Onboarding Optimization: Engaging Users From the Get-Go

By Noa Dror

The main challenges website owners and e-Commerce entrepreneurs are faced with can be broken down to a cycle of 3 stages: traffic (grabbing users' attention), user-engagement and conversion. While the first is a job best left to the marketing team - the second and third stages are tightly bound to each other: there is a high correlation between users who have a successful onboarding and good conversion rates. This makes a lot of sense: users who are fully aware of all of the webapp's capabilities and are confident in their own ability to navigate in it - are far more likely to commit to it.

While conversion is a goal, there is no way to improve its rates by targeting the conversion action itself. Users will not be convinced to register to a service or purchase a product if you simply shout at them more loudly that they should do that. The only way to go about acquiring better conversion rates is to optimize the navigation flow leading up to the point of conversion.

Engaging users from the get-go is a key objective, in this regard. The statistics are adamant on that: most users establish an opinion on a website within the first 2.6 seconds of browsing. It goes without saying that a professional, eye-catching design for a website is a critical part of initial user-engagement. Clear, simply put yet intriguing content is just as important for successful onboarding. A third, essential aspect of user-engagement is navigation.

User experience (UX) has a central role in onboarding optimization: the ease with which a user navigates the website determines how comfortable he or she will be, which, in turn, determines how likely they are to keep using it. We don't like doing things that make us feel uncomfortable - and feeling clueless and lost usually has that effect.

There are various ways to tackle this issue. One UX approach that is rapidly gaining popularity is the use of walkthroughs and site tours. Using on-page guidance tools like tooltips and overlays, the user can be introduced to various features on the website and get more comfortable with his or her virtual surroundings through self-service methods, without having to go through a complex and time consuming training session.

There are other ways to deal with navigation challenges: most webapps sporting the lean approach go for Flat UI - a design concept that minimizes the need to browse through multiple and relies on endless scrolling. This works for a front end site that merely needs somewhere to showcase its functionality, while the service itself is downloadable or rendered on a separate system.

Web designers do a lot of testing before launching a final version of the website and then keep making changes while it's up. A/B testing (displaying different versions for two sets of users and gathering data based on clicks and conversion goals) - is very popular on this front.

But more complex sites with multiple uses and multiple conversion goals are more difficult to navigate intuitively and may require some guidance tools to help users get where they need. Fortunately, there are some excellent solutions out there for such challenges.

Please visit https://iridize.com for more information on onboarding, customer experience optimization, walkthroughs and integrated help solutions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Noa_Dror

Success Secrets of Home Based Businesses

By Jay M Collins

Secret #1:

It will take work. It doesn't matter if the person that invited you into the opportunity earns $100,000.00 a month or more. That has ABSOLUTELY no bearing on what YOU are going to make. YOU MUST commit AT LEAST 10-15 hours a week consistently to be successful. If someone tells you otherwise they are not being truthful.

Secret #2:

If the program has been around for at least 5 years or more it is not a scam. There are many who believe that a multilevel marketing opportunity or high ticket opportunity is a scam. This is not true of programs that span a decade or longer.

There are programs on the internet that present themselves to be "better than private cash leveraging programs". Yet they are structured the same way as private cash leveraging programs but they have downloadable CDs. These programs are promoted as being businesses not Private cash leveraging activities. However these programs are not a member of the Better Business Bureau, they cannot give you an income disclosure statement, and if there is a problem with the CDs you cannot return the product. Now this program is not a scam it's still a private cash leveraging program that happens to have a product attached.

Secret #3:

You must develop a marketing strategy and stick with it. You must have a continual source of prospects if you want to generate significant cash flow. If the results of your marketing campaign are not generating your desired results, be creative and utilize other prospecting methods to generate leads (circle of influence, lead lists, email marketing, social media, voicebroadcasting, text messaging, solo advertising, national advertising, etc.) Regarding lead lists, I have purchased inexpensive leads and expensive leads and guess what? I have generated $3500 or more from lists that I paid $65 for AND lists that I paid $400 for! I have also generated significant cashflow from free sources (circle of influence, drop cards, flyers)

Secret #4

You must develop a stellar mindset. Your success will rise and fall with your thoughts. Remember, as a man thinketh so is he. Develop your mindset by reading authors such as Napoleon Hill, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Jordan Adler, etc. Sooner or later you will hit a period where you hit a stumbling block. This is the moment that will define you. You can either cave in and quit or push through that season and persist. Many people quit when they are 10 acres away from gold.

Secret #5:

The biggest secret... should I really put it out there? Most people quit the opportunities they join regardless of how much they spent to join and those same people will run around saying that an opportunity is a scam.The truth is EVERY program that has been around for 5 years or more has people in it who have created hundreds of thousands if not millions in it. These are the people who stayed the course and they persisted even when most would have given up. PERSISTENCE and CONSISTENCY is the key to the breakthrough and the key to success!

