Fashion e-Commerce: 5 Steps to Starting an Online Clothing Store

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur, looking to start your very own online clothing venture? Feeling a little unnerved by how you don’t have any idea how to start? Or maybe you’re feeling intimidated by the enormity of the whole task, wondering how you’ll ever go about achieving it?

Fashion e-Commerce: 5 Steps to Starting an Online Clothing Store

We know that starting out, it’s easy to get a little scared when you are starting something new. And with so much at stake, it’s okay to feel that way. But fret not, because we’ve got you covered. We’ve put together a list of steps that will guide you in creating an amazing website.

Read on to find out more.

Step 1: Finding Your Clothing Store’s Niche

The foremost thing you need to decide is the niche of your store. The effectiveness of your future steps greatly depends on this, so be sure not to make a rushed decision.

You need to decide what market segment you’re going to specifically target. Once you’ve decided on that, you can conduct thorough, preliminary research on the decided target audience. The better you understand your target customers’ needs, the better you’ll be able to effectively cater to them.

Also remember, you’re going to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this entire thing. So try to choose a profitable niche you’re passionate about

Note: We highly recommend against trying to cater to more than a single niche. Remember the expression, Jack of all trades, master of none? That holds true here too. Start out small. It is crucial that you direct all your efforts (at least initially) onto a specific niche and try to establish a stronghold in it first.

Step 2: Deciding What Products You’ll Be Selling

When it comes to the market for clothing and apparel, the options are almost endless. From skirts and dresses to waistcoats and bow ties, it’s easy to become confused among possible options. Once again, our advice would be to start out small and conquer one mountain at a time.

If you focus on too many products, you’ll never be able to improve any of them to perfection. On the other hand, if you direct all your designing, producing, and marketing efforts at only a few selected items, you’re more likely to produce good quality output.

Once you have steady profits rolling in from the sale of your main product, you can expand to other garments as well. As an established business, the launch of new products is more likely to be a success.

Keep an Eye on the Latest Fashion Trends

Fashion trends are forever changing, and as someone who’s going to be directly affected by them, you should remain abreast of all the latest happenings in the fashion sphere. Beginning out, you should make it a point to stick to products with stable demand (like t-shirts, for instance) and whose designs can be easily altered to better suit changing trends.

Step 3: Learn From Your Competition

If you’re new to this whole thing, the best way to learn is by observing how your competition runs their operations. You can do this by going to the websites of different competitors and seeing how they’ve designed their websites. How are different categories organized? Is there an online support staff? How do they deal with customer queries?

Moreover, you can order stuff from these websites. This will give you insight into the entire checkout process. Once the products arrive, you can try returning them to see how they handle that process.

You can even try to email them and ask questions about behind the scenes operations, like how they source raw materials for their products and how much staff they hire. If you’re lucky (and maybe, annoyingly persistent enough), you may get all the answers.

Step 4: Setting Up A Website

Now that you’ve worked out your business plan, you can finally start on the fun part: creating and setting up a website.

First things first, you need to acquire a domain. A convenient way to do this is to buy through eCommerce platforms like Shopify or WordPress. The former is a good option for novices who aren’t particularly skilled at designing and don’t have the budget to hire a professional designer.

The next task is to design the website. Remember that the design and general layout of your website will go a long way in determining its popularity with users. You need to come up with something easy on the eyes, while simultaneously being user-friendly so that your customers can easily navigate their way around it.

Also remember that since you’re an online store, the only way for your customers to gauge the quality of your products is through the pictures you put up on your website. If your budget allows, consider hiring a professional photographer to get the best possible results.

Step 5: Promote the Heck Out Of Your Online Store

Now that your online store is up and running, the next step is to promote your newly set up business to attract customers and help you grow. Here are a few great options:

Social Media

Social media has become so deeply ingrained in most individuals’ lifestyles, that it has become a major tool for marketing. Marketing across popular social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook is highly cost-effective, and can significantly increase traffic and sales on your website.

Creating a pleasing aesthetic for your social media brand page is definitely a must that will help you win followers. Keep in mind that social media is teeming with pages similar to yours. What’s the added incentive that your particular page brings to the table? Think out of the box, and find a way to differentiate yourself from the rest.

Influencer Marketing

Another great way to increase your brand awareness is by collaborating with social media influencers. Target influencers who have a considerable social media fan following in the same niche. If people see their favorite influencer wearing your designs, your social reach will increase massively. You won’t believe how the right word by the right person can make all the difference.

Paid Ads

A great way to increase your page’s reach is by putting out paid ads across different social platforms. Google AdWords and Facebook Advertising are two of the most effective ways to garner more likes and followers.

These ads target potential customers, who otherwise would not have come across your page. If you have the budget for them, we would definitely recommend investing.

Conclusion

Right now you’re probably bursting with motivation and enthusiasm. That’s great. But be mindful that running an online store is no easy task; it is bound to be taxing at times.

You’ll face setbacks, no doubt. All great businesses do. However, you shouldn’t be discouraged. Instead, build on those setbacks, and keep on improving. Because with the right attitude, there’s nothing you can’t do.

