What makes people buy? Understanding the psychology of the online shopping process

February 17, 2014 by Guest Blogger

Helping shoppers go from browsing to buying is the name of the game in ecommerce. But it’s not as easy as it looks. Did you know?

• 57% of shoppers abandon a site if they have to wait more than three seconds for something to load. 
• 85% of shoppers read online reviews before using local businesses.
• 41% abandon an online shopping cart because of hidden charges.

 Find out more on this excellent infographic courtesy of Vouchercloud

courtesy http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk

30 Traffic Generation Tips for a Content Marketer

 Published | By Michael Chibuzor

Targeted traffic is the key

Driving people to your offer is the fundamental key to look out for if you’re a website owner and a writer. Bear in mind that you don’t necessarily need traffic, but TARGETED traffic.

In other words, the people who should visit your website and blog MUST be interested in what you’re writing about – to a large extent.

I don’t want to waste your precious time. I’ve divided these 30 traffic generation tips for content marketers into 5 sections. Read each stage quietly and go implement the tips therein:

Know your market

Mind you, this is different from keyword research.

Many business owners and bloggers experience challenges at driving targeted traffic to their websites because they don’t know who lives in their market. How you found out how their ages, sex, lifestyle, income range, education etc. looks like?

A market is a place where you meet your ideal customers. At first, they will not come to you because you’re still a stranger to their environment. You’ve to look for them and bring them to your website.

1.    Follow hot trends – What is happening right now in the blogosphere and the world at large have a strong impact in your market.
Aha, the changes may not directly affect you, but it’ll affect your ideal customers. And they’re the ones you’re serving. Always keep yourself updated on hot trends.

 2.    Subscribe to industry newsletter – The reason why you should subscribe to 3 – 5 industry newsletters is so that you can get current information on products, services, trends, events and research works. You need this to improve your content and consequently drive more traffic.

3.    Use Google analytics – Google has provided more than an analytics tool here. With this, you can identify the location of your most active readers. The type of content people read the most and how long they stay while reading them. Get to know the best keywords that are bringing in organic traffic so that you can focus more on those.

4.    Find and join in the discussions – Don’t spam forums and facebook walls, get involved in the discussion and learn what your ideal customers are concerned about.

5.    Study the popular posts on niche-specific blogs – If a particular post is popular, don’t think it’s an accident. Study it carefully and use the idea to create yours.

Drip feed rich content

You can use a content delivery system to drip feed your content or simply schedule it using the WordPress CMS.

There is no shortcut to building a high-traffic website and blog than paying attention to valuable content.

I know that so many people who don’t understand the importance of this would frown at it. Aside Google and their rigorous updates, your target audience is desperately yearning for rich, dynamic and exclusive content.

You can’t afford to stick to generic articles, blog posts and other forms of content and expect to drive traffic in this competitive era.

Don’t be deceived by any fake software that promises to send you avalanche of free quality traffic without any effort on your part. That’s hype and it doesn’t work in the real world.

Remember, you’ve to drip feed the content you write gradually but consistently. Don’t try to add 5 articles or blog posts to your blog every day – ideally, schedule one post to be published daily or one post per week.

This way, you can concentrate on promoting the content via other blogs, directories, press release distributions etc.

To produce rich content consistently, do these 5 things:

6.    Listen more than you talk – If you can listen more than you talk, you’ll be a better writer and win the hearts of your target audience. Because you have listened and now, you are TRULY capable of solving their problems.

7.    Set a goal that you MUST write content daily – the more you write the more better you’ll become. Yes baby!

8.    Craft strong and catchy headlines – The headline is the most important part of your content. Make it good because Google will fall in love with it, when people start clicking on it.

9.    Be personal – connect emotionally with readers. Tell a story to captivate your audience and get them fully involved. Ask open-ended questions and give welcome comments.

10.  Call to action – tell readers what to do next. Ask them to read more or subscribe to your list so that you can send them better and fresher information.
If you’ve a product, don’t be stupid or shy – ask them to buy now. I’m sure you don’t want to go broke?

Top 10 Proven Online Business Ideas

Posted In Business Strategies, General, Make Money Online 

Online Business ideas

Are there any Online Business Ideas I can actually make money from?

Of course there are. But to be honest, you are the only one who can answer if you can.

Thousands of people run successful online businesses. The issue is that not everyone will make money online. Finding the right online business ideas suitable for you to make money takes time to learn, and most people give it up within a few months time.

Way too many people think that online business ideas are some sort of a magic plug in, simply for them to “plug” into!

There is a huge demand for information on Online Business Ideas.

More than 300,000 “Internet Home Business” related searches every month are made on the internet, showcasing the huge demand for information on Online Business Ideas. Unfortunately, this also means that there are a lot of bad information and a lot of preying on the group of people trying to find the information.

I’ve stumble upon a few people who have fallen for these scams. Once I connected with a guy who had been taught a model of “Money Making” Online Business Ideas, all he did was promote this so called “Money Making” model seminar. When I asked him if he was making any money online?

His answer was no, as if, actually making any money on the internet was beside the point…Not my type of guy 

Online Business Ideas Vs. Your Job

Almost every person I talk to asks me, when can I quit my job and work from home? The most important piece of advice when you plan to start your online home business is: Don’t expect to replace your regular job’s income for the next coming 6-8 month!

