Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass on a marketing message. This method of marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of recipients pass along the message to a large group of friends, the overall growth will snowball very quickly. If this doesn’t happen, however, the growth of the campaign fizzles quickly. One way to think of this is a marketing “virus.” Hotmail is widely considered to be the first example of viral marketing.

Terms used for this type of marketing when not on the Internet are: “word of mouth,” “creating a buzz,” “leveraging the media,” and “network marketing.” However, on the Internet, it is simply referred to as “viral marketing.”

Not all viral marketing strategies will work, but there are six basic elements that you want to try to include in your marketing strategy. Your viral marketing strategy doesn’t have to include all of these elements, but the more elements that it contains, the more effective your marketing strategy will be. These six strategies are as follows:

1. Give Away Products or Services: “Free” is the most powerful marketing word that you can use. Discounts will help, but free will really grab some attention. For example, if you have a software product, give away a minimal functional version in order to entice them to buy the full featured program. Free will generate traffic, and that will get more people looking at your products that you are selling.

2. Provides for Effortless Transfer to Others: Viral marketing messages work best when they are easy to transmit to others. On the Internet, this works well because instant communications are so simple. You need to simplify your message so it can be sent easily and without it degrading. Patience is short, so keep the message short. People won’t read a multiple page document that they didn’t ask for, but a couple of paragraphs, or better yet, a short amusing video, will be read.

3. Scales Easily from Small to Very Large: Scalability is essential. As the reach of your message grows, the last thing you need is for a large number of hits to take down not only your web site but the server your web site is located. There was a small mom and pop candle company here that used one of those limited free hosting sites that was featured in a local paper. Within hours, their site was down from too much traffic and they lost thousands of potential sales.

4. Exploits Common Motivations and Behaviors: Clever marketing campaigns will take advantage of common human motivations. If you build a marketing campaign that is based on common human motivations and behaviors for its transmission, and the campaign will be a winner.

5. Utilize Existing Communication Networks: On average, each person will have a network of eight to twelve close friends, family, and associates. Their broader network will be much larger. If you learn to place your message into these existing communications links between people, you will greatly increase your message’s reach.

6. Takes Advantage of Others’ Resources: The most creative campaigns will use the resources of other networks. Affiliate programs will place ads on other websites. Authors may give away articles in order to position themselves on other websites. News releases can be picked up by many other websites.

As you can see, if you use marketing to create a “buzz,” your service or products will sell themselves. Here at KARTHOST.com, we are here to help you be profitable. We aren’t successful unless you are.

Roy Randolph
Head Hostmaster

Follow us on Twitter
@KARTHOST

With all of the things that you need to think about when setting up and running your business, your ecommerce shopping cart often gets overlooked. We often get in a hurry to get the site built and running so little things like Contact Us pages, Shipping FAQs, Order Confirmation, and Email contact forms can get overlooked. You always planned on going back to get them up, but then other things pop up and you never seem to get back to it.

The first thing to consider is to make sure that you always have a detailed Shipping FAQ that will answer basic questions such as “When will my order ship?” or “What is the return policy?” This keeps you from wasting your time answering redundant emails that will waste your time and take time away from building your business.

You can also reduce the number of repeat emails by adding a Contact Us page with links to important information pages such as your Terms and Conditions, Return Policy, and a Shipping FAQ page, as well as a contact form. Most online shoppers expect these kinds of pages, and you will lose sales if you do not have them on your site. Keep in mind that for every customer that contacts you with these questions, five more will simply point their browser at your competitor’s site.

A few ideas for the types of questions to answer on your contact and shipping pages are: How long does is take the order to ship? What shipping methods do you use? Where does the order ship from? What happens if an item is out of stock? What is the return policy?

By answering as many of these questions as possible on your site, you are making your customers more trusting of your site, as well as eliminating time wasted by you and your customer service team answering the same questions over and over. Make note of repeat questions that do come in, and add them to your FAQ section. Not everyone will seek out these answers, but the ones that do will save you time and allow you to concentrate on getting new sales.

