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How Building Your Venture in Public can be a Competitive Advantage?

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Many people struggle to get their business ideas off the ground. It often takes longer than they think to develop their products or services. And this stops many from even launching into cyberspace. But that is changing. More and more entrepreneurs are opting to build their businesses in public. Yes. Even before they have products or services to sell. 

This might seem risky or foolish. But there is a method to their madness. They may start by sharing how they’ve been researching their ideas. What they have learned. They may share what other companies are doing, and how they intend to improve the issues of those products or services. 

And social media is where many entrepreneurs are talking about what they are building. Sharing their journey of discovery and development with the public eye. Many entrepreneurs actively engage with the public and get feedback, which can be a fantastic way to build an even better business.

Let’s take a look at why building a business in public can help facilitate opportunities for your startup.

Transparency Builds Trust

One of the biggest challenges in building a new venture is establishing trust with prospective customers. People need to be able to trust that you will deliver what you say you will. At the beginning of your business journey, you will start with zero customers. And that means you need to be able to attract interest in your offering. But how do you build trust?

Building in public is a way to establish trust. As people see you online, you will start to build up credibility as you interact with your audience. People will feel like they are a part of your journey, and will relate more than if you simply tried to promote what you were selling.

As you share more of your journey in public and people can see you are consistent, willing to listen, and give feedback, you will establish a strong sense of trust.

Read more : 8 Social Media Platforms to Promote Your Business

Establishes Your Brand

Establishing a strong brand is pivotal to building a successful business online or offline. And it ties in with the previous point on trust. Your brand presence can build a public image that can be a powerful asset to attract customers.

Brand versus Business

Your business is the behind-the-scenes mechanics of your venture. It’s the systems you use, the administrative side, the inner workings of your services, and operations.

Your brand is the public persona or image that people see of your business. It’s how you represent yourself in public, both verbally and visually. It’s the way you market your business, or how you talk to your customers. It’s fundamentally the outward character of your business.

And this is where building in public can help you build a strong brand, whether personal or organizational. The same benefits apply. The voice and attitude of your communication will establish a certain character for your brand. And this will attract a certain type of audience. 

For example, if you are developing a service for corporate professionals, considering your audience can help guide how you represent your brand both verbally or visually. Appealing to one group might repel other groups of people. If some people don’t connect with your brand that’s okay. You are not trying to help everyone. If you attract the right audience, that is ultimately what matters.

And that’s where your brand can be a magnet. It can attract the right type of audience that you want to connect with online.

Attracts Your Audience

A problem many entrepreneurs have is selling their products or services once they are ready to launch. This can take a lot of time, effort and even money to do. And if you like many entrepreneurs, you don’t want to be starting from scratch when you are ready to launch your offering.

This is where building your audience before you launch can be invaluable. The advantage to this is that you are building anticipation for your launch. People are getting to hear about how you are building your venture. If you do it right, by the time you do launch your offering, you will have already created awareness and interest. And that means that you will not have to start from nothing.

Better Product-Market Fit

You might have an idea that you think is fantastic. You feel it’s so good it cannot fail. But what does the market think? Does your offering meet the demands and needs of your target audience? This is a challenge for any startup. You just don’t know how people will react to your idea.

And this is where building in public can come into its own. You can share your product or service offering and get feedback. Maybe people offer you constructive criticisms or ideas to make it even better. They might even be able to help you hone your product to meet the demands of your target audience.

If you want to succeed you need to listen to your audience, your prospective customers are a goldmine of information. Don’t dismiss them. You ultimately build something for them. And the more the public sees your openness to embrace feedback the more confidence people will have in you.

Read more : How Social Media Can Accelerate the Growth of Your Business?

Test Your Offering

One advantage of building in public is that you can test your offering with a select number of customers. By gauging the feedback from your customers you can prepare for your launch. And ensure you iron out any issues before you finally go live. 

By launching too soon, you might disappoint customers and lose valuable trust that you’ve taken time to develop. So rather take your time to gauge feedback from users and ensure it meets a certain level of quality before you make it available.

Conclusion

If you are considering building a new venture you might want to consider starting even before you have a clear direction. Sharing your journey can greatly benefit your progress and brand awareness. 

Before you even have a clear vision of your business, you can start sharing about the area of interest and get feedback on ideas to gauge what people want. This can guide you toward a clearer idea for your offering, it’s really a win-win…

And all at the same time you will be building your online presence, establishing your authority, and growing your audience. This means when you are ready to finally launch your venture, you will have the audience you need to sell your product or service.

So… are you ready to start your journey in public yet?

References :

Entrepreneur Magazine, Building in Public: How Tech Companies Master Product-Market Fit

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How to Build a Business Around Your Strengths and Flourish?

