Let’s start this with what going viral means.  In Internet Marketing it can be a video clip, ebook, report, blog post, etc., that gains huge popularity and is spread quickly, like a virus. How it is spread is through social media and one very successful way is through Twitter.

What that means to you as a marketer is that instead of just hoping and praying for your brand, or report, or article to go viral, you can use various methods to help it along.  In many ways, Twitter is like the perfect storm…it’s riding a huge wave of popularity right now. Tweeple know what they like and aren’t afraid to tell others. It’s easy for Tweeple to pass on your information, and it doesn’t cost you a dime – only a good product and some well-placed tweets with a link to it.

Let’s assume you have a brilliant report you’ve just written and it’s free for anyone.  Inside the report you include your affiliate links to other products or at the end you point to your even more brilliant product.  You want this report to go viral and to get in as many hands as possible for obvious reasons.

Try using a call to action in your tweet about your report.

This can be as simple as asking people to retweet (RT) your tweet.  Just make sure your tweet is around 130 characters rather than the 140 to leave room for your @name to go at the beginning when someone retweets it.

The call to action can be other requests such as “Which do you like better…?” “Help me get 20 comments on my blog post…”  “What do you think about…?”  “Pls check this out…”  You’re asking people to take some sort of action, which includes having them click the link you’ve provided in the tweet.

Consider making your tweet off-the-wall or a little outrageous to get noticed.  “This won’t help you get into your skinny jeans, but it could help you grow your customer base…” or “On the way to the bathroom I came up with a fantastic idea for a great destination wedding package…”

If you retweet other peoples’ tweets, they’re likely to return the favor.  You can hope they will, or if you’ve developed a rapport you could ask them.  People like to be nice and retweeting is an easy way to do that.  Of course, you shouldn’t be retweeting just to get on a marketer’s good side, you RT because you like what the original tweeter had to say.

When you’re putting a tweet out there and asking someone, anyone, to retweet it, keep in mind that people come to Twitter at different times of day.  It’s okay to do your tweet a few times in a day (and changing the wording each time) to get exposure to different people.  Make sure you are doing 5-10 tweets in between though, so you don’t come across as a pushy person or a spammer.

Using Twitter is a great way to help your brand, blog post, report, video clip, etc. to go viral.  So be sure to ask for the retweet, make your tweet interesting, and give something of value.

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Pricing your products or services appropriately is a challenging part of any online business. You know what you have and what you can do, but do you know how much you should charge? Consider these few ideas when you are picking your price points.

First, find out what the competition is charging. Write down the prices of as many comparable products or services within your niche. By comparable, I mean pick those products or services that are the same or similar to your own.

Second, create a list of the top three products or services you’ve identified. These should be the items you feel would be most likely to compete directly for the attention of your target audience.

The last step is to consider the following questions:

• Does your product or service introduce something new? Is it something no one else is offering? If so and geared toward consumers, charge 20%-50% more than your highest priced product or service. If it’s geared toward business people, charge 30%-100% more than your highest priced product or service.

• Does your product or service provide a solution different from your competitors? If so, charge the median price; the average price between the lowest and highest products.

Keep in mind that just because someone else is selling for less doesn’t mean you should lower your prices. It is not always a good thing to be the cheapest out there. You might be surprised to know that you can take away a competitor’s business by increasing your value and charging a higher price. One of the biggest secrets of pricing is that people assume a higher price means better quality and more value.

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When you first decided to delve into internet marketing, you were probably excited about the instant wealth you were sure to achieve. You couldn’t wait to get up and get going every day. But as with most things in life, you soon realized that internet marketing was more than a notion. You were probably ready to give up on more than one occasion. And even now you may have doubts. But, the way you handle those doubts will determine how successful you will be.

Just think, no one ever said that starting a business would be easy. Starting a business is one of the most challenging things you will do in life. It is also one of the most rewarding.

You made a commitment when you decided to start your business. You can’t give up, even though sometimes you may feel like you are doomed to fail. Keep in mind that even the most successful businesses hit hard times now and then. This is clearly evident from the recent US government bailouts of our financial institutions and the historic unemployment rate. The important thing to remember is to believe in yourself and your business.

Find a way to handle the stress. Stress can affect you mentally, physically and emotionally. You need to be strong and you need to have someone to turn to for help and support. Give some thought to the way you respond to things that go wrong. Will you work harder and get it fixed or will you give in and quit. The choice is yours.

If you asked a group of wealthy people what the true secret to their success was, they would tell you that you have to keep trying, no matter how long it takes or how hard times get. Remember the only real failure in life is when you quit. Everything else is just a life lesson.

So, here’s to your success!

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If you tend to write longhand, are used to dictating or simply want to be more efficient, Dragon Naturally Speaking is for you. Dragon Naturally Speaking is a voice recognition software program that allows you to dictate text directly into your word processing program as well as conduct a host of other commands. This tool is particularly useful for bloggers because it makes for more efficient posting. And, it is a must have for creating ebooks and other text documents that are commonplace among internet marketers.

Here’s what happens. First, you install the program. Second, you launch Dragon Naturally Speaking and your preferred word processing program. Next, connect your headset (included in the package) and position it comfortably over your head. You then begin dictating your text.

Now, I will warn you that Dragon Naturally Speaking is not 100% accurate, but it comes pretty close. After you dictate your text, you will need to edit to make sure the text represents exactly what you want to convey. And wahla, you’re done. I dictated this post in about five minutes, including editing time.

What tools do you use to maximize your efficiency?

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If you are anything like me, you are constantly on the lookout for tools to help improve your website. Websitegrader.com offers just what you need to analyze your site.

Websitegrader.com is a free website analysis tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It looks at things like traffic, social popularity, seo and page rank. The tool also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective. You simply submit your URL (and your competitors’ URLs) to websitegrader.com, and after a few seconds you receive some basic feedback on how your site is doing and in what areas it can improve. You also have the option to submit your e-mail address to have the complete report sent to you via e-mail. Once you receive the information, you can test any recommendations to determine if the changes make a difference.

A great first step to assessing your site’s performance, websitegrader.com is a comprehensive auditing tool that provides you with enough information on your website to know how well it is doing on the web and in comparison to your competitors. It is particularly useful to help identify and fix specific problems. Based on my report card for this site, I will be making a few changes to improve this blog’s overall effectiveness.

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