Internet Marketing For Solopreneurs

If you have read any marketing and business books, you will have read that you need to ask for a sale in order to get one. For example:

- When you are meeting with a potential client to discuss how you can help her, you need to ask for a sale at the end of the meeting.

- When you are publishing a newsletter, you need to ask for a sale at the end of your article/post/announcement

- When someone calls you for a free introductory coaching session you need to ask them to become a paying client at the end of the session

All of these are excellent examples of asking for a sale if you want to get one. In all these examples your potential clients have some prior knowledge of who you are and what you do. Because they are already familiar with the business owner offering services, they will be much more receptive when the business owner asks for a sale.

However, in social networking, when you just meet someone, they don’t know who you are and what you do. So asking for a sale is not appropriate. This is why you should not send an MLM pitch/sales message to someone you just connected with on Facebook.

Instead, you want to start building a relationship and get your new connections to know you. How do you do that? By promoting your newsletter!

If you want to keep in touch with people you meet through social networking for a long time, make sure you promote your newsletter! Promote it in your profile, link to it from your signature, post a link to it from your “About” page, etc. The more visible you make your newsletter, the more people will get on your list, and the more people you will be able to keep in touch with even if you stop using some social networking groups.

When you have just met someone through social networking web sites, it is not time for a hard sales pitch. Start building a relationship and invite them to join your list. Once they have been on your list for someone, they may contact you about your services and your products. This is when you will be able to ask for a sale.

Want to learn more about using social networking to get clients? Join me for the How To Get Clients And Build Your List With Social Networking Teleseminar Series at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znetwork

Biana Babinsky

One of the most popular questions I have been receiving this year from clients, colleagues and online friends (some of whom I met on social networks) has been Is Social Media A Fad?

I even had a discussion on this same subject at a non-business event a few months ago. One of the participants found out what I did for a living and we had a great discussion of social media, how it affects the way we do business and if it is here to stay.

As someone who has participated in social media and social networking online for the past fifteen years and recently taught a social networking teleseminar, I know that social media is not a fad. However, I can see why this question keeps coming up over and over again. Social media and social web sites have become the “it” things on line in the past 6-8 months, just like blogging did a few years ago. And because of their “it” status there have been many articles in mainstream publications about social media and how business owners use it for business development.

As a result of those articles, many people who have never used social media before decide to give social media a try. But since they are new to the social media scene, they are not sure how long social networking is going to stay around for. They do not want to spend their time on something that may just be a fad, so they are looking to make sure that social media and networking are here to stay.

And from what I have seen in my many years online, I can tell you that social media is here to stay. Social networking started as soon as people started using the Internet. I remember communicating on Bulletin Boards, then through mailing lists, then message boards. I started using social networking as soon as I got online. The very first social networking medium that I ran was a message board.

Since then I have joined and left countless mailing lists, message boards and social networking sites. While the media that I use changes with time (new networking sites, new mailing lists, etc), social networking stays. While we might not use the same social networking websites five or ten years from now, we will still be using social networking. Just like I used it fifteen years ago. And this is why social networking is not a fad and is here to stay.

More social networking articles:

- Getting Results From Social Media Sites

- What To Do With Your Social Networking Traffic

Biana Babinsky

P.S. What do you think? How do you use social networking?

You may have noticed this phenomenon as well. Many years ago it happed to a client of mine. My client joined an online networking group to promote his expertise and get clients. This was a group frequented by his target market, so it was an ideal spot for him to network and promote his expertise and his business.

He jumped right in and was fairly active in this group from the very beginning. He posted messages every other day, answered questions and networked with many members. He really enjoyed talking about his subject matter and it showed through his messages as well. He became seen as an expert almost immediately and he became to reap rewards.

As a result of his actions, he started getting traffic from the group. Every week he would check his web site statistics and tell me that he was getting a nice amount of traffic. The traffic brought him sales as well - he did two consulting projects with people who met him through this group. He sold his e-books and got quite a few people from the group to attend his seminars.

