Client Magnets Official Blog

Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

Have you ever wondered what your clients are saying about your business? Would you love a direct line into your clients’ minds; to know what they really want and what they’re willing to buy?

Social media is a place where you can really get into the mind of your buyer.  You can dialogue with your clients and listen to what they are saying -  not only to you, but to each other.  It’s the perfect place for you to find out what your clients REALLY want.    And when you discover that, you can go to it – providing it to them!

Here’s my four step formula for using social media to “get into the mind” of your prospect…

1.  Identify “Hot Topics”
By listening and engaging in social media conversations, you will quickly identify the “hot topics”.

The key here is to listen and learn. What are your prospects asking? What do they need help with?
What topics are the most popular?

2.  Respond to Demand
Once you have the “hot topics” in mind, it’s time to showcase how you can help your prospects.  Use these hot topics to create the content for your blog and social media updates.   Give your prospects the answers they’re looking for.   Position yourself as someone who is in-the-know, who understands popular concerns. Demonstrate your expertise in a way that inspires people to use your business or services.   Give your prospects what they want, when they want it!

3.  Create a “BUZZ”
Social media gives you a ready-made channel to generate buzz about your new content and offerings.  With platforms like Twitter, you can use “hashtags” to incite and track conversations about specific subjects and groups.  There are also search tools available that will enable you to easily track what people are saying about you, your “hot topics” and your content and offerings.

4.  Track and Evaluate Market Response
Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other social media networks are ready-made tools to help you in the quest to get inside the mind of your buyers. By tuning into the various social media platforms you make it easy to evaluate the response to your new product, content and business presence.  You can use the information to review the effectiveness of your offerings and continue to craft better-tailored content in the future.  It’s also a way to determine what formats and delivery methods work best to reach your prospects and clients.

I encourage you TODAY to start “tuning in” to what your customers REALLY want!  If you listen to their conversations through the various social media platforms, they’ll tell you.  You can then use that information to give them what they want – and then everyone wins!

How To Set Up Your Business So the Media Contacts YOU

Recent studies show that 79% of all major media find their resources and story ideas from blogs and the Internet. So, yes, the major media really will call you… but only if your web presence has instant credibility and the ability to stand out from the crowded pack.

On this call Bernadette is joined by Suzanne Falter-Barns. You’ll learn how to attract calls from some of the biggest media available today, as well as major publisher book deals.

Join us for this call!!

MARKETING* MASTERMIND Call

Tuesday, 31st August, 2010, 8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

TOPIC:  *How To Set Up Your Business So the Media Contacts YOU*

This call is FREE for my hundreds of Marketing Mastermind and Stepping UP! members. They also get the CD and transcript of this call at no extra charge, plus a tonne of other member benefits – such as access to our online members forum.

Not a member?  Then join the Marketing Mastermind Group today so you can take advantage of this call and all the other member goodies each and every month.

I look forward to “meeting” you on our call.

Best Wishes

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

PS – Even if you can’t make the call, all Mastermind members receive a FREE CD of the call as well as a digital version of the audio and transcript! Take advantage now.

You’ve finally make the decision to start a blog! Kudos to you.

Before you begin, here are a few steps to follow in order to make your blog an interesting site that will attract readers and build your list.

•    Choose the right software. Using the right software will make your blog stand out among the many thousands on the internet. WordPress is a good choice because it offers many features that can be customized to suit your needs.

•    Select keywords. Your keywords are the areas in which you want to be ranked on search engines. For example, you might select coaching, training and self-improvement.

•    Write your blog. Include your keywords in the post, but be sure to write something interesting, even controversial, that will catch readers’ attention and that they’ll want to share.

•    Use creative content. Use link bait and tweet bait to creatively attract readers. Post information that is easily shared, such as top 10 lists. Visitors can link from the list to your site, or tweet it to their network. Your internet ratings will instantly increase.

