Every few weeks, a new viral website pops up and gets an unexpectedly high amount of traffic. Much like “viral videos” that are linked via a friend’s email (or more recently, Twitter and Facebook postings), viral websites suddenly become popular thanks to the content that is on them. Despite the fact that every online marketing agency hopes to replicate the success of a viral site for a client, amateurs with no sales goal in mind seem to obtain better traffic numbers in a few weeks than some Fortune 500 companies will get in a year. Unfortunately for these amateurs, higher bandwidth costs often exceed any money made by the site itself.

People who run online and search engine marketing campaigns for a living can still learn a lot from the success of these viral fads. The first thing to remember is that interesting sites get more traffic than boring ones, and people will recommend a site with good content. Secondarily, search engines keep track of this kind of information, because they have a vested interest in showing people things that they’d like to see. For years, search giants like Google have gauged the interest factor in websites by counting the number of links that point from one site to another. More interesting sites tend to get more links. The field of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) uses this fact when it obtains links for online customers so their sites can become more “interesting” in the eyes of Google, Yahoo, and (to a lesser extent) Bing. In fact, there is a maxim in the optimization world that “interesting sites don’t need SEO” but there are cases where SEO gets people to the site so they can recommend it to others.

For people who sell more mundane items that aren’t likely to be the next viral hit, there are online site promotion techniques that can at least ensure some traffic. For example, you can offer something free or make a person’s life easier. In the world of real estate website marketing, the sites which offer a free MLS listing search without requiring a signup have more success, more repeat visitors, and more recommendations. Mortgage and refinancing websites that offer simple online rate calculators have been seen to keep people interested, and more likely to make a phone call. There are even “virtual makeover” sites offer a limited online trial version that shows people what they’d look like with makeup and a new hairstyle, but charge a little extra to give their visitors access to all styles.

Online site promotion firms (like Web.com Search Agency) generally follow a more traditional path toward creating web traffic, because there are proven ways of getting a consistent and growing number of site visitors over time. One of the downfalls of a viral campaign is that it peaks, and despite the large amount of traffic it usually doesn’t generate the kind of money one would expect. For example, YouTube is the home of almost every viral video online, but it still isn’t turning a profit. Even though the average marketing firm hopes that it can achieve a viral hit for its client, the audience for viral sites and videos is fickle and an accidental “hit” website can’t always be replicated on the agency level. However, agencies can still help you spice up your website so that it gets repeat visitors, or help you get paid traffic that results in profitable sales and signups. In the final analysis, the “lottery” approach of a viral site may be rewarding to its creator, but the “sure bet” involves a few proven techniques that require a bit more hard work. If you hire an experienced search marketing agency, you can get manageable results and sustainable site traffic growth, which is the real key to long term internet success.

Tags: viral marketing

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 8:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.