I’ve been working with people who are setting up online businesses now for years. Whether it’s comments left on blog posts, conversations at conferences and workshops, group calls for my members or private coaching sessions, these two stark realities about Internet businesses are rarely understood to the depth that is required for success.
Find out what two elements I am talking about by watching today’s Yaro.TV video.
Hi Yaro,
Thanks for sharing your advice and experiences.
Learning about your customers is essential to be successful in this business. I know my target customers, and it helps me immensely in marketing.
Great advice on traffic generation too. ‘Its a marathon, not a sprint’ I agree with that statement.
Kindest,
Nabeel
I totally agree with you on this. We should really know who our customers are, and know their needs, and that would make our marketing much more easier.
Regarding traffic, I agree with that as well. I’d rather have a steady flow of traffic than a one time big time traffic.
Regards,
Gary
Good morning Yaro. Great post!
I have to say that I found it interesting that when you were talking about learning about your customers, you said that we also needed to learn about ourselves and then connect the two. This is something I have never heard before when people talk about learning about your customers, but it is definitely true.
Thanks again for the great post!
Awesome video Yaro, I agree with what you have said. I think many new Internet Entrepreneurs fail to understand what their customers needs are, also something I would like to add on to your advice would be provide helpful content and information on what ever your niche or topic is even if you don’t have a solid idea of what market you are talking too. Meaning if you are starting out a blog, rather than spending days trying to figure out exactly what to target, just start posting content. When you see viewers coming to your website, than capture their emails and start asking them what information they would like to know. Or just post that on your blog as a poll or a survey.
Yaro would know best, but thats my two cents. Don’t keep waiting on discovering that perfect niche, just start now in a niche you would like to target than later on mold and shape up your website or blog to feed to that specific niche.
I needed this. Thank you! I felt I would love to get some advice from you and thought about emailing you and then this just popped up in my email. Great timing! This video inspired me. Thanks for the support!
Sam
Thanks for this Yaro! I think you’re an excellent example of one who has dealt with these challenges well. In particular I notice you never neglect the emotional/mental aspects of your customers. On this site there are so many helpful articles that don’t have anything to do (directly) with blogging, business, etc, but hit straight home with the reader. End result is when I read your advice I feel you truly understand what I’m thinking, feeling, experiencing, and can actually be the on to help me. I also appreciate the emphasis on how doing an online business takes some time and dedication. It may sound like a downer but in reality it is inspiring to know that maybe some of us haven’t had the success we are looking for in part because we’ve only been at this a year. That is my case anyway 🙂 Thanks for everything!
Hey Yaro,
Nice video. Spot on. Really great video.
You’ve given some awesome advices.
Thanks for sharing !! Great Job :).
~Dev
It would be useful if your videos had a summary…I don’t often have 9 minutes to watch a video. (I played this one in my car today.)
Here is my summary:
Part 1: Know your customers. Really know them. Be able to describe who they are.
Prat 2: Traffic is a process, not an overnight thing. Engage in long-term traffic building strategies.
-Erica
I have always found that no matter what the gurus say nice market research and search engine optimization will never change. Always try to get an exact match when choosing a domain name for the best possible chance of success.
Once again I must congratulate you for reminding people that success in any endeavor (Such as traffic building) is a process that takes some time and work.
Too many people quit when they don’t get instant success with their blog.
I see a similar scenario play our in my fitness and fat loss coaching business. I see too many folks who have spent decades abusing their body, and now look and feel like crap, yet expect to somehow magically reverse all that damage in a few weeks.
That’s why I HATE “get rich quick” or “lose fat quick” nonsense. It sets people up for failure when such unrealistic expectations are inevitably not met.
Success in almost any endeavor takes time and effort. There may be some techniques which will speed up that process a bit, but ultimately there are no major short-cuts or free-ride to success in anything.
Great video. I would surely remember that. Just one doubt that how as a blogger can I ask question from my readers? Shall I ask that directly through my posts, after my article ends?
Please throw some light on it if you can.
TY!!
Ask questions in blog posts, in comments, run a webinar and take questions at the end, etc.
It’s not just about asking questions, it’s about listening to questions too. For example by asking me this question I learned more about you as my reader.
Got that ! 🙂 Please write a few articles on webinars, as I am not very aware of it, just the way you wrote articles on Outsourcing. I loved them !