•    Publicize it. Twitter is one of the fastest, easiest ways to publicize your blog. As soon as you tweet it, anyone following you will see it and, hopefully retweet.

Getting started with a blog really isn’t complicated and can be a lot of fun!   Once your blog is up and running, it’s important to keep yourself motivated to stay with it.

Keep your eyes on the prize. One of the best things you can do is to constantly remind yourself of your goals. Write down three things that you want to achieve, and put it where you will see it every single morning. You don’t have to look at it all day long, but starting your day with those three things in mind will inspire you, especially if you’re having difficulty coming up with your blog for the day.

Do what you love. Make sure that you are blogging about something you’re passionate about. Of course, you want to make money. But it’s important to remember that blogging is personal. If your heart isn’t in what you are writing, your readers will sense that and they’ll be turned off. Why should they want your offering if you don’t even seem excited by it?

If you follow these steps, you can be on your way to creating a successful blog; one that attracts visitors with information they can’t wait to share.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

The thank you page is one of the most overlooked places of real estate on the web.

That quote, from one of my mentors, Yanik Silver, speaks volumes. There is so much opportunity to promote more business and further your relationship with a new client on your thank-you page.

That client has just indicated that they trust you by opting in to your offer. Signing up to your list is a sign that they want to hear more from you.   Don’t let them leave wanting; offer them even more before they click off your thank-you page.

When developing your thank you page, think about what you can do to increase your client’s involvement. Marketing research has shown that the more people are involved, the more likely they are to buy – again.

That’s one reason companies hand out scratch-off cards with prizes or discounts hidden beneath the ink. It’s called an involvement device. When someone physically has to do something, it increases their involvement, which increases response and increases conversion.

The content on your thank you page needs to be relevant to your target market. Think about what you want them to do next, where you want them redirected to, and if there’s an opportunity to make them another offer.

There are several key ways you can accomplish this.

•    Make another offer. While letting the client know you’re glad they signed up, also let them know about another offering. Make a special offer. Offer a special prize or a special bonus that new clients will receive, but only if they sign up there and then.   Remember to use language that encourages action.  For example, “This is the only time you will see this offer. It’s for new subscribers only and you won’t have access to it again.”

•    Ask for more information. Once a new prospect joins your list, ask them to describe their biggest problem. You can then direct them to other offers you may have to help with the problem, or develop that new offering if you don’t have one.

•     Create a “tell a friend” campaign. Invite people to tell three friends about your offering in exchange for a special bonus. “Congratulations. Your place on the call is reserved. But just before we continue I would like to offer you this free gift……..”

Everyone who opts in helps you spread the word to other people. This will make a massive difference to your opt-ins and really help to increase your list. You can automate this process using Viral Friend Generator software.

When saying “thank you”, the key is to include only one of these options on your page. Either attempt an additional sale by making another offer, ask new clients for more information, or create a tell-a-friend page.

Any one of these options added to your thank-you page will start increasing your sales immediately.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Do you know what the most valuable page on your website is?

It’s not your “About Me” page. It’s not your “Testimonials” page.

It is the page where people give you their contact information and purchase your products or programs. That is the goal of your business.

To achieve that goal, you need to get people to opt-in. Nothing else can happen until they do this.  That is why the design of the page where they opt-in – your squeeze page – is so important.

Getting your prospects to hand over their contact info isn’t always easy, but if you focus on your squeeze page set-up, you will successfully obtain client information, build your list and make sales.  Use my tips below to maximize the effectiveness of your squeeze page.  These strategies work!

•    Make your homepage a squeeze page

To get maximum results, make your squeeze page your homepage. This will lead to a significant increase in your opt-ins and in your list.

•    Model successful squeeze pages

To get ideas for your new home page, model other successful squeeze pages. Look at other people’s pages with new eyes. Emulate the elements that make them successful while using your own unique copy that speaks to your own target audience.

•    The important information should appear within the browser window

The pages that are most attractive give the most important information at the top, without having to scroll down. Everything your visitors need to see should appear within the browser window in front of them. Don’t make them have to “lift a finger” to find the best of what you have to offer.

