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

The Success Indicator

52 Week Money Challenge

SECRET TO BEATING ROULETTE WHEEL REVEALED

1. A way to beat the roulette was kept under wraps for decades -- until now.
2. Roulette seems random because of the way the ball bounces around before it comes to rest. The casino's "house" has an advantage of just a percentage point or two, and that's all that's necessary to come out ahead. And, the complex and chaotic bouncing of the ball is what makes roulette a very difficult game to cheat.
3. PHOTOS: Video Game Fails
4. Until the 1970s, when a man named Doyne Farmer came up with a way to beat the wheel. He used an early computer to do the number crunching -- a pretty notable feat then, since portable laptops wouldn't become common for another twenty years. But he didn't publish his findings because he didn't want to encourage cheating at casinos.
5. Now Michael Small, a mathematician at the University of Western Austrailia, and Chi Kong Tse, an electronic engineer from Hong Kong Plytechnic University, have developed their own algorithm for beating roulette. They submitted a paper to the journal Chaos. Farmer decided that there was no reason to keep quiet anymore.

Extra Income Through Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is the fastest growing industry on the Internet today. Extra Income made through this channel runs into billions of dollars yearly. Many people get involved in it without a solid plan for success. Indeed, many want to earn extra income using affiliate marketing, albeit without a real base plan, which is the most important reason for most being unsuccessful at it. Do you really look at any earning without understanding or planning the future of any business, be it at work or at earning extra income? 

Don not be under any misconceptions, though affiliate marketing is an easy and entertaining way to earn extra income, it is serious work, and just like any other job that requires effort, perseverance, and above all, a clear line of sight and plan of action from start to finish line. 

Small things like setting up your home office properly, getting up to date on know-how, setting achievable goals, making people connections, and investment in your business will ensure that you are one-up on your competition, and also make sure that you firmly stand over them. 

Home Office Setup 

The most important step to take before becoming an affiliate marketer is to set up your base – little home office you’ve always wanted. 

You can find many resources on the internet about ergonomic design. Ergonomic because anyone intending to spend a major amount of time working on their computers need space which promotes good posture at the same time takes care of safety issues involving their office workspace. 

Learning the Trade 

Nobody gets into work untrained. Even when you applied for your first job, you had made sure that you are qualified and can do justice to it. Putting in a nutshell, no one hires you for giving you a free extra income without basic training. 

What you need then, is to get some training on how to become a professional affiliate marketer. You can start by finding another one and check what they can do to help you. There are many professional affiliate marketers already earning a substantial extra income, who would be willing to teach you by passing o their knowledge so that you can augment the extra income they are already earning. The internet also offers a lot of resources and conference time tables which you can attend to learn. 

The secret is to become a student of your own business; you will get to learn something new day after day. Now you are ready to begin by setting some realistic goals for yourself. 

Goals 

The major problem that plagues most affiliate marketers is that they tend to set themselves unrealistic goals by being over confident about their skills and plans. This results in becoming disenchanted very quickly due to non attainment of goals. Being realistic removes a lot of pain in this context. For example a goal of $5,000 a month realistically attainable, but a first time affiliate marketer is not likely to attain it when starting up

The author invites you to visit:
http://www.worldwide-wealth.net  

10 Blogging Tips For an Irresistible List Post

The articles divided into points, in other words the list posts, have a great success among readers in the blogosphere, because they are easy to read, they avoid unnecessary chatter and they are rich of information.

Writing a list post, means to organize content in a structure that is particularly suited to the web, but this does not mean that you can simply number some stuff and just publish it, in order to get retweets, comments or academics kisses.

You must remember this : Quality above all!

Here you find 10 blogging tips that you should follow in order to write a great List Post.

1 . Publish Useful Resources

You should take a moment to emphasize in your article the fundamental concept, in other words what you are writing about.

Before think to write about a specific topic, just ask yourself : “Has someone already published a list of the resources listed in my article? Can I give to the readers something useful ?

Try to be innovative in your writing, and avoid what has been said already 1,000 times.

I know that in the blogging niche, this is something not easy at all, but if someone ask you the difference between your list and the one already published by other bloggers, the answer should be very clear.

And above all you should write something really useful. See what I mean :

How to Write an Article in Less than One Hour : 10 Useful Tips

2 . Do Not Complicate: Simplify

The list posts go viral on the web. They respond to the needs of those who have little time available and allow your readers to quickly identify what interests them.

For this reason the list posts are easier to read, in relation to other articles.

You should select the most interesting information for ordering a weighted list. Nothing must be left to chance!

3 . Do Not Overdo the Points

Publishing a list with 150 points makes always a certain effect, but you should think if all these points are really necessary to your article.

Remember that people in internet are lazy and too many points may bore them.

There is not a particular right number of points for your post, each list needs its space to be explained.

I have written a list with 102 points, but actually this is a resume of  Blogging Tips and What I Have Learned, so I guess if it is really worth, you can list many points.

Just try to identify and develop your idea, therefore write the points that you think are useful to explain your concept.

Top 5 Computing Affiliate Marketing Programs

OneNetworkDirect – Specializes in the software and digital marketplace. They deliver the largest selection of digital products available online, including the prominent brand titles. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 70% commissions paid every month and with a minimum payment threshold of $25.

Dell – Is one of the trusted companies worldwide. They have been in business for more than 20 years now, delivering quality electronics and other digital products to homes and offices.

Hewlett Packard – Also one of the trusted companies worldwide. Their brand is so renowned in the electronics and digital industry. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 5% commissions on every sale and pay every month.

