can begin a
viral marketing campaign which will continue to generate
traffic and sales with little on-going effort on your
part.

EXCEPT for two issues we need to resolve

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 . . . or are they ?

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 or
for 2-tier affiliate programs.

Is there a solution ?

Yes - there are answers to both problems in my book "101
SuperTips" - they are actually tips 100 and 101.

As you might expect this book is free, with valuable
information linking to highly relevant products, and you
can rebrand it, again for free.

By all the rules above it's a candidate, I hope you
agree, for 'the perfect viral ebook' and a profitable
source of revenue for you.



About the Author
Harvey is the author of several viral ebooks including
101 SuperTips, a collection of unique Internet Marketing
tips, which you can collect at
http://www.supertips.com/101/
As a further example of viral marketing you can
reproduce this article and change the URL to point to
your own rebranded version.