There are many reasons people start a business. Often it’s not always because they want to start one. It might be out of desperation, frustration, or a need to break away from the rat race. Whatever your reason there are some serious questions you should ask yourself before diving into a business.

What are your strengths both professionally and personally?

One of the best places to start is with your strengths? Why you might ask? Because building a business is tough, and it takes time and a lot of effort. The thing is it’s even harder when you build a business from a point of weakness. For example, building a software development company but don’t have a passion for coding, well, you going to struggle. Sure you can do the work but your heart and soul just won’t be in it!

And that means when things get tough, you going to struggle to maintain your drive. So be clear about what your strengths are so you choose the right business. For example, personally, you might really struggle to deal with people, but you might think coaching is a good business. This will ultimately backfire on you because you are building your business on a key weakness. It’s going to be far harder to deal with clients, develop coaching programs, and the like.

Be honest with yourself. Identify your key strengths and see how best to calibrate a business around those strengths.

Why use your strengths?

  • You will be building on a stronger foundation.
  • You will have more energy to spend on marketing your business.
  • You will be more confident.
  • You will be more convincing to customers.
  • You will find it easier and more natural than a business that isn’t a good fit.

READ MORE : A Blueprint to Start Your Online Business Faster

What Are You Really Curious About?

One way to make a decision about what business to choose is by choosing something you really curious about. If you have a huge curiosity for digital marketing, then this could be a good idea for a business. You don’t have to know everything about a field to start a business. You could start by offering low-level products or services and build up from there. The most important is to be driven to learn and grow your skills and knowledge in a given field. Running a business means you have to be learning constantly.

Write down what you are really interested in, and what you are really curious about. Make a list. And after you have a decent list, start to scrutinize each option. Ask yourself which ones you are more passionate and curious about than others. Which ones could you see yourself pursuing long-term? And which ones could sprout viable business ideas.

If for example, you are passionate about digital marketing, dig a bit deeper. Ask yourself what interests me the most in digital marketing?

  • Is it content creation? Writing? Audio or Video?
  • Is it social media marketing? Email marketing? Blogging?
  • Is it analytics, data analysis, and reporting?
  • Is it advertising? Social media advertising or search engine advertising?
  • Is it planning and strategy? Helping customers figure out a custom plan?

Conclusion

The key is to dig deeper into your key strengths and desire to learn. By doing that you will be building a business that has a strong foundation and will be more likely to weather the storms that every business owner will face!

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5 Secrets to Overcome Perfection Paralysis and Anxiety


You might already know you are a perfectionist. Your friends, family, and colleagues probably drop remarks about how you always need things to be perfect. And you believe its important to always strive for the highest level. Why shouldn’t you? Why do anything at all if you can’t do it one hundred percent! But you know your high standards are causing you to avoid getting things started, and you feel in the grips of perfection paralysis.

What is perfectionism?


Well according to dictionary.com, perfection is “a personal standard, attitude, or philosophy that demands perfection and rejects anything less.”


Its the unrelenting desire to always get things right at all costs, and this is where perfection can be so destructive. Unfortunately, the world is not perfect. Neither are human beings. We are all prone to error and mistakes. It’s part of what makes this world so interesting and full of surprises.


Achieving perfection is… well, an unreasonable standard.


The problem is if we obsess about constantly getting things perfect, we will lose out on all the opportunities to grow, experience new things, and achieve success in new areas of our lives.


What is perfection paralysis?


When being a perfectionist consumes you to the point that you start avoiding all things that you can’t be perfect in, it can lead to what is called perfection paralysis.


No doubt perfection paralysis can affect you at some point in your life. Its often a combination of fear of failure and overwhelm at the task of learning something new.


For example:


You decide you want to start your own business in digital marketing. So you begin researching digital marketing and all the aspects of the field. As you read articles and watch videos about digital marketing you begin to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you need to learn. But instead of starting your venture, you put everything on hold. You feel you can’t start until you know everything… sound familiar?


And so your dream of starting your business stays a dream, and soon it becomes a forgotten dream. I have fallen into this cycle of perfection paralysis, so many times. But you need to break this pattern if you ever want to achieve your goals.


What are the symptoms of perfection paralysis?



Perfection paralysis might not be obvious to at first, but can manifest through our general behaviour.
If you are experiencing some of the below tell-tale symptoms you might very well be in the grips of perfection paralysis!


Four Symptoms of Perfection Paralysis:


Procrastination


Avoiding tasks or projects can be a big sign you are a perfectionist. And the reason that you are not starting is that you believe that you cannot do the task. Rather than just starting and figuring out what to do, you will rather avoid doing the task all together. You feel that if you cannot produce good, or acceptable work, you won’t start. And because of this, you do not meet the deadline as you have an unrealistic standard you have set for yourself.


