If you’re like most online marketers, small business owners, bloggers or other website owners, then you’re always looking for ways to increase your conversions and sales. After all, it’s just smart business to make the most of your traffic. If you can boost your ROI, then you’ll be putting more money in your pocket at the end of every day.
Now here’s the thing…
You don’t do one grand gesture in order to increase your conversions and sales. Instead, you take a series of small steps. And collectively, these small steps add up to BIG results.
What sort of steps should you take? Below you’ll find five surefire ways to boost your conversions and sales.
And the best part?
You can implement every single one of these ideas using one simple website feature: attention bars. More on that in just a few moments. But first, take a look at these ideas…
#1. Present an exit offer.
A lot of marketers figure if a visitor is leaving their site, then that visitor wasn’t really targeted or interested. And that assumption is a big mistake.
Here’s why…
Just because a visitor is leaving doesn’t mean they’re saying “no” to everything. They’ve just said “no” to whatever they’ve seen so far. And if you dangle the right offer in front of them, you might just get an enthusiastic “YES!”
Let’s suppose someone is looking at your $97 software offer. They’re interested, but maybe it’s not in their budget just yet.
So, what happens?
When they leave your sales page, they’re gone for good. They probably won’t be back. And yet, this is a qualified prospect who is interested in what you’re selling. They just haven’t seen the right offer yet.
Here’s what you do: when they leave your sales page, make them an offer they can’t refuse. For example:
• Give them a free trial. • Give them a low-cost trial. • Offer a “lite” version of the software at a reduced price. • Give them a discount coupon for the full version of the software.
Now what does your prospect say? “YES!” And you just saved a sale and created a customer!
Next…
#2. Get visitors on your list.
This is pretty basic, but it’s a strategy that plenty of marketers still overlook. Simply put, you need to work hard to get as many of your visitors on your mailing list as possible. That way, you can follow up with them via email over time to close the sale.
Remember, a person leaving your site isn’t saying, “no.” They might be saying, “not yet,” or “maybe.” And when you get them on your mailing list, you can turn that “maybe” into a definite yes.
Next idea…
#3. Offer an exciting bonus.
If you’re an affiliate, then it’s no secret you’re competing against hundreds or even thousands of other affiliates who are all selling the exact same thing.
Think about that for a moment.
Saying, “Hey, buy this thing through this link” isn’t going to be enough to pocket those commissions. To meet that goal, you need to do two things:
1.Develop a good reputation in the niche. Obviously, this isn’t something you do in a short amount of time. This is an ongoing task that requires you to promote good products, do so in an honest way, and really help your audience.
2.Add value to every offer. In other words, offer prospects a bonus if they purchase a product through your affiliate link.
This second one is really effective, and it’s something you can start doing immediately. Simply offer a related, valuable bonus that’s in high-demand, and you’ll see your conversion rates get a huge boost. And for obvious reasons – people like to get the most bang for their buck, so they’re going to use the affiliate link that gives them more value for their money.
Next…
#4. Upsell your customers.
You’ve got a prospect sitting on your order form with their credit card in hand. Prospects don’t get much hotter than this. He’s in the buying mood. And that’s why now is the very best time to suggest that he add something to his order. In other words, offer an upsell or cross-sell of a product that will enhance the use and/or enjoyment of the main product.
For example, let’s suppose you have someone who’s ordering a meal-planning app from you for the purposes of losing weight. Offer an accompanying diet guide or low-calorie cookbook as a cross-sell, and you’re sure to boost your average per-transaction price.
Here’s another idea for boosting conversions and sales…
#5. Display a countdown timer.
Sometimes your prospects are interested in your offer. But for whatever reason, they put off the actual purchase. They bookmark your page and tell themselves they’ll come back to it later.
You can guess what happens, right?
Yep, “later” never comes. The person loses interest in your product once the excitement of the sales pitch wears off. Or life gets in the way, and they totally forget about your offer.
What’s the solution to saving these sales?
You need to stir up a sense of urgency. You need to make people feel like they need to purchase RIGHT NOW… or risk missing out. Yes, you need to create a little fear.
