Using one of the oldest forms of publicity in the world -- people telling people about something they experienced is coming back to the mainstream.

Word of Mouse

In the internet world, it is known as Viral Marketing or better yet, 'Word of Mouse' (rather than word of mouth!). This type of marketing strategy has proved itself over and over as the best form of publicity for increased traffic to web sites while being the least expensive form as well. With this being the case, many smart webmasters have installed what's known as a "Refer a Friend" button on their web sites.

This button allows a visitor to enter in email addresses of friends or associates they would like to tell about this "cool" web site they have just discovered. It is quick and easy with a click of a button! The professional versions of these referral systems do not harvest the email addresses which means no one has to worry about getting spammed.

No Comparison to Search Engines and Banner Ads

If we compare using this form of marketing to other popular forms such as search engine marketing and/or banner advertising, they simply do not build traffic as quickly or efficiently the way that "viral marketing" can.

With search engines, you never know where you might be ranked tomorrow even if you have a high position today. It takes time to wait to see if your search engine positioning is working. Time is money and if you are not actively marketing, you are losing money!

With banner advertising, you need a good-sized budget to make a network purchase. The click-thrus are dropping and it's hard to test without spending a lot of money. Money that most web site don't really have!

If you have visitors and a good site, why not let them take advantage of your Refer-A-Friend marketing? Use this in conjunction with other aspects of marketing and it can really be of great benefit to any web site owner - and - at only a fraction of the cost of other forms of marketing!

M. Hockin of Intrapromote as quoted in InternetDay writes:

"All of the viral 'Refer-A-Friend' programs that are available are based on the same simple concept. They use the power of referrals and 'word of mouse' publicity to multiply how many people see your message. I suggest that you add 'Refer-A-Friend' and other viral techniques into your marketing mix before someone refers your competition to this powerful marketing technique."

Get maxRefer on your site today.