Anxiety


Perfectionism and anxiety often go hand in hand. It is often fuelled by our focus on what you haven’t done. The more you focus on what you haven’t done the more anxious you get, and so you only make things worse in your mind. You might also be focusing on the past. And this is also wasted energy because the past does not create the future. By constantly focusing on the past we are taking away our focus on the present. It seems so simple, but yet we all do it. You become fixated on the past and so you become frozen and do nothing rather than risk making a mistake.


Shame


One of the biggest reasons you might be stuck in perfection paralysis is you may feel like a failure. You might have done nothing to justify the feeling, but you feel like a failure. And everything seems like an impossibility. Your shame for where you are is so overwhelming that you longer talk about your dreams and aspirations. You don’t believe you can achieve them any more. You are scared that when you put yourself out there, people will laugh if you fail, and diminish you for trying.


New Thing Averse


Shame can lead to you not trying new things. And if you never try new things, you will never learn new skills or experience new things. You will never grow. You will never know what you could have achieved if you just tried to do something you’ve never tried. And the more you avoid doing new things, the more you will avoid them. And this puts you in the perfection paralysis cycle. You will rather be “perfect” by never venturing out to try something new.


The above symptoms give you a good idea of what problems can occur when you try to be perfect. Most people only want to publish their wins to the world. Social media displays an unrealistic view of what others do to succeed. Its not always fact, but often exaggerated and fabricated.


No one gets it right all the time. Its impossible.
Its not reality. People mess up.


When you believe that everyone else is perfect and that you need to be too, you will fall into the perfection paralysis trap!


This leads to fear of failure and we never start.


The ensuing embarrassment, judgment, and vulnerability can lead us to not achieving our dreams and aspirations.


This can lead to you harming good relationships in your life because you no longer communicate your failures and challenges. And those around you will not understand what you are going through in your life.


The 5 secrets to overcoming perfection paralysis and procrastination.


To be honest, these aren’t really secrets, and probably already know them, but sometimes a you need a reminder to help get unstuck and start taking action!


1 Stop caring so much about what people think!


Everyone likes to feel successful, and we don’t like to fail. We seem to care what others think. And of course, it’s good to care about that, but not if your perfectionism is leading to negative situations.


The truth is they are so busy with their own lives and their problems, they don’t even notice! Right now, think about your best friends’ failures.


Does it make you want to stop being friends with them? Does it make them look like a failure in your eyes? Probably not, they are human like you (and they are trying their best).


2 Start by Lowering Your Standards!


Yes, I know this seems the exact opposite from what most people say, but to have a high standard, you need to start small. Most kids learn to ride a bike with training wheels first. It’s ok to make mistakes, everyone does.


Once you have started working on something, you can higher your target or standard. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Be realistic with your expectation and you’ll stop avoiding what you ultimately really want.


3 Break It Up into Small Parts.


Every big achievement is a sum of smaller achievements (with even more failures in between).
For example, if you are trying to write a blog, break it down into a list:


– Find a topic
– Decide on your keywords
– Research topic
– Write an outline
– Fill out the paragraphs one at a time
– Find images
– Have it checked
– Publish!


Perfectionism often is rooted in being overwhelmed by a task or project. To begin with, make sure that each piece of work is small enough and has a definite timeline to it. Once the time is up, you need to move on (come back later to fix it).


4 Get An Accountability Partner.


Find someone you know and trust and let them know what you are doing. Have them check in with you regularly. There will be a greater desire to achieve the goal as opposed to explaining to someone why you did not do it. This is a great way to break your cycle of perfection paralysis!


5 Create a Routine.


One of the ways of achieving big goals is commiting to doing something every day. When you see your goal as a step by step process you need to do every day, it will become easier to face.


Everyone is different, but I like to get my most important work done early in the day. I get up at the same time every day and follow my routine. This helps me keep my momentum going and get consistent results.


My basic routine


Morning: Exercise, Plan, get a quick win
Evening: Reflect and Reward


The rest of the day seems to flow after that. Routine becomes a habit and habits are easy. Small wins are important, they make you feel good about yourself.


And do not forget to reward yourself. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging what you’ve achieved! Rewarding yourself reminds you to stay present and enjoy the journey.


Each day, reflect on what worked, and what did not. Do more of what worked the next day. And keep the momentum going, when you see that you are progressing you will feel more motivated to do more.


Conclusion


The reason I wrote this post was that I was suffering from the same symptoms about writing my first blog. I spent 2 weeks researching!


And I could have probably researched this topic for another year and still not know how to do it perfectly!


It was scary to put myself out there.


What if no one reads this? (well, at least no one will see my mistakes!)


