New month, new quarter.   Is your blog income growing?

Usually my post on the first of the month is a review of the previous one.   This will be included in my Quarter One review which will be published April 03.  Instead this post will be all about ramping up your blog income for the rest of the year.

Although  Blog Income is all about how to blog, most blogs are about something else, sometimes even about things like pet balms, swim fins and chess sets.  The purpose of the blog is to promote  and help sell  the product in your niche market.  That applies across the board whether your product is digital or physical.

What can you do to increase your online earnings?

Understand why people buy.

Geoff Ayling in his book  Rapid Response Advertising provides 50 reasons why people buy.  There are plenty more, the ones he lists are the main reasons.

We tend to think that people buy because they need something – they might, but they are more likely to buy when they want something.  Emotion over logic wins hands down.

I went through the reasons and list a smattering here.  Go through them and see how you can apply these reasons to your product then go blog/market in such a way as to appeal to these reasons.

  1. To make more money.
    There are those who scoff at money, that it does not buy you happiness, yet that same crowd is often front of line if they can make money from something.  If your blog is centered on finances, working from home, or internet marketing, this is a strong reason for people to buy your product, whether it is your own or an affiliate you are promoting.
  2. To become more comfortable.
    The same market as #1 applies, but in addition this is also a strong reason for the marketers of health products, furnishings, certain types of clothing.  If yours is the high adventure market, certain types of clothing are much more comfortable for each type of activity than others.  Think running shoes vs hiking boots, they are specialty products and do not cross over.
  3. To possess things of beauty.
    Beauty nourishes the soul and whether that thing of beauty is an exquisitely handcrafted chess set or a bronze casting keep this reason first and foremost if yours is  an aesthetic  product.  Stress how the product will look, feel and  give them great satisfaction in owning it.
  4. To avoid effort.
    Nobody likes to work too hard and if a way can be found to lessen the burden of hard work then sales will be made.  I think of the car.  In North America we take it for granted that every household has one but that is not the case in the rest of the world.  Think of China.  Until recently the bicycle was the equivalent of the car in North America.  With an improved economy the roads of Beijing and Shanghai are now as clogged as ours.  Does your product help lessen the burden of work?
  5. To be in style
    Yes, we still like to keep up with the Joneses and every niche has its own set of Joneses.  People like to be in style – would you like to be tagged as someone who is not with it?  Style does not just mean how you dress.  Within your niche there are things that are at the cutting edge, the “have to have” items that the hip and the progressive are buying.  When the iphone first came out, people lined up from the night before just to be amongst the first to own this new phone.
  6. To become more efficient
    A close cousin to item 4 above but different.  Efficiency improves output, reduces time and perhaps even develops an improved item.  Time management systems trade heavily on this and have done extremely well over the last 40 years.  In the internet world something as simple as a plugin can increase your site/blog performance for just having taken the time to install.
  7. To escape or avoid pain
    Again somewhat counter intuitive – we think that people are more inclined to buy for pleasure but statistics prove otherwise. Which of the two would have you reaching for your wallet first:

    -  a gizmo that guarantees to rid you of your chronic back pain
    -  an online game that will give you hours of pleasure

Just recently I was speaking with someone who has been experiencing excruciating pain in his right shoulder.  He has already spent a small fortune on remedies, none of which seem to have worked so he is now looking at a product that aligns his body, a gizmo with scientific research behind it.  Is this going to cost?  Yes.  But he is willing to try it before agreeing to go under the knife (which also, according to his doctor does not offer long term guarantees).

The 50 reasons that are listed in Geoff Ayling’s book are shades of the same thing, but shades do make a difference i.e. items #4 and #6 have a similarity, yet are different.  The book at $211.00 is somewhat pricey – head on out to your library.

For the rest of the year, when marketing your product think about how it might fit into one of the reasons that people buy.  Marketing to the reasons that people buy will give you more sales and help you earn a better online income

Questions:  What other reasons can you think of?  What reasons to you strive to meet when you market your product?  Other comments?