7 Tips to Improve Your Affiliate Conversion Rate

When it comes to owning an affiliate website, having traffic come your way isn’t enough. What you need to do is convince the visitors to buy something. You need to persuade them that you can offer the gateway to the very product that could be a solution to their problems. To do this, we will be discussing 7 tips to improve your affiliate conversion rate.

Affiliate marketing is one of the best online marketing businesses that can ensure long term steady income, but only if your website has a high conversion rate. When it comes to affiliate marketing, you don’t just need traffic, but also people who are converting by buying the products.

7 Tips To Improve Your Affiliate Conversion Rate

Before starting, one of the most important things is to ensure that you’re targeting the right audience. If you’re trying to talk about gym equipment with someone who’s a makeup artist, you’re wasting time and money. Also, you need to educate your customers how a certain product is going to help them.

So let’s jump into it.

Improve Your Website

Before getting into anything, the first thing you should make sure of is that your website functions efficiently. Nothing appeals to a visitor more than an attractive and smooth website. Decreasing loading time on the website is one thing you can start with.

Studies and reports have shown that a fast loading time can increase your sales by up to a massive 30%. By reducing the time from 15 seconds to 7, there was at least a 3% increase in sales per decrease in second. This is how, by decreasing the 15-second loading page to a 2-second one, you can increase your conversion rate by 30%.

Moreover, make sure your website is user-friendly. Your layout must be appealing, the headlines must be catchy and most important of all, the website should be responsive. A very high and growing number of people tend to visit websites through their mobile devices.

Know What’s in Demand

In such a widespread market, you need to narrow down your target audience. To do that, you first need to see which affiliate programs are answering the needs of the people. What are people looking for? Why can’t they find it?

This is where your part comes in: provide a solution to the problems of people, not found elsewhere. Also, before you start promoting a specific item, it’s good to see how it has panned out for others.

One of the best ways to check for demand is to use keywords. Narrowing down the keywords that could link to your product and checking search volumes is a good way to see if there’s enough demand.

Once you know which product, niche, or industry to target, there should be no problem addressing the demand. After all, matching high demand with constant supply has always been much easier than the other way around. Simply put, find the right product/niche with high demand and offer the content/products as solution.

How Does the Product Benefit?

Now that you know what type of questions you’re addressing, sympathize with your customers and understand their problems. This will not only help you gain their trust but will also turn their attention to what you’re offering as a solution.

For example, if you’re in the health niche, not only do you need to sell the related products, you also need to tell them how they will benefit from it. If you’re talking about multivitamins, in addition to telling them the types of nutrients they include, you could use phrases like “made from natural ingredients”, or “fills you with energy”.

Exaggeration is fine; over-exaggeration could be dangerous. While marketing, make sure you don’t make false claims. Not only will this ruin your customer base, but it could also hit back in the form of a lawsuit.

Attract People with Your Content

People want the best product they can get while staying in budget. They look for product reviews, comparisons amongst similar products, list of products that they could get, and sometimes, they can be convinced by reading a story.

When buyers decide on a product, they tend to look for its reviews and comparisons. This is mainly because they want to be sure of their choice; if they are uncertain of their decisions, this really helps them get back on track.

When you create lists or comparisons, you’re giving your customers a sense of free will. They are more likely to buy one of the seven products you’ve listed than buy just the one product you’re promoting.

Also, telling a story lets the readers know they’re not the only one with the same problem. This way, they start trusting you more and consider your recommendations.

Place the Links Wisely

Just like you expect your clothes laid out right in front of you when you come out of the shower, you should also think similarly when it comes to marketing. The very first link can be placed right at the top; this way, you can at least get the impatient ones to check out the link.

Also, one link must be placed at the end. Only the serious buyers read the entire article, and that shows they’re willing to buy. For the visitors who aren’t as serious, we’re sure your content is strong enough to convince them, and they’ll come around later.

Finish with a Call to Action

In the end, you can ask the readers to visit an affiliate link; this is known as a call to action (CTA). It gives your visitors a task to complete and a chance for you to regain their attention.

Moreover, you can provide links to related posts on your blog, which they might find helpful. It could either be an in-depth analysis of something discussed in the post or something different altogether. What you need to do is keep them engaged.

Email Marketing Optimization

Last of the 7 tips to improve your affiliate conversion rate is optimizing your email marketing strategies. First of all, position the sign-up at a convenient place. If they can’t see it, what’s the point? Place it at either the top or bottom of your page, because people often miss the content in between, scrolling through so quick.

Also, tell them how they will benefit from the emails. Why should they sign up for weekly updates? Will you be telling them about discounts and limited-time offers? What’s in it for them?

Conclusion

Increasing conversions can take time, but if you follow the right steps, you are guaranteed success. Eliminate all flaws at your end by making the website bug-free with smooth operations. Narrow down your audience, understand their demand, and promote your product.

How to Drive Traffic to Your Etsy Store

If you’ve ever run a store on Etsy, you’ll know it is not an easy business. There’s a fair bit of competition, and it’s hard to achieve your desired sales. Moreover, the numbers on your Stats page aren’t always motivating. If all this sounds incredibly familiar, there’s only one question you should be asking. How to drive traffic to your Etsy Store?

