These days it is becoming more and more popular for people to plan on creating their online appearance. This first step is done easily most of the times. But shifting a normal blog into an online business to earn some extra money, if not even making it to the main income stream is more challenging for most.

What are the reasons for that? There are so many examples of people out there in the net, who reached the goal of earning a good living online, while at the same time gaining more freedom of lifestyle. And these people are not holding back their knowledge and share publically how they did it. So what is the reason many people cannot follow through even if all the knowledge is out there.

Well – one of my personal experiences is that the amount of knowledge out there can be overwhelming. Just when we think we have it all together and can finally start, we find another email in our outlook saying we have to study the newest „whatever“, cause the „old internet“ as it was before will be dead tomorrow and the old recipes will not work anymore.

Of course we all have to keep an eye on developments and stay up to date. But rarely we have to throw all our knowledge over board and start over instantly.

So it is what it is today and tomorrow: a few simple steps we have to follow through. Or let`s say reading these simple steps is simple:-). Doing what we read for some reason needs some extra energy, even if the the actions required sound so easy. Acting on concepts is more challenging than reading about concepts. And we know it all out of experience: knowing is not doing. Its neuroscience involved. We have to build brain cells for the required action and that takes a little time at first and we have to overcome some resistance level. So we need to push ourselfes a bit after the brain cells are established (wait at least a night after reading the information at best). Then take step by step and be aware the first steps are the toughest, it get`s a lot easier later once the momentum is going and our brain pattern built.

So once again, here are the exacts steps to follow, if you plan on making some money online:

Step 1. Find your Market

Please be aware I am stating market and not passion or expertise as you often read, too. To be an expert or have a passion is nice and will help you write content, but there is no use in it, if there is no market (meaning people wanting to buy products in that segment). In an ideal world market, passion and expertise come togehter for you in your niche. But even if that is not the case, you can become an expert fairly fast with some research (at least enough expert for the online business you want to start). Know what your customers want by searching in forums or google it and give the hungry buyers just what they ask for. It is much easier to sell what people allready want, than to convince people to buy what they should want (in your opinion).

Step 2. Get your webpage online

Find a nice domain, which in best case is benefit driven and has some of your markets keywords in it (that is not a must, as my site is built around my name, too). You can find plenty and easy to follow descriptions on how to set up a webpage and where to host it (hostgator.com for example). I do not need to repeat it here. You can nowadays also outsource this for little money and focus solely on your content.

Step 3. Find a way of interacting with your visitors

Give your visitors the chance to write comments and and have an optin page (people leave their email adress and name for further contact) installed, so you can keep communicating with them. Of course, allways offer an unsubscribe button, too. Send out quality content on a regular basis via e-mail, build a relationship and have them revisit your site, so at some stage, they might want to buy your products (which you have created meanwhile: for example an ebook). For leaving their information you might want to provide them with a free report or some information of value for them, so there is some incentive for action.
You can deliver that report using an autorespondersystem like Aweber for example. That way you do not have to send out all manually by email.

Step 4. Find readers and build traffic

You can allways get traffic easy by using a google adwords campagne and pay for every click. If you don`t know what a campagne like that is, just google it, the system itself has an easy to follow instruction. So if you have the budget to do so, you might choose this to find some quick successes. At the beginning though, you might want to consider using “organic traffic” (not paid traffic). This can be done by writing good content with keywords and the put it on your blog and several article directories (like www.ezinearticles.com for example).
Also publish your content on facebook and twitter and get it spread in the net. Maybe team up with friends and let them spread it, too.

Step 5. Last not least, have products ready and offer them to you customers/readers

Of course we can feel happy if we are passionate about a topic and people come to our site and discuss these topics with us. There is already some mental value or payment if you want involved. If you want to use your blog or website to earn money though, you have to be prepared to have some really high class content to sell at your webpage, so people who like your material can purchase it. After all, if you earn money with your blog your are more free to put more energy in it and produce even more value. A win-win situation with your readers.

So, I hope you found some of these steps helpful. Very likely you have read similar articles like this. But repetition is also supporting a learning curve and if this article gets you to implementing things then the goal would be reached. Once again, be patient with yourself at the beginning. The first steps are the hardest part.