And by the way short hair looks cooler ! 😀
So glad you’re doing more videos now Yaro – I actually visit your blog regularly now.
Those “text people” must think I am weirdo hehehe!
Gideon Shalwick
I like your point about learning who your customers are and what they want. Also, great point about how a business may need much time before it would profit reasonably well.
I am also really glad to see you doing more videos. I don’t have the patience to read some of your longer articles, but I’ll watch a video or listen to a podcast for hours. The SEO value might not be there as much, but video is so much more shareable, and I think it cements your relationship with your viewers so much more.
I have to disagree with gideon here. i appreciate why you are doing more video but i feel this post was rambling with no well thought out point or takeaways/action items. Dont give up on writing out your posts. I think you are a really good writer and i think it forces you to focus your posts better. Cheers!
I’ve been doing text, video and audio on this blog for four years. I like them all, but writing will always be my favorite. Depending on how much time I have, what type of content I am creating and what I feel like doing, will dictate what formats I use.
I always have to chuckle when people see three videos or three podcast interviews on my blog they think I’ve given up writing altogether.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, I’m always listening.
Brilliant video as usual Yaro! Just to say that I have found reading forum questions and ALL the responses a brilliant initial way to get to know my customer in my niche. You build up a very rounded picture of how my demographic think, ‘speak’, react, views, where they buy, where they don’t buy, what they need as well as finding out all their problems they just can’t get solved qucikly. So if your niche has a forum or three, I think it essential to read every single thread – all of them! This takes a lot of time and organisation to log and make notes too. If you’re passionate about the subject it makes this job fascinating. It’s amazing what you find out, what patterns emerge. I’ve then will tailor my content to simply give them what they need. Yes, this takes a lot of time to do.
I’d like to see some videos aimed at newbie guys like myself. The ones you do now seem to be geared to more experienced bloggers. 🙂
I have even seen some apologize for “missing today’s post.” That’s ridiculous. I don’t want to read your blog everyday, especially if you talk about yourself. Thanks!
Hey Yaro,
Great message here!
I agree 100% with you when you talk about linking what we know about ourselves and our customers. Personally, I am a past customer of what I now do in business, so I believe this is an essential aspect to maximizing your success as well as truly understanding your customers.
Thanks again Yaro,
Paul
Yaro, great post, how long do you think one should test the market by asking questions before creating a product? Or do you think that’s arbitrary?
You should start testing sooner than you think in my opinion, but in the end it’s up to you and your threshold for risk.
Thanks Yaro for sharing so much of your knowledge with us. You are right…nothing takes the place of organic SEO methods. Engaging content, knowing your audience and finding the right niche to target play a huge part in obtaining long term success on the Internet.
Sometimes when I think about which blog to build next, I always worry what niche I should focus on and whether or not my blog will last. We can’t really help but worry about that because those are very important aspects for a blog!
Great advice, Yaro, but people who do not make a full time income have a difficult and frustrating ‘journey’ spending all this time “learning” and “building traffic”.
The eventual return money-wise on time invested is ridiculously low.
Often, I feel, marketers are trying to rank for keywords they just have no chance for – all because they are not trained to measure the competition properly.
Thanks Yaro great tips.
Hi Yaro
This is a great video. A short and to the point conversation. I totally agree with the point that you rise up about the traffic “No quick fix to traffic building” as that is basically what demoralizes those people who just started building their online business.
Thks again for your good content
You can never really say too much about the importance of niche selection. One of my best friends hit it big with ecommerce site after several tries with other ventures, but his niche is fabulous. After some time, you just have to have the courage to get out there and do something. There is too much to take in at once, but if we take it a day at a time the overwhelming becomes do-able.
I love your site!
By the way, try turning 31 with 2 kids…that will really make you tired.
I’m concerned that after the first campaign that you will for the most part just be repeatedly getting the same traffic?
G’day Yaro,
I couldn’t agree more with all the comments in your video and traffic is a big concern for most new marketers but everyone has to go through a learning curve of how and where to get traffic but like you said there is a set process to long term continuous traffic and it does take time.
