There are a few strategies that will bring traffic to your blogs, and one is Controversy. We all love a good argument, and a chance to voice our opinions. Controversy has been used throughout the ages bringing about headlines, discussions, views of opinion, and a lot of gossip.

Give some case studies…bloggers don’t do this enough, but they can be great for reading. A good case study will bring to point “is this for real?”, and will help your reader decide this for himself. By using case studies, your readers are able to see themselves using ‘your’ solution.

Talk to your readers, make them feel less alone. One of the biggest fears of people is actually being alone. By sharing your experiences, or writing about something your reader can associate with, sharing a common concern or fear, maybe talking about something that makes you happy, or ask a question about something you would like to know. In other words, create a connection between you and your reader. Make him or her feel like they are coming home when they come to your blog. Make them feel like you understand them, and that you are no better than they are…and you have your ups and downs too.

If you make any claims, back them up with proof. What kind of business are you in? Give some screen-shots of your work, maybe some photos, or some statistics. Give your reader a reason to believe you, to have faith in what you say. Show that you have integrity, and that you are not trying to push something over on anyone. Earn their trust.

Be honest, if you have a bad day, let them know, if you make a mistake, learning from it and share what you have learned. You want to have your readers care about what you have to say, not to get them to agree with you. You will never have everyone believing what you believe, or agreeing with your views, and that is great, that is where the controversy comes into play. But, be honest! Don’t be tempted to stretch the truth to make things or yourself look better….you will lose your readers doing this. Remember, honest is always the best policy.

Give a place for bragging rights by your readers! Give them a place to share their successes, and you can share in their excitement. You may actually want to turn this into a forum eventually. You want your readers to have a place to come and say, “I did it!” And to receive the praise from you and your other readers. Then you will look good because your readers are succeeding, and benefiting by your site.

Have you readers contribute to your blog with their questions. Encourage conversation, and have your readers become contributors to your blog.

Because it Works! Viral marketing can be done in many different ways, but when you decide to make the leap, it is best to pick on a particular strategy and focus on it. This will be the best way to get the results you are looking for. If you are using an article marketing strategy, you can turn some of your articles into an Ebook or report

Because you have already put the articles together, it won’t take a lot of time to develop them into something that can bring in some traffic and sales for many years to come. You will gather your articles, compile them into a single document, and then maybe do some rebranding, make it look nice and appealing.

The key here is not to focus on the advertisements or the marketing components of your product, but to add value to the reader. This is about them, what they will be looking for. A popular technique used is adding a few products in your niche. You can include them as your own affiliate links, but consider cloaking them to make them less obvious.

When you are ready to distribute it, this can be done in one of many ways. If the publication you have put together is good quality, you may want to sell it. If you want to make it viral, you need to include reprint rights. You will get the sales from the product as well as having it spread around.

Now, if you really want it to go viral, then you should give it away for free and encourage others to do the same thing, with the provisions that nothing is changed in any way whatsoever. This way you can advertise your giveaway in emails and forums. Another place that is often forgotten is on the download page of any similar products that you sell. Everybody loves bonuses, and the unadvertised bonuses are even better, and when it is on the download page, it becomes a part of the actual order, and then most readers will download it.

When it comes to cost, viral marketing is considerably less expensive than traditional advertising. Remember that viral marketing is only one component of your marketing strategy. You need link it with other strategies like your opt-ins and setting up squeeze pages. This will all help to generate traffic to your site, developing a solid customer base and increasing your sales.

We have all heard about the The Secret...well, since this has been brought into light, the lives of many have been drastically changed. On Oprah, the original author of this concept was a guest on her show. Her name is Louise Hay, and she wrote a book called ‘You Can Heal Your Life’.

She wrote this international best seller 24 years ago and since has seen this change the lives of so many. There were two more guests who spoke about the power of your thoughts and of making lists.

Now the reason I bring this up is because this makes such a dramatic difference in your life and the success of your business.

You and I have the power to bring good into our lives by changing your thinking. Louise Hay was thrilled when The Secret came out last year, happy to know that everyone will have the chance to apply this into their lives.

This power can work not only in big ways, but in many little ways. Oprah shared an experience she had last month when a Bubble Blower came on her show…she thought she she would love to go blow bubbles with her god-daughter and needed to get some bubbles. She went up to her office, and next to her desk was a bag with 6 bottles of bubbles and a silver bubble blower from Tiffany’s. She asked her assistant if she had gone out and bought these bubbles for her. Her assistant replied “No, I bought those for your birthday, and they have always been there, you just have never noticed them before today.” Oprah was stunned! She couldn’t believe that these bubbles had been there this entire time, but because she had not thought of them until now, she had never noticed them.

