Get More Clients Online

Internet Marketing: How to Use Your Website to Disqualify Your Prospects

How many hours have you spent this week with prospective clients who are great at draining your time and energy but can't seem to find the money or desire to hire you? I've had my weeks when the number is larger than I'd like to admit. Consequently, several years ago I implemented one strategy that has been my secret weapon in my client cultivation process -- I use my web site to disqualify as many prospects as I can.

You may be saying, "What kind of addle-brained strategy is that, anyway?" Simply put, I don't want to work with everyone, as everyone is not my ideal client nor in my target market. A business owner who belonged to the same networking group to which I once belonged was completely flummoxed by what he read on my site. He told me that he had never visited a site in which someone very clearly stated who she was, what she does, and with whom she works. Of course, he thought I was very foolish to be so rigid and turn away clients and "leave money on the table." I confidently told him that I didn't mind leaving money on the table, as there was more than enough to go around. He didn't get it then, and probably doesn't to this day.

Deciding to use your website to disqualify prospects is a very liberating experience. Without a doubt, it shows the world that you know and understand your target market, and that target market feels right at home when visiting your site. Those who don't feel at home leave and find another provider who is a better fit for them. When you disqualify prospects, you:

• eliminate the tire kickers who have no intention of ever hiring you;

• create customers who call and say, "When can we get started?" rather than have to be sold on the merits of your service; and

• decrease the number of information collectors who only want to take your time and energy and, and when they have sucked you dry, move on to the next victim.

To best disqualify prospects, I believe that full transparency about your business is key. When a prospect visits your website, she should fully understand all that there is to know about doing business with you, and have no questions about how you work with clients. Here are 8 pieces of information that you can include on your website to make doing business with you as seamless, transparent, and easy as possible:

1. Target market. Who comprises your target market? What gender are they? Where do they live? How old are they? How much money do they make? What do they do for a living? Where do they hang out on- and offline? To what civic and professional groups do they belong? Use as many adjectives as you can brainstorm to describe them. If you can actually visualize this group of people in your head (and personally know people who fit this description), then you've got an accurate portrait of your target market. Describe your target market in enough detail on your site so that members of your target market recognize themselves when they arrive at your website.

2. Ideal client. What are the characteristics of the clients with whom you most enjoy working? What are their beliefs? What values do they hold dear? What industries are they in? What are the traits and qualities of great colleagues/bosses/friends that made them enjoyable to work with or be around? Are there foundational issues that need to be in place before someone is ready to work with you? Sometimes it's easiest to generate this list by thinking of the traits of your nightmare clients. This strategy isn't always foolproof, as many prospects can't objectively judge themselves (i.e. they refer to themselves as "totally involved" in a project when most people might experience that as "micromanaging").

3. Know their problems. What keeps your clients up at night and causes them great anxiety and stress? What are the reasons that they seek your assistance? If you need to get a better understanding of the problems of your target market, set up 30-minute interviews over coffee or over the phone with people who fit your ideal client profile and ask them a series of questions about things you want to know more about that will give you insight into their daily lives. Or, join in and participate in their online discussion lists, forums. or blogs and research the kinds of questions being posted. On your website, convey that you fully understand their struggles and difficulties and have walked in their shoes.

4. Solution to their problems. Once a visitor understands that you work with others like him who struggle with same types of issues, that visitor wants to know how you can help him solve his problems. Do you have a process, method, program, or strategy? Is that solution delivered via information products, a consulting contract, a service call, or a service purchase? Do you offer various ways at varied price points to help your target market solve their problems?

5. Demonstration of your expertise. Prospects want to know that you've successfully helped others like them. Scatter client testimonials throughout your site, or post case studies or before-and-after scenarios to show how you helped others in this target market successfully solve a particular problem. Information-rich content also serves to help you demonstrate your expertise, so don't be timid about telling your visitors what you know by posting articles you have written that showcase your knowledge. Don't be afraid to give away your knowledge -- 95% of your visitors won't be able to do it on their own, and you'll be the top-of-mind pick when they are ready to take action.

6. Post prices. Don't assume your visitors will want to call you to discover what you charge. If there are no prices listed, many will leave and go to another site where fees are listed. Post your fees on your website so that prospects can tell if they are easily able to afford what you charge. Conventional marketing strategy says that you should have a conversation with prospects and demonstrate your value before you talk price. I think that's hogwash, and quite frankly, I don't have the time to have these conversations. Use your website to give your prospects a clear idea of what it's going to cost them to hire you or buy from you.

