The Reader Appreciation Project

Every time you buy something in person from a store like Target, Neiman Marcus or Best Buy, the cashier asks you if you have a membership with their store in the form of a membership rewards program or a credit card. Chances are you either have such a card or you are offered an application for such a card. Many businesses ask you for your personal information in order to sell you credit cards and rewards programs to make more money. While such trends are very popular, businesses also realize that customers are very hesitant to hand out their sensitive information.

Your business and blog can perform better if you asked customers information that they are not hesitant to give to you. You can also work harder to make customers feel at ease when you ask them very sensitive information that a potential scammer could misuse. If you ask customers for their real full names while your competitor only needs their e-mail address for the same product or service, chances are your potential customers may start going to your competition. Similarly, if you only need an e-mail address and PayPal information from your customers, while your competitors need more information in addition to those, potential customers may prefer your business because of not having to divulge too much personal information.

What kinds of information should you ask your customers in order to provide more services and to generate more profits? You can start figuring out the answer by looking at the different levels of hesitation customers have when sharing personal information with businesses.

6 Sensitive Things Customers Hesitate to Divulge to You

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Shopping carts are the main source of income for many websites. In fact, Amazon.com relies mainly on its shopping cart to make almost all of its sales. Amazon does one thing very good compared to many other retailers: it allows customers to have a distraction free shopping cart experience.

Your shopping cart also needs to be an experience that allows customers to dive into the world of the product they are buying. There should be absolutely nothing on your end that can distract the customer when they are ready to buy something from you. The same way offline retail stores try to make sure customers do not have to wait long to pay a cashier, you have to make sure your customers have a quick and distraction-free shopping experience in order to have better sales and more satisfied customers.

Are you doing everything you can to make sure your shopping cart does not distract customers from purchasing an item? Start focusing on such a task by avoiding implementing the following 5 distractions in your shopping carts.

5 Distractions to Avoid Implementing in Your Shopping Cart

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One of the two probably biggest reasons people do not buy anything from you is because they do not feel interested in your products. The other reason is that many people do not see a good value in what you are offering. You can try to convert this second category of potential customers by offering discounts. Discounts are basically a way to offer your same product at a lower price while still making a good profit. It is a win-win situation for both you and the customer.

There are many different ways to offer discounts, though companies like AT&T usually focus on offering discounts and rebates to new clients only. One of the biggest reasons people leave any company is because they find a better value elsewhere. You have to offer discounts and incentives to allow both existing and new clients to benefit from any price reductions.

Here are the 5 general concepts of offering discounts that you can apply to your blog and business practically and immediately.

5 Ways to Offer Discounts

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Your blog content depends on a delivery venue. The computer screens and browsers that your clients use greatly affect the way your site performs and appears in the minds of the blog readers. The same way browsers like Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox deliver your blog to your blog readers, there are several other methods your blog readers can use to get your blog content.

Majority of the blogs on the internet depend upon the trend of having a blog reader visit them. You can take a step further if you want to be very successful. You have to bring your blog to the blog readers. When you bring your blog to a blog reader, you are basically allowing that blog reader to view and benefit from your content at their own preferred venue and time. You also reduce the number of steps many blog readers have to take in order to get your blog content. The easier it is for your blog readers to get your content, the more loyal blog readers you will get for your blog.

In addition to the regular browser, you can deliver your blog to your readers and clients in many different ways, including the following 4 important and powerful ones.

4 Different Ways to Deliver Your Blog Content

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While it can be very easy to start a blog, it can be quite hard to maintain it. From writing blog posts, coming up with topics to write about and bringing in visitors to answering e-mails, replying to comments and keeping people interested in your blog, the entire concept of blogging can be the most time consuming online activity in your life. And that can be for a good reason too, because all the time and effort you put into your blog pays off in both the short and the long run. The one thing you have to realize through your entire blogging effort is consistency.

Being consistent in your blogging efforts basically means that you keep maintaining your entire blog and the elements related to it at least on an almost regular basis. For example, if your blog gives blog readers one new article in July, two articles in August, 20 articles in September and then 5 articles in October, people may simply lost interest in your blog because of the inconsistent scheduling of your blog posts. While consistency itself may have nothing to do with the quality of your blog and blogging efforts, blog readers do try to incorporate your blog and your ideas into their already active lives. Being consistent means your blog readers can find it easier to be interested in your blog in both the long and the short run.

In order to have a successful blog, you need to be consistent in your blogging efforts. The following list will help you focus on 5 things in your blogging efforts in order to be more consistent.

