You have less than 3 seconds to impress a random, one-off visitor on your blog. What do you do to grab their attention?

Sadly, most people craft a killer headline, pick an emotional picture, and write an interesting opening sentence. This is the bare minimum.

If you only focus on your content, you lose out on the opportunity to make the rest of your blog work towards turning random people into customers.

Let’s cut to the chase. What else can you do to ensure you don’t miss out on potential readers and buyers?

The Power of Contrast

Let’s say I give you a shopping list of ten items. Nine of the items are written in blue and one is written in green. I then ask you to memorize the list.

Which item do you think you’ll have the best chance of remembering? The green one, right?

Most people remember the green one because the unexpected contrast instantly calls their attention and leaves a lasting impression.

In Social Psychology, this is known as the Von Restorff effect. And while it was discovered 77 years ago, the impact it has  today is huge. Let me explain.

Competition in 2010 is fierce. There are a record number of bloggers and entrepreneurs competing for a finite amount of attention. You must stand-out to be rememberable.  You’ve heard this platitude before, so let’s look at two examples.

How White Headphones Helped Apple Become the #1 MP3 Player

You’ve all seen it. The black silhouette of a guy  dancing on a vibrant colored background.

And what’s that dangling from their ears? You guessed it. White headphones.

This Apple iPod commercial was genius. Years ago, people were accustomed to black headphones, which is why the white headphones left a lasting impression.

The best part? The commercial worked thousands of times. Once you knew the white headphones belonged to the Apple, every time you saw them on the street, you couldn’t help but think of an iPod.

Sure… the iPod is a great product, but their deliberate choice to stand-out helped them turn random people on the street into buyers. Win.

Now how does this work online?

Yellow Highlighter, Red Arrows, and Other Attention-Getting Tactics

By now you’ve probably encountered  red arrows, yellow highlighter, and other high-squeeze tactics internet marketers use to grab your attention.

And while these tactics are great for converting cold traffic into e-mails or sales, I refuse to use them because I consider it obnoxious.

Plus, I consider myself a Third Tribe Marketer. So I wouldn’t consider using these “in-your-face” tactics because I know it probably turns you off.

So, what other attention-getting tactics exist?

For starters, take a second and load up Copyblogger.com in a new window or tab. You’ll probably notice the mail icon that falls off the top left of his design, right?

Well, this little trick pulls your attention and practically forces you to read “Free Updates.”

Better still, eye-tracking studies show that people often look to the top left of a web page first. So, including it at the top left makes sure people see it.

And better still, when you see free updates, you also see the yellow post-it note that sums up the point of Copyblogger.com in six words. “Copywriting tips for online marketing success.”

It’s no wonder he has more than 100,000 subscribers. He man-handles your eyes as soon as you hit his web page. And it wasn’t obnoxious, right?

That’s Third Tribe Marketing at work.

How Can You Use Contrast Right Now?

I showed you how big business used contrast to get sales. I also showed you how a mega-blog uses it to get subscribers. Now what can you do to use contrast on your website?

1. Navigation

Most people use several links for their navigation. The problem is, many of these links blend in with one another. This leaves a great opportunity to use contrast to grab attention on the table.

For example, take a look at LauraRoeder.com. In her top navigation, all of her links have a gray background. She would probably benefit greatly from changing the background of “Free Resources” to a different color to make it stand out more.

2. Color Scheme

What niche are you in? What colors do the top blogs use on their website? Is there any way you can choose a completely different color?

For example, take a look at my site design. Simple, I know. But look at the color of my links. I picked purple. I did this on purpose because there weren’t any other marketing blogs that I knew using the color purple.

Is this a major change? Probably not. Will it help you stand-out just a little bit more than the next guy? Absolutely.

3. Subscription Boxes

Most people include a subscribe to this blog call to action in their sidebar. Unfortunately, it’s often in the wrong place or it blends in well with their website.

Load up Dannybrown.me for a second. Do you see how his sidebar looks very uniform? It looks nice, but nothing stands out.

While this may be on purpose, I bet he can boost his subscription conversions if he changed the background color of “Subscribe to Danny.”

Or, he could go one-step further, and break it out of his sidebar completely. He could include it above his search box, in a yellow post-it to further differentiate it from the rest of his sidebar.

When Should You Use Contrast?