To your learning success,

Dirk

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1. How to Add More Profitable Products to Your Product Funnel

By integrating Mind Maps and the iMindMap software into your business you can streamline your working process, save time, wave goodbye to information overload and boost your productivity. Read on to find out how…

1) Present

Present something different and deliver with impact. Mind Maps allow you to brainstorm ideas, make a plan of action and present it to your colleagues all in one place. By using using key words, Mind Maps encourage clearer, more concise and more stimulating presentations. The combination of keywords and the visually stimulating structure of a Mind Map is proven to increase recall of information and allow you to handle challenging questions with confidence. iMindMap’s Presentation Mode offers a refreshing alternative to presenting with slides, giving you a highly visual and effective way of conveying your message. You can attach files, webpages, audio clips and even PowerPoint slides to the branches within iMindMap creating a truly multimedia presentation, all easily manipulated from within your Mind Map.

2) Plan

Plan your schedules, meetings, briefs and proposals in a new and more efficient way with Mind Maps. You can divide up topics and tasks into different branches, adding sub-topics and smaller, related tasks as child branches. Then you can draw connections between related tasks, see how different projects impact each other and prioritise you time accordingly. Make ‘To Do’ lists, plan your weekly schedules, construct a three month marketing plan or set goals for the year. A Mind Map is the perfect space to organise and group information in a clear and coherent way – cover all aspects in one place, from agendas and objectives, to resources and locations, so you can stay organised and on the ball.

3) Consolidate

With a Mind Map you can consolidate a vast range of information, and with the iMindMap software you can take this to a multimedia level with anything from spreadsheets to websites to audio files. With all the relevant information at your fingertips, all in one Mind Map, you are in control and can save hours of time. You can throw in all of the documents and links relating to a specific project you’re working on, attaching files to the relevant branch of your project map. You have complete control in iMindMap and the potential to create your own library of information that is easily navigated and all on one screen. Integrating new data or amending existing data is simple as you aren’t tied to a rigid structure – a Mind Map is a living document.

4) Project Manage

Manage time, data and resources to achieve new levels of productivity with iMindMap’s award winning Project Management System. Create Mind Maps to scope projects, then add tasks, dates, predecessors, milestones and durations. Incorporating Gantt charts, Task Tables and Mind Maps, this tool can be fully integrated with Outlook and Microsoft Project to ensure you never leave a project unfinished or behind schedule again.

5) Problem Solve

Find innovative solutions with a tool that provides a space for exploring relationships between the various facets of a problem and inspires creative and critical thinking. By creating a Mind Map you can view all the elements of a problem at once – stimulating creative association and integration. The process acts as a trigger device for your creativity and encourages your brain to track out ideas which normally lie in obscurity at the edge of your thinking. The iMindMap software gives you complete freedom to manipulate and draw connections between your ideas, without interrupting your train of thought. If you’ve ever felt like your hitting your head against a brick wall trying to figure out a solution or come up with a new idea, you need to try Mind Mapping!

6) Collaborate

Collaborate with others to develop plans or implement key projects. A Mind Map allows you to harness the input of all members of a group in a dynamic and creative way and is proven to enhance critical thinking. Contributions can be added to the relevant branches and either explored further, or put on hold for later discussion. With iMindMap Ultimate, you can also capture audio notes and attach them to your map to ensure no comment is missed without losing the momentum of the discussion.

7) See the Bigger Picture

A Mind Map is a perfect platform for analysing your business, making decisions and anticipating potential threats or risks. PEST, SWOT, Five Forces, SMART, Six Thinking Hats, Four P’s, Balanced Scorecard, Value Chain Analysis and any business model you may wish to explore, can be simplified and enhanced by using a Mind Map as your workspace. The radiating nature of a Mind Map allows limitless expansion of ideas whilst keeping a coherent and organised structure – providing you with the whole picture in one visual snapshot.

Interested in Mind Mapping? You can get a FREE TRIAL of iMindMap, the only Mind Mapping software from Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Maps if you click on the banner on the right side.

2 your online sucess, Dirk

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Entering the piazza, we saw that we had the choice of four restaurants: one that was very busy, two that were moderately busy, and one that had just one couple sitting at a table in the back.

Which do you think we picked?

Here was our thought process:

We couldn’t bring ourselves to consider the nearly empty restaurant. If it were any good, more than two people would have been eating there. We scratched that one.

