Is it really possible to engineer exponential list growth using the Internet? It has been attempted countless times and with some success. Perhaps the very first membership site to grow exponentially (at an accelerating rate) was Hotmail which, following launch in 1996 grew to 8 Million users within 15 months. Then it was aquired by Microsoft for $400 Million.

So what was the method Hotmail used to grow so fast? Well the financiers, who struck the deal with Microsoft, called it Viral Marketing. It was the first time the term had been coined.

Basically, viral marketing is what the Internet did with word-of-mouth marketing. It exploded the possibilities for businesses to thrive on pass-on recommendation by their customers.

The wonder of good viral marketing is its simple and inexpensive. Sometimes even free. Hotmail’s deployment of viral marketing was done simply by placing a clickable line of text at the bottom of every email it sent for its customers:

“Sent from my free Hotmail account. Get your own free web-based email account Here!”

In order to use hotmail’s email service you have to agree to advertise it to everyone you send an email too. No exceptions. So it is a free service. But in 1997, it was also new, and at the time, having an email address was considered quite hip and modern. It was fast becoming a craze in the same way text messaging did a few years later.

So how can Hotmail’s success be replicated with other Internet-based products? Perhaps the most important lesson we can draw from Hotmail is the ease of spreading their message. In this case, the free service couldn’t be used without doing so. However, I believe it is possible to transfer this method to other industries and products.

There are numerous ways which have been used since to invigorate viral growth on the Internet. One of the most effective recently has been to use rebrandable (sometimes called ‘viral’) ebooks. A rebrandable ebook does more than a single pdf file can do.

Rebrandable ebooks enable your readers to stamp their own affiliate links for your product within the pages of the ebook. By doing this, they are the ones who will earn commission on any sale their copies make so they are motivated to rebrand and pass-on, rebrand and pass-on etc.

Using rebrandable ebooks for viral growth is the model of an automatic business which was systemised with My Viral Spiral (MVS). This is a website script which uses viral triggers, viral motivators and viral seeds (rebrandable ebooks), to grow its membership base automatically. When an MVS site is put alongside your other web properties, or used in conjunction with your affiliate programs, you immediately give added benefits to your members. Using the functionality of your MVS site, they can grow their own lists, by rebranding and passing on your ebooks, while simultaneously growing yours.

MVS has a unique combination of viral factors built into it which together enable anyone to build a list from scratch without needing costly traffic and hosting fees. It also adopts a 3-dimensional rebranding feature which means that every new member immediately has two ways to make money from each new member they generate.

Some people think MVS is an affiliate marketing script, like Butterfly Marketing, or Launch Formula Marketing. But they are mistaken. There is nothing else like MVS. Its purpose is to automated the traffic-gathering front-end of any website. It is a script which generates and accumulates more traffic by using the activity of its members. Basically, it multiplies whatever traffic it is fed to increase signups and sales.

Yet people have had mixed results with MVS. Some say their members haven’t been active enough, while others say their lists have been so active that their lists grew very quickly.

One member even claims to have got 1,200 signups in the first five days he had the program running.

It seems likely that a key component to success with this viral system comes from putting in place a constant flow of traffic. The best way of creating that is with a blog on the front end, which is regularly updated. That way it will continuously, and increasingly, draw targeted traffic from the search engines.

With MVS’s sidebar widget installed on the blog, visitors can then join the MVS site while obtaining their first ebook. Later, when they can rebrand it and use their in-built squeeze page to generate their own list, they get their own signups and build their own list.

Of all the methods used on the Internet for engineering exponential growth, MVS seems to include the most productive viral mix. It has viral motivators, viral slip, viral seeds and viral triggers. When it is used well, all of them work together closely to power growth in the list and make sales automatically on the back end.

Earn1kaday is the membership site of all membership sites. Ever since I became a member a year ago I have been simply bowled over by the amazing value that Dennis Becker, the owner, keeps on adding month after relentless month.

The hub of the site is the private forum which, once you join, becomes a daily must to visit and learn and learn and learn to achieve your goal of earning 1k a day.

There is the Downloads section where he keeps buying WSOs from the Warrior Forum and makes available to his members at no extra cost. That section alone is enough to cover the monthly membership fees that we (gladly) pay. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. There is just so much more value to be had being a member of this wonderful membership.

Then there is the Business models section where you can choose from 12 different business models and under each sub heading there is simply tons of useful info, which can once again help you achieve your above mentioned goal.

Of course, as is true with many memberships, there is a Success section where everyday you get to read about all the super successes your fellow members are enjoying. The selfless sharing of the successful members’ key tips and tricks is indeed amazing.

There is a Personal Challenge section where you can make your personal challenge public and there are enough people who get on your bandwagon and egg you on, leaving you no choice but to succeed.

When this year began, Dennis made it his personal goal to see each and every member of Earn1kaday make his first 1k online, which I thought was inspiring and totally out of this selfish world.

If you are running a membership site, one of the most important areas of concern for you is membership retention. However, while this is without doubt quite a problem for you, your members may be having a different focus and that is, quite frankly a perception of value for their time and or money.

Creating huge value is very important if you want to get members and keep paying members. Everyone likes to feel as if they have received significantly more than they paid for. It’s true that some may not gripe about getting fundamentally good information, however this should not stop you from attempting to raise the perception bar significantly. Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising medium.

One of the easiest ways you can do this is to offer special bonuses. Try making a few of these surprises and others predetermined. Using a combination of both works well because you get people excited, and you make them feel like you really care when they get something they weren’t expecting. These bonuses can be resell rights or PLR products that you picked up on the side (hand’s off for you!). These can be for you to buy, but your members will be thrilled with them!

Another thing you can do is offer multimedia to fill out your text content. That doesn’t mean you need to create new information for each form of content. You might do an audio interview with an industry luminary or you might be a trade show with your camera and simply capture 10 seconds of opinions from the public or well known speakers. Having audio, video and text enables the material to find resonance with many different audience learning types. You’ll be satisfying more members without having to do much additional work.

One of my media instructors, taught me that sometimes, cheating is the best way. That wonderful video that you took has an audio track that can be re-used and re syndicated perhaps even as a podcast. Look mom, no additional work. You can then have the video transcribed in the form of text. Voil! You now have three different formats that will satisfy your members and enable them to feel as if they are getting a great bargain!

Another thing you can do is make sure your site looks professional. While you might be able to get away with a very basic site, doing simple things like adding graphics and having a nice layout can go a long way to giving a great impression of value.The old saying goes that “you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” but we all know that people end up doing that anyway! A great looking site is always a joy to explore.

Try to do all of the above mentioned tips. A rule of thumb is give 10 times the monthly value and your clients won’t leave.The first month is the most critical, this is when more than 80% of your members typically re-question whether they are getting value of their money.