What if my spelling and grammar errors are picked up by the Google grammar police scrolling through my nonsense?


What if it gets terrible comments?


But what if someone reads this and gets themselves out of the “Perfection Paralysis Cycle”?


Well then it was all worth all the effort and worry!

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Six Easy Ways to Improve your Online Security Today

The internet offers us many incredible platforms to do amazing things. The problem is that every day we use online services we are exposing ourselves to numerous cyber threats? And these threats have been increasing at an alarming pace over the past two years since the pandemic. In this article I will cover various security threats that you can improve today!

Here are six threats to your online security:

Weak Passwords

Setting weak passwords is one of the most common mistakes people make. And this is what cybercriminals hope you will neglect. Because they use techniques called Bruteforce attacks, that use password tools to try to crack your passwords using password combinations.

“A brute force attack is a hacking method that uses trial and error to crack passwords, login credentials, and encryption keys. The hacker tries multiple usernames and passwords, often using a computer to test a wide range of combinations until they find the correct login information.” – Fortinet.

This is the reason most online services will encourage you to set strong passwords. Try using a combination of capital letters, small letters, special characters, numbers in strange combinations. The more complex the password, the more difficult it will be to guess your password. And this will minimize the risk of such attacks.

But keeping track of all your digital accounts can be a nightmare! And remembering every password becomes almost impossible. But there is a better way that can save you the headache of remembering them. Password Managers are the solution. They can assist you in creating highly complex passwords nearly impossible to guess. If you’ve had enough of remembering all your account details, consider one of these password managers : Keeper Security, Dashlane, or LastPass, all trustworthy and respected apps.

Outdated System OS

Your operating system is the foundation of your device. If you have outdated components that are vulnerable to exploits, you will be leaving your computer open to attack. All operating systems offer the ability to set updates automatically. But not always! So make sure, double-check your updates are downloading and installing regularly.

This goes for Windows, Mac, and Android devices, so there is no excuse for not having your device uptodate with the latest security patches.

NOTE: Some older Android devices may only update to a specific version, and you may need to upgrade your device to get the latest OS.

Find out : How Jarvis.AI Can End Writers Block and Help You Write Better and Faster?

Viruses and Malware Threats

“Malware increased by 358% in 2020 “A research study conducted by Deep Instinct reports on the hundreds of millions of attempted cyberattacks that occurred every day throughout 2020 showing malware increased by 358% overall and ransomware increased by 435% as compared with 2019.”Malware increased by 358% in 2020 – Help Net Security”

Malware has been increasing at an alarming rate over the past two years. Now more than ever it is critical that you protect yourself from these threats. One way to improve the security of your system is to install Anti-virus software. This software acts as a shield against various malicious exploits that you can experience while using the internet, receiving emails, or copying files from an external drive to your computer.

Because these apps update constantly they can react to new outbreaks of viruses and malware as they happen. It’s a simple and cost-effective way to protect your devices even if you have little knowledge of viruses and other cyber threats. Security software like Kaspersky Internet Security or Bit Defenders Internet Security offers solutions that take care of these issues in the background while you work.

Phishing Attacks

“Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a human victim into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious software on the victim’s infrastructure like ransomware.

Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and often transparently mirror the site being targeted, allowing the attacker to observe everything while the victim is navigating the site, and transverse any additional security boundaries with the victim.[1] As of 2020, phishing is by far the most common attack performed by cybercriminals, with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre recording over twice as many incidents of phishing than any other type of computer crime.” – Wikipedia

As stated phishing is a major threat to individuals and businesses alike. And being aware of the way attackers work will help you be better prepared for when they try to con you. The key is not trusting any email that asks you to reset your password or submit sensitive data. Rather first clarify who is asking for this information, and contact the company directly to clarify that this is legit or a scam.

Malicious Website Links

When browsing the internet it’s always best to browse trustworthy sites. One of the ways you can easily launch malware is by clicking on links that are malicious. Once you’ve clicked on a link, code can be executed if you don’t have any browser protection. This can infect your browser and device, which could lead to unwanted security issues.

Malicious links are often found in emails. When receiving emails be sure it’s from someone you know. But considering that viruses can send emails from infected devices, if a message seems a bit strange, don’t just trust it. Best not to follow any links in the message unless you are sure it’s safe. You just don’t know where it is linking to, and if it is safe. And although security software can protect you, prevention is better than a cure.

Read more about : How to Increase Your Sales as an Affiliate Marketer?

Public Hotspots & Privacy

As mobile working has become the new norm, many people are working from public places where wifi hotspots are available. The thing is that when you log onto these networks, you are opening your device to attack. Your connection to the web is not encrypted, and some of that information can compromise your security. A hacker that is on that network can attempt to compromise your device or see what data is being sent from your device.