CircuitCity – A very known brand in America with history dating back to 1949. They have a lot of products selection of consumer electronics, digital products and all accessories that goes with it. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 4% commissions in their products and get paid bi-weekly once you reach their minimum threshold of $50.

Apple – Also another giant brand in the computer industry, as an affiliate you can earn up to 2% on every sale of their product and they pay their affiliate every month.

courtesy  http://www.clickbankphilippines.com

Top 5 Best Dating Affiliate Marketing Programs

EasyDate – One of the largest dating site in the UK, and renown in the dating industry and the online marketing industry. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 90% commissions.  They pay their affiliates every month and with a minimum threshold of $150.

EasyFlirt – A popular dating affiliate program that is helping singles around the world to find love. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 55% commissions and they payout every month once you reach the minimum threshold of $150.

FriendFinder – They have been in the online dating industry since 1996 and their popularity continues to grow. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 20% commissions and they pay bi-weekly, as long as the payment threshold reaches $50 or more.

Chemistry – Is a premium dating site offered by match.com, helping people who are searching for the special someone online. As an affiliate, you can earn 100% commissions on first time subscription and other monthly bonuses and commissions.

Spark – Another great dating site with a very nice affiliate program. As an affiliate, you can earn up to 75% commissions on first time subscriptions. They pay every month, as long as the payment threshold of $100 is reached.

courtesy http://www.clickbankphilippines.com

3 Weird Things You MUST Do To Have A Successful Online Business

Ok so here they are. Ready?

1. Digging Where The X is

I go to a lot of these “entrepreneur meetup” kind of events where people with all kinds of businesses and business ideas go to chat and be around “like minded people”. And at them I hear about all kinds of ideas for new products and new businesses that these passionate people are trying to share with the world…

Many of which are just horrible.

I’ll be listening to a guy talk about his business idea and having this internal dialogue…

“Yep… ok… I can tell that you’re really passionate about this designer air freshener… But you realize NO ONE wants this right?”

“Oh no I get that it’s really creative… I can see you’ve put a lot of thought into the combination of scents… But you get that NO ONE else cares … right?”

It’s a problem and the problem comes from the mistaken idea that business is about YOU. It’s not.

Forget your interests. Forget your hobbies. Forget the creative little ideas that would solve your problems.

Having a successful business is about solving OTHER PEOPLE’S problems… not your own.

You find a group of people with a clear, stated problem, and the already existing desire and the means to solve it… and you can build a business. (In that sentence there’s a checklist for niche research in case you missed it… In fact that might be the best sentence I’ve ever written… justsayin’)

If it so happens that you are already a part of that group, then that’s a bonus. It shouldn’t be a prerequisite.

You dig where the X is. That’s all you do.

You go to where there is money already being made, and you start there. The more money is being made there the better, and the less other diggers there are the better… but that’s what you do.

You put up camp there, and you keep digging until you uncover your gold. Which brings me nicely to…

How To Become A Laptop Millionaire

There are very few books that I recommend as a *MUST READ* for seasoned marketers and newbies.

The laptop Millionaire -How Anyone Can Escape the 9 to 5 and Make Money Online,  by Mark Anastasi,  has a inspirational story that really resonated with me.

It reminded me about the Pursuit of Happiness movie with Will Smith, except in the internet marketing world.

The author, much like myself, was never successful at working for the man at a 9-5 job.  He felt under appreciated and eventually found himself out of a job, in debt during very hard times.

The internet was his saving grace.  Armed with just his laptop, Mark was able to completely turn his life around to very quickly become a multimillionaire.

Unlike the movie the Pursuit of Happiness, the book does not stop there.

Mark continues to talk you through his journey on how he made money.

After joining a few forums and talking to a few guys he got some tips on generating revenue online.

He quickly started generating revenue, all from his laptop, with:

• E-Books
• SEO
• You Tube
• List-Building

These strategies are illustrated through case studies and success stories of more than 100 of his students from around the world and from all walks of life. I loved the personal stories about how people  changed their lives by tapping into the Internet economy.

Now while you have heard this before I am sure from “guru’s” but, the techniques Mark walks you through,  honestly,  are more valuable than any “product” I have seen for sale for thousands of dollars… and he gives it away for 13 dollars.

But one of the most eye opening, gangster tips is how he leveraged CHEAP people to do 95% of the work for him.  Really blew me away and changed my mindset on a few things.

BTW if you notice there are no affiliate links.  I don’t want people to think I wrote this just to make a few g’s off of affiliate links.  As I said above it’s a *MUST* read.

Get your copy here at your favorite spot ASAP:

http://astore.amazon.com/garrenjohn-20/detail/1118271793

by JEREMY SCHOEMAKER  shoemoney.com

What is the best affiliate programme?

Want To Know What Is The Best Paying Affiliate Programme?

I see this question asked on many SEO forums. What is the best affiliate programme? Many people want to know what is the universal best paying affiliate programme out there. The one that will make them the most cash. Do you want to know what it is? 

Many people want to know what is the single best affiliate programme out there. The one affiliate programme that they can make the most money out of. The top banana. The daddy of all affiliate programmes. The ‘big kahuna’. You really want to know, hmm?!

Well…Let’s answer the question of what is the best affiliate programme. Are you ready? Are you sitting comfortably?! OK…

 THE Definitive Answer

The answer is that the best affiliate programme out there is the one that best meets your goals. This means that there is no single best affiliate programme out there. The best affiliate programme is the one that works best for you. Booo! What a cop out – that’s probably not the answer most of you wanted to hear!