While I may have called out Danny and Laura, my observations may be off-base. The thing is, you should only use contrast when you want to call attention to a specific item on your page, so my recommendations may not be in line with their goals.

How do you know when you should use it? First off, you would need to take a few minutes and determine the primary goal of each page.

For example, on your single post page, your goal may be to convert a one-off visitor into a subscriber. This is the perfect opportunity to make your subscription box stand out.

Or, as another example, on your product page, you may want to convert readers into customers. Here’s where you can use contrast to highlight the importance of your products.

So, ask yourself… What’s important on each of my pages? What can I do to make sure that my goal is 100% clear?

Note, if you’re having problems figuring this stuff out, please feel free to leave a comment. I’ll gladly help you implement this on your site.

Or, you can feel free to subscribe to Social Triggers because I’ll be giving you a lot more awesome tips like this in the near future.

You should know that I’m a big fan of the Third Tribe Marketing (affiliate link). Yet, you can’t help but wonder, “Is Third Tribe Marketing Worth It?”

Before I go into the details, let me share a story about how one Third Triber solicited the community for help and received it almost instantly.

Laura Belgray, the copywriter behind Talking Shrimp, was looking for a social media expert that specialized in restaurant promotion. Here’s the timeline of events:

• 9:31 AM: Laura posted a forum topic looking for a social media expert for restaurants.
• 9:43 AM: Chris Brogan recommends @AJBomber
• 12:04PM: Laura posts another forum topic explaining how great her phone call with @AJ Bomber was.

Nice turn around, right? Not even a full 3 hours passed, and Laura was set.

This could be a fluke, but let’s take a look at what some other people are saying about Third Tribe marketing on Twitter.

Third Tribe Marketing Twitter Reviews

These were just some of the comments on Twitter. If you want a complete list, why not click on the  #thirdtribe hash tag to see what people are saying in real-time.

What Else Does Third Tribe Marketing Offer?

For starters, the Third Tribe promises some close interaction with its founders, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Chris Brogan, and Sonia Simone.

Do they deliver it?

Thus far, in my opinion, I have to say absolutely.

For example, just recently Chris Brogan created a forum topic where he said anyone can ask him any question about internet business and he will answer it.

This is amazing. If you don’t know, Chris Brogan usually charges around $22,000 per day for consulting. The fact that he’s taking this much time out of his day to answer questions is great.

But what about the seminars and Q&A calls?

Let me be honest here. The seminars have a lot of great information, but the real value is in the forum. The private interaction with like-minded people should  help almost anyone improve their business.

However, if you’re signing up for the seminars,here’s a list of the topics that have been released thus far:

• The Quick Start Guide to Making Money Online
• Building a Business Around a Blog Part 1 (Darren Rowse with Brian Clark)
• Building a Business Around a Blog Part 2 (Chris Brogan with Sonia Simone)
• Building a Business Around a Blog Part 3 (Brian Clark with Sonia Simone)

And here’s what’s coming later this month:

• Building a Business Around a Blog Part 4 (Leo Baubata with Darren Rowse)
• Email Marketing Strategies that Work (Brian Clark and Sonia Simone)

The Bottom Line

I’m a fan of Third Tribe Marketing because it gives me a community of people to talk to about internet business. You should consider giving it a shot too (affiliate link).

I mean, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you’re unhappy, you could always get your money back.

Still not convinced? You should check out my other article that shows you why third tribe marketing is so effective.

BIG FINE PRINT

If you sign-up to the Third Tribe using my affiliate link, I get a little bit of money.

To put this in perspective, one of my websites costs me like $600 per month to keep running. So don’t think I’m promoting this for the cash. I’m a big fan of The Third Tribe, and I post regularly on the forums because I enjoy the interaction.

People tend to obey authority figures – no matter the circumstances. The best example of this is the Stanley Milgrim experiment where Stanley discovered that regular people were willing to administer dangerous electric shocks to others because an authority figure told them to.

While it was a scary discovery, the results forever changed the way some marketers create campaigns. If an authority figure commanded people to hurt others and people listened, using an authority figure to get people to buy products should be a cinch.

How Third Tribe Marketing Uses Authority to Sell Products

Whatever niche you’re in, you probably have hundreds or thousands of competitors. The good news is, many of these competitors often focus on the hard sale, the old school marketing method that cares only about the sales transaction. An example of this would long-form sales letters, or plain e-commerce sites with shopping carts.