A VPN or Virtual Private Network service can create a secure encrypted connection so no one on the public network can see the information you are sending or receiving. Examples of VPN services are ExpressVPN and NordVPN, both highly reputable companies.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is a complex subject. And these six points are just some simple ways you can begin to take control of your digital security. It’s by no means the end of it. But by taking steps like this you can reduce the risk of falling prey to malicious tactics. Software and apps can make security easier to manage, but software isn’t perfect. It’s up to us to be vigilant and react to any suspicious activity that we see happening on our devices…

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An Introduction to Email Marketing for Beginners

One of the challenges of affiliate marketing is building opportunities to generate leads for the products you promoting. Everyone today has an email address. And this means if you can collect someone’s email address you can send them news and information about what you selling. Email Marketing has been around for a long time and has matured over the years. And it is in no way losing its importance in marketing.

Why Email Marketing is Effective?

One of the reasons why marketers, bloggers, and affiliate marketers use email is because of its accessibility. Once you have someone’s email address you can communicate with them directly. You don’t need to be on social media or any platform to send an email.

It’s straight to their inbox!

Email marketing essentially gives you flexibility and control of how you can market to your subscribers, it has many benefits over other channels of communication.

Here are five reasons why email is an effective marketing channel:

  • Is a personalized marketing channel which can build trust.
  • This helps build lasting relationships through one on one communication.
  • You can measure its effectiveness through various metrics.
  • You can test the effectiveness of different campaigns to refine your strategy.
  • The cost of most email marketing platforms is reasonable compared with advertising.
  • You have full ownership over it unlike social media channels.

Email Marketing Platforms

One of the ways to simplify the process the creating and distributing email content is by using an email marketing service.

They offer you a one-stop platform that gives you the ability to:

  • Collect email addresses in a secure way
  • Create professional looking emails in a user-friendly interface
  • Manage your subscribers
  • Segment your audience for greater personalization
  • Track your email open rates, and other metrics
  • Automate welcome messages and other types of email communication.

Here is a list of popular email subscriber services:

Each one has its strength and weaknesses, but most offer similar features for varying prices. Most offer free trials or plans that allow you to get started and get a feel for the product.

Recommended Reading: Is Affiliate Marketing a Legit Way to Make Money?

Build Your Email List

One of the first places you should collect email addresses is on your website. You will either use a plug-in or embed code to create a subscription box on your website.

Once you have a subscriber box you can begin to collect email addresses from visitors. You could also share your subscription link on social media for your follower to easily sign up for your newsletter.

The key is to advertise your newsletter and make people aware where ever possible to increase your chances of attracting new subscribers.

Keep Your Subscribers Engaged

If you want to maintain loyal subscribers, you need to create interesting content. You want to provide value to your subscribers that will have them looking forward to each email. It’s your chance to share information and insights that your audience wants or you going to lose their interest.

You can even encourage your subscribers to share their ideas or ask questions that you can use as content for your future newsletters.

Conclusion

Email is a powerful marketing channel, and it’s not dead. It’s undoubtedly here to stay. And that means if you building an affiliate business or any other venture, email marketing can be an effective way to market to your ideal customer.

Start small, and build it slowly.

A monthly newsletter is perfect to get started!

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How to Increase Your Sales as an Affiliate Marketer?

If you are an affiliate marketer, you want to sell more. That’s pretty obvious. But getting more sales is more of a subtle art than just shooting your affiliate links and banners like a cowboy. You need some strategy. You need to know the target and who you shooting for. Many people trying to sell affiliate products fail to grow their business into a lucrative venture. The reasons for this is rooted in some basic mistakes. I will be covering a few mistakes you might be making with how you promote your products.

Let’s jump in!

1. Your Website looks like one Gigantic Ad.

Many affiliate marketers tend to focus on making the sale. And although that is what the goal is, you need to first create a foundation for the sale. People visiting your website don’t just want to see ads all over the place and not real content. They not going to your site to see ads, they are looking for solutions to their problems.

When designing your layout for your website, make sure your ads are visually appealing and don’t reduce the user experience. There is nothing more irritating than browsing a website just to have text obscured by large adverts. Make sure that your banners are not overlapping and blocking your content. Visitors will very quickly bounce out of your site and find a better more user-friendly one.

Also rather than randomly sprinkling your affiliate banners between paragraphs, structure the adverts to be relevant to your topics. Minimize the number of ads too, so as not to “overload” the reader with too many options. This will cause them to either flat out ignore them or feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of ads. Sometimes simpler is better and less is more! Overdoing your promotion is one area to be minimalistic in approach.

Find out more about: The Best Ways to Learn Digital Marketing Online?

