Tell-A-Friend Script As A Viral List Building Tool - Part I

This is no secret but have you been using it for your business?

Getting free referrals from your existing contacts, subscribers or customers is a brilliant way to grow your mailing list.

As lots of people keep on claiming that money is in the list and you have to find multiple ways to increase your subscriber database, you wouldn't want to avoid using this simple, yet powerful tool.

A Tell-A-Friend Script.

What the script does is give your website visitors the ability to refer other people to your website. Just by simply adding a few names and email addresses, your subscribers can refer their friends and contacts to your website without having you to bug them to do so. If done properly, your website visitors will be more than happy to refer not only one, but probably 5 to 7 contacts at one time.

I've done some marketing test on a product using just a tell-a-friend strategy and within 2 weeks, I collected more than 700 subscribers. I know that 700 is not a big number but if it's free marketing, why not do it?

Moreover, you install the tell-a-friend script on your webhost once and your marketing effort can run on its own over time. It won't stop there. The people that have been referred to your website will find the tell-a-friend webpage and use the script to refer more people.

This is when the marketing effort takes care on its own.

However, not all tell-a-friend scripts are created equal.

If you do a search on Google, you'll find many companies or individuals that offer free tell-a-friend services. Beware that most of the time 'free' does not always mean 'free'.

These companies might be offering the services for free. In return, they will put their own ads in front of the people your website visitors refer, or worst, they collect your referrals info as well.

I find that installing a script on my own web server is the best for me, but it's up to you to decide if there is any other services that suit your need.

How To Get Your Website Built Whilst On A Tight Budget

Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here's a rough guide: First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on. Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice. However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to http://elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured. Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.

It Can Be Easy To Develop Your Own Website

Creating a website is not so much a feat, if we compare it to the education of other technical skills.

Most people tend to give up and pack their bags as soon as they hear the word “programming” and “technical”.

They think it`s too much of a hassle to actually learn a whole computer “language”. HTML, the most basic computer language in building websites, is actually pretty simple to understand, as long as we have the interest in learning new things.


What is HTML?

HTML is the acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language.

For learning purposes, just think of it as a language that the computer understands. For example, as humans, we were taught different languages; i.e. HTML as a language, is mostly and specifically used to create a website.

The web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, will then decipher and interpret the code or rather, language(HTML), and display it in a way we can understand it, just like in a basic webpage.


Coding.

Coding the HTML language might be a bit tough for some people, so we can actually purchase programmes, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, or even Microsoft Frontpage. These programmes are solely created to help individuals in designing professional webpages/websites.

Furthermore, one could also gain access to online web-builders, website builders that are inbuilt and can be directly controlled from the net. There are many different and specific builders online.

Books and magazines contain guides that can help in offering tutorials and ways to put up our own websites. Even online tutorials are credible, as in the modern world, information technology is the best and most cost efficient way in retaining knowledge, especially in this particular field.

So, you could start and build one right away. If you enjoy coding, it might even become a favourable past-time.

Web Design Elements You Should Avoid

As a web designer, you should design your websites to give your visitors the greatest ease of use, the best impression and most important of all a welcoming experience.

It doesn't matter if you had the greatest product in the whole world -- if your website is poorly done you won't be able to sell even one copy of it because visitors will be driven off your website by the lousy design.

When I'm talking about a "good design", I'm not only talking about a good graphical design.

A professional web design will be able to point out that there are many components which contribute to a good website design -- accessibility design, interface or layout design, user experience design and of course the most straightforward, which is graphic design.

Hence, I have highlighted some features of the worst web designs I've come across. Hopefully, you will be able to compare that against your own site as a checklist and if anything on your site fits the criteria, you should know it's high time to take serious action!

1) Background music

Unless you are running a site which promotes a band, a CD or anything related to music, I would really advise you to stay away from putting looping background music onto your site.

It might sound pleasant to you at first, but imagine if you ran a big site with hundreds of pages and everytime a visitor browses to another page on your site, the background music starts playing again.

If I were your visitor, I'd just turn off my speakers or leave your site. Moreover, they just add to the visitors burden when viewing your site -- users on dial up connections will have to wait longer just to view your site as it is meant to be viewed.

How To Use Viral Marketing To Drive Traffic To Your Webpage

Viral marketing is a great way to gain exposure for your site. The key of viral marketing is having your info passed from person to person. There are many different ways to use viral marketing, we will go over a few of them.

1. Writing Articles- Writing your own articles and submitting them to websites is a great way to viral market. Webmasters are always in need of content and all you have to do is provide them with quality content. Also be sure to try and write to the best of your ability.

2. Writing Ebooks- Another way is writing your own ebook and giving it away for free. If you have never written an ebook before do not worry. Just go to google, there is a ton of info on how to write an ebook. Once you have your ebook you can also give it away as a free bonus for ordering your product.

3. Signature Files- Use signature files in every email you send out. Think about how many emails you send to family and friends. One way to really use your sig file is to send out a joke or something funny to the people you know. In turn they will forward it to their friends and so on.

The great thing about viral marketing is there are many different ways to use this method. All you have to do is be creative and think of new ways to use this technique. Here are a few other examples. Give discounts on your product for every new customer referred or instead of a discount give away free things. Or have a contest, where the customer who refers the most new customers gets 1,000 dollars. You should get the idea. Be creative and this technique could blow your sales through the roof. Viral marketing is a very effective way to get your product out there without breaking your bank account.