Running an online business can be tremendously lonely. Many people I meet who are trying to make money online are doing it on their own. Even in the corporate world the people who are organising their company's online activities are comparatively lonely - very few people in big business understand the whys and wherefores of running their business online. Only a few companies - Amazon, Google and so on - whose entire business is based online will have groups of people who all understand what it takes to be successful in the world of the Internet. One of the reasons there is so much information online about Internet Marketing is because those people doing it are alone; they need support and help from as many sources as possible. As a psychologist I'm aware of work that shows that loneliness reduces performance, effectiveness and a host of other issues related to success in any endeavour. For instance, anyone addicted to anything, such as gambling, is more likely to overcome their difficulties if they are part of a group - a social network - that provides support, ideas and help; in other words the addict can see they are not alone. It is this realisation that you are not alone that helps stimulate action and therefore leads to success. So, for Internet marketers being alone, trying to run an online business without any kind of social network for support means success is less likely. This struck me yesterday when I met with three friends all in a similar situation to me - professional speakers with an online business. We had a fantastic meeting where we shared lots of ideas but more importantly gave each other the support we would have been denied if we had continued working alone. We call our social network a "mastermind group". But whatever you call a group of people who share similar ideas, goals and attitudes it doesn't matter - what matters is that you have a network of people. So if you are trying to run your online business and make it more successful, consider your own private social network or group of individuals in similar situations. Call it a mastermind group if you wish. But meet regularly, discuss ideas, questions, problems frankly; support each other. Before you know it, your online business will surge forward because you will no longer be doing it alone; you will have like minded people urging you on, providing you with ideas, making you accountable for your actions. And how do you find such people? Well, start with who you already know - but there are other ways you can find them. Try social networking sites, or raising the issue in your own blog. But whatever you do, try to have a mastermind group of some kind with other people; your online business will benefit.

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At April 01, 2007 6:00 PM  Evan Carmichael said…

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I received an email yesterday from a contact who had pondered long and hard about business success, online and offline. She had come to the conclusion that the "secret" to success was the ability to produce "killer" copy - text that absolutely persuades and convinces people that you are right, that your product or service is a "must have" and that buying now is the only option. Copy that persuades people to do just that, said my friend, is the difference between people who really make it big. Indeed, I was at a seminar in the USA run by information marketing guru Fred Gleeck who said that if you only learned one skill for making money online, that skill should be copywriting. So, there seems to be agreement that copywriting is a key skill. Now, if you want your web sites to zing with fantastic copy and you can't write it, you'll need to pay someone. But the top copywriters who'll charge you £10,000 or more for a single sales page. If you don't have that kind of cash, what can you do. I had the same thought the other day and coincidentally was looking around a bookshop when I found "Killer Web Content" by Gerry McGovern.



This is a brilliant book. For anyone who wants to write their own web copy, the guidance in this book is essential. It's written in a no-nonsense, practical way with plenty of tips and ideas. There are worked examples which help you understand things and see ideas in practice as well. If you want to succeed online, then this book is essential reading.

Labels: internet, internet marketing

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Yesterday I went to the circus with my son, Elliot. It was the famous "Billy Smart's Circus" - the one I remember from my own childhood. Elliot sat transfixed, mouth open wide, as the first act arrived - a group of men and women who climbed like monkeys up huge 40 feet high poles and did all sorts of acrobatics on them. Chico the clown was a great favourite with the audience as well and the trapeze artists were simply amazing. Coming out of the circus Elliot was full of questions. How did the magician turn a box on fire into a lady? How come the trapeze artists performed tricks no-one else in the world had attempted? How much do you get paid if you work in the circus? Typical questions from a 7-year-old. But they made me think. The trapeze artists were only in the show for around 10 minutes. With two shows a day, they only work for 20 minutes a day. Yet, they clearly cannot perform so well without hours of practice each day. Similarly, Chico the clown had to fill time whilst the stage crew had to deal with a problem in the ring (an item that had been used by the previous act just would not fly up to the roof of the Big Top. Yet, the children didn't even notice. Chico used his expertise to do additional funny things and tricks, occasionally glancing to see if the stage crew had managed to complete their task. Only a clown with practised skills could carry that off so well. And as for the magician - you simply cannot turn a burning box into a woman without several practice sessions..! So what does this tell us about online business? Well most people I meet who try some kind of online business - such as using a blog to promote their work, or setting up a shopping cart - tend to do it once or twice and then give up because "it isn't working" or "it's too difficult". What most people are doing with their online business is the early practice of the trapeze artists. I bet if you had been to their practice sessions they kept falling off, landing in the safety net and getting back up and starting again. But how many times do you think this routine happened before they succeeded in performing the most difficult trapeze trick in the world? Once? Twice? Probably hundreds. Most online businesses fail because of lack of practice. People make one or two attempts at something and then give up because it isn't working. What you need to succeed online is dozens, maybe hundreds of goes at something until you find the way it works best for you and your customers. Giving up too soon would have meant that the trapeze artists wouldn't have amazed me and Elliot. Neither would they have got a job. And if like Elliot you are wondering if it's all worth it, try booking a circus act for your company's dinner dance. You won't have much change from £1,500 for a 20 minute show. It's worth it.