There’s no doubt that you’ve got a brilliant product with excellent pictures to promote them. However, unless and until there’s someone to see it, it’s of no use. Therefore, if your Etsy Store isn’t doing too well, you need to focus on your traffic.

How to Drive Traffic to Your Etsy Store?

Increasing the traffic to your store is the most vital element when you want to increase conversion rates and ultimately drive up your sales. It’s simple. The more traffic you get, the more chances you get to turn visitors into customers. Accordingly, here are some ways to increase the traffic to your Etsy Store.

• Improve your Visuals

This can be true for most online businesses but especially so for an Etsy Store. Your store visuals are the lifeblood of your store. People can’t help but be attracted to good visuals. Be it your brand logo or product pictures, they should be bold and impressive.

That way, even people who don’t know about your products or weren’t planning to buy your products, will be tempted to at least click on your store and see the pictures in more detail. This would be the perfect chance for you to convert new visitors. Moreover, a good display can also help you stand out amongst the competition.

When everyone is selling the same thing, the only way to distinguish yourself is through how you present yourself. Amazing product pictures will make you distinct when visitors are browsing Etsy. Furthermore, when it comes to online stores where buyers can’t touch or feel what they’re buying, they need to see good product pictures.

Therefore, cool product pictures that highlight their best features will also help drive traffic and increase sales in your Etsy Store.

• Etsy SEO

If you’ve opened a store recently, you might not know this, but Etsy operates much like a search engine and has its own algorithm. As a seller, if you learn how this algorithm works, you can use it to your advantage without much effort on your part. Not only that, but there are also various other seller tools for driving traffic to your store.

Since Etsy is like a search engine, your goal should be to try and get your products listed on the first page and higher up in the searches so that visitors can see you before other competitors. This will not only increase traffic but also help you in dealing with competition. Accordingly, one easy way to do this is to use appropriate and relevant tags.

If a person is searching for something particular such as ‘customized gold name rings,’ and you have used a similar tag in your product, Etsy will put your business first. Moreover, by using tools like featured listings, you can display your best products at the very top of your store page. That way, whenever someone visits, they’ll see the best products and be tempted to try them.

Then, there are also the store stats, promoted listings, etc., all these tools can further help you get in your audience’s sight and drive traffic to your store.

• Use Social Media

Etsy is not the only place to bring traffic from. You can drive traffic from external sites too. Moreover, the best way to do this is through social media platforms. Platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, etc., have a large number of users that can hopefully be converted into customers.

Similar to the keywords and tags you use on Etsy, you can use appropriate hashtags on Instagram and Facebook to appear in the right searches. You can also post a lot of other content to attract people and engage with your audience. People love to see behind-the-scene pictures, so you can show the making process of your product. You can also post photos of work-in-progress products.

If people like your stuff, they’ll even share it with their friends and family and you’ll benefit from free marketing. The more people you reach, the higher the traffic will be in your store.

However, you should be careful. If you’re new at this and can’t handle all the pressure, it would be better to choose one or two social media platforms and just stick to them. Setting up numerous profiles and not doing justice to even one of them won’t be of much help to your store. Therefore, pick one and focus on that to generate useful, engaging content for your visitors.

• Collaborate with Influencers

If you can’t reach that many users or your audience yourself, a good option is to ask someone else to do it. By someone else, we mean influencers who have a fair bit of followers and who would be interested in your products. You can send your products for free as PR packages to the relevant influencers and ask them to promote it or just give their honest opinion on it.

These influencers’ followers will at least look up your products, if not buy them, when they see their favorite personalities talking about them. Moreover, it doesn’t even have to be a promotion. For instance, if you’re making handmade engraved leather notebooks, you can ask someone to write a blog post on simply why a notebook is necessary.

Then, you can share that post on your own profile for people to see and visit your store.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’ve learned a few tips and tricks on how to drive traffic to your Etsy store. However, regardless of how you decide to do it, there are two crucial things to remember. Firstly, you must be consistent. For instance, if you’re using social media, try to use it regularly to keep your followers engaged.

Secondly, you need to be patient. Your goal is not to bring temporary traffic for a short period. But instead, you want to slowly and steadily increase your traffic permanently. Moreover, these things take time, for which you need a little patience. After which, you’ll be sure to reap some great rewards.

Affiliate Marketing Vs. AdSense: Which is Better?

Yes, we understand that making money online is not an easy job. Making money through monetizing your blogs and quality web content requires hard work, dedication, and patience as well. However, the most difficult part is choosing the ideal monetization plan, which takes us to the frequently asked question, Affiliate Marketing vs. AdSense: which is better?

Let’s face it, none of these online strategies will have you minting money overnight. Both of these programs come with their own set of rules, regulations, and systems that can affect the amount of money you make. Let’s check out the details for both to find out which one is better and more profitable.

Differences Between Affiliate Marketing and AdSense

If you’re an exceptional blogger or content creator, you can make a good sum of money through proper monetization. Frankly speaking, if you want that cash to come flowing in after an initial effort, affiliate marketing can be a good option. Here are some key differences.