•    Use headlines and bullets to present your message

Announce your best information in the area that most people notice first – the headline. Develop a headline that will grab your visitors’ interest and get them to stay online to hear the rest of your message. Use a prehead and a subhead to deliver your best copy.

Successful pages don’t include one long paragraph of copy after another. A successful squeeze page presents its best content as great mini headlines in a bulleted format.

•    Make big, bold promises

Use numbers within your bullet headlines. State that you’re going to solve problems. Make big promises in your bullets. You’ve done the research, campaigns and surveys to determine what your target audience wants, now highlight that information in your bullets.

•    Make a personal connection

Your target audience want to know who you are.   Don’t keep your personality a secret. Make your squeeze page personal. People buy people. Although we’re all speaking virtually, on Twitter and on teleseminars, people want the personal human connection.

They want to know you. They want to see the person behind the site. At the very least, include a photograph of yourself. Add audio and video to increase the personalization.

•    Use a thank you page

Don’t lose that personal touch once your visitor has opted in on your squeeze page. Your thank-you page is a great place to further your relationship and offer your new client even more. You could make another sale just by asking for it on your thank-you page.

•    Remove Navigation Bar and Banner

There are a couple of web page staples that should not appear on a successful squeeze page. These items do nothing to help you get people to opt-in. So, strip out the navigation bar and ditch your banner. They should not be on your squeeze page.

•    Test, measure and improve your conversation rates

Make sure you test and measure your conversion rate on your squeeze page. Find out how many visitors are actually buying into your offer. Regularly measuring your conversion rates will tell you what’s working and what isn’t on your page.

When you apply at least one of these tips, and you will see an improvement in your conversion.

Make a checklist and work through it. Improve your squeeze page one component at a time and you’ll be in a much stronger position – I promise!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Social networking platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, give you a powerful new tool for connecting with potential prospects, clients, sales leads and new business partners. Because of the nature of social networking, successful social networking is about more than just creating a marketing campaign and sending it out into the ether. Social networking is a social process, and it works best when your personality shines through to your social networking contacts. With the right techniques, you can build your personality on social networking platforms and improve your social networking success.

Offer Advice: One way you can get real personal, real fast with your contacts is to offer advice or even just sympathetic comments. Listen to what people say, and respond to them even when it’s not related to your business. This is a fast and easy way to form personal connections with people, which can lead to unexpected business opportunities. Additionally, by offering advice or sharing information about related things in your life, you’re letting people find out more about you as a person and letting your personality shine through your social networking.

Share Personal Information: Share personal information via Twitter and Facebook. For years, people have had distinctive mindsets of “this is business” and “personal is for friends.” Let your business contacts be your friends, too. When you share information about your diet, or struggling with the conflicts of being a parent and business person, you’re sharing personal information that lets other people see that you’re not just a faceless business – you’re an individual.

The things that you share might resonate with your followers, and give them a reason to keep following you beyond your business information. People are also more likely to refer friends to other friends for business opportunities than to faceless strangers, so if you and your business can become a friend, you’ll get more business opportunities.

Find Ways to Blend Business and Personal: Find ways to blend business and personal updates. If all of your updates are personal, your followers who aren’t particularly interested in your business might just go away. If you share personal information, too, your followers may be interested in you as a person and continue to follow, even if they don’t find your business particularly interesting.

By blending business with personal updates, you can share information about your business without being blatant. For example, you could say something like “Going to Ireland to speak for business, and taking my husband along as an anniversary gift.” This lets people know that you’re a successful business person who travels and speaks, but also shares information about your personal life – that you and your husband have an anniversary.

Be Genuine: The most important thing about sharing your personality through social networking is to be genuine. Don’t give fake updates tailored just to get a reaction from your followers; be forthright and honest, and people will respect your integrity. If you let your personality shine through to your social networking followers, you’ll find yourself with a bigger pool of followers, which potentially gives you more business opportunities.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

When you think about writing a blog, which do you think is more important?

