One of the most powerful viral marketing tools are free e-books, they can literally provide you with an entire network of people who promote your business, absolutely free. What should you be doing with your e-book to ensure this, here are a few pointers.

The most basic tip is provide real content. If you just fill your book with a sales pitch all they have to do is click the mouse and your book is history. Provide your reader with valuable information. This both captures interest and builds credibility. If a reader likes what they see it will make them more inclined to look at your other products.

Creating your e-book doesn't have to be a long Drawn out process burning the midnight oil whilst furiously tapping away at your keyboard. You could put together a few related articles and simply add a few comments or an introduction. If you get a lot of questions about a particular topic, then choose some and put together an e-book that offers the answers to these questions.

The two most common formats to use for e-books are 'EXE' format or 'PDF' format. Like most things there are good and bad in both. No matter what format you choose, create a layout that's clean, attractive, and easy to navigate. You can put in links to the main sections of your book and for web sites where the reader can find more information. N.B dont overdo the graphics; the more you use, the larger the file size. It then takes longer for your e-book to download, remember one mouse click and its gone.

Your own e-book is a great opportunity to provide links to your site and products. You might consider putting your website URL and logo on the cover page. You can embed affiliate links where appropriate within the context of your articles. A good idea is to include a dedicated sales page at the end of your e-book to promote a related product.

Actively encourage people to pass your e-book on, make it clear that your reader is welcome to distribute the e-book, so long as nothing is changed. Suggest that they can put it on their own website as a gift for visitors, or perhaps they could offer it as a bonus for newsletter subscriptions. The more places you get your book promoted, the more exposure you get.

To get the initial exposure you must promote and keep promoting your e-book. You can do this by promoting it in a signature file on your e-mail, getting listed on e-book directories, distributing to announcement lists or creating a special web page just for the e-book and then submit that page to search engines. This is not a complete list of how to promote, use your imagination!

Testimonials are great for promotion, if people like your e-book you may get unsolicited testimonials. Ask for permission to use the testimonial within your marketing materials.

Finally, if you offer your free e-book in exchange for e-mail addresses use an auto responder to follow up once you have given the reader the e-book. Keep their interest whilst its at its peak and provide more free information encouraging them to look at what else you have to offer.