We, you and I, can really change our lives with our thoughts. We become what we think about, whether we want it or not. You need to first start off with positive affirmations, and this is the foundation that you build upon. If you are always talking negatively to or about yourself, how can you bring anything positive into your life? How can you be successful in your business if you think of yourself as a failure? You need to love life and know that life loves you in return.

Affirmations are like planting a seed, you give it a chance to grow, it may take time, but it will grow if your nourish it. This is too where making goals and lists, writing out your desires of where you want to be is so important. You are reinforcing this in your mind, you are making it concrete in your consciousness.

They talked about making lists, some made out of fear…’the shallows’, and then the list that comes from our heart. This does not work if you are desiring things from the ‘shallows’, but things that are of real value. An example they used was King Midas…he wanted gold to make him rich, but he soon learned, after his wife and child were turned to gold, that all he really wanted to love and happiness. If he had asked that in the first place, he would have that plus the gold.

I just wanted to share this with you, it has reinforced the role of positive thinking in my own life and I know it will help you as well.

How can you benefit and get the most out of SMM (Social Media Marketing)? You find tips and tricks all over the Internet and I came across a blog, netbusinessblog that covers this topic beautifully. According to this writer, there is a one and only secret to using SMM properly. He first states…

The Problem:

The problem is by the ways SMM is being used. There are a lot of articles voicing the benefits but very little on how to use it properly. There was an analysis done by Gary Ruplinger on the SEO side of PR back-links, getting instant exposure, and the potential for viral marketing success overnight. If you set out playing this game without knowing what you need to do, you may end up hurting your reputation.

The Solution:

The only way to make use of SMM is by really participating in the community. Become a real contributor, using the services offered the way they are meant to be used. This is the key, become a member of the community you want to be known in.

Do you want to make the frontpage of Digg? Then do it buy building your reputation with good stories and content. The same goes for Reddit with your articles, or YouTube with your videos. Submit your best and your name will be known, coming up through the ranks, all built upon your honest and sincere reputation and contributions.

By taking the shortcuts, you won’t make it. You need to be actively engaged in the community, become a genuine user. Don’t try to play games with people, eventually they will see through it. Remember, Social Media is done by using it, becoming a part of it.

How To Do It:

*Do you want to gain a reputation on Digg?

Then submit some great stories, and vote on the stories you like.

*Do you want people to go to your MyBlogLog?

Visit their blogs, if you like what you see, let them know, join their community.

These are simple questions with even simpler answers. You need to dive into these social media site and learn how to use them. You cannot go into the social media with the mindset of what you can gain from it, you need to know how to use it and enjoy it. Then you will naturally build a good reputation, gain some new readers, and be the winner in the end.

I have had people ask me how you setup Aweber with Feedburner, so I decided to write a Step-by-Step post on how to do it but first lets quickly review why you should do it:

Why Use Aweber with Feedburner:

* Scheduling – Aweber allows you to choose the time and how often (day, week, month) to send out your blog broadcasts
* Designs – You can design your template for your blog broadcasts
* Post Count – You can setup how many new posts before it sends an email with a link to all the posts
* Build a List – You can email your newly established and growing list about anything at any time
* Can-Spam Compliant – There is a link in every email for a subscriber to be removed, fast & easy, so good for your readers
* Now Counts Towards Feedburner Count – Better Than RSS subscribers as it counts them every day, even if they delete the email without reading it. Having a high feed count is very good for getting advertisers, growing your blog and of course increasing your blogs value!

How To Set It Up:

It really is quite simple once you know what you are doing, but to save you some time, here is a step-by-step on how to get Aweber configured to handle your email blog subscriptions and reflect in your Feedburner counter.

First: you need to have an Aweber account, so if you don’t you should open one up. The cost is $19.95 per month.

Second: Create a new autoresponder for your blog:

Third: You click on ‘Messages’ then ‘Blog Broadcast’, from there you click ‘Create Blog Broadcast’:

Fourth: Fill out the form entering your feed, configuring your template and title. Here you also choose how many posts are made before it sends, I have mine set to 2. Also, click on ‘Automatically deliver’ so that it starts sending without you needing to log into Aweber and approve it first each time. (maybe leave it manual for the first few to get the design right):

Fifth: Save your settings then go to ‘List Settings’ and then click on ‘Web Form’. Setup a form and then confirm it. (maybe only use email if you don’t want first name. On my email feed I have first name configured too. Then update setting’s and click on ‘html’. Take the html and paste it into the site where you want to have your form:

Sixth: Your site is now ready to grow you a list with Aweber and communicate your subscribers stats via feedburner. The next thing to do is configure your thank you pages and also the personal email sent for the member to confirm.

To see how you can set it up, why not sign up to my email update service and see how I have done it.