2. You haven’t identified your target audience.

One of the most important factors to get right is clarifying your target audience. Who are the people that want what you selling? Without determining who you are selling to, you are not going to know how to sell to them, or what the problems are that they are facing?

Let’s say you promoting a Mentorship program like Six Figure Mentors.

They sell programs to help beginners get started at building their own online business. They provide a structured framework to guide you step by step. They provide you with training to learn digital skills from scratch. And they also have a global community of active individuals building their own businesses which support each other through their journey.

Their target audience is anyone looking to build an online business from scratch. That could be young school leavers, professionals tired of the rat race, parents wanting to work from home, or even retirees. They give these people the tools to help them start an internet business that they can run from their laptops.

They can run their businesses from anywhere with an internet connection. This solves some serious problems and opens huge doors of opportunity for this target audience.

Now you know you would need to cover topics that will be of interest to these types of audiences. You could take it further and focus on one group of people. Let’s say professionals are tired of the rat race. This group wants to build a business they can run from anywhere, to travel, and live where they choose.

Your Product: Six Figure Mentors

The Value: Help beginners start their own internet-based business.

Target Audience: Experienced Professional tired of the rat race (ages 30 – 45)

Now building relevant value-driven content that can connect with that target group of people is going to be far more effective. Your message is going to be clearer. This will help build a stronger trust in your audience as you show them that you understand their challenges.

3. Your Establishing Trust

If someone is selling or promoting a product before you consider it you will first want to trust that person. Why? Well, if you can see that a person knows what they talking about, you will be more likely to trust their opinions about a product they promoting. Another reason they could trust you would be if you use the product that you are promoting.

Here are 3 questions to ask about establishing trust from your audience:

  • Why would anyone trust my recommendations?
  • What makes me a trustworthy source?
  • How can I establish a stronger trust with my visitors?

You might even have some unique experience that you can leverage to further justify that others can trust you. If you have a background as an accountant and you promote accounting software, your audience is going to have far more confidence in what you say and recommend than say someone who has no accounting knowledge.

Identify what makes you a trustworthy source of information about the affiliate product and use it to your advantage. People are going to be more likely to consider clicking on what you promoting!

Find out more on : How Social Media Can Accelerate the Growth of Your Business?

4. You Dont have a Clear Call-to-Action

When writing a blog post about your particular affiliate product, consider what your call to action is at the end, or the middle of the post. This is important and helps create momentum in the mind of your reader. Instead of writing a post and then just pasting a banner at the end, build them up to the banner. Give them a good reason to consider it by educating them about what you selling.

Ask yourself these three questions:

  • What do you want your reader to know about this product?
  • What is the key problem this product solves?
  • What would motivate your reader to click on your affilate link?

At the end of the day, you can’t make people click your link, but you can give them a really good reason to do so. Use your post to build up their curiosity, perhaps even building some perspective for the deal you are promoting.

So there you have it four simple way to improve your how you promote your affiliate products and increase conversions.

Good luck!

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How Your Smartphone is Affecting Your Productivity and Focus?

Technology has become integrated into our lives and has had a massive impact on our relationships. Today we can be having a conversation with people physically yet be digitally focused on another conversation on our phone. This is the twenty-first century connected world. Our family, friends, and co-workers have devices and often are not totally present when we talk to them, simply because something else has their attention. It is something that has definitely escalated during the pandemic as people found themselves isolated and not able to socialize.

There is nothing wrong with reading a blog, browsing through social media, or even chatting to a friend online. But it does become a problem when we cant balance our digital lives with our physical lives. This is the point where we need to take back control.

Notifications, the Concentration killer.

One of the biggest problems with having mobile devices is the constant notifications that distract our attention. We naturally want to respond to them. As if they calling us to take action. It’s human nature. Who is that? What if it’s urgent? And we feel the need to check every beep and ping that pops up on our phones.

In your work environment, it can be difficult to maintain focus when you have multiple apps screaming for your attention. One way is to go into your app setting and disable notifications for certain apps like social media. It’s one way to help you focus more. And if you have a moment you can simply open your app to see if there are any notifications or messages that you need to attend to.

Find out : How Social Media Can Accelerate the Growth of Your Business?

Set Times for Social Media

Whether you use social media for personal or business purposes, it can be addictive! You constantly feel the need to see what’s going on in the world. Or what are our friends posting? And this can waste a lot of your productive time especially while you at work. One way to gain control of the way you use social media is to set fixed times for checking and responding to messages or posts.

This is far better than constantly being distracted by it throughout the day. It will also help you avoid wasting productive time on social media. In fact, setting time aside for just social media will help you be more productive with your time online. It’s all about focus and more focus means more productivity.

