Viral marketing ideas had hit the internet industry minutes right after the concept was materialized. Well actually, Hotmail, one of the pioneers of free email accounts, have been doing it all along. What they did is very simple - they created a free email account and invited a handful of people to try it. Now on every the email that these people sent, they include a very simple, innocent looking invitation at the footer. It says that if you want to get your own free email account just like the one used to send this email, visit Hotmail. Those are not the real words but basically, that's the idea they are trying to get across. Cool, isn't it? So every time an existing Hotmail user sends out an email, another person who saw the invitation may sign up for the service. And when that person sends her very first email, her recipient could sign up for the free service too. The trend could go on forever. And the strategy is still working up to this very day.

That's just one of the many viral marketing examples you can try. It is a good success story worthy to be told over and over. Another good example is the marketing strategy implemented by Amazon. Amazon is one big online marketplace. But do you know that it is actually enjoying its reign over the world wide web because of their users?

Amazon strategically invited a few good men and women who wanted to earn some money on the side. What they have to do in order to be qualified for a paycheck is very simple. They just have to promote their assigned affiliate link. This affiliate link is unique for every user. If a customer who ends up buying something from Amazon's website through an affiliate link, the member who owns that link will be paid for accordingly.

See how clever their strategy is? Amazon had simplified the entire online marketing process for them. All they have to do is to focus on creating, managing, and monitoring the affiliate links of their members. The website promotion, email marketing strategy, and advertising deals are taken cared of by their members. Of course, Amazon has to keep their stocks updated as well. They don't want to lose a sale just because they run out of the product. Once you have a functional affiliate program up and running, you should expect your sales to hit the roof with almost zero marketing cost on your part.