7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Are there questions you answer time and time again? Instead of taking your valuable time to do this, create a FAQ page on your site that answers these commonly-asked questions, and provide a contact form for other questions that someone might have.

8. Barriers to enrollment. If you offer a consulting-type service, you may offer a comp consultation to prospects who are interested in hiring you. Many times this session simply turns into a "brain drain" session, and the prospect is there only for what he can get without paying from you. Make sure that your prospect is serious about taking action by making him take some action in order to speak with you. You might require him to complete an online assessment or survey before you agree to speak with him. A fellow business coach requires prospective consulting clients to show up with a check for $1000-$5000 and business plans, marketing plans, financial documents and every other document that is relevant to the project they are discussing. The prospects who balk at this are immediately disqualified, and the coach moves on to the next prospect.

Don't let the task of qualifying prospects drain you of your time and energy. As a service business owner, your time is your greatest asset. Use your website to your advantage and screen out all of those prospects who are not qualified prospects.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Introvert Marketing Coach Donna Gunter helps professional service businesses stop the client chase and create online businesses that drive clients to them. Want to learn specific Internet marketing strategies that get results for introverts? Discover how to increase your online visibility in this free ecourse, Introvert Marketing Toolkit: 9 Strategies to Make a BOLD Impression Online, at ==> http://www.IntrovertMarketingToolkit.com

Top 10 Ways to Have a Sale

If you need money quickly or want a surefire way to increase your cashflow, it's time to throw a sale. Having a sale is especially easy to do if you sell electronic information products (available as an online download), as your overhead costs are very low once these products are created.  However, a sale also works if you have physical products that have to be shipped, especially if you want to get rid of older versions of a product (cassette versions, for example), or if you have slightly used products that have been returned (a scratch and dent sale).

There's one key rule to remember for your sale -- make sure your audience is aware that the sale has a time limit on it. Many shopping cart programs permit you to put an expiration date on price specials for products.  If yours doesn't, check out the shopping cart I use, GetMoreClientsCart.

Here are 10 occasions for you to have a sale:

1.  Special occasion sale.  Your birthday,  children's birthdays, wedding anniversary, business anniversary, half birthday, etc. are all occasions in which you can have a sale.  I constantly receive sale promotions commemorating the owner's birthday or business anniversary.  You can even have a little fun with this and create your own special celebratory occasion -- your cat had kittens, your child walked for the first time, your daughter lost her first tooth, you repainted your house.....you get the idea.

2.  National holiday sale.  Those of us in the US might plan for national US holidays like Labor Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day.  All you need to do is consult the calendar and determine the national holidays in your country.  One of my favorite sales I offered a few years ago was one on Independence Day here in the US.  I asked if my readers wanted coaching to help them declare their independence to do such things as finally starting that business of their dreams, change their career to something that gives them joy, creating a new marketing plan for their business that will get results, or reinventing themselves or their businesses. A great online resource to locate holidays around the world is Earth Calendar.
 
3.  Special event day sale.  Do you realize that there are special days to celebrate almost every occasion?  In the month of October alone there are Billiard Awareness Month, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Celebrate Sun Dried Tomatoes Month, National Cookie Month, to name just a few.  The book, Chase's Calendar of Events,  is published annually with the current dates for these special events.  You can learn more about these days at Chase's.  You can even submit information to them for a day that you'd like create!

4.  Seasonal sale.  Back-to-school sales are very popular, as are spring-cleaning sales, winter stock-up sales, and "get ready for summer" sales. Of course, if you have an international audience, those readers on the opposite end of the world from you may not be able to relate to getting ready for summer when it's their winter season, so you might want to use these sparingly.

5.  Brick-and-mortar sales strategy.  Believe it or not, what works in the brick and mortar retail world also works online. It's very common for retailers to hold tent sales, inventory clearance sales, scratch and dent sales or close-out sales, so you can model that type of sale in your online business.  In one of Tom Antion's workshops I attended a few years ago, he talked about having an inventory clearance tent sale and had a graphic of a red-striped tent that went out with his promotion.  The great irony, he explained, is that he has no inventory because the items he had on sale were all electronic downloads.  However, it was one of the most popular sales he had held, as the concept of a tent sale is very familiar to the American consumer.

6.  Across-the-board discount or coupon sale. Give your contact list 25% off or 50% off of everything you sell, or create a coupon code or special link for a sale on certain items.  You can make this coupon or discount available exclusively to your VIP list, whether that's your audience at a conference, your email newsletter list, or your current client base.  Everyone feels special if they're on a VIP list!