With Third Tribe Marketing, your main goal may be sales, but you earn those sales by writing compelling, useful content that helps your customers, with or without buying your products.

The real magic happens when you produce this type of helpful content consistently because the more you educate people, the more they’ll view you as an authority in your niche.  And as we saw from the Milgrim experiment, being an authority earns you the right to sell to your audience.

For example, let me tell you about this one Twitter blog post I wrote last year. In short, Twitter was all the rage amongst some marketers because people were making a lot of money off of Twitter traffic. To capitalize on this, I published a blog post that detailed how I received more than 30,000 unique visits from Twitter with a piece of content.

The result? More than 10 people tried to hire me as a marketing consultant for their website. The funny thing is, I don’t advertise consulting work because I rarely take on clients. Yet, since I established myself as an authority, people wanted to hire me. Just imagine if getting hired was my goal… I’m sure I would have had more inquiries.

3 Key Traits of Content that Builds Authority, Gets Sales

Not all content will instantly propel yourself from novice to expert in the eyes of your audience. However, the type of content that does has these three characteristics:

1. Practical

Your content must be practical, meaning that it should work regularly under normal, real-world circumstances. For example, when I wrote the post on how I got more than 30,000 unique visits from Twitter, I included each step I took to achieve that goal. It showed people that my methodical approach could be replicated by someone else, or from a consulting standpoint, for someone else.

2. Specific

Your content must be specific with several facts and examples. Broad generalizations won’t help you build authority because anyone with half of a brain can come up with those. Instead, you’ll need to show people plenty of real-life examples – case studies work great – and demonstrate easy-to-understand concepts that people can act on.

3. Believe

Your content must be believable, meaning that the people who read your stuff need to believe whatever you’re saying is possible. The problem is, just because you achieved something outstanding, it doesn’t mean people will believe they can do the same thing. Instead, people tend to trust sources much more easily when they can see themselves achieving the same thing when they use your content in the same way.

Share Your Examples…

I’d love to see some examples of what you consider authoritative content. Feel free to promote yourself in the comments below.

Have you heard of Third Tribe Marketing? (affiliate link)

No?

Here’s the rundown:

It’s a new and ethical way to sell stuff online. Instead of squeezing your customers with a long-form sales letter, you give them compelling content to build trust.

Then, after you earned that trust, you ask for the sale.

Simple as that.

But let’s get down to business. Why does this strategy work?

The Rule of Reciprocity

People tend to return favors and repay gifts. It’s a well-documented, wide-spread human norm that governs many of our social interactions.

As a matter of fact, Dr. Robert Cialdini named reciprocity as on of the six weapons of influence in his book on persuasion called “Influence.”

You may know this, but for those who don’t, this same rule applies online too.

For example, when you give out free content that helps people, they almost instantly feel indebted to you.

And if you give the same set of people, a loyal audience for example, lots of free content over an extended period of time, selling products to them is easy. Extremely easy.

I showed you how this worked for Brian Clark yesterday. Today, I’ll show you a few more examples.

The Trust Agents Book Release

Everyone knows Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. They’re the guys who wrote the New York Times Bestseller Trust Agents.

How did they do it?

Chris Brogan has been giving out free content for years.  While I know he was doing this because he’s a nice guy, he was indirectly making people “owe” him.

So, when his book hit stores and he asked his following to buy it, they did it without question. It was their chance to repay a debt.

Thesis Theme for Wordpress

Chris Pearson has an interesting, not-so-known story, too.

To cut it short, he started designing Wordpress themes around five years ago. He developed instant hits like Pressrow, Cutline, and Neoclassical.

This was quality work. And the best part? They were all free.

So, in early 2008, when Chris released his first version of Thesis for $87, people wanted in.

Why?

Chris did great work, and everyone knew it because of his free wordpress themes. Buying Thesis was a no-brainer.

Is Reciprocity Enough?

In some cases, yes. When you give away tons of free content, it shows people two these two things:

1. you know what you’re doing

2. you’re willing to prove it

This is why giving away free content is one of the fundamentals of Third Tribe Marketing.

Plus, think about this for one second.

Many of you know that it’s much easier to sell products to a warm source than a cold source. Free content lets you have an endless supply of warm sources.

Now Let Me Ask You This…

What have you gave away lately?

Also, if you’re looking for help on how to start learn about other Third Tribe Marketing fundamentals, you can either leave a comment on this post and ask me any question you want.

