When most beginners get online to build a business, they frantically search for a strategy that will provide the fastest, easiest way to make the most money in the shortest possible timeframe. Not good!

Little thought is given to the relationship with your blog reader, or longevity, because you’re often desperate for money. It’s not that you wouldn’t love to thoughtfully and slowly build a great business, but there’s simply too much money pressure to slow down long enough to do that.

This is where many newbies go wrong.

The success stories have already gone through their phases of seeking fast riches – and they know that it wasn’t until they built a reputation and a connection with their audience that they began seeing a significant return.

Can you make money being impersonal?

Sure you can. You can make a little bit here and there – but it’s not enough to sustain you, so in the end you wind up losing more money than you get in return.

The difference between selling to and connecting to your blog readers

When you get online and start learning from those who have gone before you, you’re going to hear a lot about the money being in the list, about getting massive traffic to your domains to expose your links, and making sure you’re always selling or you’re “leaving money on the table.”

That phrase is one that works perfectly for a specific make money niche with a very targeted, fast money, low ethics appeal.

If that describes you, then you might pursue that path. But it’s not what this report is about. Instead, the idea here is that making money online is about a perfect balance where the business portion of selling is countered by the relationship building aspect of selling online.

Selling to your niche is when you get online, choose a topic, find products and promote them. Or, you create products and promote them.

There’s very little (if any) thought about what your niche actually needs. If you did conduct any research, it was based on a sterile, third party approach (like spying on forum threads) and not balanced with any actual communication with your target audience.

Why having a relationship with your readers will boost your business

There are many reasons why you’ll want to build a relationship with your niche audience. It’s not just about immediate profits, although it’s understandable that you’re thinking about that. It’s more complex than that. Here are X benefits that relationship will have on your business – some are more direct than others…

1) They Will Buy Without Even Reading the Sales Copy

Once you learn how to build that connection, you’ll discover that your conversions happen almost instantaneously whenever you send out an email.

That’s because your audience will have such a deep trust in you, that whatever you recommend, they buy without hesitation. Sales copy won’t have as much weight as your advice.

What will happen is, you’ll post a blog post reviewing a product – maybe it’s for a new tool or course. Your comments will say things like, “Just bought it – didn’t even read the sales copy – this is just what I need,” or, “I bought this solely based on your personal recommendation.”

Not only will it be nice to see effortless sales coming in (because often, the quality of a product creator’s sales copy is sub-par, but the personal satisfaction you get knowing you can honestly advise people to purchase something and they listen to you is incredible!

2) They Will Trust Your Judgment

Your judgment is important when it comes to asking people to blindly trust you like we just talked about. You have to learn how to promote products that go above and beyond in terms of quality.

Not just that, but you have to recommend people who are trustworthy, too. If you find a decent product but the creator lacks ethics, then you don’t want to introduce your customer to a shark like that.

Once you show that you lack judgment (maybe to make a quick buck or two with a JV offer), you lose all credibility and it will be nearly impossible to regain the trust of your audience for a long time.

3) They Will Know You’re There for Them

As you practice connecting with your audience in this course, you’ll start to see that your niche audience feels comfortable with you. They’ll see you as their advisor.

That means they’ll come to you with problems (sometimes related to the niche, sometimes not – hoping you can also help them in other areas). This easy friendship they feel will open the doors for more sales as you become the “go to” person that people aren’t afraid of communicating with.

4) Relationships Convert into Instant and Increased Sales

Some people claim that relationship marketing is simply about getting the audience to stick around long enough that you can convince them to buy from you.

But what they’re missing is the point that people don’t stick around on sites where they’re not engaged. They land, catch a quick glimpse of something, and quickly exit out of the site.

It’s called a bounce – and it’s a thriving problem for many webmasters – newbies in particulars.

On the other hand, those who do understand the fundamentals of relationship marketing will automatically be able to engage their audience for a lengthy visit that converts into a sale (and a side perk is that conversion will take much less time).

Those who argue that time on your site is more important than the connection you build are those who have to rely on increased exposure for the chance at a sale.

When you have a close relationship with your customers, you’re going to be able to brag about much higher conversion rates than a typical marketer who believes in marketing through strategic selling rather than relationship building.

Compared to their small 3-7% conversion rate, a marketer who has a loyal connection with their audience will easily convert at a 15-30% rate every time – sometimes as high as 80% or more.

5) The Customers Become Affiliates for Your Products

If you’re in the online business niche, then there’s a very good possibility that your own customers could become affiliates for your products. This is a great way to increase your sales.

Instead of paying for traffic or spending an ample amount of time developing free traffic to your site, you can recruit affiliates through your own network of loyal customers.

Once someone purchases your products and sees that you develop top quality, they will happily sign up to promote as an affiliate because they’re 100% sure that not only is the product good, but the person behind it is ethical, honest and reliable.

6) They Spread the Word for Increased Branding and Viral Appeal

Even if your loyal audience isn’t a part of your official affiliate team, they will be helpful in helping you spread the word. Not just when you have a product to launch, either.

Loyal customers and readers who like your style will help you out because they’ll be glued to all of your online communication. They’ll do things like:

• Retweet your links on Twitter
• Share your posts on Facebook
• Share your content on Google Plus
• Pin your products and blog posts on Pinterest
• Email their friends your links without asking for anything in return

Every blog post you write, every social network communication – it all has the chance of going viral when you build a close connection with your target audience.

7) It Helps You with Product Development

Those who come online new to Internet Marketing are often taught to use expensive keyword tools and in depth research strategies to figure out what their audience wants in terms of product creation.

These tools and spy tactics have nothing on your ability to deeply connect with your readers, open discussions with them about their needs and wants, and cater to those with a specialized product that fits them perfectly.

They will feel comfortable opening up and sharing their needs with you – whether you’re in the business niche, or something like health, beauty, relationships, or even pet training.

One thing many marketers will try to teach you is to picture your ideal customer. They have all kinds of tutorials about researching in forums and profiles to get a sense of their needs.

But your information will come from a real person, willing to engage with you and spill their secrets because they trust that they’re in good hands. And when you do come through and create a product tailor made to their needs, you will be hailed a hero in your niche – and it will boost your branding and appeal with your audience even more because you listened and delivered.

8) You Will Feel More Fulfilled

Although it may work for some, most of us aren’t in business just for the money. Usually we want to help people in some way, by sharing the knowledge that we have. Building relationships with your audience will prove that you’re doing just that!

There is no better feeling than when your readers feel connected enough to email you letting you know how much what you do has improve their life in some way!

You’ll even make friends through your business. They may not be friends you’ll ever meet in real life, but they are friends nonetheless. And that would never have happened had you not taken the time to truly connect with your readers and customers as real people, rather than just dollar signs!

See also:

Merging finances as a couple
How to think big and succeed
Self-belief is not a straight line