• Focusing on the content that you’re sharing with readers, expecting that people will read your blogs because of the quality and value your blogs provide.

• Concentrating on how your blog will rank in the search engines and cramming every relatable keyword possible into your post.

Writing for the person is much more important than writing for the search engines. Your blog should demonstrate your expertise to your target niche and convey your passion for what you’re doing. It should come from your heart. That is how you will connect with your readers and why they will share your blog with their network.

That doesn’t mean that SEO isn’t important, however. Offering quality and value in your content won’t do any good if people can’t readily find it.

Optimize your blog for SEO purposes with links. Be sure to include proper links to legitimate, respected sites; don’t just buy links or list them in directories.

Another way to help your blog rank higher on search engines is to add tags. This is something overlooked by many people, but there is real value in tags.

Adding tags is a relatively simple process. If you are using WordPress, look for the tags link, then click “create” under tags. Type your tag, which is basically your description of your post, into that little area.

If, for example, I were to write a post about the top 30 Internet coaches, I would list each person’s name in that area. That will show Google – or other search engines – that information about that particular person is going to appear in my blog post. The search engine will actually create a category of sorts about the person. People looking up that person will see all the posts online about them,  including mine.

Yanik Silver, one of my mentors who has hundreds of thousands of followers, was tagged by blogging entrepreneur Michael Dunlop in a post about the top 30 things to do before you die. Yanik runs Maverick Business Adventures, a wonderful company that offers unique trips around the world to people with plenty of money to take them.

In his adventure program, Yanik offers one of the top 30 things Michael writes about in his blog. That is why Michael tagged him. Michael’s blog ranked seventh in search engines when people looked up Yanik, which drew an incredible amount of traffic to his site.

All he did was add the tag. This is something you can do with every post. If you tag the name of a prominent person because they are relevant to the blog you’ve written and the niche you’re writing for, more people searching for that person will have the opportunity to come across your post.

So, post a list on your next blog, and tag the names on it. It will give your post a higher ranking, maybe on the first page on Google. It’s an easy way to draw traffic. And, in many instances, because that traffic will be people in your target niche, they will probably be interested in what you have to offer.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Writing a sales letter is a practice in anticipating what your prospects will think, and overcoming their objections. When you’re writing your sales copy, it’s invaluable to be able to put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and predict what they’ll think when they read your copy. It may be difficult to predict all of the objections that your prospects will have to your sales letter, but one thing you can easily manage is this: catch the catch. Explain why you’re offering such a great deal or such a great product to your prospects, or they won’t believe your pitch.

Prospects Look Out for Deals that are Too Good
From an early age, most of us are told “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” By adulthood, most people feel that they can judge whether a deal is good or not, but that little doubt lurks in the back of most people’s minds. If you do a great job of establishing the value of your product, and justifying your price, people might have trouble trusting you or your sales copy. If you make your product sound “too good to be true,” you have to explain yourself to your prospects or risk loosing sales.

Reasons for Offering a Great Deal
A few key phrases can help diffuse worry over a deal being “too good” and convince your prospects that you’re on the up-and-up. With one technique, you explain to your prospects why a product like yours normally costs more, and how you’ve managed to change the production method to realize a cost savings. Then, you can say something like “I can pass along my cost savings to you.” This lets the prospect know that you know you’re offering a really good deal, and gives them a reason for you offering a good deal. If you don’t explain this to them, they’ll think that you’ve misrepresented the value of what you’re selling, and will turn away from your product.

Another technique involves presenting yourself as the “good guy” and responsible community member to your prospects. For example, you could tell your prospects that a colleague has recommended that you charge more for your product, but you’re “not greedy,” so you’ve chosen to offer it for less. One successful copywriter said “This is such a valuable skill set that I’m offering it at this price so as not to price it out of the hands of the people who need it most.”