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As you'll know I haven't written anything here for the past four days. A combination of lots of work, a computer network breakdown and a busy social life all conspired against me. And it's shown - my rankings as revealed by Alexa have dropped. Every time I stop blogging, my rankings slip. So how often should you blog in order to stay up the rankings, indeed to get higher each day? This question was provoked by an article in yesterday's Guardian newspaper which said that several famous bloggers had simply stopped writing. Some said they hadn't found the time; others simply gave up. It all reminds me of The Bulls Head pub in Guildford - sadly no longer there. But my office was just a few doors up the High Street from the pub, so most nights you would find me and my colleagues having a drink after work. Every night there was a chap who stood at the bar putting the world to rights and entertaining us all with his thoughts. He was a local solicitor and a part owner of the pub. Then suddenly, he stopped coming in; we asked the barman and it transpired that the solicitor had sold his share of the pub. To begin with we missed his banter, but after just a few days it became "normal" for him not to be there. In other words, it didn't take long for us not to miss something we enjoyed every night for several years. Psychologically we have a huge capacity for adapting to new circumstances. At the moment, readers of certain blogs wonder how they coped without the information; if that particular blog stopped tomorrow, within a few days they wouldn't miss it. What this means is that if you have a blog and you have readers you must blog frequently and regularly. So, I've taken note of this myself....! Not only will it help your rankings in the "blogosphere" but it helps you stay connected with your human readers - who are much more important than any ranking system.

Labels: blogging, internet psychology

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At March 29, 2007 2:56 PM  Jeremy Jacobs said…

At April 09, 2007 11:26 AM  Ian said…

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Every meeting I go to I find people with tales of woe about their attempts to get to the top of Google. Some people have paid thousands to get there; they have been promised high level rankings by SEO companies. Often such companies can achieve success, at other times they cannot. The frustration is palpable. But what's amazing is how focused people are becoming on getting their business noticed by search engines. Well here are some facts about Google uncovered in research published by Convera. Around four out of every five people feel that search engined do not understand their queries. Some 90% of people fail to find what they are looking for on each search. Earlier research published by Pew Internet showed that 87% of people have successful search experiences. However, this belies the fact uncovered by Convera that most people have to search with several different queries until they find what they are after. The Pew Internet study, however, does find that the vast majority of people could cope without search engines, using alternative methods of finding what they want. Indeed, half of the people using search engines, according to Pew Internet, are only looking for trivial information. Less than one in five people claimed they used search engines to find anything of real importantce to them. So, what does all this data actually mean? Well, it signals that search engines are nowhere near as important to us as Google, Yahoo, MSN and so on would have us believe. It also means that if the vast majority of people are only using search engines for trivial matters and feel that the search engines do not really understand them, we are going to see a gradual move away from search engine sto other sources of important information. These include social networking sites, vertical search engines for specific industries and professions as well as complex, human edited, sites such as Wikipedia. As a result, if you focus your business attention on getting to the top of Google you are walking towards a dead end. You are also focusing on an aspect of the Internet which has decreasing relevance in the future. If you want to really get attention online focus on getting links from trusted sites, getting recommendations in social networking sites and getting your business known offline.

Labels: future, internet, internet psychology, social networking

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At March 29, 2007 1:22 AM  Manhydra said…

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Like almost anything else in life, it's clearly possible to become addicted to the Internet. If you find that you are spending hours in front of your PC screen, when there are other things to be done that get ignored, there's a danger of addiction. However, new research from the University of Bolton suggests that psychologists may have previously over-estimated Internet addiction levels. That said, they do find that Internet addiction, like any other addictive behaviour, leads to social problems and potential health problems because of skipping meals. Alcoholics, for instance, are nutritionally deficient - not because of the alcohol, but because their addiction makes them avoid eating. It's the same for gamblers and, it seems for Internet addicts. In the University of Bolton study, some 35% of people missed meals in order to carry on playing an online game. So what does this research mean for you or your business? Well, there are tell-tale signs that mean you or your staff could need some support - increased irritability or argumentativeness, for instance can signal Internet addiction. So too can skipping meals or sleepiness. Business loses millions each year because of alcoholism and other addictions leading to staff difficulties. Employers need to keep a watchful eye out for Internet addiction as well, especially as virtually every member of staff is exposed to the Internet throughout the working day - something that's not true for alcohol or gambling. As a result Internet addiction poses a significant threat to productivity.

