Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

As you know, I deal in paysites so the psychology of why someone would pay for something they can get for free (remember that oft-told argument?) is something I focus on. We, as Webmasters and people who use the Internet to make money, often forget:

1. The Internet isn't "reality". It's virtual reality that, at best, blends 'real life' with cyber graphics and, at the least, acts as a type of alternate Universe for people to play in, scam in, live out their ego fantasies, etc. But it is not 'real life'.

w. How a 'civilian' (someone who doesn't make their living online) incorporates the Internet, mobile devices, Twitter, etc into their everyday lives is not something most of us think about when it comes to marketing. We see numbers, numbers, numbers ONLY - and get lost in them, forgeting that those numbers represent living, breathing human beings.

So I often wonder, when I get a sale to one of my paysites, who is this person who just joined? I look at their names, where they are from, which kind of subscription they purchased....then also look at this data when I get a chargeback or refund. It helps me to remember that these are actual people spending actual money for something I am selling them. But what makes that ONE person who bought different than the other 999 who visited the site but did not buy?

We spend so much time in this business analyzing data that we overlook the simple, basic human motivation that's at the heart of all those numbers.