This said, I will add that service-based business have a faster potential of bringing in revenue. But will still take some time before replacing your salary. 

You need to decide if you are willing to put in the days, weeks, and months to really learn the industry, if you are, then here is where you start:

Online Home -Based Business: Startup Rules

1. Stay away from anything that even sounds like a “get rich quick scheme or “Model” promising instant results. THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS
2. Any program or model only works as much as you can customize it and make it your own unique business. Note that techniques working for one niche don’t necessarily mean it will work for another. (Give it some thought)
3. Knowing or at least willing to learn some SEO (Search Engine Optimization), basic html.  Social media marketing, traditional marketing & sales are a must. Don’t be intimidated, your willingness and a supportive mentor will get you far. (Some of the things you’d be better off outsourcing)
4. Be strong and specialize in a niche. Make sure to know your audience and serve them, not yourself.

You need to figure out your strengths and which business model you will follow. You need to take a closer look at different marketing blueprints to get you kick started. You need to start setting the foundations to build a solid Online Business.

Go through the following list and pick out the ones you have at least some experience. You won’t have all the preferred skills, but don’t let that stop you! We’ve already agreed that your willingness to learn will get you far.

A Smart Tip To Build A Profitable Blog

written by Michael Chibuzor on March 27, 2013

“You don’t launch a profitable blog, you build it.”

I can’t remember where I first read that line, but I think it’s the best tip you can live by this New Year.

Small business owners, mid-size and multinational companies have learnt that blogging is powerful, and so, everyone is eager to compete with you, by starting a blog.

But don’t despair; you’ve YOUR OWN WORLD, and no amount of competition can snatch them away from you, if that’s your decision.

Before I share with you the “smart” way to build a profitable blog, I need you to settle this:

Your blog is not for everyone

Yes, this is powerful and unless you respect this fact, it can be difficult to actually build a thriving audience. Your blog is not for everyone. Got it?

Consequently, your content is not for every reader out there. I was making a terrible mistake in the past with my blog posts – I was writing to attract free traffic no matter where it comes from.

It’s funny because I got an avalanche of free traffic, but conversion rate was poor. For instance, one faithful day, 2057 persons visited my blog, but only 3 persons joined my list. Ouch, please don’t laugh at me…

I know why this happened. I was desperately looking for free traffic but didn’t approach it well.

No matter the quality of your content, some readers will never like it. You shouldn’t beat yourself to death just because some persons hate your writing.

Those readers aren’t in your world. You’ve got to settle this ‘truth’ in your heart, then scale through from there.

Now, what’s the tip to help you build a profitable blog?

“Influence” targeted readers

How do you know who your ideal reader is? This can be difficult to determine actually, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Five Reasons Why People Can’t Make Money Online

1 – Quitting Too Soon

I know a number of people who have made the effort to start something online. Then at the first hurdle they stumble, fall and walk away.

And that hurdle is different for everyone. It could be that they didn’t know how to create a web page or set up their autoresponder.

People don’t fail because they don’t know how to do something. They fail because they don’t figure out another way of getting that job done.

I’m not a technical guy. I don’t enjoy writing code or doing any form of programming. And don’t get me started on creating graphics. I don’t know how to do these things. But I’ve never let it stop me from moving forward.

For everything you can’t do, there will be a talented individual who can.

This should never be a reason to give up on your dream of making money online. There are plenty of places you can go to find the right people to complete tasks professionally and efficiently for you.

2 – Picking The Wrong Niche

Now there’s no such thing as a right or wrong niche. What I mean is that the niche you pick has to be right for you.

So many people get into this business and go for the biggest, most lucrative niche out there. But they have zero knowledge about it and absolutely no interest in it whatsoever.

As much as we talk about creating a passive income and living the dot com dream, the truth of the matter is you have to put in a lot of work before you reach that point.

If you’re not doing something you are passionate about, your time online is going to be painful and difficult.

3 – Thinking It Will Be Fast and Easy

It takes months to reach a stable income from online endeavors. Many people fail to realize that. Nearly every day I’ll receive an email from someone asking “How do I make money online?” What possible answer do these kinds of people expect from a question like that?

A one word answer that will solve all their problems?

I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. I earn $40,000 a month from my blog. But it still took me two years to reach that point. And it was during that time that I made mistakes, lost money, kept learning and continued to improve.

It was a bumpy ride. But I never quit. Every failure was a lesson that made me better.

Many people go out and buy a ton of products and expect to be making money overnight because of that purchase.

Making money online is neither easy nor fast, however it can be fun. I’ve always said that it’s not the destination but the journey that matters. Realize that you have to be consistent and committed. And most importantly, don’t give up.

A Hustler's Bible - By Gayton McKenzie

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States

Ten years ago, in 2003, Gayton McKenzie was released from maximum-security prison in Bloemfontein after a long jail term. Like most ex-convicts he had no money and very big dreams. Unlike most ex-convicts he went on to become South Africa’s most highly paid motivational speaker, a bestselling co-author of an autobiography, a successful businessman and a mining consultant earning millions.

He did this despite only having matric and a violent criminal record. To many, what he achieved should have been impossible.

But hustlers succeed not because of anything. They succeed despite everything.

The McKenzie story is unique, but there are so many universal truths behind it that a book like this will speak to anyone who has ever been serious about following a seemingly impossible dream. 

Download The E-Book HERE