You know what creates just the right amount of order-boosting fear? A limited time offer. And to make it even more powerful, you can match this offer with a countdown timer that’s visually ticking down the hours, minutes and seconds left before the offer expires. It’s a powerful way to boost the sense of urgency – and your sales!
Now here’s the best part about all of these ideas…
You can implement every single one of these ideas using an attention bar. Specifically:
1.Put an offer in an attention bar that appears when the visitor is intending to leave your site.
2.Display your opt-in offer using a well-placed attention bar (preferably one that appears after a delay).
3.Insert your affiliate bonus offer in an attention bar, and then overlay this attention bar directly on the sales page. (Yes, that’s completely possible when using iFrame technology.)
4.Place your upsell offer in an attention bar on the order form to really call attention to it.
5.Put a countdown timer in an attention bar that displays on a sales page, or even on some other page of your site to advertise a flash sale or other special offer.
In short, using attention bars is a GREAT way to boost your conversion and sales. Because not only can you use these attention bars in the five ways described above, but you can put them to work for you in countless other ways as well. You can use them to:
• Reiterate a big benefit. • Insert a powerful testimonial. • Place videos or images in them to draw attention. • Use countdown timers to create urgency on any sort of offer. • Persuade prospects to join your list. • Announce new products, sales or news. • Direct prospects to related offers. • Encourage people to request more information.
Simply put, attention bars work like crazy because they’re eye-catching without being eye sores!
But for a lot of marketers, this strategy poses a problem…
Namely, the average marketer or small business owner simply has no idea how to create one of these bars. They don’t have the coding know-how. And even those who know a bit about coding don’t know how to create professional-looking bars that appear at specific times.
Now here’s the good news…
You can start creating your own conversion-boosting attention bars in as few as two minutes – no coding knowledge or skills required!
This is a point-and-click easy way to create beautiful, powerful, and high-converting attention bars. And these bars are fully customizable with a click of your mouse, including:
• Insert conversion-boosting countdown timers.
• Decide when, how and where your attention bars will appear on your page.
• Get the ability to overlay your attention bars on other peoples’ websites, such as your affiliate link.
• Change the colors, font, size and more with a click of your mouse.
• Change your attention bar on the fly in your dashboard, and it instantly updates across your sites.
And so much more. Conversion Gorilla makes it easy for anyone to boost conversions and sales using cutting-edge attention bar technology.
Ready to see it in action for yourself? Check out the demo here:
A lot of folks have a dream of becoming wealthy. They imagine themselves finally feeling financially secure. They imagine what it will feel like to never have to worry about money again. And yes, they imagine a few perks, such as fun vacations and nights out on the town. A lot of these same folks equate “being wealthy” with making money. Or they equate being wealthy with having a big house and a nice car.
But here’s the thing…
Just making a lot of money won’t make you wealthy. And if the bank owns your car and your house – no matter how big and fancy they are – then you aren’t wealthy.
You are just another person in debt, living beyond your means. Being truly wealthy means you accumulate money. It means you grow your money. It means you own your assets (rather than having bank-owned assets with huge payments that leave you struggling every month).
If you want to be THAT kind of wealthy, then take a look at these three keys to wealth. They may be simple, but don’t overlook them because of their simplicity…
Key #1: Making Money So this is perhaps the most obvious key. In order to start building that savings account, you need to make money. This might be from a job. It might be from a business. It might even be from some combination of a job and business. But the point is, you need to have a regular source of income coming in. And, most importantly, this regular source of income needs to be more than you need for your basic living expenses.
Which brings us to the second key…
Key #2: Saving Money A lot of folks who start bringing in money act like that money is burning a hole in their pocket. They just have to spend it. And sometimes they end up nickel and diming themselves to death. For example, a twice-a-day Starbucks coffee and muffin habit can easily end up a couple thousand dollars per year. Going for a “night out on the town” four or five times a month is another way to slide a lot of money out of your bank account fast.
Or how about some of those bills that you pay without really thinking about, like your cable bill? A lot of people pay well over $100 for hundreds of channels they don’t watch.
Those are the types of bills you can easily scale back on without feeling like you’re making a huge sacrifice. Which brings us to the next point…
Just how much do you have to sacrifice, anyway?