But as more new clients and commitments came his way, he did not have time to participate as much. Some of the things he was doing had to be cut from his schedule, so he decided to cut back on his social networking. He started to participate less and less in the group.

After some time he reported that he was getting much less web site traffic from the group, now that he participated less. Once he stopped participating in the group, he stopped getting any traffic from it.

Things like that happen to business owners all the time. We get busier and stop participating in social networking groups, and stop getting the traffic from them as a result.

But there is a better way! You can continue to receive benefits from a social networking group, such as leads and sales, long after you stopped participating in those groups. To do that, you need to actively promote your newsletter while you are still a member of the group. That way, some of the members of the group will get on your list and you will be able to keep in touch with them long after you leave that group.

I still get sales from people who met me in groups that I haven’t been to in years. And one of my new one-on-one mentoring clients this year is someone I met in a group that was closed down four years ago. This person was on my list for many years, she has been to my teleseminars and now she is working with me one-on-one.

So if you want to keep in touch with people you meet through social networking for a long time, make sure you promote your newsletter! Promote it in your profile, link to it from your signature, post a link to it from your “About” page, etc. The more visible you make your newsletter, the more people will get on your list, and the more people you will be able to keep in touch with even if you stop using some social networking groups.

For more help with getting clients from social networking, join me for the How To Create Social Networking Plan That Gets You Clients Teleseminar at http://www.marketingsalad.com/social-networking.html

Biana Babinsky

About Biana: Biana Babinsky is the online business expert and author who teaches coaches, consultants and other business owners how to use social networking to get clients. Join her for the How To Create Social Networking Plan That Gets You Clients Teleseminar to discover how to use social networking to get newsletter subscribers and clients for your business. You can learn more and register at http://www.marketingsalad.com/social-networking.html

Just read an article, MySpace, Facebook: Big not always better about how Internet users like to use smaller, more targeted social networking web sites and groups.

Personally I like both types of groups. I am a member of small networking groups where membership is very targeted. For example, we have a very targeted networking group at MarketingSalad.com, my online business mentoring web site. In addition to learning about online marketing, members of MarketingSalad.com also network with each other and do business with each other on a regular basis. This group is very targeted - members are are coaches, consultants, virtual assistants and other online business owners who are serious about building profitable online businesses.

But I also like much larger networking web sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. The key to using those really large sites is to still find smaller groups of people you want to socialize with. For example, if you like skiing, search for skiing groups. If you want to become known to your target market, search for groups/places where your target market is and start the conversation going.

It does not matter how big or small a group is, as long as you can create a strategy to increase your visibility and reach your market effectively.

Biana Babinsky

Recently I have been exploring Facebook, the online social networking site, in more depth. I have been a member for a while, but I haven’t used my account that much. By the way, if you are a member, you can search for me and send me an invitation to connect.

I have been using Instant Messaging a very long time. I have been using it for connecting and networking and I have also been using it extensively with my clients.

Now Facebook is putting the two together - you can now use a new instant messaging feature directly on Facebook to chat with your friends.

Check out more on this at Facebook: Facebook Chat: Now We’re Talking and on CNN at Facebook unveils instant message feature

Biana Babinsky

Online social networking is very hot right now, so join us for MarketingSalad.com Social Networking event on April 1st and 2nd. During this event you will be able to network with your potential customers and other solopreneurs and learn how to use social networking to promote your business.

Many participants reported creating business connections and getting clients during our past events, and this one is no exception! I am committed to helping 100 business owners to use social networking to market their business!

You can learn more and register for the social networking event at http://www.marketingsalad.com/networking.html

Biana Babinsky

There are many social networking web sites online. I am sure you have heard of LinkedIn, Ryze, Facebook, MySpace and many other social networking sites.

I am a member of a few of them, and we also do a lot of networking at my online business mentoring web site, http://www.MarketingSalad.com. I also run my own social networking events for business owners.

Lately I have been getting lots of questions about social media and online networking from coaches, consultants and other solopreneurs. It seems that social networking is becoming more popular and more business owners want to take advantage of social networking to get more clients for their businesses.