• You can make more money from one sale, as compared to AdSense’s weekly revenue. Also, getting approval for monetization is not that easy with AdSense as they have a bunch of strict rules. However, the same is fairly easy when it comes to Affiliate Marketing websites.
• If you’re looking for consistency rather than quantity, then you should go for Google AdSense. This is because it ensures a constant, recurring income, while with Affiliate Marketing, it depends totally on the sales you promote.
• The topic and genre of your website will judge the monetization program that’s better for you. Affiliate Marketing will work for you in case of most niches. Whereas, AdSense is a program relatively limited in its choices.
• Adsense pays you according to the traffic on your blog. On the contrary, Affiliate revenue depends on the traffic of targeted visitors on your blog or web page and sales.

Google AdSense

Google AdSense is the most popular and well-known monetization program. You will find most newbies fighting their way into an established blogging career by trying to get approval from Google AdSense. It’s the go-to method for almost everyone who wants to earn online.

The bane of Google AdSense is that it tends to reject most beginners. Even if you write quality content and work hard, it doesn’t guarantee entry into the AdSense world. Maintaining that, let’s check out some of the benefits that make the struggle worth it.

• You Don’t Have to be Specific

It’s not necessary to write blogs on only one particular topic. You can be managing a news or magazine blog which manages many niches at once. This type of blog is perfect for AdSense monetization. It deals with multiple niches, so you don’t have to restrict yourself to one topic.

• Pay Per Click System

This is perhaps the best benefit with Google AdSense. Every time a user clicks on an AdSense Ad on your page, you get paid.  The more traffic on your page, the more you get paid.

• Monetize Every Page

With Google Adsense, you are not restricted to placing Ads only on pages that have meaningful content. You can even monetize pages from your website which have fewer connections to your blogging topics. These include contact, introduction, and disclaimer pages. The more, the better!

• Constant Income

Last but not least, if you are writing quality content and have considerable traffic on your website, then your income is guaranteed. You can generate recurring income every month.

With all these benefits, why do some people refuse to go for Google AdSense? That’s because it has its drawbacks as well.

• Approval Difficulty

Getting AdSense approval is the basic struggle of every aspiring blogger. They don’t reveal defined criteria for approval so you might get rejected even if you have considerable traffic.

• Long List Of Rules

Not everyone is good at following rules. Google immediately disables the accounts that step out of line, sometimes without prior notice.

• The Ban Threat

Getting permanently banned is a huge threat. This means you won’t be able to monetize your website again through Google.

• Meager Income

Yes, even though the income is recurring, the amount is low. Google pays a low amount for each click, so bloggers end up earning very little unless they have traffic in the tens of thousands.

• Visitor Deviation

With Ads on every page, you might end up losing your visitors. No one likes websites which have too many Ads, and Google monetizes every page, so visitors are likely to get tired of them.

While AdSense is a great way to earn money online, it has its advantages and disadvantages. The same goes for Affiliate Marketing websites. Let’s check out the details to get further insight.

Affiliate Marketing

When it comes to monetization through Affiliate Marketing, it’s comparatively more difficult than Google AdSense. However, it’s a straightforward and easy way to earn money if you get the hang of it.

Here are the basic benefits of Affiliate Marketing to help you make your decision.

• Immediate Revenue

You don’t have to continuously work hard on your blogs and content to flourish at Affiliate Marketing. You can start earning from day one by conducting direct sales.

• Easy Approval

Affiliate Marketing programs are conducted by various platforms, whereas AdSense is only operated through Google. This means the chances of getting approved by a program is higher in this case.

• More Cash Flow

As Affiliate Marketing deals with targeted products, the revenue upon each Ad visit is higher. The revenue depends on the product you decide to promote on your website; there are some products like Tech and Men’s Apparel that offer a high commission.

• Earn Without a Website

Like in Google AdSense, it’s not necessary for you to pay for a proper website and domain name before you begin earning. You can earn through direct sales as well without monetizing any blogs or content.

• Regular Visitors

When only selected pages are monetized through Ads, visitors tend to stay longer and pay attention to them as well.

Let’s take a look at the drawbacks of Affiliate Marketing.

• No Pay Per Click Policy

This is a major limitation of the Affiliate Marketing system. You will not get paid for every visit on the Ad, but only if they make the purchase. This diminishes regular income despite good traffic.

• Niche Targeted Blogging

You will do better at Affiliate programs is you conduct proper niche targeting blogging. This is quite difficult as writing quality content for one topic in a long term period can be tedious.

• Shady Programs

Google AdSense is a program you can trust and be relaxed about your payment arriving on time. That’s not the case with all Affiliate programs. Thus, you can end up losing money at times.

Now that we’ve evaluated both of them in detail, it’s time for the showdown.

Affiliate Marketing Vs. AdSense: Which is Better?

The monetization program that works best for you depends totally on your blogging ability, genre, and hard work. If you are an expert on a particular topic and are operating a single niche blog, then Affiliate Marketing is a great option for you.