The answer to that depends on how wealthy you want to become, how much you’re currently saving, and how much money you’re currently spending.
But here’s some good news: it’s about balance. You see, you don’t need to eat cheap 10 cent Top Ramen soup packets for every meal. You don’t need to sell your car and start taking the bus. You don’t need to go live in a box on the street just to save money on the mortgage or the rent.
After all, the future isn’t guaranteed. So it’s not going to do you a whole lot of good if you sacrifice all your life just to die with a few million dollars in the bank. So what you need to do is get smart about your financial future. And the way to do that is by establishing some goals. First and foremost, you need to sock away some money for emergencies.
Typically, this means putting about six month’s worth of living expenses into an easily accessible savings account. That way if you lose your job, if your business tanks, if you get sick, or if your other regular source of income dries up, you’ll still be okay.
You’ll have a six-month cushion. Secondly, you probably have some short-term savings goal. For example maybe you want to sock away a few thousand dollars for a vacation next year.
Or perhaps you have another major purchase coming up, such as some house maintenance or remodeling, a wedding, or some other activity.
In all cases, you need to determine exactly how much money you need, and the date by which you need it. Then you can figure out how much money you’ll need to save each month in order to obtain your goal. So what about retirement and other long-term savings goals? Well, you do need to save money each and every month for your retirement.
However, you don’t want to just put all this money into a savings account. Instead, what you want to do is invest it to grow it. Which brings us to the third key…
Key #3: Investing Money The final key to wealth is to put your money to work for you. And that means you need to invest it. Now, the good news is that there are a lot of different ways to invest your money, so you’re sure to find a balance that suits your needs. Here are some of the more popular ways:
• Stocks.
• Bonds.
• Mutual funds.
• Investing directly in business (your own business or someone else’s business).
• Artwork, antiques, precious metals.
• Real estate. There are two keys to choosing the right investment for you.
First, you need to assess your own risk tolerance, and then choose investments that best match your risk tolerance. Your risk tolerance depends on factors such as how many years you have to save for a particular goal, as well as how comfortable you are with certain types of investments.
General rule of thumb: investments that come with the potential for a high reward also come with a high amount of risks. And likewise, low-reward investments tend to be less risky.
For example, young people who are saving for retirement may opt for a portfolio with riskier stocks, simply because they have decades to recover if one of their risky stocks suffers.
On the other hand, someone who is near retirement age will put their money into much safer investments. Naturally, neither group should put all their money into one type of investment, which brings us to the next point…
Secondly, you need to diversify. Diversifying is a natural way to spread out the risk. You can diversify by putting money into a variety of investments, such as stocks, real estate, business investments and so on.
You can also diversify within each specific type of investment. For example, if you’re investing in stocks, then invest in a mix of companies across different industries, some of which are well-established. Conclusion
So there you have it, the three simple keys to growing your money:
• Make money.
• Save money.
• Grow your money.
Now while these keys seem simple on paper, putting them into practice is a bit trickier.
Most people struggle. They have problems bringing in enough extra money to save. Then once they do bring in extra money, they tend to spend it rather than save it. A lot of folks never even give a proper thought to investing. Since you’ve read this far,
I know you’re different. You want to learn more about making money, saving money, and investing money. You want financial security. You want the peace of mind that comes with growing a big nest egg in your bank account.
The good news is you can take a giant step towards your goals starting right now.
All you have to do is join the Wealth Upgrade Club today to discover what the world’s best investors know about making, saving and investing money. Join them right now by clicking here: wealthupgradeclub.com – and do it now, because today is the best time to start planning for the future!
Special permission to republish this article was granted by Promote Labs Inc. & wealthupgradeclub.com
And yes, they imagine a few perks, such as fun vacations and nights out on the town. A lot of these same folks equate “being wealthy” with making money. Or they equate being wealthy with having a big house and a nice car. But here’s the thing…
Just making a lot of money won’t make you wealthy. And if the bank owns your car and your house – no matter how big and fancy they are – then you aren’t wealthy.