7.  Pre-release sale.  Do you have a product that's almost ready to launch, a subscription membership site that's about to go live, or a printed book that's about to be issued?  If so, give your list members the opportunity to buy it at a special price before it's released to the public.  Consumers want to be the first to have the newest information, so give your list members first shot at your newest information.

8.  BOGO sale (buy one, get one free).  What works for Payless Shoes can work for you, as well.  You can offer a buy one, get one free for one of your products, and pitch it so that if one of your customers splits the costs with a friend, they'll each get a full product for 50% off the regular price. Or, they can give the additional copy to a client or colleague. Another way to create a BOGO offer is for all of your same-priced products, i.e. if you buy one for $29.99, you can get any other product priced at $29.99 or less, for free!

9.  Payment plan sale.  I see so many furniture store ads proclaiming, "Interest-free financing!  No payment until some date that's 2 years from now."  If you have higher priced products, you can do the same thing.  Offer to let your customers divide payments over 3, 4, or more payments.  Sophisticated shopping cart programs will permit you to set up recurring billing, so that your client's credit/debit card is charged automatically on the same day each month for the appropriate number of occurrences.

10. Tax-free or free shipping sale. If your state requires you to collect sales tax on your products, offer to pay the sales tax for your customers.  Each August the State of Texas sets the first weekend of August as a "Tax-Free Weekend" for clothing purchases in preparation for sending children back to school. You can create a similar offering in your business, but you'll need to check with your state tax office on the legalities of offering such a sale.  Or, you can offer free shipping if they buy before a deadline you've set, or if they buy a certain dollar amount from you.  Instead of standard shipping, you can also offer to upgrade the shipping to express if they meet certain buying conditions.

Take a look at what types of sales make sense for you, get out your calendar, and integrate them into your marketing plan.  If you have a good sense of when cashflow is tight, a planned sale should significantly boost your revenue.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing for Introverts Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals who are introverts learn how to authentically market their business and get found online without sacrificing their introverted soul.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results for introverts? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

10 Steps to Creating a Lead-Generating Authority Web Site

One of the most effective client attraction strategies you can create for your business is to develop an authority web site.  Most web sites, even in this day and age, are simple brochure sites, telling visitors who runs the business, what they do, and how to contact them.  An authority web site, however, is one based on a specific topic.  Better yet, search engines love these sites. Because search engines strive to provide the most relevant sites when someone is seeking information on a particular topic, these types of sites are usually found at the top of search engine results.

To find the authority site in your niche or on any particular topic, simply go to a search engine, type in a keyword, and view the top 3 results that appear in the natural (organic, not pay-per-click) results.  These are typically the authority sites for the keywords you entered.

Here are 10 steps that online service business owners can follow to create an authority web site for their business:

1.  Pick a niche.  Make your niche as narrow and focused as you possibly can. Perhaps it's professional organizing for home offices or web design for cleaning companies or career coaching for baby boomer women.  You get the idea here.

2.  Select your keywords.  Keywords are the "key" to being found online, so select yours carefully.  Select a niche specific keyword phrase, 2 secondary keyword phrases, and then search for other related keyword phrases that have a fair amount of traffic but not so much competition.  Google's External Keyword Tool can help you find these keywords.  You should end up with 10-15 keyword phrases at this point.

3.  Domain.  There's still a bit of leverage given in search engine results to domains that contain your primary keyword.  Buy a domain name containing your keyword phrase.

4.  Gather content.  Now you need to gather all the content you have created related to this niche. This could be articles, blog posts, audio, or video.  If you don't yet have content in this niche, you need to create at least 10 pieces of content, each of which uses one of the keyword phrases you found in Step 2.

5.  Client Attraction Device.  Now you need to create your lead generation magnet, or client attraction device, that you can give away on your site in exchange for a visitor's name and email address.

6.  Autoresponder follow up. Create 8-10 follow up autoresponders that are sent out over the next 3 weeks to the people who requested your client attraction device.  The goal here is to educate them about what you do or the product that you sell and invite them to purchase from you.

7.  Web site. Make your site easy to navigate and professional with a clear call to action.  Nothing is worse than visiting a site that looks as though it were designed 10 years ago or gives you a confusing array of things to do.  Use a simple design with attractive colors, and make sure your call to action (signing up for your Client Attraction Device) is on every single page of your site. I suggest you create a blogsite using Wordpress or Typepad as your content management system and then have your site customized accordingly.

8.  Relevant content.  The content you gathered or created in Step 4 can now be uploaded to your site. Be sure that the keyword for each piece of content appears in the content's title, first paragraph, page description and title, and page headline.