Know When to Put Your Phone Away

Smartphones dominate our lives. Everyone has one and we see people around us on them all day. But there is the point where you need to just put them away and focus on the people around you? Having your phone in your hand all the time, around family or friends can send the signal you are not a hundred percent available. So why not put your phone away in your cupboard and ignore it while you spending quality time with people that matter. It will in the long run add more value to your life and show the people in your life you present and care.

It may seem like a small thing, even silly, but breaking away from your phone can make a huge difference to your productivity both personally and professionally.

Why not give it a try?

Maybe you’ll be surprised at just how much better you feel!

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Why Not To Quit Your Job To Start A Business?

We all have a unique journey through this life. And we can all find ourselves unsure of what we are doing and why we are doing it. It can be tempting to want to quit your job immediately and start a business. But, there are some key differences between having a job and running a business. There are lessons to learn which can be done while you still work for a boss. (In some ways, starting a business replaces one boss for many!)

So, take a breath, relax, and plan your journey.

While you still have your job

Understand your Financial Situation

When starting a business, there is a key difference in your finances. Regular income vs Irregular income (Maybe none at first). Having your salary paid in each month on a certain day gives the comfort of planning your living expenses.

So, before you quit your job, make sure most (all if possible) of these boxes are ticked:

  • Rework your budget and remove all excess expenses (This will require a conversation with the family)
  • Have as few liabilities as possible (Car payments, bank loans etc)
  • Have 6-months expenses in your bank for hard times

Do your Business Research (Plan)

What business are you starting? Who are your customers? Where will you find them? What is your unique selling proposition?

These are some of the questions you need to answer before quitting your job. Personally, I don’t believe in a complex business plan. I am more of a let’s get moving kind of guy. But you do need to workshop your business ideas and have a general direction to move on. And a business quarterly review/update.

Find out more about how to use : A Blueprint to Start Your Online Business Faster

Meet the right people

Find people that are doing what you want to do. Ask them questions about how they started and what problems they faced in the beginning. You can find them on LinkedIn, Meetup, and many other online platforms. Even if you can’t find specific people in your niche, connect with business owners and entrepreneurs. They have been through the pains of starting a business. You might be able to leverage their lessons.

Start on the foundations

While you are working a job, in your spare time, start doing the business you want to do. Just 1 or 2 hours a day consistently starts to show results in the initial months. Consistency is the key. In my business, there at 3 components, I need to keep doing. They are related to helping others in Online Business.

  • Write content
  • Send weekly emails
  • Social Media

Of course, there are many other things that need to be done, but you have to focus on money-making activities

Be consistent

As alluded to above, consistency is key. Get into good habits and stick to a plan. Here are some pointers on how to get into Good Habits.

When you are ready

Once you have to above in place, and you are confident in your approach, you can launch into your business full time.

And don’t forget to enjoy the journey and take time to relax and recuperate.

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How to Grow your Online Presence with Content Marketing?

The internet has without a doubt become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Searching and sharing content is happening at scale from individuals to large corporates. Social media buzzes and pulses all day long with content that is posted and shared more times than we can fathom.

So the question is… is content really king?

Here are nine reasons that content marketing could very well be worth investing in:

Content Creates Visibility

The more you create and share content online the more people will see your content? It’s the medium through which your audience can connect with you. In fact the more you post, the more likely they will be to engage and interact with your content.

If you consistently create content on social media platforms or your blog you will be building a foundation that will build a strong online presence. And that means more opportunities for you in the long run.

Recommended Reading: Is Affiliate Marketing a Legit Way to Make Money?

Content Helps Establish Trust

Before you can sell your products and services you need to establish trust with your audience. This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a once of activity. Trust is built over time, and this is why creating content should be a long-term strategy to build your business. To build trust you need to be consistent, publish good quality content, engage with your audience, and add value on some level.

People are more likely to trust people or brands that have a consistent and established online presence. It’s a signal to people you are in this for the long run.

Content Can Help Build Your Brand

Content can be used to establish your brand both visually and verbally. By applying consistent design to your content you can help readers immediately recognize you by your visual signature. This can extend to the voice of your content. Is it funny, witty, edgy, or professional?

Your content gives your brand an opportunity to establish your voice and speak the language of your audience. It’s this brand that builds fans, followers, and customers. It establishes a clear way of communicating with your audience that will help you connect with the right people. The stronger this connection, the more likely they will be to support you, follow up and buy from you.

Your brand is your personality and the way you communicate. It’s that energy you express through your content. It can act as a magnet, if you use it well, you will certainly grow your audience.

Content Educates Your Audience

One of the most important functions that content serves is educating prospects. It offers you a medium to share information that is relevant to your reader. You can organize this information in ways that can help your audience to understand what you sell and do.