You are just another person in debt, living beyond your means. Being truly wealthy means you accumulate money.
It means you grow your money. It means you own your assets (rather than having bank-owned assets with huge payments that leave you struggling every month).
If you want to be THAT kind of wealthy, then take a look at these three keys to wealth. They may be simple, but don’t overlook them because of their simplicity…
Key #1: Making Money So this is perhaps the most obvious key. In order to start building that savings account, you need to make money. This might be from a job. It might be from a business.
It might even be from some combination of a job and business. But the point is, you need to have a regular source of income coming in. And, most importantly, this regular source of income needs to be more than you need for your basic living expenses.
Which brings us to the second key…
Key #2: Saving Money A lot of folks who start bringing in money act like that money is burning a hole in their pocket. They just have to spend it. And sometimes they end up nickel and diming themselves to death.
For example, a twice-a-day Starbucks coffee and muffin habit can easily end up a couple thousand dollars per year. Going for a “night out on the town” four or five times a month is another way to slide a lot of money out of your bank account fast.
Or how about some of those bills that you pay without really thinking about, like your cable bill? A lot of people pay well over $100 for hundreds of channels they don’t watch.
Those are the types of bills you can easily scale back on without feeling like you’re making a huge sacrifice. Which brings us to the next point…
Just how much do you have to sacrifice, anyway?
The answer to that depends on how wealthy you want to become, how much you’re currently saving, and how much money you’re currently spending.
But here’s some good news: it’s about balance. You see, you don’t need to eat cheap 10 cent Top Ramen soup packets for every meal.
You don’t need to sell your car and start taking the bus. You don’t need to go live in a box on the street just to save money on the mortgage or the rent. After all, the future isn’t guaranteed.
So it’s not going to do you a whole lot of good if you sacrifice all your life just to die with a few million dollars in the bank.
So what you need to do is get smart about your financial future. And the way to do that is by establishing some goals. First and foremost, you need to sock away some money for emergencies.
Typically, this means putting about six month’s worth of living expenses into an easily accessible savings account. That way if you lose your job, if your business tanks, if you get sick, or if your other regular source of income dries up, you’ll still be okay.
You’ll have a six-month cushion. Secondly, you probably have some short-term savings goal. For example maybe you want to sock away a few thousand dollars for a vacation next year.
Or perhaps you have another major purchase coming up, such as some house maintenance or remodeling, a wedding, or some other activity.
In all cases, you need to determine exactly how much money you need, and the date by which you need it. Then you can figure out how much money you’ll need to save each month in order to obtain your goal. So what about retirement and other long-term savings goals?
Well, you do need to save money each and every month for your retirement. However, you don’t want to just put all this money into a savings account. Instead, what you want to do is invest it to grow it.
Which brings us to the third key…
Key #3: Investing Money The final key to wealth is to put your money to work for you. And that means you need to invest it. Now, the good news is that there are a lot of different ways to invest your money, so you’re sure to find a balance that suits your needs.
Here are some of the more popular ways:
• Stocks.
• Bonds.
• Mutual funds.
• Investing directly in business (your own business or someone else’s business).
• Artwork, antiques, precious metals.
• Real estate. There are two keys to choosing the right investment for you.
First, you need to assess your own risk tolerance, and then choose investments that best match your risk tolerance.
Your risk tolerance depends on factors such as how many years you have to save for a particular goal, as well as how comfortable you are with certain types of investments.
General rule of thumb: investments that come with the potential for a high reward also come with a high amount of risks. And likewise, low-reward investments tend to be less risky. For example, young people who are saving for retirement may opt for a portfolio with riskier stocks, simply because they have decades to recover
if one of their risky stocks suffers. On the other hand, someone who is near retirement age will put their money into much safer investments.
Naturally, neither group should put all their money into one type of investment, which brings us to the next point…
Secondly, you need to diversify. Diversifying is a natural way to spread out the risk. You can diversify by putting money into a variety of investments, such as stocks, real estate, business investments and so on.
You can also diversify within each specific type of investment.
For example, if you’re investing in stocks, then invest in a mix of companies across different industries, some of which are well-established.