Here's a freebie secret: it's all about consistency, hard work, discipline, and a solid work ethic which will undoubtedly create THE COMPOUND EFFECT. Don't blame anyone for your success or failure. Look in the mirror. Don't get involved if you are not willing to grow. You must have thick skin.

Jay Collins, M.ED., MAT, has over 10 years experience as a leader and main trainer for several network marketing and private cash leveraging activites.She is a former teacher and high school counselor. She thrives on using her teaching and counseling background to help others reach their desired success levels in home based business opporutnities. She is available for a free marketing consultation. One of the opportunities she recommends is http://www.instantweeklycashflow.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_M_Collins

Slaying the SEO Dragon

By Kenneth Dockins

Gone are the days when SEO website search engine optimization was a safe and simple journey from point A to point B. There's a new dragon in town.

Its name is Hummingbird, and although it lacks the ability to breathe fire, its "silent" venom is just as deadly as anything that Panda or Penguin can produce.

Climbing the hills or traveling the valleys of online marketing business operations requires a specialized safety covering.

Believe it or not, this layer of protection is practically all about practicing ethical behavior on the web. "SEO ethics," in reality, comprises the style of search engine optimization technique that:

• Boosts the influx of stimulated readers and prospective customers;
• Raises the bar for consumer oriented customer service provided by online operators;
• Supports the overall Google mission of an extraordinarily enhanced visitor experience.

Why is ETHICS the key-point and solution on how to slay SEO dragons? These new search engine optimization protocols are actually in place to heighten the quality of online services.

Their effect is subtle, but the unprepared or unaware marketer can easily encounter snags in business operation.

Often, no "announcement" or warning comes with the occurrence of a website entrepreneur's online business marketing mistakes.

Things are quietly moving along when suddenly, sales drop, ratings disappear, and activity at your online venue takes a mysterious dive.

These are only some of the "symptoms" of being snagged by an SEO dragon.

Ironically, the new ways of protecting the public from non-caring, self-centered, or unscrupulous marketers have made their 180-degree turn BACK to a much older and more traditional philosophy.

That is, in a way, "blanket" style application of rules to govern online sales behavior are now in place. The SEO dragon is their guardian.

Of course, once in a while, a "good" or honest Internet entrepreneur and online business owner will receive a negative HIT from an intended SEO protector. This is much like the friendly fire that sometimes happens in almost any basic war.

Nonetheless, the saying the "good things happen to good people" maintains its basic truth. A helpful clarification, however, is that the GREATER good happens to people who are:

-- At the right PLACE;

-- At the right TIME; and

-- Doing the right THING.

For prosperous SEO operations, the "place" is Google page one, by way of basically EVERY article, blog, content page, social comment, or website URL that bears your mark.

That correct "time" is 24-7 adoption of consistency in ethical philosophy application--meaning, maintain a consumer point of view in regard to honesty, reliability, and trust.

Lastly, the best "thing" to do is HELP other people to solve their problems, to find respectable and trustworthy, long-term solutions.

This is how to slay the SEO dragon.

Can you use reliable task completion assistance in your online business responsibilities? Tap this link to find fast, high quality, low cost SEOservices.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenneth_Dockins

How to Earn $297 a Day Online - The EASIEST Way to Build a Home Based Business Out of Thin Air

By Alexa Ross

What is the easiest way to get started earning great money online? Is it affiliate marketing? Starting a coaching business? How about creating your very first product... and trying to sell that to your existing readers or audience? What about writing books for Amazon? Can't you make a fortune now on Kindle?

Any of these questions sound familiar? If you are anything like the tens of thousands of people who are searching... right at this VERY moment for the easiest, most expeditious and most affordable way to turn your online ambitions into a powerful, and perpetually profitable business, they probably do! As a matter of fact, it always amazes me how many people who are just getting started are trying SO many different and disparate things... So many different ideas, and so many different approaches, never ever really settling on one.

The right answer?

I'll give it to you in the simplest, most straightforward way I know how.

Sell services.

And start local.

The easiest way to make great money online is to build a local "agency" style business. Why? Because there are real people, right now, in your existing community... within 100 miles of your home, who would be more than happy to pay you good money to do work that you do better than they.

Everything from CONTENT marketing, to relationship building, to email automation, to web design, to blog building, social media marketing to writing articles, doing SEO and a million other real world services that every REAL business truly needs.

Let me give you a simple example -

I have a client who recently started a $297 local launch business.

She sells about one a day on average... about half on referral, and the other half from free websites like Craigslist and a small local meet up she runs.