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I'm sitting in my hotel room in Edinburgh between sessions at a meeting and I've been wondering what do people really need to help them make progress in marketing their business online. Is it lack of knowledge? Is it technical ability? Is it lack of time to put things into practice? Or something else? So, I'm asking you...what do you need to know, to do, to find out, etc., to enable your business to make progress online? Let me know by making a comment to this post. Once I have your comments I'll come back with my suggestions as to how we can solve the situation.

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At March 22, 2007 7:32 PM  Kim said…

At August 08, 2007 1:33 PM  asteconn said…

At August 08, 2007 1:51 PM  Graham Jones said…

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Yesterday, a relative "novice" to the Internet saw me at a conference and grabbed me. "I must tell you something exciting about blogging," he said. At one of the breaks, he came up to me full of smiles and said, "you're right about blogging, it does make money". Here's his story. Four months ago he developed a product that provided an online training programme and support for people who wanted to earn an additional income in property development. He then set up a blog about his product and promoted his work simply using his blog. He started his blog two months ago. He has now signed up 50 people to his initial support programme and has 25 people on the "waiting list" for the next cycle. Because the product he is selling costs £4,000, he has made £300,000 already - inside two months, just by using a blog to promote his idea. So, don't let anyone tell you that blogging doesn't pay.

Labels: blogging, internet

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We all sometimes work a bit in the dark when marketing on the Internet. Unlike high street retailers, we rarely get a chance to meet our customers and discuss things with them. Online we behave differently to the way we do in a shop, so when selling material online you need to find out about your customers and their needs in different ways. Asking your online customers and potential clients questions is a much neglected part of Internet Marketing. Indeed, I fail to do it myself as often as I should. So, I was interested to read how to ask your customers for feedback at the Speedie blog. It has some good ideas on how to generate the information you need to help you with your online marketing.

Labels: internet marketing, shopping

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Happy Red Nose Day. Here in the UK today sees the culmination of two years of planning and fund raising for the latest "Comic Relief - Red Nose Day". The event is a major television fund raiser, led by Britain's comedians and comic actors. The idea behind it is to raise money for projects in Africa and the UK - and have a laugh at the same time. But every two years when we get this "telethon" I know people who don't laugh - they cry. They see film reports of children in dire circumstances, able only to live on the streets, or perhaps even forced to kill their own parents. Harrowing tales of the difficult circumstances that people find themselves in make people pick up the phone and pledge some cash. They raise millions in one day doing this. It is a fantastic scheme; relatively rich people in the UK donate some of their money to help those in poorer circumstances. However, as a child psychologist I know of debates about the fairness of such activities. The whole notion that children need "rescuing" from specific situations can sometimes take us too far: on occasions our rescuing of children from what we find as emotionally disturbing circumstances can do more harm than good. A child on the streets, selling small items can, to our Westernised eyes, seem in dire circumstances. But they may be able to use the cash they raise to buy clothes - even pay for some education. Take them off the streets, return them to their homes and they may not be able to afford any food. True, it's a difficult balance to strike - but sometimes our emotions get the better of our logic. Of course that doesn't mean you should not donate - projects like those run by Comic Relief make a huge difference. But the way they achieve their success is illuminating. They do it by triggering emotions. Millions of pounds raised in just one day, all because they pull our heartstrings. So, how much does your marketing pull at people's emotions? Do you sell on "logic" or "emotion" - all of the research on sales will tell you that emotion is by far a bigger seller than logic.

To donate to Comic Relief now please visit their web site at http://www.comicrelief.com/

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At March 17, 2007 10:55 AM  Martin said…

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New evidence that search engines are losing their importance has been published today in New Media Age. It now seems that retailers get more of their traffic from social networking sites, rather than some search engines. Even though Google dominates in terms of traffic for some retailers, other search engines have lost out to social networking sites - in particular MySpace. This is only to be expected - and the trend will hit Google. For years we have all bought things on the recommendation of our trusted contacts. For example, our friends go to see a film, tell us they liked it and we think of going. Even though we may have seen the reviews, or heard adverts on the radio for the film, it's our friends talking about it that really triggers us to get to the cinema. Google and the other search engines are biased - they present material to us that the owners want us to see. Because so many web sites are simply "brochureware" even the natural search results (he non sponsored listings) feel like advertising. The result is, if we can find something on the web that doesn't feel so much like we are being sold to, we will prefer it. Social networking sites are the answer (for the time being). They allow us to see what other people have bought and which we might find interesting too. Amazon has used this idea for several years to its advantage, with recommended lists and reader reviews. So, with the treand away from search engines towards social networks, what does that mean for "optimization"? Well, I suspect the days of SEO are numbered. The next trend will be "social network optimization" - enabling your stuff to be listed by respected players within the social networking sites.