People are searching for answers every day. They are searching right now on Google for answers to questions they have. This is an opportunity to create content that your audience may be looking to find.

In fact, using keyword research tools can give you more detailed insights into what exactly people are searching for in Google. And this can help you figure out how best to structure your content.

Content Helps Your Audience

Probably the most valuable content is the content that helps your audience solve a problem. So when you start creating content you should be asking yourself the following:

  • How does this content help my audience?
  • Is it adding any value?
  • Why would my audience want to read this?
  • Does this help my audience achieve anything?
  • Would people find this interesting?

At the end of the day, you are sharing content to attract people to your social media page or website. If you understand what content will serve your audience best, you will be better able to grow your following.

Content Can Be Repurposed

One thing you can do with your content is to repurpose it. And that means taking content from one medium to another. For example, a collection of blog posts could become an ebook. This ebook could become a lead magnet on your website.

You could create a video from the content you posted on your blog and share that on social media. The point is that your content can be used in different ways and doesn’t have to stay a blog post or a video. It can be used to create even more content in different mediums.

Content builds community

When creating content on social media you will find people start to follow you. As these few people grow from a few hundred to thousands, you begin to have a stronger and stronger influence. This means you have the ability to leverage more and more opportunities as you communicate with more people.

Your following can then be monetized through offering your products, services or promoting affiliate products.

Content Improves Your SEO

By regularly posting content on your blog you will be improving your SEO. Google rewards websites that post regular content as it sees your site as active. If you want more traffic, post more content! Make sure it’s good quality and that people will find it interesting. You are primarily writing for your audience, but if you ensure your content is SEO friendly it will help rank your content better.

Recommended Reading : How to Improve the SEO of your Website in 7 Steps

Content Can Be Monetized

If you want to make money from your content, you can, by using affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is really promoting products and services that you either use or relate to the subject of your blog.

The more you write on specific topics the more people will find your content. When they read your content, there could be banners or links to products or services that are relevant. And there is a very high chance that people will want to buy these products.

This is how bloggers monetize their blogs. And it’s an industry that is growing every day as more products and services are available to market.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, content marketing is a powerful medium to create visibility for your business or blog. It can attract the audience you want to connect to and build authority in a chosen field. Whether you are building a brand, launching a venture, or monetizing your blog, content done right can not only build a global audience, it can earn you income.

Why not start today!

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How a Customer Avatar can Improve your Marketing Efforts?

One of the most important things to remember in business is WHO we are selling to. We can have the best service, but it’s not enough to focus on its features. When you talk to the right people in the right way with the right content, your sales will increase. The prospect will automatically understand what you are saying and why you are saying it. So, who is your customer avatar?

This is always a tricky question. Deciding on your ideal customer takes time. And it can be hard at first.

You need to know:

  • Who they are?
  • Where they are?
  • What challenges do they face?

What is a Customer Avatar?

It helps to create a fictional person who represents who you want to sell to. In marketing, this is called a customer avatar or customer persona. This will allow you to home in on one specific person. All the content you create can be laser-focused on this one person. The avatar will get you back on track if you veer the wrong way. It will even make your decisions on what to write simpler.

How can we create an Avatar?

Luckily marketers have been doing this for decades. There are many questions and worksheets that you can answer and fill in. Once you have done this, you can prepare the types of content you need to help that customer. All business is in the game of service. Service your customer the best you can.

READ MORE ON : Blueprint for building your online business faster

There are 4 main areas:

1) Personal Details

This includes Age, Gender, Occupation etc. Give your customer a name. It tends to make them real. What is James’s age again?

2) Goals and Values

If you know the goal of your customer, you can create content that leads them to their goals. Along with their values, you can write it in such a way that they value what you write. In essence, you have the same values as them.

3) Challenges and Pain points

Everyone has challenges and problems they face. It’s the force against us reaching our goals. Sometimes there are internal values that clash keeping us stuck. You can never resonate with everyone, but if you can single out the challenges and problems you can help them help themselves. By speaking to your customer’s challenges and problems, they will resonate with you. Finding those challenges and pain points can take time. You need to dig into online forums. You can scan social media groups for clues. You can even send out questionnaires to find out more.

4) Sources of Information

Find out what your avatar consumes information. This not only gives you great ideas of content to create but helps you understand where your customer is. What is your customer reading to stay up to date in their job? What are they thinking about doing next? It will help you target your ads and content.

Customer Avatar example

You can download my spreadsheet here and create your own. Customer Avatar

Finally

Once you have clarity on Who you are talking to, the process is easier. You might not get your customers spot on immediately but adjusting them in time will bring you closer.

Get ready to Launch into CyberSpace!

With a Step-By-Step Blueprint to Guide You to Success.

Your Business. Your Terms. Online. Anywhere.

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