A viral blog is one that promotes itself - not just in the search engines, or through personal tagging, or from others linking to it. It promotes itself in every post without turning into a sales pitch. It brings its reader closer to it and enriches their lives in some way.

If your blog is a viral marketing machine, it builds you a fan base that collects your work, instead of clients who buy your products.

I said:

If your blog is a viral marketing machine, it builds you a fan base that collects your “work” instead of clients who buy your products. When you have a fan base, you become someone’s hobby or passion.

People couldn’t care less about some company selling some stuff.

Fans have died for their hobbies and passions.

The viral blog has style, panache; that special I-don’t-know-what. When you’re going to a blogger’s site constantly and you’re thinking “I wonder what that nut has to say today,” you’re reading a viral blog.

Infectious blogs aren’t just about traffic, or getting more sales, though that is totally fantastic. The Blog Virus is about spreading your brand deep into your reader’s mind and becoming a household word, even if it’s just in the homes of people who buy your brand of toothpaste.

The virulent strain of blog marketing known hereafter as The Blog Virus brings you something you can’t get from a static Web site. If you want to make a living, start a blog. If you want to make a fortune, start a blog virus.

Read the entire series:

Increase Your Web Site Traffic With The Blog Virus
Part One | Part Deux | [audio post] How to Catch and Spread the Blog Virus (aka Part Three) | Part Four

Tags: hobby, viral marketing, viral blog, pastime, fan base