You have to remember that just like regular networking, using social media does take time. You are looking for results for your business and it takes time to get those results.

Some of the things i do when I use social media are: I run groups and networking events for people I meet on social networking sites, I keep in touch and network, I write and optimize my blog, etc.

Two main things to remember if you want to get results from social media are:

- Correctly define your goals for social networking. You have to know know exactly what you want to happen from your involvement in social media and how to follow up and build on that involvement.

- You need to find ways (and time!) to do social media marketing on a regular basis.

More tips on using social media:

- Use Web 2.0 And Online Networking To Promote A Coaching Business

- How To Get Results From Online Networking

- Are You Wasting Time Or Networking?

Biana Babinsky

Many coaches have asked me if they should join a local networking group. Here is what I recommend.

It is really all about your goals for your membership and what you want to get out of it. Since your goal is to get referrals of potential clients, I would look at the group and see if members there are in position to send you referrals, if they have access to people who can make great referrals for you.

For example, if you are a business coach, your potential clients are business owners. If there are many members in the group who work with business owners and can refer them to you, this should be a big consideration for you joining the group.

On the other hand, if you are a life coach, you will need to have people in different professions in group, so that they can refer leads to you.

My recommendation is to set goals for what you want to get from the group, and see if the group will help reach those goals.

Want to network online? Network with your colleagues at www.MarketingSalad.com

Biana Babinsky

Is web 2.0 a good technique to promote your coaching business online? With so many online networking sites and blogs out there, how can you find time to participate and still have enough time left for your business and your coaching clients?

I find it to be a great tool to promote a business, BUT I also find that it can take up a lot of your time if you are not careful about organizing your time. I have had clients who have spent 4-5 hours a day, every day on social networks, but could not show enough results to justify this much time spent.

Here is what I recommend that you do to maximize your web 2.0 results:

- Define your goals for networking online ahead of time. Your goals should always be building your list, increasing awareness for your expertise and getting more clients.

- Only network in groups that can help you reach your goals. This means that you should only network in groups where your target market networks. If you network in groups that are fun and social, but don’t consist of your target market, you will have fun, but will not get clients.

- Pick a few networking forums/groups/web sites and use them for a while. There are thousands of networking forums/groups/web sites available for you to network in. There is no way to participate in all of them.

Pick a few that are the most appropriate for your business and spend some time networking in them.

I don’t recommend jumping between groups all the time, as your goal is to become known in a group and be considered an expert. Every time you join a new group, you will need to spend time on establishing your expertise from the very beginning.

- Evaluate your results on a regular basis. Every month take a look at what you have accomplished by networking online and evaluate them. If after a while you are not getting results you want, you should re-evaluate how you network, where you network and what you do while networking.

Members of my online mentoring program, MarketingSalad.com learn how to use online networking to get clients. Join us now at www.MarketingSalad.com and discover how to use online networking effectively!

Biana Babinsky

Online networking can be extremely rewarding, if you know exactly the results you want to get and how to get them.

Here is a plan I recommend following for effective online networking:

- Make Your Networking Goals Clear To Yourself. Until you know exactly what results you need to get out of your networking efforts, no one will know what they are either. It is extremely important to know exactly what you need to get out of networking. Do you want to meet certain kinds of people? Promote your expertise? Gain more clients?

- Find Appropriate Networking Groups, Web Sites and Forums To Participate In. After working with many clients I have found out that the majority of people who have complained about not getting results from networking online have been networking in the wrong groups. When you network with people who are not in your target market, you will not accomplish your goals.

To find the right groups to network in, look back at the goals you have set for your networking. What kind of people do you need to network with to reach these goals? Once you know the answer to this question, find the networking groups where the majority of participants are these people.

- Network With Your Goals In Mind. Participate in discussions, share and help others and show your expertise at the same time. This will help your target market notice you and it will help you reach your networking goals faster.

For more information on how to use online networking to get clients, join my members-only web site, MarketingSalad.com to be coached by me on using online networking to get clients.

Biana Babinsky