In most cases, it doesn’t really matter how you overcome the “it’s too good to be true” objection – just that you address it somehow. When you re-read your sales letter, look at it from the eyes of a potential prospect. If you find yourself thinking “What’s the catch?” then you probably need to re-work your copy, or add in some language explaining why you’re offering such a great deal. With this technique, you can overcome the mental objections of the prospects, and you’re that much closer to making a sale!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Good marketers know they need to stay fresh in people’s minds to be ideally positioned for that sale, or to form a good business partnership with a new affiliate. People try a variety of ways to stay in people’s thoughts, both physically and on the Web. You may do article marketing, newsletters, email blasts, and media marketing to keep your Web presence fresh. Alternately, you may send postcards, letters, holiday cards, or even birthday cards to build relationships and stay connected with people physically. Most of these methods are getting old and tired, but forming good relationships enables you to connect with people in creative new ways.

Be Creative with Your Connections
Do you send out holiday cards every year to your prospects? So do most businesses. You don’t stay fresh in people’s minds by doing the same thing that everyone else does. Find new ways to be creative with your connections, and catch your clients’ minds in a unique way. By forming good relationships with people, you’ll have a fresh pool of creative ideas to draw upon to keep your relationships dynamic and unique.

Consider this example: Carrie Wilkerson spoke with my Mastermind Group and talked about how she uses social media to build relationships. Carrie mentioned that one of her contacts talks on Twitter every day about how he walks his dog in the morning. He mentions the dog by name, and even the type of dog. When Carrie wanted to make a connection with this man, she didn’t just send him a note or a card; she sent a dog toy for his dog. She mentioned his dog by name, and found a toy that the dog would appreciate, based on the information that this man shared about his dog.

This showed the man that Carrie listened, and was interested in him as a person – not just him as a business contact. This is a fantastic strategy for solidifying relationships, and as a way to stay connected with people that will actually stay fresh in their thoughts. That man probably won’t remember everyone who sent him a card, but he’ll definitely remember the woman who sent his dog a toy.

Use Your Relationships to form Unique Connections
Your relationships with people provide valuable connection opportunities. By building good relationships, you set yourself up for opportunities you might not otherwise have. When you build a good relationship with someone, for example, you’re much more likely to be set up with the friend of a friend as a new business contact. People are more likely to refer business contacts that they like, than pushy sales-oriented people who don’t care about them as a person.

Use your relationships with people to form unique connections. Don’t just be the sales person, or the person with the coaching product, or that consultant. Be a friend; be the person who sent the dog a toy, or the person who’s always asking about the kids or the wife. By building these unique connections with people, you’re getting into their lives in a real and meaningful way, and you’ll be in their minds if a fantastic new business connection comes up, or if they remember that they know someone who might be a good match for your business.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

One-time Webinar

How To Deliver Your Expertise Online And Get More Clients

Wednesday, 30th June, 2010
8.30pm GMT/ 3.30pm EST

You can have FREE access to a one-time webinar with myself and one of my VIP students, Nicola Bird. If you’re a coach, consultant or trainer you need to be on this webinar.   Nicola Bird will reveal how she used JigsawBox to generate an income stream of over $24,000 of revenue in one month.

Here’s some of what we are going to cover …

• The number one reason your business model means you’re not getting as many clients as you should be (HINT: 95% of solopreneurs are making this exact mistake!)

• The four reasons why YOUR COMPETITORS will soon be delivering their expertise online

• How to SAVE TIME AND MAKE MORE MONEY by creating ONE set of content and using this as the foundation of your business

• How to use JigsawBox as a perfect platform for upselling HIGH-VALUE COACHING and CONSULTING

• How JigsawBox can help you deliver your expertise online EASILY, even if you’re a complete technophobe!

• The ONE THING you must do with your JigsawBox to START ATTRACTING CLIENTS quickly

Click here to claim your VIP invitation

Best Wishes
Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com