Internet Marketing For Solopreneurs

Every once in a while I receive a question from a coach who has heard that newsletters are old news and web 2.0 is the way to go. Here is a question I received recently:

Question: Biana, I have been a life coach for about 4 years now. I have been publishing my newsletter for about 2.5 years. About 6 months ago I started reading articles and hearing from everyone that newsletters are outdated and that I should start using web 2.0 exclusively.

Did I make a mistake? Should I have been publishing my newsletter instead of starting the blog and doing social networking?

My answer: First of all, I LOVE web 2.0. Blogging and social networking has been bringing leads and clients to me for a very long time. However, your newsletter is a foundation of your marketing strategy. Before you blog, before you use social networking sites, you MUST have a newsletter.

Let me explain. Your newsletter helps you build long term relationships with people in your target market. It is your most important piece in your marketing strategy. When you meet people in your target market - in person, through speaking or networking, or online, though social networking, article marketing, etc - you need to invite them to get on your newsletter list.

Once they get on your list, they will be able to receive your newsletter, get to know you and become aware of products and services that you offer.

The best way to use web 2.0 is to use it to get more people to subscribe to your newsletter. When people are reading your blog, make sure that you invite them to subscribe to your newsletter. You can do that by using an invite in the blog header, including a newsletter subscription box in your menu, etc.

And when you are using social networking, make sure that your personal pages on different social networking sites promote your newsletter. That way you can use your newsletter to continue building relationships with people you meet at social networking sites.

So I recommend that you continue using your blog and social networking sites, but you should also find a way to continue building relationships with people you meet through those means.

I talk a lot about using your newsletter to get clients in the Grow Your List Home Study Course that you can see at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znews

Biana Babinsky

After I published FREE Web Site Traffic Series Part 1: Article Marketing, I have gotten emails from some of you asking for more information on driving traffic. Today I am discussing how to use your blog to get more free web site traffic:

- Use Search Engine Optimization To Drive Traffic To Your Blog. Search engines bring a lot of very targeted traffic to my blog posts, so I always recommend using search engines to drive more free traffic to a blog.

Search engine optimization for your blog consists of three important parts: doing keyword research, using the keywords in your blog post and getting links to your blog.

First, you need to find keywords that your target market uses when searching for materials on the same topic as your upcoming blog post. You do not need too many keywords for one blog post.

Next, you need to use a few of the best keywords that you find in your blog post.

And to get better search engine rankings you need to have links leading to your blog. You can do that by exchanging links with other bloggers, listing your blog in blog directories, etc.

- Make Each Blog Post’s File Name Descriptive. Different blogging software behaves differently, but some will call your blog posts 2.html, 3.html, 4.html, etc. As you can see, that is not very descriptive and not particularly helpful to either people or search engines. When you create a post called How Coaching Helps Business Owners, calling it how-coaching-helps-business-owners.html is a much better title than 5.html.

Make sure that your blogging software creates descriptive file names for your blog posts; it is better both for human readers and search engine spiders and doing this will help you get more traffic to your blog.

- Get Links To Your Blog. More quality links means more more traffic, it’s that simple. Work on getting quality links pointing to your blog.

- Get Your Blog Listed In Blog Directories. Blog directories are a great source of getting links to your blog. Sometimes blog directories will give you a unidirectional (they link to you, but you don’t link back to them) link, other times they would exchange links with you.

- Use Article Marketing To Get Traffic To Your Blog. As I mentioned in the FREE Web Site Traffic Series Part 1: Article Marketing post, article marketing is a great way to drive more free traffic. And you can use article marketing to drive traffic to your blog by using your article’s Resource Box to link back to your blog.

I share my system for using my blog to get free traffic and clients in my How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Home Study Guide that you can see at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zbt

More articles on getting free traffic:

- FREE Web Site Traffic Series Part 1: Article Marketing

Biana Babinsky

If you are not getting the results from your blog, you are not alone. Many business owners have told me that they are not getting results from their blogs. After reviewing many blogs, here are the top three mistakes that I see business owners repeating over and over again:

- Not defining the results you are looking for BEFORE starting to blog. What are your objectives for blogging? What do you want to achieve with your blog? Be crystal clear on what you want to achieve and keep this information in mind as you are starting your blog.

- Not picking the blogging software that is right for you. If you pick blogging software that you are not sure how to use or if you have blogging software that is difficult to use, you will not use it. This means that you have a blog, but you are not actually blogging.

If you are not blogging, you can’t use your blog to get clients. Having blogging software that works for you will solve many of your blogging problems.

- Not optimizing blog posts for search engines. Search engines have sent me many thousands of blog readers, some of whom have turned into clients.

In fact, search engines will send you some of your most targeted readers. The more targeted the readers are, the easier it is to turn them into clients. Start using search engines for every blog post. Doing this will help you gain more traffic and clients.

- Not capturing e-mail addresses of your blog readers. I have had many business owners tell me that they have blogs and that they have many people reading their blogs, but they are not turning any of the readers into customers.

The first step that you must take to turn your blog readers into clients is capturing their e-mail addresses. If you can’t connect with your blog readers by e-mail, you will not be able to turn them into clients.

The How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Home Study Guide teaches you how to create a blog and use it to get more customers for your business. Learn more about it at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zbt

Biana Babinsky

Many of my clients have been asking me for free marketing techniques to bring more targeted traffic to their web sites.

There are quite a few methods to spread the word about your web site for free or inexpensively. However, I recommend that you first decide WHO you want to bring to your web site. This will make a big difference on how you apply marketing techniques later on.

Once you have decided who your target market is, you need to use online marketing techniques to drive your target market to your web site.