Then there were the two that were half-filled. One had plastic chairs. That one was out. The other one was cute — a contender.

So it was between that one and the crowded restaurant.

They both had attractive table settings. They had similar menus and pricing. There was no significant difference between the two except that one was crowded and the other wasn’t.

In the less-crowded restaurant, the waiters would be less rushed, the kitchen less pressured. That being the case, we figured we would probably get better service.

But we also assumed that the crowded restaurant must have been crowded for a reason. There was now only one table left. We grabbed it and felt lucky to be there.

How did we decide?

On the face of it, you might say we made a logical decision. But I don’t think that’s what we did. Our logic, such as it was, was more a rationalization of deep-seated impulses. Neurobiologists say that such impulses were implanted in the human brain millions of years ago.

If you want to be a master marketer, you must become an expert at understanding those impulses. Because when it comes to decision making, they are just as important as logic. Maybe more important.

In his classic work Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini showed how successful marketers play on these impulses to persuade prospects to buy.

When K and I made our decision, it involved some rational thought. But that rational thought supported what we knew, deep down inside, we already wanted to do.

Cialdini would say that our decision was based on a combination of “urgency” and conforming to “social proof.”

And that’s what I want to talk about today: why you need to include adequate urgency and social proof in your advertising efforts.

When we mention that Early to Rise has 400,000+ subscribers… or when McDonald’s says they serve 52 million people around the world every day — that’s social proof.

Urgency you’ve seen during one-day sales or when a supermarket offers a specially priced item “as long as supplies last.”

I have written about these concepts before. And I have coached a hundred writers about them. But I find that in many of the promotions I review, they are inadequately presented or absent entirely.

What’s more disturbing to me, I have noticed that I sometimes neglect them myself when I write sales copy.

I’m taking the time to discuss them again today because I am guessing that you, too, may give social proof and urgency short shrift. If you do, your copy is not as strong as it could be. And I’m hoping to convince you to make it a habit to emphasize them in your marketing.

I’m also hoping that by writing this essay something will click in my calcified brain and I’ll remember to employ them in all the marketing campaigns I work on in the future. That will be good for my clients… and it will beef up my consulting fees.

When K and walked into that plaza, we had only one piece of prior knowledge about those four restaurants. K had read that one of them was excellent. And so that was the one we meant to go to.

But guess what?

That was the restaurant that was nearly empty. Seeing it so — surrounded by three restaurants that were doing good business — gave us serious doubts.

The review K read had said the food was excellent but the pricing was a bit high. So why didn’t they have more customers — people like us who were willing to pay a little more for good food?

Since there was no one there but two people at a back table, we were scared to try it. Perhaps the management had changed since the review was written. Perhaps someone had died of ptomaine poisoning the night before. Who knew?

We had reliable evidence (the review) that the restaurant was good. But we ignored it because our instincts made us fearful.

Cialdini would have said that was the effect of social proof — in this case, the negative social proof of its being nearly empty.

In his chapter on social proof, Cialdini says:

“The principle of social proof states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. The principle applies especially to the way we decide what constitutes correct behavior. We view behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it. Whether the question is what to do with an empty popcorn box in a movie theater, how fast to drive on a certain stretch of highway, or how to eat chicken at a dinner party, the actions of those around us will be important in defining the answer.”

Cialdini cites a psychological study in which children with an extreme fear of dogs were cured of their phobia by watching a video of other children playing happily with dogs. After watching the video for just four days, for just 20 minutes each day, 67 percent of the children were able to interact comfortably with dogs. And the results didn’t dissipate over time.

As examples of social proof in action, Cialdini also mentions canned laughter on TV sitcoms and the incessant naming of donors during public radio pledge drives.

Now consider how social proof might play out in an advertising campaign.

You are selling a product that happens to be very good. When you create the promotion for it, you say that it is good and you talk about its benefits for your prospects. But you provide no social proof.

Reading your promotion, the prospect is initially intrigued. But because there’s a lack of social proof to back up your promises and claims, he doubts what you’re telling him. He begins to read everything you have written as potential fluff. He wants to believe you (as all prospect do) but his inner brain (the part of the brain that controls emotional intelligence) is skeptical.

What does he conclude?