9.  Content marketing campaign.  In order to begin to create inbound links to your sites from high traffic web sites, you need to begin to syndicate your content.  Use an article marketing service to send your content out to article banks and publishers.  Use a podcast or video syndication service to send out your audio and video content. Create press releases from articles and post those to press release sites. Rewrite your content and use it as blog posts or as ezine articles.

10.  New content.  Content is king online, so plan to create one new piece of content each week that is added to your site.

An authority web site will help you leverage your expertise in your marketplace.  If you create it according to these steps, it will continue to generate leads for your business while your content marketing system continues to drive traffic to your site.  Now, you have created an automated marketing machine that will continue to send clients to your business.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com.

Ethical Bribes: 10 Most Effective Client Attraction Device Giveaways

One of the quickest ways to build your email marketing list is by creating an ethical bribe, or what I refer to as a client attraction device.  This free giveaway serves to entice visitors to your site to sign up for your email list because they want to access your solution to their problem proffered in your email list opt-in box.

What are the two most important characteristics of an effective client attraction device?  It must provide the solution to at least one of the problems of your target market and utilize the keywords that your target market might use when seeking this type of solution. Secondly, your offering must have a high enough perceived value that your visitors would be willing to pay for it.

I routinely opt into many lists just to get the client attraction device.  More times than not, the giveaway is simply a long reiteration of a problem, with the solution being available for purchase on the web site.  This is the WRONG way to introduce yourself to prospects. Don't be afraid to share some solutions with your prospects -- it's part of developing the Like, Know and Trust factor with them.  If you are truly an expert in your field, the info you share for free is only the tip of the iceberg of the variety of solutions you can provide to your prospects.

What is the easiest way to create your own client attraction device? Here are 10 ideas that you can use to package your information into a valuable ethical bribe for your web site:

1.  Audio of a presentation.  Hold a teleclass on a particular topic and record it, or simply record a presentation with audio recording software on your computer.  An audience isn't necessary for a good recording -- it is quality content that is the key.

2.  Interview of an expert.  Request to interview a noted expert in your target market.  Ask the expert questions, or pull questions from a pre-assigned list you've been given. Record the interview and have it transcribed to create a two-part giveaway.

3.  Special report or ebook.  A special report is simply a short PDF report that runs between 2-5 pages.  You can create this pretty easily by writing an article that's 1500-2000 words.   Typically an ebook is longer than a special report, combining several articles, or topics, to make a more complete overview of a topic.  Format it to be easily read and add a bio page and and upsell page and your report is complete.

4.  Checklist.  A checklist is a 1-2 page PDF file that walks someone through a to-do checklist to complete a task.  To create a checklist, simple outline the steps required to complete a particular task and insert a checkmark box in front of each so that the user can print out the list and mark off the steps as they are completed.

5.  Video.  Using video to promote your business is one of the hottest Internet marketing strategies today.  You can create an info video that is a training or tutorial video made by using video screen capture software, or record yourself answering questions or presenting a topic with an inexpensive video camera.  Upload it to your site or to one of the video hosting sites, and you've got a new client attraction device to give away.

6.  Software.  For as little as $50, you can hire a programmer to create a simple piece of software to help your prospects automate a task or solve a problem. Another option is to buy a license for some inexpensive software that you can then distribute as you wish.

7.  Rolodex (Resources) list.  Once you have developed a relationship with your prospects, invariably you will get asked to make recommendations for vendors to perform certain tasks. Because this list is valuable in that you have already gone through a number of services to find just the right provider and are thus saving your prospects hundreds of dollars and hours of time, create a list of these providers in a PDF document.

8.  Templates.  Templates are another time-saving device that prevents your prospects from having to reinvent the wheel.  Package together templates you regular use, like templates for telephone followup calls, emails, email newsletters, to-do list, budgets, etc.  Anything that will let your prospect use as a model for developing her own version will be greatly appreciated.

9.  Worksheet/workbook.  Sometimes information is better delivered in a format where the prospect can jot down ideas, answer questions, or brainstorm.  A PDF worksheet or workbook is the ideal format for that to happen.  Create a document with a series of questions and space to answer the questions, along with a bit of introductory text to set up the question, and you've created a useful workbook.

10.  Ecourse.  An ecourse is a series of emails that deliver information over a specific course of time via email.  Your ecourse can last as short as 3 days or as long as 52 weeks.  Once you pick a topic, simply determine the number of points that you want to make as you discuss the topic, and then create an email that thoroughly explains each point.  Put the emails together in a sequence in your email marketing program and you have an ecourse.

