Over the past few years, viral marketing has become the hot topic among internet marketers. After all, who wouldn't want their products/services to be spread like wild fire?

Viral marketing may sound new and complicated but the truth is the opposite. Any form of marketing that promotes word of mouth promotion is known as 'viral marketing'. Simple? It is.

Article marketing can be a great viral marketing tool. The secret to creating viral articles is this.

You must create the free article as if you're planning to sell it at a high price.

In other words, your articles must create tremendous value to the reader. Why would you want to do that? Aren't you losing out?

Now, think 'win-win'. When you write an informative article, the article content is the 'give' - something that benefits your readers. Show your readers that you truly care about their success.

When your readers think that you are providing them quality content, they would love to share the information with their friends, colleagues and neighbours. In fact, that's how you generate the viral word-of-mouth marketing effect.

Additionally, you can also encourage your readers to send this great article to benefit someone they know.

Then when you're done with writing your article content, add in a short paragraph 'about the author'. Here's a trick...

Inside, list a few of the products you are promoting that is complementary to the article you've written.

If you're writing an article on choosing the suitable dog food for your pet, if you're a dog food vendor, list a few brands of dog foods available in your online store. This 'about the author' paragraph now becomes the 'take' - something that benefits you.

Now, when their colleagues or friends visit your site to read about the articles, they will read your 'about the author' paragraph too. And that's how you generate traffic back to your product/service site.