Similarly, if you have a website catering to diverse traffic, then you should go for AdSense to monetize your work. That’s because AdSense offers a wide range of products and monetizes every page.

In the end, it all comes down to your patience, hard work, and trust. It depends on which platform you trust enough to monetize your day’s work. We hope this comparison helps you make the right decision according to your work and expertise.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets- The Complete Lowdown

Introduction – What Is Affiliate Marketing?

¨Affiliate Marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.^[1]

Reference: Definition.net. “Affiliate marketing”. Retrieved February 21, 2018¨.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets

In everyday terms, Affiliate Marketing is the marketing of other people´s products or services, and receiving a commission from the owner for that sale. It is a popular way of earning money online because the  Marketer does not have to invest in purchasing stock or dealing with fulfilment of orders to customers, or after sales service and returns. These activities are dealt with by the selling company themselves.

The Marketer does however have to introduce customers, otherwise he will receive nothing for his efforts, so  Marketers deal with this in a number of ways and we will expose these Affiliate Marketing Secrets below.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets Exposed

Affiliate Marketing is one of the easiest ways of making money online, or passive income online. It is easy to get started and does not involve a large investment in stock, or premises, or staff. It is therefore arguably the most popular way of easily starting an online business to make multiple streams of passive income.

From the seller´s point of view, the selling Company, it increases their reach, because they can use their affiliates to help extend their audience of potential customers beyond what they would normally be able to achieve. It has no cost to implement because the  Marketer takes risk whether their marketing campaign will work or not, until a sale happens, and then the cost is the commission paid to the Marketer.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets #1 – Free Traffic

Affiliate Marketers can try to promote Free traffic which can be obtained organically from any website, but the problem is that it is slow and unpredictable, so sales resulting from Free Traffic will probably be low compared with sales resulting from Paid Traffic methods.

Free Traffic can be enhanced by the use of Social Media likes, comments and shares on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube etc

Affiliate Marketing Secrets #2 – Pay Per Click Traffic

Pay Per Click (PPC) – the Marketer buys PPC traffic from a list provider at a set cost. The risk is that no sales result, so the Marketer could lose money rather than make money. Facebook ads are popular as well as Google and Bing and Yahoo.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets #3 – Pay Per Transaction Traffic

Pay Per Transaction (PPT) – the Marketer buys PPT traffic from a list provider at a set cost. There is no risk to the Marketer because he only pays upon conclusion of a transaction. Necessarily the cost of PPT traffic is higher than PPC traffic.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets #4 – List of Affiliate Sites

Where can I find Products to promote? Here is a list of possible  Sites, who each offer different things, but from these you should be able to find some suitable Products to sell as an Affiliate:

• AdCombo
• Affinbank
• Amazon Associates
• Avantlink
• AWIN
• CJ Affiliate
• Click2Sell
• Commission Soup
• eBay
• FlexOffers
• JV Zoo
• MaxBounty
• OfferVault
• Rakuten Marketing
• Reward Style
• TradeDoubler
• ShareASale
• ShopStyle Collective
• VigLink

What Sort of Products and Services Do Affiliate Marketers Offer?

Affiliate Marketers can offer almost any type of service or product on behalf of the selling Company.

Products can be literally anything, commodities from the lowest to the highest price value, as can be seen on any online market place such as Amazon, Ebay, Etsy etc.

The Affiliate Marketer may offer products which he purchases from a separate fulfilment company, which is known as Dropshipping. Typically the fulfilment company could be based in China using such companies as AliBaba, or AliExpress.  Alternatively, fulfilment could be from any other country including the USA (eg LaunchCart, fulfilment by PrintTech)

Typically Marketers may use any of the big market places for their websites, such as:

Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify.

Ebooks, Ecourses, Educational Products (Software)

Alternatively, Marketers may offer e-products such as e-books or e-courses, and they may source their products from such market places as Commission Junction, ClickBank, JVZoo, MaxBounty  etc.

Marketers can also represent membership sites such As Wealthy Affiliate. Affiliates with WA receive a commission for every new member who they introduce. If you want to see out review of Wealthy Affiliate, go here.

There are other sorts of Memberships which require purchases in order to achieve the next level of membership, more akin to Multi Level Marketing (MLM), which we would not recommend that you pursue. An example of such a system would be MyDotComBusiness, which we have reviewed but do not recommend. If you want to see our review of MyDotComBusiness (#MDCB), go here.

Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

While setting a marketing budget is essential for every business, it is equally vital to spend it on the right channels. When you are clear about which marketing plan is best for your business, it will drive a major difference in your return on investment.

So, what should you choose for your business? Which is the winner when it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing? Let’s find out!

Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing: Which Is Better?

In this article, we are going to take a close look at both digital marketing and traditional marketing. By looking at what each of them offers, as well as what their disadvantages are, we aim to help you decide which form of marketing is the right choice for your business.

What Is Traditional Marketing?

Traditional marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing where you tap in a semi-targeted audience via offline promotional methods. Some of the common forms of traditional marketing are print, broadcast, postal mail, telephone, and outdoor advertisements.