My guess: that you have given him no proof of your promises and claims because you have none. And if you have none, that must mean the product is unsatisfactory. So he decides not to buy from you. He has plenty of other similar offers to choose from.

Back to our restaurant experience…

We had eliminated the one restaurant that already had us sold because of a lack of social proof.

Now there were three to choose from. We eliminated the first one because of the plastic chairs. This, too, I would argue, was a decision based on emotional not rational intelligence. It’s been our experience that a restaurateur who thinks a plastic chair is adequate is likely to be one who thinks mediocre food is adequate.

So then it was down to two: one half-filled and the other nearly full.

Both could have had great food. We could have asked people dining there what they thought of it — thus gathering social proof ourselves. But the restaurant that was nearly full was filling up fast. There were a half dozen other couples milling around. If we took too long to make our decision, we wouldn’t have the option of choosing the busiest one. So we opted for that and took the one remaining table.

What, then, was behind our final choice?

It was “scarcity” — one of the factors that creates a feeling of urgency. The fact that there was only one table left made us worry that we would miss out. So we yielded not to logic but to an instinct we had that scarcity equals value.

Again, from Cialdini:

“The idea of potential loss plays a larger role in human decision making. In fact, people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value. For instance, homeowners told how much money they could lose from inadequate insulation are more likely to insulate their homes than those told how much money they could save.

“Collectors of everything from baseball cards to antiques are keenly aware of the influence of the scarcity principle in determining the worth of an item. As a rule, if it is rare or becoming rare, it is more valuable.”

To illustrate the impact of scarcity, Cialdini cites a study in which the owner of a beef-importing business uses one of three prepared sales pitches with his regular customers, wholesale buyers for supermarkets: (1) his standard sales pitch; (2) his standard sales pitch with a bit of information about an upcoming shortage of imported beef in the next few months; or (3) both of the above, as well as an aside that this information about the shortage was not well-known.

The buyers given the second version of the sales pitch bought twice as much as those given the standard spiel. And the third group bought six times as much.

After ordering our meal, we asked our waitress why our first-choice restaurant was empty. (It was now completely empty.) We expected to have our suspicions confirmed — that since that glowing review was published, something had changed. But that is not what she told us.

She said, “I don’t know. But that’s the way it goes here. One night we are very busy and the next night it is someplace else.”

“What do you think accounts for it?” I asked.

“The one that gets the earliest customers usually is the one that fills up,” she said.

So there it was.

Our first choice probably had the best food, but it was now empty because everybody but one couple had come to the same conclusion we had. Like us, they probably made a decision based first on a lack of social proof and second on a feeling of urgency created by scarcity.

If I were the proprietor of any of those four competing restaurants I’d make sure that my place was always full by doing three things.

• First I would rope off all of the back tables and leave them unset.
• Then I’d let my regular customers know that if they came by early in the evening, they could eat for half price.
• And then, as the tables started to fill up, I’d gradually open up more by moving back the rope.

By taking advantage of the principles of social proof and scarcity, I would ensure that my restaurant would attract a continuous stream of customers.

As expert marketers we have an obligation to do the same with our advertisements.

We must, of course, make sure that every promise and claim we make is backed up with factual proof — the results of scientific studies, statistics, that sort of thing.

But we must provide social proof as well. That would include endorsements by trusted authorities and testimonials from satisfied users.

And don’t forget urgency. Urgency can be created in many ways in an ad — but the strongest way is based on scarcity. You must let the prospect know that if he wants the product you are offering at the price you are offering, he must act now.

So there you have it: two extremely important advertising principles. Make yourself a promise that you will pay them heed. I am making that promise to myself as I write this.

[Ed. Note: Social proof, urgency, and scarcity are key psychological motivators that every marketer must understand. But you can’t fake them in your advertising. They must be real or they won’t be believed. And they won’t work if you don’t “back them up” with:

• Quality products desired by the market
• A way to build your customer list
• Procedures for testing products, marketing channels, and advertising messages
• Good copy that stirs buyer emotions

And the list goes on…

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to creating wealth and success through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your online success, Dirk

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Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity

Most entrepreneurs I know are proud of their “multitasking” ability. But maybe they shouldn’t be.

The term was originally applied to computers – to describe the way a CPU solves problems by scheduling tasks and switching back and forth from task to task until each one gets done. Well, that may be an efficient way for a computer to work, but it’s anything but efficient when it comes to your productivity.