What she offers?

1 - A "launch" of a new product or service for an existing business

(using a special "launch style" WordPress template that has some special "viral" capabilities and email marketing built in. (there are several of these on the market... and they are 100% free, so you don't even have to pay for them!)

2 - Configures the relationship marketing elements so her clients can build a list from day 1

3 - Some very light design (simply using a few client provided pictures for the template itself, which takes 30 seconds to add)

4 - a 60 minute consultation by phone.

That's it. The actual building of the LAUNCH site takes about 2 or 3 hours because it standardized with a template.
The services that she offers are EASY to scale... as many of her higher priced clients want her to manage everything as well. (meaning MORE profit from each sale - more back end services built in and more ways to turn $297 into many times that amount over the course of the year)

Of course the 60 minute consultation does the same thing - it allows her to demonstrate her expertise on the phone, and about 20% of those people ALSO sign up for a weekly coaching call as well. (more easy money!)

The truth is, you can take this entire model, which I'm trying to squeeze into a short article, and build a 6 figure business from scratch, literally starting right now... all while doing WORK you LOVE, and making a real difference in your community as well!

NEW for Coaches, Consultants, Teachers, Trainers, Mentors, Marketers and PASSION Professionals: Want the SECRET to earning 4 figures in ONE Day WITHOUT Tricks, Gimmicks or Guru's? Click HERE and I'll give it to you 100% Free!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexa_Ross

How To Make Money Online From The Comfort Of Your Home From Blogging

By Abhishek Banerjee

What is Blogging?

A blog is an interactive website where readers can go to get information about a specific topic or topics that interest them. Bloggers strive to develop lots of "traffic", or unique visitors, to their blog. Once they have several hundred unique page views per day, the blogger can sell advertising banners on their blog. They can also make money by selling affiliate products or other services. Search engines give higher placement ranks to blogs that generate a lot of original, authoritative content. This in turn can generate even more traffic, allowing for higher advertising rates. That's where blogging jobs come in.

Disreputable Employers in the Blogging World

Many companies or individuals will hire writers to crank out blog posts for them. Their expectation is often to have the writer generate dozens of new posts for the blog, at a rate of less than one cent per word. The employer's goal is to gain a lot of new content to increase their search engine rank. Unfortunately for the writer, the pay works out to be around $2 to $3 per hour-- and that's if they're a very fast writer. If the employer wants several dozen blog posts per week, written for less than a dollar per post, you should not apply for the job. The reward for the amount of work that's required isn't worth the effort.

Shared Ad Revenue

Some employers offer to split advertising revenues with bloggers, depending on how many page views their posts receive. Every time a person clicks on your post, you earn a percent of the revenues that the blog generates. This can be a form of passive income. While it's still not the equivalent of a part time salary, this type of blogging can generate income for you over time, especially if you write a lot of posts for the employer. Again, it's very low pay up front, and it may take more than a year to make money blogging this way.

Legitimate Blogging Jobs

In spite of the negative reputation that some of the above blogging jobs have, there are many companies that are looking to hire bloggers for a fair wage. Legitimate employers will offer anywhere from $5 to $20 per post or a flat rate for several dozen posts, and some even offer shared ad revenue options on top of that. These are companies that are serious about maintaining an online presence and want quality content written for their readers. You may have to sift through a lot of scams and slave-labor jobs to find them, but there are good blogging jobs out there.

If you want to make money blogging, be careful who you sign a contract with. If your hourly wage works out to be less than minimum wage, it's not a good opportunity. Look for employers that offer competitive wages if you want to blog for the long haul.

http://www.onlinemoneymine.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Abhishek_Banerjee

High Speed Internet: How Fast Is Fast Enough?

By Julie Foster

In today's interconnected online world, most people just assume higher, faster, more efficient Internet connectivity (a.k.a. bandwidth) is always the best option. In reality, however, most people only utilize a relatively small percentage of their broadband or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) capability.

Unless you're uploading and downloading video, audio and image files all day, every day-which some people do-the fact is you probably don't need as much broadband access as you may think.

Granted, commercial high speed Internet service and residential high speed Internet service can vary considerably, but generally your home or small business shouldn't require the kind of speed or bandwidth associated with a larger business or information technology (IT) company.

It's important to remember there's a difference between Internet "speed" and "bandwidth." Speed is how fast a connection exists between your Internet provider and your home. Bandwidth refers to how much data back-and-forth capacity your Internet connection can handle. So, when you're talking about "broadBAND," you're referring to "BANDwidth."