It is important to include links to all of your information pages at the top of your Contact Us page so people will be able to see if they can get the answer themselves before they contact you. You should also include a Live Chat link if you offer that service, and your phone number, on this page. A Contact Us form is better than simply providing an email link, because the form will give the customer some guidance as to the types of information you need, which will help them to get better service.

Whenever possible, try to make your checkout process a single page. Not every shopping cart package will allow you to do this, however. If you must use multiple pages, then add something on the page that says “Step 1 of 3” so the customer doesn’t give up and leave your site before ordering your product.

It is also a good idea to make your action buttons (Check Out, Submit Order, etc) big and bold. This helps users to get around the site and keeps them focused on placing the order. You should also put a summary of your return policy at the top of the checkout page. This keeps the customer from leaving the shopping cart to go find your policy. The goal is to keep them in the shopping cart. If they stay in the cart, they are much less likely to leave before completing the transaction.

Once the order has been submitted, the process does not end. A good order confirmation page is very important, and a follow up email is essential. You should include information about expected shipping times, a link to your Contact Us page, as well as your phone number. You should also invite them to contact you with any questions. You should also send them a follow up email when the order ships.

In Summary, you need to include the following:

• A Shipping FAQ that details your shipping methods and return policy.
• A Return Policy page which fully explains the return process and what is expected from the customer.
• A Contact Us page with links to your information pages and a contact us form.
• A Product FAQ page or section of another informational page.
• Customize the Check Out pages with step numbers, large action buttons, and a return policy summary.
• Order Confirmation page and email with estimated shipping times and contact methods.
• A follow up email after shipping with a tracking number, another thank you, and a discount coupon.

Here at KARTHOST.com, we will be happy to help you with any part of the process where you need assistance. As always, keep in mind that we aren’t successful unless you are.

Roy Randolph
Head Hostmaster

Follow us on Twitter

Take a look at your daily tasks that are on your schedule. How many of them are redundant, repetitive tasks that you should be passing off to someone else so you can spend your time doing what you do best? Then, why do you keep doing these things yourself?

A group of business people were asked this same question, and the answers they gave broke down into three basic themes:

• Nobody else knows how to do it.
• I don’t think it will be done right.
• It takes too long to train someone.

However, the real reasons for these statements are the following:

• I haven’t looked for anyone to do it.
• I am a control freak.
• I’m not sure if I am able to explain to someone how to do it.

Sometimes we get so stuck in the tedious tasks in performing the duty that we really don’t have time to train someone. There is a simple way around this. Use video to train the people. But, if I don’t have time to train someone, then how will I have time to make a video? That’s the easy part. The next time you perform the task, film yourself performing the task. Or, if it is something you do on the computer, use a product such as WebEx or GoToMeeting, and then record the session. Then, the next time the task is to performed, watch them perform the task. After that, turn them loose, and then you can spend that time working on expanding your business.

The first step is to decide what you want to outsource or pass on to your employees. Especially in the beginning, these are things to consider as you start to pass tasks off to others:

• Boring and repetitive.
• You would skip the task if you were busy.
• It is something worth doing, but it is really beneath your pay grade.

Now you just need to find someone you trust to take over the task from you. It is also a good idea to make up checklists for the major tasks that need to be accomplished. This will go along to reinforce the video training and serve as a reminder to people as they perform their duties.

When creating videos, keep in mind that people will not pay attention to your epic presentation. We are not creating a four hour blockbuster. The patience of most people for these types of training videos in generally less than a half hour. You will be much better served to create 10-15 minutes videos, even if training will require multiple videos. They will retain more information if you do it this way, and you will be happier with the result.

You can also use these short video presentations as a marketing tool on your site once you are comfortable with making videos. You will be surprised at how much they can impact your bottom line.

Roy Randolph
Head Hostmaster

Follow us on Twitter