5 Things to Be Consistent About on Your Blog

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Probably not a day goes by where your blog does not end up making someone upset. Whether it is because of what you said or because of what your blog stands for, the idea of getting upset means that all of your blog reader and client base includes several people who are not completely satisfied with you. In order to build a good blog, you have to both get customers to become happy and customers to work with you in solving their problems. The only way to do the latter is to figure out what problems customers are having.

You may already be wondering why your clients get upset. In addition to working out different plans to see why some or several of your clients may be upset or not as active as other clients, you can create venues on your blog to allow clients and everyone else to vent and let you know the things that they do not like. Blogs that do not allow customers to vent are like shops which do not allow a customer to do anything other than to pay for a service.

The only successful way to keep a customer loyal and happy for the long run is to actually find out the problems a customer may be having so that you can solve them. And the best way to find out a problem is to have a customer vent to you directly.

3 Ways to Allow Customers to Vent

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Each and every guest blogger who writes for your blog also needs the same amount of attention that you give to all your blog readers and clients. A guest blogger and make or break your blog, depending on how much devotion they place on the importance of your blog in their blogging efforts. The same way a blog without comments can be like a lecture, as Chris Garrett says, a guest blog post without the full backing of the guest blogger can make your blog less valuable for your clients and readers.

Every commentor is a writer, and every writer is a commentor. A guest blogger is basically both: a writer who is commenting on your blog. A guest blogger also has the advantage of being a main commentor who attracts other commentors. I previously presented to you a list of 5 Ways to Appreciate Readers. Today we shall cover some ways you can appreciate guest bloggers on your blog.

In order to attract and maintain a healthy list of amazing guest bloggers, you have to start treating guest bloggers with respect. Here are 5 ways how you can do that.

5 Ways to Appreciate Bloggers

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Wanting to be more successful is the plain and simple fact for many people online, probably including you too. Whether it is to get more readers, clients or sales, you work regularly to try and be more successful. In addition to working on different new things to try and test what works, you also usually work on changing your own self in order to be better. One of the things inside of you that may be a obstacle to your success is the concept of getting angry. You getting upset regularly may be the biggest obstacle to your success.

Spending any time on things that get you upset or getting engulfed in unnecessary emotional drama will only result in you spending time on being angry. It is a commonly observable fact that many things in life can upset a lot of people. What you may not realize is that there is a difference between getting upset regularly and getting upset rarely. What many people not realize also is that many times it can be possible to simply feel uncomfortable or disappointed about something instead of feeling upset. Such a change in attitude, of avoiding getting upset, can do wonders. One of the wonders that can come from such a change is the creation of more and more successful trends and results in your life.

In order to be successful online through blogging or any other medium, you have to focus on good things and yourself. You have to avoid getting upset if you want to be successful.

5 Random Things Online to Avoid Getting Upset Over

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Every week you spend hours reading posts and emails from people who are telling you what they want. Bloggers also do the same thing through their blog posts, telling you what they want from you. You, as a blog reader or commentor, have to tell the blogger what you want also. People cannot guess easily what you have in mind. Even if they assume something, they may not act upon it as they do not know whether or not their guess is correct. Tell other people, including bloggers, what you want if you want something.

There is a difference between telling someone what you want and demanding something from someone. Usually, people who tell someone what they want end up getting more things compared to people who expect or demand things. You have to work for something and you have to tell others what you are looking for. The simplest form of such work is to simply voice out your desire. On blogs, it is one of the crucial things in order to get something from a blog or a blogger.

The same way blog readers do not know what you want unless you tell them, bloggers do not know what you want unless you tell them. It is time to speak up.

Tell bloggers what you want!

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U-turns are usually the least liked signs some drivers want to see on a road. And there is a good reason for that. Many drivers prefer driving straight or making left and right turns. A u-turn usually tells a driver that they have come too far, and that they have to turn around their entire car. This kind of an experience exists in the online world too. U-turns are everywhere online, and your blog may be making your customers make unwanted u-turns.

In addition to making sure that your customers have a great time on your blog, you have to make sure that the different blog features you offer do not result in your customers wanting to literally back off simply because of feeling stuck. From bad blog design to inconsistent ways of incorporating new features into your blog, you may actually be forcing your customers into making u-turns on your blog. And you may thus be losing readers, customers and money because of such u-turns.

RA Project shows you 3 ways your customers may be making u-turns on your blog, and not liking you because of that.

3 Examples How Customers Make U-turns on Your Blog

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