Whenever you're listening to one of the big names in internet marketing you hear the same speech over and over again when it comes to viral marketing. The number one advice is, write an eBook and give it away for free.

You might ask "What is viral marketing and why should I give something away for free after I spend weeks to create it?". On another note you probably don't even know how to write an eBook and what to talk about.

First things first. Viral marketing is exactly what the name implies. You create a marketing effort that spreads like a virus. No, not the kind of virus you fear on your computer. Here's an example.

You are running a home business and you're getting pretty good in attracting new customers, but you're working more and more hours to generate this traffic to your business. Well, there are only 24 hours in a day and there's only so much you can do.

No you have 2 options. Option 1: Hire an employee to help you with your workload or motivate somebody else to promote your product. I don't know about you, but the thought alone having employees gives me the creeps. If you ever had to deal with employees you know what I'm talking about.

That leaves us with option 2; motivate somebody else to do the work for us. How do you do this? Easy, the number one question you have to address is "What's in it for me?". If you can give this person something in return for their work you're off to a good start.

Now here's when the eBook thing comes into the picture. eBooks and/or software are the perfect products to sell or give away from a automated web site. No packing and shipping involved and the system takes care of the transaction without you doing anything. Don't you love this? I sure do!

What's in it for them? By giving away your eBook you break the barrier for somebody else to actually look at your product. Second, you give this person the right to distribute and reprint your eBook. This means that you give the person the right to give it to another person for consumption and the right to reprint as well. This will repeat itself over and over again. That's viral marketing in a nutshell.

Now there's the problem to create an eBook to begin with. This seems harder than it is. First you need a topic. What are your hobbies? Are you married for a very long time? How did you do this? Are you good with home improvements? Did you successful deal with the government? And so forth...

Now you take one topic and think about what you did to make it successful or just something you enjoyed. This is the key. People want to feel better about themselves. You give them the roadmap on how to do something that they will enjoy at then end or something they can be proud of.

Once you have a topic to write about, it's downhill from there. Focus on your topic, outline the eBook first. Start very high level.

? What's the problem

? What are the obstacles to overcome

? What are the goals you want to achieve with this

? How did you do it

? What are the lessons learned

? What are you doing next

You see having these high level outlines in place will help you to drill down in each one of them. It might be a little bit strange in the beginning, but after a while you get used to it and the words just flow out of your hands.

Armed with this knowledge you should be on your way to write your first eBook. In my forum I created a folder for first time writers to advertise their eBooks.

Copyright ? 2005 - Peter Dobler

Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner. Learn more about the concept of residual income at http://www.fl-home-biz.com or send a blank email to mailto:pdobler@getresponse.com