The research is complete on the perfect web hosting company and you've inked a deal on a hosting package that delivers the utopian blend of hardware, software, bandwidth, and in the unlikely event  you'll need it... fast tech support. (oh yes you will need it even if you think you won't!)

Next comes installing a content management system eg; wordpress, magento,drupal, using the one click script installer provided by your web hosting company, which always appears to require more than one click. Add content, some website optimization, and a little white hat SEO, and you are now ready to test the server resources denoted in your package limits!

They say if you build it, they will come.

While it is true that offering exceptional goods and services will eventually triumph at the end of the day,  in the saturated internet world of blackhat trickery, link buying, and fake reviews, many will find an uphill battle to reach their market audience. Many more will succumb and fail.

The internet does provide a tool that can only be matched by those with the deepest pockets. The tool is “Viral Marketing”

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is creating messages that have a high probability of being presented and spread by individuals (and their competitors) in their communications with others over a short period of time, usually though blog post and other forms of social media such as twitter and facebook.

Prince Harry, on a copter training exercise in the US, recently gushed about the delights of Gila Bend's Little Italy Restaurant, where he reportedly enjoyed the Meat Lover's pizza, replete with majestic amounts of bacon, ham, Italian sausage and pepperoni. Viral marketing gurus and animal rights group Peta dispatched a couple of near-naked operatives to Arizona in a bid to lure Prince Harry away from the delights of meat. I'll spare you the picture....

One sure fire way to get some traffic is get a take down notice by offering an alternative form of white meat. The website ThinkGeek got a 12 page take-down notice from the National Pork Board, over a little parody they did on April 1 (April Fools) when some legal types felt using the slogan "The Other White Meat," while advertising Radiant Farms Canned Unicorn (yep... Unicorn) meat may confuse the consumer.

While slightly more costly, online retailer Zappos teamed up with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to pay tolls on a section of road for a couple of hours complete with signs announcing that Zappos was covering the toll. While not free, it certainly is an inexpensive marketing ploy when executed hours before Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Viral marketing whether by design, by chance or relying on some good old fashion quick witted opportunism, has the ability to drive traffic to your website that can not be understated or denied.

Now how's about the rest of the country, Zappos?