My primary ‘niches’ are actually online advertising and traffic generation, and I have two sites with identical traffic generation technology, one of which I target the USA with .. http://www.viraltrafficspiral.com .. and the other targets Australia .. http://www.auswebtraffic.com.au .., but what a lot of people don’t understand when they become members is that it takes time to build up streams of traffic, build a list and for the viral advertising to take effect, it doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen without some effort on their part for it all to happen.
If people do take the time and effort to get the ball rolling it eventually goes on auto-pilot and much less time and effort is required, but a certain process has to be followed and certain amount of focus and disipline has to be applied during that process, then they see massive results.
Follow up emails from me are designed to educate and encourage members to use ALL the tools and software available within the site to maximize and accelarate the growth of their web traffic, the size of their list and the effectiveness of their viral ads, but like you mentioned some people are impatient and want hordes of traffic to their sites straight away but at the same time remain inactive within the system .. it just doesn’t happen that way .. and what they’re forgetting is that the whole system, and it’s potential to generate automated traffic, has been handed to them on a platter for Free!
And if by getting traffic to their sites includes building another list of subscribers for their online business, you are sooo right when you say you have to build a rapport with your list, find out their likes/dislikes, their needs, what excites them, what fears they have, what problems they have that need solving and build a relationship with them all before you attempt to send offers/recommendations to them .. without that knowledge and rapport you could be trying to sell ice to an eskimo!
Great site and I’ve signed up to take a look at some of your literature, everyone can always learn more … “Even the Greatest Minds In The World do not stop learning, if they did they wouldn’t be the greatest minds in the world”
Cheers Yaro.
I really liked your recommendation about traffic, as someone who has been doing the online deal for about 3 years now, I too have been caught up sometimes in focusing in on just one or two methods of driving traffic to my website, I learned the hard way, when one of my methods suddenly stopped working, because I didn’t approach for from the long run perspective, and instead I was focusing on getting the short run, and making the now work.
Till then,
Jean
haii Yaro,
Thanks for sharing your advice and experiences.
Its nice to see beyond the keywords and see the importance of that human connection with the customer. What I really got out of this is that we need to know our niche and be able to communicate why we are so passionate about serving or customers. Makes me want to take another look at my site to see where I need to improve.
The moral: All the great tools in the world don’t make up for a lack of substance and human appeal.
I agree with Jean’s comment above – always think long term. There’s a lot of folks out there looking for a quick buck – if something doesn’t land and be uber successful in a matter of months, they’ll just shift onto something else (and leave customers in the breeze).
One thing I always refer myself back to, is my own grassroots retail experience owing a shop. Even though we have a very large competitor (talking 25+years in the industry, and about 6x the retail space), we succeeded – not because we had better pricing or smoke & magic mirror products – we just listened to our customers, brought in what they wanted and kept on listing to their needs and building the audience.
Think Yaro (once again) hits this on the head quite well in this video – thanks again!
I agree with you both as well. It is hard to be competitive but if you listen and know your target market you can make yourself a cut above the rest.
Thanks Calgary, and as well textbooks person, It’s a great feeling to have someone give a shout out to the comment you left 😀
Till then,
Jean
Aaargh! It sucks when your laptop hasn’t got sound! I far prefer the written word that Yaro is so eloquent at, but would’ve enjoyed watching the video. Technology can be feisty at the best of times……
That it can but it is no good that your laptop doesn’t have sound. Can’t you use earphones? or is there really no sound card in your laptop. If so I feel for you, my lap top was cheap but it has sound.
Getting traffic is a long process and you need a lot of patience. That is great advice!!
What I also learned from your video is you keep your house tidy.
Tidy house = calm/organised = ability to focus = better business
so I ‘m off to tidy my lounge before anything else!
@Jules, great observation! Couldn’t agree more with you!
Till then,
Jean
Although I have bookmarked this site and subscribed through RSS, the only way I make it to the videos and reading your content is through the links you send via email. Not sure why, but there it is!
Once I make it to the videos, I end up watching several – some more than once. Love the various ways you use to communicate!
Also, bottom line as far as my main site goes and from what you are saying is that it is all about them, not us. We need to know what people want and need if we want to be a success in this business. That is something I need to keep in the back of my mind. Still a little bit of a struggle as far as what I can offer that would be marketable, but I’m working on that.
Thanks for another great post!
