The Basics and Benefits of Online Word of Mouth Marketing

The internet has substantially altered the online marketplace. Unlike the coffee shop on the corner, physical location is less a factor in determining whether an online business is successful. Location, location, location has been replaced with distribute, distribute, distribute. Online success hinges upon your site being distributed throughout the masses. If they can’t find it, you can’t do business.

While active distribution methods, such as an advertising campaign, can yield results, there are relatively passive distribution methods worth considering. When visitors share your site, perhaps via email or a social bookmarking tool, they are effectively recommending it to others, resulting in increased site visits. These methods of distribution that carry the weight of consumer opinion are often called word of mouth marketing campaigns and, compared to conventional advertising methods, provide myriad benefits low cost, low effort and high returns.

Why it works
From a consumer standpoint, the problem lay in the sheer volume of the internet. There are more sites than any one person will ever be able to access, so there is inherent selectivity regarding which sites a consumer will visit. While online ads are frequently viewed with scorn, recommendations from friends are viewed with enthusiasm a trusted source has done the searching for interesting online content on their behalf. Indeed, social bookmarking and social news sites have become conventional ways of identifying relevant, interesting online content.

How to tap into it
If your page is above and beyond the expectations of your visitors, many will take the initiative to share it on their own. We find, however, that more visitors will share a website if encouraged, or reminded, to do so. Our service, SiphsMail, is one such way of encouraging visitors to share a site. By placing the SiphsMail button (as seen at the top of this post) on a site, viewers are provided a simple, seamless methodology to share your site. No email clients or additional websites need to be opened the word of mouth recommendation is simple and instantaneous. Of course, the site must still meet their expectations (so design and content are very important), but by adopting a service such as SiphsMail, you can be certain that more visitors will recommend your content.

May 1, 2008 |

The Basics and Benefits of Online Word of Mouth Marketing

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