Conclusion So there you have it, the three simple keys to growing your money:
• Make money.
• Save money.
• Grow your money.
Now while these keys seem simple on paper, putting them into practice is a bit trickier. Most people struggle. They have problems bringing in enough extra money to save. Then once they do bring in extra money, they tend to spend it rather than save it.
A lot of folks never even give a proper thought to investing. Since you’ve read this far, I know you’re different.
You want to learn more about making money, saving money, and investing money. You want financial security. You want the peace of mind that comes with growing a big nest egg in your bank account.
The good news is you can take a giant step towards your goals starting right now. All you have to do is join the Wealth Upgrade Club today to discover what the world’s best investors know about making, saving and investing money.
Join them right now by clicking here: wealthupgradeclub.com – and do it now, because today is the best time to start planning for the future!
Special permission to republish this article was granted by Promote Labs Inc. & wealthupgradeclub.com
There are a lot of really good ways to make money from home. I’m talking totally legit and very profitable business models. But the problem is, all of these legit businesses get drowned out in the noise coming from bad business models and outright scams.
If you’ve been looking for way to make money online or otherwise from home, then I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. There are so many promising opportunities floating around, but after a little investigation you figure out they’re not going to work. Maybe they won’t make a lot of money, or maybe they’re outright scams. Either way, you need to protect yourself. So here’s what you can do: when you run into an intriguing money-making opportunity, ask yourself these questions…
Are you providing real value to others?
This is the very first question to ask yourself. Simply put, are you providing a valuable product or service to others? If not, then ask yourself exactly why you’re even being paid. Chances are, it’s some sort of Ponzi-style scheme.
For example, have you ever seen those lists of names and addresses floating around, where you’re supposed to send everyone on the list $10, and then replace the bottom one of the names on the list with your name so that you get paid too? This is a Ponzi scheme, as those who start the list tend to make money, while everyone else is lucky if they don’t lose money. Plenty of people don’t even pay the others on the list – they simply add their name to the list and pass it around in hopes that people will pay them. There is no value here. The people on the list aren’t exchanging goods and services for money. That’s why this sort of scheme is not only considered a scam, it’s also illegal in many jurisdictions. Another example: the Ponzi style schemes that masquerade as network marketing opportunities. The people who get in early make the most amount of money. The goal seems to be on recruiting others into the “business,” as often new recruits need to pay money for a starter kit (and the profits from these kits go to the upline). So again, ask yourself – are you providing real value? Are you selling real products or services? If not, then run far and run fast from any of these opportunities. Which brings us to the next question…
Do you have to recruit others or buy products yourself to get paid? Some network marketing companies actually do sell products or services, and they’re generally thought of as legitimate companies. One example of this is Avon, where people can sell beauty supplies and get a cut of the profits. In fact, the person can make money even if they never recruit another person into the business. Not every network marketing opportunity works like that, however. Many of these MLMs (multi-level marketing companies) put an emphasis on recruiting others into the business. Some of them not only encourage it, but make it mandatory to the point where you can’t get paid if you’re not recruiting others. Worse yet, some MLMs make it mandatory that every sales person also needs to be a customer. So if the company sells health supplements, then you’re probably required to buy $50 or $100 worth of the stuff every month. That ensures your upline makes a profit off of you. And it ensures you make a profit off of your downline. What a racket. Listen, you shouldn’t have to recruit others and you shouldn’t have to buy a bunch of products yourself every month in order to make money with an “opportunity.” If you see something like that, turn around and high tail it in the other direction, as there are a lot better ways to make money. Next question…
Do you have to pay for a kit?
