Viral marketing is an excellent and inexpensive way to get people talking about your blog. The primary component to viral marketing is people talking about something, anything, that will guide people to your website for more information. This technique is not as new as some people seem to think and print magazines have been using the power of viral marketing to sell issues and subscriptions for years. There is no reason that you cannot use this power to get more readers for your blog.

Here are 5 excellent viral marketing tips from print magazines that you can follow to gain more exposure and higher readership for your blog.

#1. Get People Talking About You

One way that print magazines have grown in popularity is by getting people to talk about the magazines themselves. For instance, many newscasts include phrases like, “according to a U.S. News and World Reports article…” or “People magazine reports that…” As long as the magazines continue to gain people’s attention and make them talk about the articles written between their covers, they will sell subscriptions.

With an internet blog, the story is no different. Set your blog up with quick ways for people to share your post on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other social networking sites where there will be more sharing and discussion of your post. Post your blog articles on your own profiles for these sites and see how your own friends can help you get the word out.

Word of mouth is critical to viral marketing, remember this the next time your are writing a post for your blog.

#2. Go Against the Grain

Don’t be afraid to be controversial! If possible, use a controversial headline that will make your readers take a second look before they even start reading the article. Most people read only a few sentences before deciding if an article or post is worth sharing. Do whatever it takes to make them share your posts!

#3. Have Guest Posters

Many a print magazine will feature a celebrity writer or feature a celebrity on their cover in order to get the attention of the celebrity’s fans. Why not try this yourself. See if you can get someone well known or popular to contribute to your blog. This will bring people to your blog to read the contributors post. It will most likely end with them looking at what else you have to offer. You can gain a lot of readership this way.

#4. Talk About Popular Culture

Regardless of whether your blog is about popular culture or not, if you are able to talk about the hottest movies, music and artists you will get people interested in reading what you have to say. It’s even better if you can combine your blog’s topic with an artist or band to create a potentially viral post, eg. The Ten Most Tricked Out Cars From 50 Cents Videos. Another example are the Harry Potter movies or the Star Wars movies. There are entire sections of the population who will seek out anything they can find about these movies prior to their release. Perhaps your blog will get discovered if you are able to post something interesting about an upcoming or newly released film.

#5. Forget Gimmicks

High quality viral marketing is a result of people talking about you, not about some gimmick you tried on your blog just to get their attention. High quality means that they will keep talking about you and not only talk about your gimmick until someone else does something cooler. Print magazines don’t do gimmicks. They offer content in their subject area and they are straightforward in how they offer that content. Following this rule of thumb is a good idea. Advertising gimmicks are just that, a gimmick. What you are looking for is a way to develop a following of people who talk about you and share your blog with their friends and family members.

Make an impact on your readers and let them make an imprint on their friends that will send them straight to your blog. This is the technique of viral marketing. It is a very effective technique if you know how to make it work for you. You can save a tremendous amount of money and time if you can develop a viral following. Print magazines have been using these five techniques for a very long time and they always manage to get their issues flying off the shelf. Reading your blog doesn’t cost your readers a penny, and that gives you a solid advantage. You can get people talking and keep them talking, sometimes through your own prodding and sometimes just by the quality content and smashingly successful headlines that you craft to catch your readers’ attention.

As a panelist, my topic was the importance and benefits of having a business website — especially visibility and credibility. I also spoke about Search Engine Optimization’s strengths (and weaknesses).

I explained that a website is a valuable sales tool that can help potential customers get to know, like and trust you — then hopefully become happy, repeat customers who send loads of referrals your way. It’s best used as the “hub” of your other marketing, both online and offline.

I displayed some of the many ways a small business can benefit from a website, using as examples websites I’ve created for local clients, like Indigo Organic Salon for Hair, Joseph Barnett Photography, and Safe Haven Humane Society’s blog.

I was joined on the panel by Blake Baldwin and Lee Cote of Video Creations, who expertly handled all the sound and video for the event. Blake said some very complimentary things about my work and this blog. (I guess I fooled him!) Also by Ralph OBrien of Customized Computer Design, and Bill Griffith of Griffith Technology.

Thanks also to Paulette Millette of York County Community College, who emceed the workshop, and Angus Macaulay and Charlie Galloway of the Kennebunk Economic Development Committee for the invitation.

PS: Need someone to speak about Internet Marketing, Web Design and/or SEO Copywriting to your group? Contact me!

That’s what Wells Fargo did in Rhode Island, according to the the Providence (RI) Journal (via Consumerist, who incorrectly reported that it was an animal shelter rather than a farm).

Wells Fargo claims it arranged for the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals take care of the 130+ cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, horses, sheep, goats. Not so, says RISPCA. According to its president Ernest Finocchio, the bank said it didn’t want RISPCA’s help.

An inspection yesterday revealed that some animals had no food or water. Others had been carted off by strangers – hopefully for humanitarian reasons.

“Two llamas are gone. A turkey is gone. Some waterfowl have left, as well as a number of pot-bellied pigs. I don’t know where the animals went, or who took them. I saw people walking around the farm yesterday and have no idea who they were,” said Finocchio.

But wait a minute. The bank isn’t the only bad guy here. Foreclosure laws require multiple eviction notices, so the farmer himself knew a long time ago that trouble was brewing, yet made no plans for taking care of his animals. Mucho bad karma for him.

UPDATE: Wells Fargo says hey, it wasn’t us who foreclosed– it was them, that mortgage company. But we’ll do the right thing and take care of the animals. Actually, it’s the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that’s assuming care, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Now my problem is, how do I get any work done? Being a twit (hmm, that’s probably not the right term, is it?) is a lot more fun than actually working!

Shameless plug: Follow me at @tom_mckay

How can he afford it? Distributors in southern Europe have been so desperate to get cars off their lots that they were selling them at huge discounts.

From a marketing standpoint, two-for-one is far better than simply cutting the price of the first car. Helps alleviate overcrowding on the lot, too. And all the publicity he’s getting for this stunt doesn’t hurt, either.

But is it working?

Cardoen’s eight showrooms had seen more than 10 times their usual number of visitors since the promotion began. “People have been coming in from all over Belgium and abroad,” said Cardoen’s Commercial Director Ivo Willems.

So people are coming in to kick the tires, and maybe stare at the crazy person who’s giving away free cars. But are they actually buying any? Um, not yet. Willems admits they’ve yet to see an impact on sales.

But at least they’re trying something new. And wisely using free publicity to spread the word. How is your business coping with the economic crisis?