PHP Tell-A-Friend

Since its appearance in 1995, the PHP Hypertext Processor or PHP language has taken modern development by storm. Today the PHP scripting language is frequently used to make dynamic web pages as well as online tools for various applications and services. One of the most popular web tools that use PHP is the PHP tell a friend script.

When it comes to online viral marketing and advertising, no other program is more frequently used than that of the PHP tell-a-friend script. As its name suggests the PHP tell-a-friend script is a computer script written in PHP embedded onto a website that enables viewers to "tell a friend" about that particular website through e-mail. Once installed onto the program, the script takes the appearance of a short online form which asks for the user's name, e-mail address, and other necessary information. Once the form is filled up, the script uses the information provided to generate an e-mail message to target recipients which the user also provides.

The PHP tell-a-friend script works by facilitating viral marketing across the established communication medium of e-mail. Users promote the website to others using the tell-a-friend script, and if the people who get the referral like the site can pass the message on to others as well. And if the conditions are just right, this propagation can snowball into large numbers of people sending referrals to large numbers of recipients. This, in turn, will lead to increased attention for the website and thus creating traffic and sales for online businesses.

PHP tell-a-friend scripts are generally free to download from web development sites although more advanced scripts such as Viral Inviter have to be purchased first.

The PHP script is known for a lot of things, but the most popular of these would be its general-purpose nature. First appearing 1995, the PHP script has become one of the widely used scripting languages on the web today, with over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers using at least one type of PHP program. The reason for this popularity is because of the PHP script's highly versatile architecture, allowing it to perform many functions such as server-side scripting languages and data stream filters. More recently, PHP has also breached marketing software, made prevalent by the rising frequency of PHP tell a friend scripts on commercial webpages nowadays.

One example of how PHP scripting language is being used for marketing and advertising webpages is the PHP tell-a-friend script. A type of viral marketing tool, the PHP tell-a-friend or refer-a-friend script is a PHP language program that is embedded on the websites that helps visitors of that site send viral invite emails to their email contacts. Through the script, awareness of the website is spread via word-of-mouth from person to person, allowing for self-sustaining advertising of the website as well as keeping marketing and advertising expenses low. This is perfect for startup web businesses who cannot afford lots of financial resources to market their products and services conventionally to a large audience.

Like most PHP scripts the PHP tell a friend script is very easy to install, although different versions of it appear on the web. The basic versions are usually free and send semi-automated e-mail messages, while the more advanced versions have added features such as tracking capabilities and are available upon purchase. Also, the script requires an FTP file client like FileZilla to upload the file to the website. Most PHP scripts downloaded from the web are also compressed to save space and require a file extraction tool to acquire.

If you are into web development and management, then you have probably used PHP in creating web pages. First introduced in 1995, the PHP language is designed to produce dynamic web pages and provide additional rugged and reliable website development capabilities. In fact, because of its versatility you can find PHP used in many different ways today, ranging from email, images, flash to even marketing the website itself. One fine example of such a marketing PHP script is the PHP tell a friend script.

One of the most effective yet simple ways in which you can attract more visitors to your site is with the PHP tell a friend script. A kind of viral marketing tool, the tell a friend script allows visitors to a website to refer the page to his or her friends and family via email messages. Depending on the variation of the script, it consists of either a button or an online form which visitors have to fill up their and their contact's email address. Once it is sent, the recipient will receive a message from their email inbox containing the sender's message along with attached media and other information regarding the referred site.

Like most PHP scripts, in order to install the PHP tell a friend script you need to have the code and template first. Tell a friend scripts can be easily found on the Internet in web development forums and scripts. If you don't know a specific website to download from, you can always search for them using Google, Yahoo!, or other types of web search engines. You may also need to make some changes with the code as well, such as placing your domain name and links on the script and adjusting its height and width. Once it has been uploaded, tell a friend scripts can be immediately used.

Having trouble getting visitors to visit your PHP webpage? The PHP tell a friend script might help you out.

The main goal of advertising is to capture the attention and interest of a particular market, thereby increasing sales. This is achieved by creating product awareness among large portion of the population. Mass media (print, radio, and television) serve as the conduit for the traditional advertising campaign. This method works well for products that have very large market such as processed foods. Hence, the size of an advertising campaign must be proportional to the size of the target market. This is necessary to assure the cost-effectiveness of a particular advertising campaign. When it comes to online advertising, the same principle is applicable. Using tell-a-friend software is one way of maintaining the cost-effectiveness of an online marketing campaign.

Unlike mass-media advertising, viral marketing with the aid of tell-a-friend software relies on social networks. In this manner, it is more precise in its approach because it can target a specific market sector or group of people. Typically, people who have common interests and needs have the tendency to group together and share information and resources. This can be conveniently done in an online setting such as in the case of social networking sites, forums, and blogs. Online users tend to congregate. This tendency can be exploited by viral online marketing.