What this means is that the posters, newspaper advertisements, banners, or catalogs you come across are but a part of conventional or traditional marketing.

Benefits of Traditional Marketing

Being one of the oldest modes of marketing, traditional marketing comes with quite a few benefits:

• Easier to Connect With Local Audience

One of the biggest highlights of this type of marketing is perhaps the fact that it simplifies the process of connecting with the local audience.

• Promotional Materials Can Be Easily Recycled

Although the promotional materials for traditional marketing are perishable, you can always recycle them for future use. What’s more, they can be easily accessed anywhere, even when you don’t have an internet connection.

• Easy to Grasp

Since traditional marketing has been around for decades, most of us are already familiar with it. This further makes it easier to process.

Disadvantages of Traditional Marketing

Then again, although traditional marketing has been used for many years, it also has its fair share of limitations:

• Limited Interaction

One of the most pertinent limitations of traditional marketing is that it involves little to no interaction among clients and the marketing medium.

• Lesser Control

The conventional modes of marketing depend on the promotional methods that cannot be changed after they are implemented.

Whether it is an advertisement in your local magazine or a TV commercial, you will need to come up with a new advertisement if the old one requires any alterations. Although this might not seem like a major factor now, it does make a massive difference in the future.

• Bigger Costs

Unlike digital marketing, traditional modes of marketing have plenty of recurring costs. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to ascertain whether your investment will successfully generate profitable returns.

Remember, your advertisement in the local newspaper will only work out when your target audience comes across it on the same day.

• Limited Option for Customization

Are you looking to target customers who work in a specific industry or fall under a certain age group? In that case, traditional marketing won’t be of much help.

Since this mode of marketing isn’t highly dynamic, there will be limited options when it comes to tweaking the campaign and targeting a certain client base.

• Results Aren’t Measurable

While executing any marketing campaign, it is important to assess how effective the results are. This ensures that you’re treading on the right path. Sadly, the results from your traditional marketing campaigns can’t be easily measured like their digital counterparts.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing encompasses the various modes of marketing that operate via electronic devices and the internet. Companies, regardless of their size, leverage digital channels like online search engines, emails, and social media platforms for connecting with both existing and potential customers.

Social media marketing, search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and email marketing are some of the most pertinent examples of digital marketing.

Benefits of Digital Marketing

The benefits of digital marketing are manifold. Some of them are listed below:

• Higher Customer Engagement

Like we already mentioned, traditional marketing limits the interaction between customers and businesses, but such is not the case with digital marketing.

With digital marketing, your customers can easily interact with you through multiple marketing channels like social media platforms, emails, and the likes.

• Measurable Results

When you engage in traditional marketing by distributing brochures or putting up banners, you won’t get to know whether your campaign is successful.

On the other hand, digital marketing allows you to measure the reach of your campaign. Since you have plenty of information about the customer metrics, you get to assess whether your campaign was a successful one.

• Wider Reach

Traditional marketing can only target a local or regional audience base. With digital marketing, you can easily create a customized campaign that reaches out to your targeted audience across cities and even countries.

• Targeted Audience

Digital marketing also allows you to target your preferred audience depending on their age, geographical location, and interests. So, whether you want to reach out locally or across geographical barriers, digital marketing simplifies the task for you.

When you choose digital marketing, you can easily ensure that your targeted customers are coming across your content. Search engine optimization will allow you to tap in those customers who are looking up the web for topics relevant to your product or service.

Additionally, you can use pay-per-click, display advertisements, and social media ads for targeting people who would be most likely looking to purchase your products or services. So, when it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing, the former is a clear winner.

• Inexpensive

Yet another major highlight of digital marketing is the fact that it is extremely inexpensive. With the right skills and expertise, you can easily carry out this marketing method at the lowest possible price point.

• Connects You With Mobile Users

With digital marketing, you get to connect with the audience who browse and look up content on their mobile phones. Since a large part of online users accesses the web via mobile devices, it will be easier to reach out to this group.

• Tweaks the Campaign

Traditional modes of marketing are limited in terms of updating the campaign when you’re looking to make a change. With digital marketing, you can easily tweak the campaign if you feel that it isn’t delivering your expected results. The whole process is simpler than with traditional marketing.

Conclusion

Although traditional marketing forms the foundation of marketing, digital marketing stands a notch above. With a growing number of internet users, traditional modes of marketing are now on the verge of being obsolete.

So, if you’re looking to expand your reach, assess your campaigns, and target people based on their habits and requirements, digital marketing is surely the way to go!

Multi-Level Marketing Or Network Marketing (And Why We Do Not Recommend It)

Introduction To Multi-Level Marketing Or Network Marketing (And Why We Do Not Recommend It)

We have done a lot of research into Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) or Network Marketing (NM) schemes and will share our reviews and experience in this post and elsewhere on our website.

We will explain in this post how MLM or NM schemes work and who they benefit the most.

We will explain why they should, in general, be avoided, in our opinion.

We do not recommend MLM or NM schemes and suggest that before you get involved in any such scheme, especially before you invest money in any such schemes, that you thoroughly research the company involved and check them out on some of the websites which we refer you to in this post, or through your own lines of enquiry.

multi-level-marketing

What is a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme?

