Dosh Dosh: 11 Ways to Influence People Online and Make Them Take Action
Originally posted on Dosh Dosh by Maki on September 12, 2009.
Influence can be defined as the power exerted over the minds and behavior of others. A power that can affect, persuade and cause changes to someone or something. In order to influence people, you first need to discover what is already influencing them. What makes them tick? What do they care about? We need some leverage to work with when we’re trying to change how people think and behave.
But there’s a problem. You won’t be able to meet and get to know everyone. You won’t have the luxury of learning their life history and what they hate or love. In the online world, people are ghosts. They drift into your website, showing up only as a number in your traffic statistics. Who are these people that come in to your website? Who is viewing your content and checking out your products?
If you don’t know the answer to all these questions, how are you going to influence them? The solution is to find and analyze general patterns of human behavior or thought. These patterns are indicators of how most people operate: by learning them you would have acquired the tools to exert influence over them. You don’t need to know everyone personally to understand what drives them and what they love or hate.
Reviews
Don Draper, step aside!
This article is invaluable for anyone selling anything ever - especially stuff online!
It's full of tips and tricks and reminders about how the big boys get their stuff sold... It explains which part of the brain reacts to what kind of sales tactics, and gives examples of how to use them in your own endeavours. It's partially Advertising 101, but it serves as an excellent reminder on what works. It explains how to build relationships with your customers and how to get them to trust you in scary cyberspace.
I plan to hone aspects of my own business using this list, and I think you should too! Oh, and definitely bookmark it because you'll be coming back time and time again...