Or, you could sign up for Third Tribe Marketing yet (affiliate link). It’s a great program, and the close interaction with other Third Tribe Marketers has been a huge help for a great many people.

If you’re still not sold, check out my  Third Tribe Marketing review to learn more.

Big Fine Print

If you sign up to Third Tribe marketing using my affiliate link, I get a little bit of money. The last I checked it was around $15 bucks for each month you stay in the program.

To put this in perspective, one of my websites costs me $600 per month to run. I’m not exactly trying to scrounge up an extra $15 here and $15 there to cover my bills.

I’m honestly writing this because I think this is a great community. You can also see that I post on the forums regularly and help people out because I really want the community to grow.

I’ve known Brian for about three years now. Back then, he was just like many of you. He knew there was huge potential with blogging and social media, but he was making a pittance selling ads on his blog.

In 2007, he made a blog resolution. He ditched Google Adsense from his blog because the $200 a month wasn’t worth it.

I thought he was crazy. I was making a killing with ads on my blogs. Little did I know that he was about the change the way the blog world worked.

Brian Clark’s 3-Step Method to a Profitable Online Business

Here’s the simple strategy Brian used to become a top-earning blogger and marketer.

Step 1 – Create comprehensive information resources that insiders call cornerstone content.

Step 2 – Give away compelling reports that address your reader’s problems (ebooks, microsites, and etc.)

Step 3 – Create valuable products that help your readers and ask them to buy it

It’s that simple.

Don’t believe me? Let’s go back in time…

Step 1 & 2: The Beginning of Copyblogger

During the first few months of 2006, he built his loyal audience with regular blog updates, two pieces of cornerstone content called “Blog Triggers” and “Copywriting 101,” and the free report “Viral Copy.”

The cornerstone content gave Brian instant credibility. It was compelling and comprehensive. Bloggers just couldn’t ignore it because it helped some get more traffic and links.

Then, when Brian released ”Viral Copy,” people went nuts. Ebooks were supposed to cost money. Yet, here’s this guy who knows the deal and he was giving an eBook away for FREE.

It didn’t stop. For another year, Brian continued to give out free blog updates and cornerstone content like “Magnetic Headlines.”

Step 3: Teaching Sells.

You probably heard of it because it has thousands of members now.

But, back in 2007, when he first launched this product, all he did was ask his readers to buy it. And it worked. The years-worth of free content was awesome, the paid stuff had to be better.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Brian Clark’s Blog Enterprise

The 3-step strategy Brian used to grow a profitable online business is drop-dead simple. As a matter of fact, I’m still kicking myself for not seeing it earlier.

The funny thing is, I’d like to say this strategy is out-dated, but he still uses the same three step method year-in and year-out.

For example, let’s go through some of what Copyblogger did in 2009. He gave out some cornerstone content (Content Marketing 101 and Multimedia Copy), released a free report (Authority Rules), and kept up with regular blog updates. Then, throughout the year, he asked his readers to buy stuff like Freelance X Factor, Teaching Sells, and Thesis Theme.

The Bottom Line

This three step method could work for any of you if you use it right.

It’s common knowledge that pricing products or services is an ongoing battle with human psychology. If your price is too low, people may think it’s junk. If it’s too high, they may think it’s a rip-off.

Now, let’s assume your product (or service) deserves a higher price tag. How could you raise your price and have people gladly pay it?

The Power of Perception

Let’s say you’re lying on a beach on a hot day. For the last hour you’ve been thinking about how much you want a nice cold bottle of your favorite beer. Your friend gets up to make a phone call and says,

“Hey, want a beer?”

The only place nearby where beer is sold is a run-down grocery store. How much money would you give your friend for the beer?

Remember how much you gave him and reread the question. This time around, replace “run-down grocery store” with “fancy hotel.” How much money would you give your friend now? Would it be more than before?

Most people say yes. During a research experiment, the behavior economist Richard Thaler discovered that the fancy resort’s median price was 71% higher than the run-down store’s price .

Amazing, right? You were willing to pay two drastically different prices for the same bottle of beer because your perception influenced your price limit.

Keeping this discovery in mind, the only logical way to raise your prices is by developing the perception of your product (or service). So keep reading to learn how to do it.