Here are my favorite online marketing techniques. All three of them are free to use to bring traffic to your web site:

- Article Marketing. Article marketing consists of writing articles that your target market is interested in reading. Once you have created these articles, you need to submit them to article directories.

Every time your article gets published in an article directory, or it gets re-published on other people’s blogs and web sites, it gets published with a link back to your web site. Thus, every single person reading your article can click on the link and visit your web site. This will help you get more web site traffic.

Read articles on Article Marketing: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/articles.html

- Business Blogging. Blogging is really big now, and this is because lots of people are now either blogging or reading other blogs, or both. Blogs are also popular because you can use them to communicate with current customers and attract new customers to your business.

Start a blog that is of interest to your target market. Post to it often. Make sure that your blog is listed in blog directories and that you optimize your blog posts for search engines.

Read articles on Using A Business Blog To Market Your Business: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/blog.html

- Search Engine Optimization. A lot of people are using search engines to find what they need. Make sure that each page on your web site is optimized for search engines, so that people who are looking for the information available on your web site can find it.

Read articles on Search Engine Optimization: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/seo.html

Biana Babinsky

When I did an informal survey last year on why many business professionals are still not blogging, many business owners told me that they don’t feel they can find the time to commit to blogging.

One of the responses I heard was: “I don’t think I have another 40 hours/week to dedicate to blogging.”

Truth is, you don’t need to spend 40 hours/week on your blog. You don’t even need 15 hours/week.
If you organize your blogging and if you know what you want to talk about on your blog, blogging should not take that long. Here is how you should organize your blogging:

- Decide on how often you will blog. I blog 2-3 times a week and sometimes even less. You do not have to blog 3-5 times a day for your blog to be successful and bring in clients.

- Create a list of blog topics that you can use. It takes a while to come up with a good blog topic, so if you do not have any topics lined up, your blogging can take time. Instead of searching for
topics when you actually need them, create a running list of topics. Every time you read or hear something that may make a good blog topic, add it to the list.

When you need to actually write a blog post, go through the list and pick a topic you feel like writing about. Having a topic list will save you hours every time you need to write a new post.

- Re-print other people’s articles. If you like an article that someone else wrote, contact them and ask permission to post it on your blog. Posting someone else’s article won’t take very much time at all.

Don’t overdo this, as your blog readers would like to hear from you. But reprinting other people’s articles once in a while will help you build relationships, offer a different perspective to your readership and save time on blogging.

During the Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Teleseminar Series you will discover many
more ideas that will help you spend less time on blogging, and still be able to use it to get clients and promote your business. You can register for the Teleseminar Series at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zbt

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

I have had many life coaches, career coaches and other coaches and service professionals ask me about which blogging software is right for them.

Is your blog software working for you? Are you getting a stream of clients and newsletter subscribers from your blog, every single day? Do your blog readers come back to read your new blog posts all the time? Does your blog bring in people who want to buy your e-books and register for your teleseminars?

Continue Reading Is Your Blogging Software Right For You?

Many coaches have told me that they want to be authentic when marketing their coaching business online. One of the best ways to do that is by creating a blog and using it to promote your business. Learn more about how to make your authentic self shine through and get clients in this article:
Read Get Clients With Your Blog By Being Authentic Article

Biana Babinsky

Hi,

I just posted many new online marketing and online business articles for you to read.

I have also separated the articles into sections, so that it is easier for you to find articles on the specific topics you are looking for.

Here is the list of article topics. Click on the topic you are interested in to read the articles on that topic:
- Article Marketing, how to promote your expertise by writing and publishing articles.

- Blog Marketing Articles, how to start a blog and use it to promote your business.

- How To Get Clients Articles, tips and advice on how to get clients online.

- Earn Multiple Income Streams Online Articles, how to create multiple streams of income for your business.

- How To Do A Teleclass Articles, how to run teleclasses and make money with them.

- E-book Publishing Articles, how to publish and sell your ebooks for profits.

- Newsletter Marketing Articles, how to start a newsletter and build a huge newsletter list.

- Online Copywriting Articles, how to write effective web copy.

- Successful Online Business Articles, how to create a successful online business.

- How To Increase Web Site Traffic, how to get more online traffic to your business.

- Search Engine Optimization Articles, how to use search engine optimization.

- Target Market Articles, how to find a target market for your business.

- Social Networking Articles, how to use social networking websites to get clients.

- Business And Marketing Articles, how to set goals, not be afraid of marketing and lots more business articles.

- Affiliate Marketing Articles, how to make money by selling other people’s products.

- Web Site Design Articles, how to make sure your web site is designed effectively.

Biana Babinsky

After I posted the Blogging For Life Coaches post here on the blog, I have heard from other coaches asking me to post more blogging tips to use.

A blog is a great way to connect with your target market, get more newsletter subscribers and sell more of your products and services. It is also a wonderful tool to get more traffic from search engines.

Here are some of my articles to help you get started with blogging:

- Blogging for Business: Blogging 101, if you are just starting out this is a great article to get acquainted with blogging and what blogging involves.

- How To Use Your Blog to Market Your Business. Many coaches start a blog, but are not sure how to use it to market themselves. They spend a lot of time on blogging, but don’t get any results from their blog. Read this article to discover how to use your blog to promote your business and your expertise.

- How To Optimize Your Blog For Search Engines. Did you know that over 70% of Internet users use search engines to find products and services to buy? Read this article to discover exactly how to bring more search engine traffic to your blog.

Biana Babinsky

P.S. For more in-depth information on using blogging to get coaching clients, take a look at the Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Home Study Guide