Sometimes you run into a business opportunity, but you’re required to purchase a “starter kit” in order to take advantage of the opportunity. That should be a big red flag for you. Now, keep in mind that I’m not referring to you purchasing tools, guides or other resources. For example, if you decide to become a freelance writer, you might purchase a few books and other resources that show you how to make money offering your writing services to others. But here’s the thing…
You don’t NEED to buy these books in order to be a freelancer. You could go to eLance.com right now and start bidding on jobs. The difference is that the books make it easier for you to become a freelancer by shortening your learning curve. So while most people would choose to buy them, you’re not required to buy them before you jump into the field. Another example: if you decide to start up an online business, then of course you’ll need to purchase a domain name and web host. But the thing is, no one is making you purchase the domain name and hosting from any particular company. People may recommend certain companies – and that’s cool – but you aren’t required to purchase from those companies. Now compare that to some business opportunities where you are absolutely required to purchase training or even products from them in order to start the business. It doesn’t matter what you know how or how much experience you already have, they still require you to purchase training before getting into the business opportunity. If you see something like that, run. No one should be forcing you to purchase anything from a specific company. That’s just a sign that the company makes its money by recruiting newbies into the ranks who’ll be forced to buy training, products or services.
Next question…
Are you building assets? Here’s a pretty good question that will clear things up fast. Or another way to ask it is this: are you building a business? If you’re not building assets, then you have yourself a job rather than a business. In that case, you’re likely building assets for someone else. And that’s okay, if that’s what you want to do and if you’re getting compensated well for it.
However, if your goal is to build a business but you’re not building any assets for yourself, then you’re going to be spinning your wheels. This could be the sign of a bad opportunity, or it could simply be the sign of a poor business model. Let’s take the example of affiliate marketing. This is where you sign up with a company like Amazon.com, promote their products, and then you get a cut of the profits whenever someone buys through your affiliate link. Some affiliates direct all their traffic straight to their affiliate link. For example, they might optimize an article for the search engines, and then include their affiliate link at the end. Or maybe they purchase a banner ad on someone else’s site, which again directs to their affiliate link. Problem is, the affiliate isn’t building any assets with this model. He has to hustle everyday just to make ends meet.
A better model is to build a mailing list first. That is, all traffic goes to a lead page. Then once you have people on your list, you can send them to all sorts of affiliate offers. Now you’re building an asset – a list of prospects and buyers – which is extremely valuable. And when you start building assets, that’s a sign of a good money-making opportunity. Conclusion There are a lot of money-making “opportunities” floating around the web, and they can look mighty enticing when you’re looking for a way to bring in extra cash or even replace a full-time income. If you ask the questions above, you’ll quickly eliminate the worst opportunities. So what are the GOOD opportunities? What can you do online to make an honest income? Here’s your answer: webprofitsclub.com/deal . Check it out – because if you’ve ever wanted to make money online, the link above will show you the surest ways to do it.
If you’re starting a new business—or if you’re looking to grow your existing business—then you’ve probably spent a fair amount of time studying marketing strategies.
That’s good. That’s important. But marketing strategies only won’t get you to where you want to be. This is particularly true if you’re making any of the following five mistakes. Take a look…
Mistake 1: Being Afraid to Negotiate As a business owner, you get plenty of opportunities to negotiate.
For example:
• You can negotiate a better affiliate deal with a vendor. If you’re the vendor, you can negotiate better terms with your super affiliates. • You can negotiate for better terms with your freelancers and employees.
• You can negotiate for lower rates or other perks from suppliers. • You negotiate good deals between you and your joint venture partners or even your business partners. Those are just a few of the most common negotiation opportunities that you may encounter on a fairly regular basis.
Now here’s the interesting part…
Most people never fully take advantage of these opportunities. In fact, most people never even attempt to negotiate. They feel silly. They feel afraid.
But what’s the worst that could happen? Someone says no. Big deal. Life moves on. And what’s the best-case scenario? Someone will agree to your terms, and you’ll end up getting a much better deal. Depending on what you’re negotiating, this could save or even generate thousands of extra dollars for you. It’s definitely worth at least asking if there’s room to negotiate.
Now here’s the next mistake…
Mistake 2: Letting Negativity Influence You No matter how solid your business plan is or even how well you’re doing, there’s always going to be someone who tries to tear you down. They’ll tell you your plans won’t work. They’ll say you should go get a “real job.” Even when you’re doing well, they’ll warn you that it won’t last. This is actually a lot more common than you think. Even some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world have had to deal with this sort of negativity.