Choose the Right Words

All Thaler did was change a few words and people ponied up more money for the same bottle of beer…

What made those words so special? Each word triggers a memory that tells you how much money you should offer for the beer. In Thaler’s case, “fancy hotel” commanded a premium over “run-down grocery store” because  “fancy” sounds more expensive than “run-down.”

When you want to raise your prices online, you choose words in your description that communicate your desired price perception. Here are two examples:

• Ebooks - How many people do you know that sell an ebook? Do they call it an ebook? The people who are killing it online don’t. They use other names that sound more expensive. For example, they call it: “material,” “report,” or “training kit.”

• Consulting - Most people call it what it is, consulting. The problem is, that term is too generic. That’s why some top consultants use other words to sell their services. For example, some call it “advisement,” “strategy,” or “execution.”

(as an aside, you can read more about the power of words in a guest post I wrote for Copyblogger a few months ago)

Create A Valuable Product Experience

Not only do you need the right words, you need to create a product experience that people perceive as valuable. In Thaler’s research experiment, the words did the job, but it’s not always that easy. Sometimes you need to put in extra effort to create this experience. Let me explain.

I shop at this grocery store “Natural.” It’s relaxing. It’s low-light, the staff is personable and knowledgeable, and the owner is a culinary chef who helps you find the best ingredients. The other day I bought some Alaskan Black Cod. The fish monger told me how to cook it and gave me some free marinade and spices.

Sound great? You must be wondering “what’s the catch?”

It’s more expensive than other super-markets (you could have guessed that…).  The thing is, I don’t mind paying a premium price because I value their great service.

What do people value online? People want one thing: to be treated like people. How do you do it? A good rule of thumb is to personally address your customers and complaints because this will show people that you’re willing to invest time in them as people.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

• Customer Service - The Wordpress theme market is overcrowded. The one theme I chose was the Thesis Theme for Wordpress (affiliate link) because the customer service is great. You can ask a question on how to implement your theme, and in most cases, someone will address you personally.

• Customer Interactivity - When people buy online, they’re fear that they’ll be another faceless sale. However, if you promise interaction with the product founders, you show your customers that you’re investing in them. How do you implement it? If you’re selling an ebook, offer a free 30-minute follow-up consulting call. Selling a design service? Offer 1 hour of free customization after the job is completed.

The Bottom Line

You can alter price biases by developing the story behind your products. If you want to learn more stuff like this, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL to make sure you don’t miss any of my newer articles.

Imagine that you saw your favorite UFC fighter get kicked between the legs during a fight. Could you stop yourself from cringing? Probably not because you can picture yourself in that same situation and imagine how much it hurts.

Why do our bodies respond this way?

There are bundles of cells in the human brain called mirror neurons that activate when you observe or perform an action. The problem is, these mirror neurons can’t distinguish between observation and performance…

…So, when you see a UFC fighter get kicked, your mirror neurons fire-up, and your brain thinks you just got kicked.

How do you use these mirror neurons to influence people with social media?

How Frank Kern Uses Mirror Neurons to Influence People

Do you remember how Frank Kern launched his Mass Control 2.0 product? He used a video, and he began it by unboxing his product.

It was pure genius. From the start of his sales pitch, he got people to think they were opening the product themselves by activating mirror neurons.

How does this work? When you open something you want, your brain rewards you with excitement. And when you watch someone else open something you want, you get that same excitement because of your mirror neurons.

Why does this help you influence people online? Well, when you make people feel great, they’re more likely to listen to you. It’s that simple.

How Can You Use Mirror Neurons to Influence People?

You just need to remember one thing. When people see someone perform an action on video, they will think they just performed the action themselves.

And if people think they just performed an action, they’ll be more likely to actually perform the action. Why? Because they’re already thinking about doing it.

So, if you want people to tweet your new video, you could end your video by tweeting it yourself. Or, if you want people to buy your product, you could end your video by going through your sales process.

Can You Influence People With Mirror Neurons Without Video?

The short answer is, Yes. All you have to do is pick the right words to get people into the right mindset.

For example, take a look at how I started this blog post:

“Just imagine that you saw your favorite UFC fighter get kicked between the legs during”

Instead of showing you a video of a UFC fighter, I made you picture it yourself. This is called invoking the mind’s eye. And that’s the best way to activate mirror neurons with text.

What’s Next?

Picture yourself leaving a comment on this blog and sending a tweet, too. Or, you could just subscribe via RSS or EMAIL to get more free updates.