Labels: future, internet, internet marketing, shopping

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At March 15, 2007 7:17 PM  GO! Smell the flowers said…

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More evidence has come my way today of the immense value of "offline marketing" for anyone running an online business. If you read much of the Internet marketing "mantra" you'll be told about how to use emails, how to place adverts in ezines, how to get yourself mentioned in blogs and so on. Well, the harsh reality is that these marketing outlets represent only a tiny proportion of the sources of Internet traffic. According to a study for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, some 47% of people start their search for buying something by reading a magazine. That's by far the biggest proportion of people who do that. The study shows that only 8% of people start their search in a social networking site like MySpace. In other words you could be six times more likely to get your buyer if you have an article in a printed magazine than if you have an entry on MySpace. So what does this mean for your online business. It means your strategy for marketing your business needs to begin with public relations; get yourself in newspapers and magazines and you will sell more than if you concentrate in search engine placement or using online strategies. And what does this tell us about the way people behave online? It means that in spite of the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, more people have more trust in an old, established communications vehicle such as print.

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At April 20, 2007 10:36 AM  rosedarson said…

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You'll know from this blog that I reckon that building relationships with your clients, either online or offline, is essential for your Internet business. Many business people use networking to help establish and build relationships, but often I find that many people are not using networking effectively. So, if you want some ideas on how to do networking properly I'd suggest taking a look at Mark Lee's ideas on networking.

Labels: internet marketing, social networking

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What makes the world go around? Yes, I know the answer is gravity, but I mean the human world. What makes everything “tick”? Consider, for a moment, the fact that we can fly anywhere we like these days. We can turn up at an airport, check in and be on the other side of the planet in less than a day. How is that possible? Jet engines, efficient fuel, the skills of pilots, computer aided systems all play their part. However, without the relationship between the two Wright brothers, we might still be walking. Flying as we know it is only possible because these two worked together so well.

Now, you are probably reading this online. You connect your computer by a telephone-based system that interconnects computers around the world. How is that possible? Well, without the invention of telephony we would be nowhere. Moreover, how did the telephone get started? Alexander Graham Bell was at the forefront of this technology. However, without the relationship he had with his wife his invention may have floundered. She helped him test out his ideas.

Consider too how you manage to write anything down. Your ability to write was forged by the relationship you had between yourself and your teacher.
It’s relationships that make the world go around. Microsoft depended on the relationship between Gates and Bulmer. Google depended upon Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Even Iraq depended on the relationship between Bush and Hussein. Success, or otherwise, is absolutely and fundamentally dependent upon the relationships we have with other people.

So, tell me this, why on the Internet do so many people tell you that success is dependent upon “search engine optimisation”? Do really successful companies online spend hours, days, weeks and months “tweaking” lines of computer code just to get an advantage in the search engines? Do they heck. The really successful online companies – like Amazon – devote the bulk of their attention to forming relationships with their customers and potential customers. Does Microsoft worry about search engine positioning? Does Wal-Mart? What about Disney? You see, to big brands it’s not the position in search engine that matters. These companies only got to where they are because the put relationships at the heart of their business.

In the UK, the leading retailer is Tesco. One in every eight pounds spent in the UK economy is spent in Tesco. Wow! How did they do that? Well, according to the company’s CEO, Sir Terry Leahy, it has only been possible because the company changed its focus from the competition, to building relationships with customers. Tesco spends a huge amount of its time and energy on customer relationships.

Yet, look at the average web site. How much of it is devoted to relationship building? I took 100 web sites at random and only found one that had any focus on customer relationships. Most companies believe “we need a web site” but that’s where they end their thinking. They don’t consider what the web site is actually for in the eyes of the customer or potential client. Simply having a web site is not enough these days. Your web site focus needs to be on building relationships with your readers. And don’t forget you do that offline as well as online. So what do you think?

Labels: internet, internet psychology, social networking

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At March 10, 2007 10:57 AM  Alfred Armstrong said…