I read some information on viral marketing could you perhaps shed some light on how viral marketing can help?

Simple, really. You come up with an idea that you know people will want to link to; an example would be the Burger King's subservient chicken (http://www.subservientchicken.com ) or KiddofSpeed's motorbike ride around the Chernobyl area (http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm). Your choice of subjects and styles is limited only by your imagination.

You then drop a few links here and there on the forums or make a press release or two, and wait.

Suddenly the idea gets picked up and there are lots of links from zillions of sites, people email each other about it, and everyone wants to see what's going on and what's behind the idea. Whoever set it in motion gets all the publicity and a natural boost in web site traffic. Almost overnight, traffic can go from almost nil to thousands of hits per day.

After a time, the viral idea quietly fades away but the site either gets left in place 'as is' to pick up the residual traffic or is expanded to make best use of any visitors still trickling in, which can go on for some considerable time. A link or two to another site owned by the author or a sponsor will also benefit that site with traffic and very strong inbound links.

Viola! Viral marketing.

A current example of viral marketing is the highly successful Million Dollar Homepage, which has been picked up by the main news media (as was the subservient chicken) and has earned it's author around $670,000 (and counting) in the space of a few months!