Recent research suggests people leave a web site 50 milliseconds after they enter it, unless they see some reason to linger. In other words, people are making an instant decision as to whether or not your site provides them with what they want even before they've had a chance to read your text. This suggests that the instant impact of the site is important. The most obvious aspect of this instant impact is colour. For instance, people looking for a gardening site expect to see green or brown; if the site is all in red, they'll be amongst the 50 millisecond departers as the colour isn't right. What colour is your web site and does it match the expectation of your audience? If not, you could be losing millions of potential customers simply because you've chosen the wrong colour.

Labels: internet

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Several psychological studies have shown that there is a social feature of human beings which psychologists call "the rule of reciprocity". What this means is that if I meet you in a social situation and offer to get you a coffee, for example, you feel more positive towards me. If I met you at a conference and we were chatting in the breakout areas and I simply grabbed a coffee for you, without you asking me to do it, you'd experience high positive emotions for me. You feel duty bound to do something in return for me. The "rule of reciprocity" says that if one person does something almost unprompted for another, they form a closer bond.

Well, I've been attending the annual convention of the National Speakers Association in Orlando, Florida, where Fred Gleeck, an information marketing expert, proved the rule of reciprocity exists in the online world as well. He said that his testing had shown conclusively that you need to provide a valuable free offer to web site visitors before they become customers. In his own case he provides free ebooks, not just reports but complete 200-page books. The result is that his web site visitors feel more positive emotions towards him and are more likely to buy things from him.

Fred's lesson is clear. The rule of reciprocity applies on the Internet. If you are trying to sell things online, you need to do something for your potential customers first, something of value. Don't expect them to buy from you if you haven't given them something first.

Labels: internet marketing

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At the moment I'm in Orlando, Florida, USA, attending the annual convention of the National Speakers Association. There are 1,700 people here and much of the coffee-room chat is about maximising the use of the Internet for the speaking business. But one delegate, Mike Stewart (The Internet Audio Guy) said something interesting to me at his exhibition stand. He said that in the past he did business with people he knew, people he trusted and got on with. Nowaydays, he says much of his business is with people he has never met, yet has to develop some kind of trust with them. "It's trust by electrons," he said. And that's a key point about the way we're doing business online; in the past much business was face to face and we used body language and other signals to work out what was exactly going on in the developing relationship of buyer and seller. With the Internet that same "buyer-seller dance" is still happening, but in a totally different way. If you want to succeed online, you need to grasp the different ways in which online trust is built.

Labels: internet

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One day in Edinburgh may be all you need to help you discover how you can make more money online. Internet marketing experts will be on hand during a unique event called "Internet Inspiration" which is being held this October in the heart of the Scottish Capital. You'll be able to talk with experts like Michael Cheney and discover how you can boost your web sites to gain more business. Go to http://www.internet-inspiration.com and when you sign up make sure you use the promotional code "gjones".

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As more and more people take up blogging, recruiters will use blogs to pre-select candidates. Human resources specialists will be able to search blogs to find out what kind of person you are. They will be able to use blog profiling tools and services to work out which is the best of several candidates. Not only will blogging help recruiters, it will help individuals as well. They will be able to gain an online reputation which will help ensure they get the kinds of jobs they want.

Labels: blogging, future, internet

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Yesterday I was running a workshop where we looked at the kinds of things that were essential for children. We came to the conclusion that there wasn't much essential, except clean water, protection from the environment and a reasonable supply of food. However, when you ask children what's essential they talk about things like the latest computer game or fashion. What is essential to one group of teenagers isn't essential to others: ask any child in the Ugandan countryside for instance whether they really need an iPod. However, the Internet is fast becoming essential for children. Even infant school children are expected to use the Internet to help them complete their homework. That puts children who do not have Internet access at a real disadvantage. In the past it was people who couldn't read or write who were excluded from much of society. Now it's likely to be people who cannot use the Internet.

Labels: internet

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