As an advertising model, viral marketing with the aid of tell-a-friend software is very efficient and precise. It has the potential to become infectious within a particular market sector. It is efficient because it can be self-propagating without the need for infusing additional fund. Compared to traditional mass media advertisement, continuous funding is not necessary when it comes to online viral marketing. The customers themselves become part of the campaign through the referral system. Although viral marketing has its natural limitations, it is very effective in capturing specific market sectors. This level of precision is hard to match in traditional mass media advertising.

You are probably familiar with multi-level marketing or network marketing. Many personal product companies, particularly cosmetic companies (e.g., Avon and Amway), rely on this type of marketing to leverage their profit potentials. It works by encouraging some of their customers to become independent distributors and endorsers of the product in exchange for certain discounts, privileges, and profits. It has its limitations but it is sustainable enough to keep a regular influx of new patrons. This idea of using social networks to promote a product is also applied in online marketing through an automated referral system that uses php tell-a-friend programs.

As the name suggests, an automated referral system does not need constant supervision to function. For every new subscriber or customer, other potential subscribers or customers will be generated by automatically sending email invitations. The email invitations are automatically sent to all the email contacts of the new subscriber. A php tell-a-friend script can be embedded on a website to display an online form that requires the email account details of the new subscriber. The subscriber's account can only be activated by clicking a link sent to the email address provided. In some cases, passwords will be sent which are then required to be entered to activate the subscriber's account.

By activating the new subscriber's account, the php tell-a-friend script will then send a template invitation letters to the other email contact of the new subscriber. If the referrals become subscribers, they will also undergo the same process to complete the transaction or subscription. The process is fully automated. Typically, PHP scripts generate attractive HTML-based invitation letters that can incorporate many of the features of a webpage. Graphics, forms, and even animations can be incorporated. Instead of simple texts, a more attractive and interactive invitation letter is generated. In some cases, the new referrals do not anymore need to visit the website to subscribe.

Computer viruses spread by replicating themselves and using the resources of the infected host to send copies of themselves to other computers in a network. This concept is also use in an online marketing strategy called viral marketing. Although the intention may not necessarily malevolent or destructive, this type of marketing strategy uses similar concepts of spreading computer viruses. If you want to make your online business more profitable, you can use viral marketing as a strategy. You do not need to worry because it is perfectly legitimate. You will not be causing harm on other computers by using this strategy. One script that you can use is the php tell-a-friend.

By incorporating php tell-a-friend scripts in your website, your website will be more interactive. For instance, the same set of php scripts will enable you to create email forms that will allow your visitors to automatically send email messages to their contacts upon signing-up. This will create a multiplication or leveraging effect. Most of the emails that will be sent will probably be marked as spams but some will genuinely direct customers, clients, or subscribers to your website. These new patrons will, in turn, generate new patrons through their contacts.

You probably now have realized the importance and usefulness of php tell-a-friend scripts. These scripts can potentially increase your website revenues by a factor of hundreds or thousands, depending on the initial traffic that you will generate. When you started the ball rolling, it would be difficult to stop. Your online campaign will spread like a virus. You do not anymore to directly supervise it. Other people and computers will do the job for you. However, before you can incorporate php scripts in your website, there are several basic requirements that you should comply. First, you must have a php web host. Second, you must be knowledgeable of FTP and file uploading. Third, you must have some working knowledge of php and HTML to make some modifications.

The most advanced online referral system is fully automated. It does not require frequent updating or tinkering. If properly installed and initiated, it can develop a life cycle of its own. It all begins with the right group of "leads." These leads refer to specific persons who share common interests, needs, and wants. Ideally, they must also have high social networking potentials to attract larger groups of people. Using php tell-a-friend software can expedite the process of attracting highly targeted visitors. This is not only because of automation but also because of the richness of information and interactivity that this software can provide.

Automation is just one of the basic features of php tell-a-friend. It is a software application that can run in auto-pilot. It can facilitate the traffic of targeted visitors by extracting the email addresses from the contact list of new customers or subscribers. Typically, a new customer or subscriber first has to validate his or her email account by clicking an encrypted link sent to the email address. In doing so, the software will automatically extract email addresses from the contact list and send invitation letters using the identity of the new customer. Extracting or importing email contacts and sending invitation letters are the two basic automation features of referral software.

Creating personalized invitation letters is another feature of php tell-a-friend software. This does not only refer to invitation letters containing the name of the recipient but also refer to the content and aesthetic design of the letter. Some referral software applications are capable of generating different designs and contents for every group of recipients. The level of customization is of course still based on certain templates but at least monotony is minimized. PHP-based referral scripts are powerful because they are capable of generating web pages or HTML documents that can be incorporated and displayed in an email.