Take Walt Disney, whose own wife and brother laughed at his plans, and they told him no one would be interested in the types of films and animated characters he was developing. Of course we know how that story ended up. Today Disney is a household name, with an empire that includes amusement parks, movies, merchandise and more. If Disney had listened to his family, that empire wouldn’t exist. And that’s why it’s so important for you to believe in yourself and persist, even when everyone around seems to be unloading their negativity on you.
You need to let it slide off of you like water off a duck’s back. Which brings us to the next mistake…
Mistake 3: Failing To Plan When that negativity comes at you hard and fast, there’s one thing you can hold up as a shield to deflect it: a solid business plan. When you have a solid business plan, that means you’ve thought through ever part of your business in great deal. For example:
• You’ve figured out your target market, and learned as much as you can about them.
• You’ve designed a sales funnel, so you know what you’re going to sell to your target market.
• You’ve created a lead-generation and conversion strategy, so you know how you’re going to bring your target market to your website. • You’ve studied your competitors to the degree that you even know their strengths and weaknesses.
• You’ve looked for opportunities and threats within your marketplace.
• You’ve thought through potential problems and come up with solutions an workarounds. In other words, you’ve chosen a business model and a designed a plan for turning a profit. And if you do this, you’ll be ahead of the vast majority of people who start a business. After all, if you’re failing to plan, then you’re basically planning to fail. Next up…
Mistake 4: Wasting Time No one sets out to waste time intentionally. It’s not like you sit down at your computer at the beginning of the day and proclaim, “I think I’ll waste as much time as possible today.” And yet it happens. You blink, the day is gone, and you’re nowhere near getting through your to-do list. That’s a lot of wasted time—and wasted opportunity.
So what you need to do is focus on ways to make yourself more productive. Here are a few tips to help you out:
• Create and prioritize your to-do list. Before you go to bed at night, you should create a to-do list so that you know exactly what you need to do tomorrow. Be sure to prioritize this list so that your most crucial and important tasks are at the top of the list. In other words, focus on those tasks that deliver the biggest results to you.
• Try productivity apps. If you have troubles with distracting sites such as Facebook, then you may want to try a productivity app. These apps shut down all programs except for your essential programs, such as your word processor. This forces you to focus, because your typical distractions are inaccessible.
• Use timers. Sometimes being productive is as simple as setting a time for 20 minutes, and working as quickly as you can for the duration. If you keep setting a 20 minute timer throughout your allotted work time, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish.
And finally…
Mistake 5: Not Doing Market Research A lot of business owners and marketers get product ideas, think the idea is awesome, and then rush out to create the product. But when they put the product up for sale, no one buys it. Tumbleweeds blow over the order form. There is not even a trickle of sales, much less a flood.
So what happened?
The business owner probably didn’t do their market research. Don’t make this costly and time-consuming mistake. Instead, do some research to find out what your market is already buying. If they’re already purchasing a certain type of product in your niche, then there’s a very good chance they’ll buy your product. This is particularly true if you follow these two guidelines: #1, create something better than the existing solutions. In other words, don’t just create a “clone” or a “me too” product. Instead, improve upon the existing solutions.
Create a better mouse trap, as the saying goes. Put out a product with more features and better benefits than anything else out there. #2, set yourself apart from the competition. This means creating a USP (unique sales proposition) that tells your prospects why your products are different and better than the competing products.
This is your succinct reason why people should buy from you instead of your competitors.
Let’s wrap things up…
Conclusion So now that you know about five of the most common mistakes that can derail your business, you need to take a good look at yourself to find out if you’re making any of these mistakes. Chances are, you’re making at least one of these mistakes. In fact, most new business owners make several of these mistakes. For example, if you’ve ever had a day pass you by where you didn’t get much done, then you know the importance of productivity.
Or if you’ve ever launched a product that flopped, then you know why it’s so important to do your market research. The good news is that you now know to avoid these mistakes. And you can easily avoid many of the other top business mistakes too.
How?
By joining so many other savvy marketers to become a Power Marketer’s Club member. This is a site developed by two of the net’s top marketers.
These are two guys who’ve put multiple millions of dollars into their bank accounts over the years. They’ve been there, they’ve done that, and now they want to teach you the business strategies that will help you start or grow your business too.