This video is great, getting to know customer and knowing market is very important. But are other people doing same thing and competing in same niche as you, seems like you have to be one step ahead all the time. Nothing is easy as they say and it takes time and hard work.
Hey Yaro,
A great video.
I really liked “traffic is like building a castle, one brick at a time”. This is so true.
Traffic takes work and dedication. So many people don’t realize this.
Thanks
Pete
What are the best 5 websites for advice on getting long-term blog traffic?
Great video, with some good advice. It occurred to me that this is why the so-called gurus who promise a million hits in the next hour seem like scams. My take-aways were:
You need to fully understand your target market, which takes time – I guess how long will depend on the market and you.
You would ideally have experience with the product solving a problem that your target market has.
Don’t underestimate how long it will take to build traffic – and you need to combine various methods to build traffic. Traffic growth is a marathon, not a sprint.
My final thoughts are that we have seen the enemy and he is us; and before we can know how to defeat our enemy we have to know ourselves. I think those thoughts originated from Lao Tzu (The Art of War) but I can’t find my copy, so apologies to anyone whose thoughts I have massacred!
Sorry, that should be Sun Tzu, not Lao Tzu
Yaro, i don’t know why point comments are not appearing on your website. One thing that I would say that when you know your customer requirment, you have to prioritize them in your business and implement them depending on cost & sales volume.
Very good video,made it simple for me to understand,especially the traffic building!
My blog is building slowly, just curious to see if anyone has advice – I’ve tried some social networking sites but it is slow-going and I think I might be missing some key points.
Great advice on getting longer time traffic and selecting the right niche. Selecting the right niche is very important choosing the right one can bring in a lot of traffic. Thanks for sharing this advice with us.
It took me a while to get “positioning.” It wasn’t until the other day when I realized it’s not just market position, it’s “mind” position — what position do you have in somebody’s mind?
There’s only one or two spots at the top, but then it’s an endless shelf of possibility. So if you can’t be number one in one spot., then find another — this is where the unique value is crucial … and nature is on our side (nature supports the fittest and the most flexible.)
When we think with a Blue Ocean mindset, we don’t compete against the circus ring-leaders … we change the game and we create cirque du soleil.
It also took me a while to really get how it’s about really knowing your tribe and yourself. It’s who do you really want to spend more time with — because that’s the only way you’ll speak the same language, truly learn the real needs, truly know the gaps, and truly make a significant impact. The world continues to move up the specialization stack, so it’s not enough to just have a good idea or a generic one. It’s about either advancing the practices, products, or services in the space, or changing the game and creating Blue Ocean opportunity.
All of this means focusing on a sustainable path … learning and growing, while flowing value along the way, and ideally funding your life style. (The real secret in careers is to drive from your life style and find the jobs that fit from there.)
Great video Yaro, your points of taking the time to really get to know our customers and delivering what they are looking for, made a lot of sense. I like how you are very straightforward by telling us that customer relations and traffic building takes a lot of time and effort.
I agree with some commenter that while learning about our customers we also learn about us, it’s like a never ending journey…
Thanks Yaro… This is really what I’m going through right now with a new membership site I’m working on launching. I’ve been slowly building a following over the past 4 months with the hopes of transitioning from a free blog to a membership type site. I’m in the beginning processes of creating the membership site, but worry a lot about not having built the credibility or following I need to make a successful transition.
The one key factor I’ve stuck with through the process is even when I feel down and get depressed about the growth is to keep pushing and I truly believe it will get there.
Anyway, great read and thanks.
Great video. It’s very important to be one with the customer. I personally prefer a company that ‘gets’ what I am after and that is who I will choose. They can relate to me better than the one that’s only taking an interest in the matter for the sake of their business.
Traffic does not have to be long term, I know a few sites that exploded. I think relationship building, especially with a blog is the real long term part.
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You should select niches that can stand the test of time over niches which will fade away in just a couple of months. Evergreen niches like making money,weight loss, wedding planning will always be popular.
Hey Yaro,
You make some great points. Real success takes time.
Oddly enough, if we have a long-term strategy, we can achieve results much faster than if we were trying “quick tricks.”
Hello Taro,
Nice name by the way..your website in my view is the best that I have visited on making money from blogging, it’s fresh, easy to understand, direct and full of tips for new bloggers with little or no experience. I really love it. I hope mine can be like this very soon.
Well done