For example, you can have incredibly high speed Internet access into your home, but if you piggyback too many connection tasks on top of one another-like streaming multiple videos while downloading and uploading music files, and playing online games simultaneously-you can exhaust your bandwidth capacity, so your "speed" can appear to slow to a crawl, and suddenly you see "buffering" notifications instead of streaming video. Therefore, your reliable Internet speed depends on how much bandwidth your Internet provider allows, and that depends on the connectivity package you opt for.

Obviously, bandwidth needs vary considerably. As an example, for graphic-intensive massive online role-playing games, high bandwidth connections are a basic necessity, particularly in households where multiple gamers are playing at the same time. Those same households are usually the ones downloading music files, uploading video files and basically choking the bandwidth pipeline. Some broadband providers can offer bandwidth with speeds of 15 or 25 megabits per second (Mbps) via cable access, 150 Mbps via Fiber, or up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) via long term evolution (LTE) access. 1 Gbps is, to put it mildly, A LOT. That's probably way more than any household would currently require.

For households in the real world within what would be considered the "high bandwidth necessity spectrum," a more realistic and reasonable target would be around 7 to 20 Mbps. Provided there aren't too many concurrent upload and download tasks taking place, this should provide more than enough bandwidth and speed to keep even the most avid online gamers happy.

For more modest residential Internet needs, such as streaming audio and video and image uploading and downloading, speeds between anywhere from 2 to 10 Mbps should suffice, although those numbers can vary between households.

If your home Internet needs consist of simple e-mails or other personal communications such as texting or instant messaging, then you wouldn't require much bandwidth leeway at all and could subsist on 1 Mbps or less, depending on whether your personal communications include file attachments.

Of course, your Internet needs inevitably evolve over time. If you graduate from modest texting and instant messaging to immersing yourself in a role-playing game as a high-level dwarf attempting to conquer a large swath of territory in the name of your gods, your bandwidth and speed requirements will increase considerably. Before setting forth to conquer worlds in cyber space, ensure you have the capability and capacity to head into the mystic realms far and beyond simple computing needs!

Enventis specializes in providing integrated voice, data and network communication solutions to businesses and service providers across the upper Midwest.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_Foster

What Is an Opt-In Page?

By Robert Stanek

When it comes to marketing your business, one of the keys to bringing in potential customers and encouraging repeat business is to keep your name, service, or product in front of them. One way to accomplish this is by getting a visitor to agree to receive correspondence from you through an "opt-in" page. Here is a general overview of opt-in pages and some simple tips to create one that draws attention and response!

Opt-In Page Elements

Opt-in pages will often vary in their content, depending on the goal of the business and the information that the customer wishes to receive, but most opt-in pages will have at least a few of the following common elements.

• The Sign-up or Opt-In Form: This is a basic form page that allows the user to share their contact information with the business site. This will normally always include an email address, but may also have other optional fields, such as mailing address and mobile number (for text messaging opt-in). Additionally, this page should include a place for the user to check mark what they wish to receive, such as promotional or sales emails, newsletters, product updates or recalls, etc. Finally, many opt-in pages will also have a short paragraph listing the company's privacy policy or personal information sharing guidelines.
• Confirmation Page: The confirmation page would follow the submission of the opt-in page, providing an affirmation to the user that their information has been received. Many sites include a copy of what information was provided, so that users may double check to ensure all submitted contact details are accurate and spelled correctly.
• Welcome or Thank you Email: The final element of most opt-in pages is a welcome or thank you email sent to the contact, using the newly acquired email address, to let your new contact know that you have received their request and to welcome them to your mailing list. This is also a great place to include any information about unsubscribing, should the user decide to in the future, or share any current promotions of sales with them. In some cases, businesses will offer a one time discount code or special offer in exchange for an opt-in, and this code or coupon is then attached or embedded in the welcome email.

Opt-In Page Tips

If you are ready to create your page, here are some tips to help you get started!

• Catchy Headline: When someone lands on your opt-in page, the first thing they will see is the headline. Make it is attention grabbing and interesting.
• Incentive Offering: People want to know "what's in it for me?" By offering an incentive of some kind, you will encourage more opt-ins. Ideas include: a free trial or subscription, a discount or promo code, tips or educational information, etc.
• Short & Concise: When creating the content for your opt-in page, try to keep it as simple and as straightforward as possible. Using bullet points, paragraph breaks, or headlines and subheads also makes the content reader friendly and easy to navigate.
• Less Is Often More: Many people are apprehensive about handing out too much personal information. In order to maximize your opt-in response, asking for less information is best. Many sites only require an email address, but give the option of including additional information.

Effortless Virtual Assistants is a full service virtual administrative and online marketing firm. Let us help you with your daily admin needs, plan your next product launch or just answer the questions you have about running your online business. http://www.effortlessvirtualassistants.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Stanek