A Multi-Level Marketing scheme involves you selling to your friends and family and acquaintances whatever product or service it may be that you undertake to sell.

You receive a commission for the sale and your mentor or introducer to the MLM scheme also benefits from that sale because you are part of their downline.

There is pressure for you to introduce as many friends and acquaintances as possible to the scheme, as they will become your downline, and they will earn commissions for you whenever they make a sale.

The sales process acts like a pyramid, and to start with, you are at the base of the pyramid. As you gain more sales, then you progress up the pyramid. Another name for MLM or NM is Pyramid Selling.

Here is an explanation from Chris Holdheide at SideHustleAcademy.com.

Here is another explainer video which shows a typical compensation scheme for a worldwide sales organisation BeachBody brand.

What Is Wrong With MLM?

You will very soon run out of family friends and acquaintances who might be interested in buying into your MLM scheme. You will become feared as a stalker in the name of your business.

You only get paid on sales commissions, irrespective of what time you may put into the business.

You will become driven to make more and more sales, to a level of obsession. If you don’t make any sales, you will be paid nothing. You will be driven to meet more and more people with a view to getting them to buy into your scheme, and become part of your downline.

Here is a video which explains the dangers of MLM from Rachel Oates.

Here is Some Useful Reading About MLM and NM which you may wish to review.

https://mlmtruth.org/2018/p02/08/the-mlm-master-list

This website is for the Anti-MLM Coalition, which is a worldwide movement and coalition against MLM and NM.

Here is another organisation which is FOR MLM and NM:

https://www.businessforhome.org/2019/01/the-largest-direct-sales-companies-in-the-world-2019

This is also a worldwide organisation in support of MLM and NM companies.

We urge you to take great caution and thoroughly research any opportunities before you get involved with any of the companies listed therein. Projected income figures may be very seductive but the reality of actually being able to achieve such high figures may be incredibly difficult or impossible.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLMRecovery/comments/8gmgb2/resource_list_of_mlms/

Reddit also has a lot of information about MLM´s, both FOR and Against.

https://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com/
This is a book by Lou Abbott, who is a 15 year veteran of the MLM industry, who gives a different perspective on the MLM and NM scene. He claims to tell you the whole truth about MLM and NM.

https://www.mlms.net/
This website lists many MLM and NM companies.

https://mlmlegal.com/

This website enables you to check out legal aspects related to MLM and NM companies.

OMS Conclusion And Recommendation For Multi-Level Marketing Or Network Marketing (And Why We Do Not Recommend It)

OMS does not ever recommend that you get involved in an MLM or NM scheme.

We believe that it is morally questionable.

Our preference is for the Affiliate Marketing model of business, which we believe is ethical and is risk-free and potentially profitable.

You will find many examples of Affiliate Marketing business models and products and resources on our website, but very few MLM or NM products.

Best Review Of SiteGround (For Domains And Hosting)

Introduction To Best Review Of SiteGround (For Domains And Hosting)

We were recently introduced to SiteGround, and have started to trial it, so we will give you updates about how it performs and what the service is like from SiteGround compared with others offering similar services.

Who Are The Owners Of SiteGround?

SiteGround is based in Madrid, Spain

What Exactly Does SiteGround Do?

SiteGround offers domain registration and purchase as well as hosting.

It is one of the web hosting services recommended by WordPress, as is Bluehost.

Here is our review of SiteGround and a look around the backend:

How Much Are The Services Provided By SiteGround?

There is a graduated scale of pricing from SiteGround, starting with a single site which has a discounted price of 3.95Euro per month, payable annually.

The next pricing category is called Growbig and costs 5.95 Euros per month, for which you can host unlimited websites, and you receive 20GB of storage space and can deal with up to 25,000 visitors per month.

You can also choose GoGeek which costs 11.95 Euros per month, for which you can host unlimited websites, and you receive 30Gb of storage space and can deal with up to 100,000 visitors per month.

Are There Testimonials For SiteGround?

There are many reviews of SiteGround on YouTube, and a few Testimonials as well.

Here is a well-balanced review from Digital Millionaire, who recommends SiteGround.

Here is another favourable review and tutorial from Freddie Korpershoek:

Here is another favourable review of SiteGround and a backend tour from Tom at TheTechRoost:

Here is one reviewer (Tyler from Affiliate Watch), who explains the three reasons that he does not recommend SiteGround (because it sucks).

OMS Conclusion And Recommendation For SiteGround

Having tried out SiteGround for a few months now, we have been very pleased with its erformance. Site speed is excellent and we have noticed significant increased numbers of visitors. We have no hesitation to recommend SiteGround /by the way we are not affiliates for that product).

It is probably a little too early for us to say definitively how SiteGround compares with competitors such as Bluehost, Namecheap, GoDaddy etc., but we will try to obtain comparitive performance data.

One of the reasons which we are trying out SiteGround is the high loading speeds for websites hosted there.