Dave Crenshaw wrote my favorite book on the topic, and I recommend it to anyone who still thinks and feels that multitasking is cool. On page 29 in The Myth of Multitasking, he writes:

“Around the end of the twentieth century, some wordsmith saw the connection between our increasingly hectic world and the world of the computer. A catchword was born.

Newspapers began peppering their articles with the word. Talk show hosts began using it with frequency. Magazines began publishing articles about how to multitask more effectively.

Multitasking quickly became as popular and accepted as the automobile and the hamburger.”

Dave Crenshaw has a more accurate word to describe flipping back and forth between two (or more) activities. He calls it “switchtasking.”

Multitasking or switchtasking reduces your efficiency (your ability to do the right things) and your effectiveness (your ability to do things right) because it forces you to keep changing your mental focus. During the switchover time (less than a second, in most cases), your concentration diminishes and the number of mistakes you make dramatically increases.

In fact, many states (including California) have outlawed multitasking on the highway by making it illegal to speak on a handheld mobile phone while driving a car.

“A mere half second of time lost to task switching can mean the difference between life and death for a driver using a cellphone, because during the time that the car is not totally under control, it can travel far enough to crash into obstacles the driver might have otherwise avoided,” reported Dr. David Meyer from the University of Michigan.

Okay, so let me ask you a candid question. How many of the following common multitasking activities do you engage in?

• Writing e-mails while speaking on the telephone
• Checking voice mail while speaking to your spouse
• Reading the newspaper while listening to the news
• Watching TV while having a family conversation
• Tweeting while instant messaging while…

I’m guessing you’ve done “all of the above” at some point in your adult life. But my point isn’t to nag you about multitasking. It is to make you conscious of how destructive it can be.

It’s not only mentally stressful to splinter your attention (and make mistakes along the way), multitasking sets you up for failure… and the guilt of not completing everything you set out to do.

Stacking vs.Multitasking

Now if you do two things at once but can keep the majority of your attention on only ONE of those things, that’s a whole different animal. I call this stacking. Dave Crenshaw calls it background tasking. (You can call it whatever you wish.)

Stacking helps you get more done, faster and better. It is a productive use of your time because only ONE of the tasks you are doing requires mental effort.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

• Eating dinner while watching a video
• Jogging while listening to your iPod
• Driving while listening to the radio
• Writing an e-mail while printing out a document
• Munching on a snack while riding a bicycle
• Listening to the news while showering
• Reading a book while getting a haircut

Stacking doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll become more effective (by doing the right things), but it can practically guarantee more efficiency (doing things right to get maximum results in minimum time).

Stacking & America’s Middle Class

Henry Ford didn’t invent the car, but he did figure out how to produce automobiles that were within the reach of the average American. And I believe he did this by preventing his workers from multitasking.

Prior to his introduction of the assembly line to the manufacturing process, cars were individually crafted by teams of skilled workmen. But instead of having one team work on one car, from start to finish, he created a stacking environment where the cars came to the workers – and each worker performed the same assembly task again and again.

The stacking power of the assembly line reduced the time it took to manufacture a car from 13 hours to less than six. That made it possible for Ford to offer the Model T for $825 when it made its debut in 1908. Four years later, the price dropped to $575. By 1914, Ford claimed a 48 percent share of the world’s automobile market.

What to Do Now

You can stop the insanity of multitasking right now by listing (right here) two or three multitasking activities you commonly engage in at work or at home.

Then, the next time you catch yourself multitasking, stop. Take a moment to think about what you’re doing, and quickly choose one of those tasks to focus on first. Complete that task before you switch to the other one.

I think you’ll find that this automatically makes you more efficient, more effective – and feeling a lot better about yourself for getting multiple jobs done right.

By Alex Mandossian

[Ed. Note: Alex Mandossian knows a thing or two about success. He has generated over $233 million in sales for his clients. And in the past three years, he increased his own revenues from $1.5 million to $5 million. You can get Alex's advice and practical marketing tips for info-publishers, small-business owners, and entrepreneurs for free at www.AlexMandossianToday.com.

Interested in making between $50,000 and $5 million - starting this year? Find out how to do so right here.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your learning success, Dirk

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This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

No related posts.