7 Things You Need To Do Differently about Making Money Online

This is a guest post by Akaahan Terungwa. If you want to be a guest author for this blog, please Submit your Guest Post for review.

 
Making money online is cool – no doubt: the concept excites and fascinates everyone I’ve met in person, without exception. However, the fact is that many still doubt it; and many more who attempt to make money online – especially in Nigeria fail – and fail woefully. If you are failing to make money online, there is certainly something you’re doing wrong. If you are getting ready to make money online, it pays to get the facts straight. However, if you are already making money online, this article isn’t for you.

 
So, after being tired of your miserable results, what do you desperately need to change? What do you need to do differently? As a newbie, what should you take serious? What should you consider as important? Basically, the difference between a successful online entreprenuer and an unsuccessful one lies in the ways these 7 actions are done – or fail to be done.

 

What are the things you need to do differently?

 
1. Put Value (And Tons Of It) Before The Bucks

The usual scenario in Nigeria is to bombard your readers with so many offers that they are in awe and totally confused! Adsense, Chitika, Private ads, affiliate offers and every other thing that makes money. This strategy fails – and fails flatly! Nigerians aren’t so great at clicking on ads – except the ones that really catch their fancy. If you recommend affiliate marketing programs and are still a broke blogger by all standards, Nigerians won’t be so interested in your offers. Ever heard the phrase, “charity begins at home?” People visit your blog or website for value – be it recreational or otherwise. Your job is to deliver. And deliver well. Fail on this and you may as well wish you never even started a blog!

 
2. You Must Sell (But It Does Not Need To Be So Obvious)

I’ve never heard of anyone who made any amount of money without selling something – no matter how trivial. If you are going to make money online in Nigeria, you must sell something: advert space, information products, run affiliate offers etc. The truth is that if you don’t sell, you won’t make it. Simple! But, you don’t have to make it that obvious. Nigerians (and the world at large) hate being sold to! So, what should you do? Instead of running obvious ads that lead to your sales page (like many Nigerian bloggers and information marketers do), consider capturing leads, leading your prospect to your blog where they are engaged and get a ton of value from you and eventually like – and trust you. That way, when you say: “hey, this is for sale!”, you’ll get less resistance!

 
3. Your List Is More About Your Subscribers Than It Is Of You!

I’m a great unsubscriber of lists, so is every other Nigerian and everybody else who desires value and appreciates a clean inbox. Truth be told, unsubscribing is often the best thing to do when you discover that you’re the recipient of junk mail that add no value to your dreams. Or mails that do not align to your objectives in life. Unfortunately, the line between a respected newsletter (that your subscriber open happily) and spam is very thin! When every offer they get in their box from you is buy this, or buy that, you’re spamming already. When every offer is about your latest blog post, you’re also a spammer. If you send more than 3 mails a week (apart from blog post update, you’re a spammer). So, you see, the line is very thin.

 
And if your subscribers all leave you, how on earth are you going to make the bucks when the time comes? It’s actually very complex suggesting the best way of making subscribers happy so that they don’t subscribe. But, this rule of thumb hardly fails: send a maximum of 3 mails a week; for each mail that is about you, follow up with another that is about your subscribers and finally, limit pitches to twice a month – or even monthly. You’ll keep your unsubscribe rate lower that way… you’ll also have subscribers who actually smile when they see your mail in their box! Guess what? When the pitch comes, the response will overwhelm you!

 
4. Never Lie – Readers Aren’t That Dumb…

The Nigerian cyber space is funny: everyone is a millionaire! The ‘convincing’ part of it is that (thanks to Photoshop), they also have ‘proof’! It actually looks convincing to many a person, but, Nigerians are getting wiser by the day and have learnt to ignore such bogus claims that implicate making a million bucks every month when such persons are crazy trying to sell N1500 eBooks! Things have stopped working that way…long ago. However, you must convince your readers that you are the real deal! Or, how else will they have the courage to follow you and trust your products? There’s a way! Instead of showing photoshopped images of bank accounts that exist only in fantasy, show your readers the real deal instead: give cash away at the blog/website, post pictures of you driving in exotic cars and relaxing in exclusive clubs and if you can shoot videos of you in luxury boats, private jets or BMW convertibles, the better… When such overwhelming proof is offered, you’ll never need to post screenshots again…neither will you have problems with your readers believing you! Live (not talk) the life!!

 
5. Actively Engage Your Readers – Instead Of Bombarding Them With Content – Or Offers

The blogosphere is already saturated with content – but engagement is what will never be too much! If you are publishing daily and no one is interested in sharing your content – and you’re practically getting no comments, then you need to slow down – no one is listening! So, how do you get the right people to listen? Simple. When you slow down, aim for engagement and quality – not quantity. The engagement you will generate on your blog alone is proof that you are a serious and trustworthy figure. Keep at it and you’ll run away from the bucks, eventually! An ‘unengaged’ blog is always suspect!!

 
6. Offer Freebies (As Much As You Can Afford It)

We love freebies in Nigeria… If this fact hasn’t yet registered in your brain, it’s high time it should! Once you offer a ‘trial’ or something completely for free, be certain that your table is going to be full. You’ll attract a lot of persons who either just want a taste of the freebies – and you’ll also attract some genuine clients who are interested in your offers but are scared that you may not be the real deal. Either way, you get leads, and tons of them. These leads, remember, you can actively exploit to your benefit if you know what you are doing…just remember the third point here and make your newsletters more about the subscribers. Or, is there any better way of capturing leads and going viral that you know of?

 
7. Each Of Your Post/Newsletter Should Solve A Pressing Problem/Need (Or Don’t Bother)

It’s sad – but many Nigerian internet marketers are pretty excellent at sending newsletters that are plain pointless! And by plain pointless, any information contained in your newsletter that your subscriber did not anticipate when he/she signed up for it isn’t worth being in the newsletter and so qualifies as being pointless! To avoid this trap of unproductivity, you must be certain all the contents of your newsletter must be of utmost benefit to your subscribers…you must identify the problems that most plaque them and succinctly discuss the answers in your newsletters – or blog posts.

 
That is how someone becomes your raving fan – because you solved a pressing need…not because you are number one blogger or the richest internet marketer. If you are all these and your posts/newsletters have no way of helping your readers/subscribers, they are useless. Plain useless.

 
The Day’s Great Already – Enjoy It!

Our custom here is to READ it and DO it. Go ahead and do things differently. Looking forward to your testimony. It’s a great day over here at my end…and sincerely, it has been my sincere pleasure interacting with you via MMO.ng and sharing such awesome content with you for free. I look forward to further engagements via comments. Don’t just read this.

 
Don’t you agree?

 

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