There are some comparison videos on Youtube where reviewers compare SiteGround with Bluehost, from Sling And Stone:

Here is another comparison of SiteGround with GoDaddy, also from Sling And Stone:

Here is another comparison of SiteGround with Hostgator and Bluehost, from Travis Marziani:

How to Make Money With Email Marketing?

In the simplest term, email marketing is the mode of digital marketing that involves using emails for promoting a business. In most cases, email marketing is also used for establishing relationships with potential customers and nurturing relationships with existing ones.

A typical email marketing material will include news, coupons, deals, and updates about a brand. With that said, have you ever wondered how to make money with email marketing? Is it really something that is worth trying out? Let’s see.

Is Email Marketing Worth Your Time?

When it comes to marketing channels, email marketing has the highest rate of conversion. According to a report from the Data & Marketing Association in 2013, almost 66% of online consumers made a new purchase after checking an email marketing post. This is much higher than both social and direct emails.

Another report from McKinsey and Company holds a similar view, suggesting that the transactions from email marketing posts generate much more revenue than the ones from social media posts.

How to Make Money with Email Marketing

Contrary to what most believe, email marketing is not dead. Even as we speak, it continues to drive businesses into becoming the money-making machine that their owners dreamed them to be. Here are things you can do to use email marketing to your advantage:

Start Selling Something

Since this first step is for beginners, you can avoid it if you already have something to sell. If, however, you don’t yet have a product or service, this is the step you need to follow. Unless you have a product that can be promoted, it’ll be practically impossible to make money from this marketing channel.

You can sell anything from eBooks, training manuals, virtual coaching sessions, online workshops, or courses. Regardless of your chosen product, you need to be passionate about selling it.

Sell Affiliate Products

If you don’t have any product to sell and you don’t want to get one either, start selling affiliate products. By being an affiliate for leading businesses, you can get commissions every time you generate traffic for the said business.

Here’s a simple instance of affiliate connections: You are a virtual coach who offers guidelines and training on online marketing. To make the most of your suggestions, you recommend a range of affiliate tools like web hosting solutions or web design services. As you do this, you end up serving the marketing needs of your clients.

Almost every leading brand has an affiliate program. So, check your available options and pick something that works with your requirements.

However, before opting for an affiliate program, ensure that you have a solid relationship with your customers. Unless you have a great relationship, you won’t be able to suggest products that perfectly align with their requirements.

Try Cross-Selling Similar Products

Every time a customer purchases from your site, it offers you some ideas about their interests and preferences. Luckily, you can use this information to your advantage by cross-selling similar products to them.

We are quite sure that you’ve come across an email with the tagline, “Because you made this purchase, we think you’re interested in this new product”. The idea here is to target customers based on their previous shopping decisions. If you target them the right way, they will most likely purchase a new product.

Here’s a short example of an excellent cross-sell: Say, for instance, you’re a digital marketer who offers an online course about Facebook marketing. Once your customer completes this course, you can pitch in another email cross-selling a new course about video marketing on Facebook.

Ideally, you should send automated emails with these cross-selling pitches at least once to thrice a week after your customer’s first purchase. This is an excellent way to generate more profits.

Get Your Customers to Repeat Their Purchase

Just like cross-selling, you might have a certain product or service that can be repeatedly purchased at certain intervals. At times, a friendly email reminder is a great way to generate a steady stream of revenues.

This method of monetizing email marketing works especially well for those businesses that depend on recurring or seasonal goods and services. For example, if you have a window cleaning company, you can remind your existing clients about scheduling their next appointments by the end of every season.

Bonus Tip: Offer coupons. Giving a 15 to 20 percent discount on your next service might offer your customers the much-needed boost for using your service the following season.

Down-sell When Needed

Just like upselling and pitching in bonus offers, it is also important to down-sell in the right instances. When an existing or potential client tries to back out of buying your product, you can offer them a cheaper alternative with similar features.

Down-selling is a great way to retain existing clients and tap into new ones.

Have a Solid Plan for Users Who Leave Their Cart

Cart abandonment is one of the major issues of almost every online business. A possible customer is just about to make a purchase, and they decide to ditch their plan at the very last second. This can be because of a sudden, unexpected cost, a better offer from a competitor, the long process, or your site’s complex navigation.

Alternatively, it can also be because the customer was just casually browsing your platform. Either way, the situation can be easily salvaged with a simple trick: a cart abandonment plan. Get an email autoresponder for targeting customers who’ve ditched their shopping carts in the middle of their shopping spree.

Use Referral Emails

This is one of the oldest answers to the question: how to make money with email marketing. Since nothing works better than real testimonials, encourage your customers to spread the love.

You can use referral bonuses to lure them into recommending your products and services to their friends and loved ones. If you’ve been offering good services and have a loyal customer base, this will easily drive great results.

Come up With a Paid Subscription Model

If you have the necessary expertise in your field, you can always come up with some premium content for your customers. Develop a monthly, yearly, or one-time membership plans where users can have exclusive access to their preferred content.

Bottom Line

Once you use these tried and tested tips, making money from email marketing will be easier than ever! Nevertheless, always remember to be patient throughout the process and constantly update yourself with the best strategies. In this way, you always have some strategy to try when all else fails.