If you simply request visitors to opt into your ezine list or your blog list, you're not maximizing the work that your web site can do for you.  Add a client attraction device to your opt-n box and watch your list grow!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

7 Secrets to Successful Keyword Research

As people search for information online, they use a series of words, what are referred to as keywords, to find the information that they are seeking. Keywords are the core of any market research conducted by an online business owner. Just like the Yellow Pages Directory groups listings by category, like "auto body shops" in the "automobile repair" category, search engines like Google and Yahoo sort by keywords so that auto body shops are found under "auto body shop" in their database.

In order to be found online by your target market, you need insight about the terms that they are using to search for a business like yours. The quickest way to gain that insight is by conducting research on possible keywords they use. However, so many of my clients conduct only very basic keyword research and miss many keywords because they don't really delve into the problems and needs of their target market, which contain prime, keyword-rich topics they can use to be found online.

Here are 7 secrets to a successful keyword research campaign:

1. Define your target topic or interest. Use 1-2 words to describe your topic. In this case, let's say our interest is pest control businesses because you're seeking to target owners of this type of company.

2. Define synonyms for your topic area. Use an online thesaurus or  Google Sets to help you brainstorm synonyms for your topic. In this example, similar terms for pest control business might be exterminating business, rodent control, insect control, bug business, and pest control company.

3. Use "how" to help define problems in your topic area. When people search online, many times they're seeking answers to their problems, and they seek answers to these problems by asking "how" questions. I use Google's free  Keyword Tool, to help me define some of the problems of a pest control business. I plug in the synonyms brainstormed in step 2 to help me come up with this list. In this case, common questions might be things like how to do one of the following in a pest control business: start, grow, train employees, find employees, market, advertise, price services, bill customers, bid for contracts, buy, insure, find supplies, and write a business plan.

4. Record your action terms. Note the action terms that were used found in this example -- starting, buying, growing, marketing, training, advertising, billing, bidding, etc. These are terms that people use to help them solve the problems they have with their pest control businesses. Create a list for each of these terms and brainstorm synonyms for these terms, as well.

5. Group and research. Now, return to your keyword tool and enter your action term combined with your target topic and see what people interested in this topic are actually searching on. For example, for the term "how to start a pest control business," you would see results like: mosquito control, electronic pest control, ant extermination, roach extermination, how to kill fleas, pest control software, pest control license, etc. Organize the keywords into groups according to the problem being solved or action being taken.

6. Count the searches. Look for the largest clusters in your groups and count the searches on the terms in the groups. A large cluster with lots of searches will contain the initial terms on which you will want to focus. However, don't overlook the groups with smaller searches, as many times these contain keywords that are less competitive and thus become easier for you to use to rise to the top of the search engines, rather than being one of millions competing for a very competitive term. These keywords with smaller searches are referred to as "long-tail keywords," and I believe that the traffic you get from high rankings on numerous long-tail keywords is equivalent to and quicker and easier to achieve than entering the contest for very competitive keywords.

7. Use the keywords. With this research you can write articles on these topics, create blog posts about these topics, upload web pages on these topics, update the meta tags on your web pages, make videos on podcasts about these topics, create information products, write pay-per-click campaigns, and design classified ads, to name just a few of the uses for this research.

Have you conducted thorough keyword research for your target market? If you haven't, you may be missing key opportunities for your target market to find you online. Set aside 2-3 hours one day and discover all the other options at your disposal to help your target market solve their problems.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a  baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.OnlineBizU.com

Web Site Update and Overhaul

Many people design their web sites and draw a long sigh of relief when they're finished, foolishly thinking that they won't have to deal with that piece of their marketing again anytime soon.  Wrong!  A web site, if it is to be fully integrated into your regular marketing activities, can be compared to a living, breathing organism that must be fed and watered (i.e. updated) regularly for maximum impact and use for your business.

When you change and update your site (by adding new articles, products, press releases, services, etc.), it's like holding up a beacon inviting the search engines to revisit and reindex your site.  Regular visits by search engines are a good thing, as the more the site changes, the more relevant the search engines deem the site, because they see new content as a good thing.  That's why blogs are so popular with search engines.  Regular new posts to a blog are like an ongoing invitation to the search engines to revisit the site because there is new content to index.

I'm in the process of giving OnlineBizU.com something of an overhaul by adding new navigation buttons to make it easier to find content on the site.  And, I've got 2 other membership sites in the works, as well, to help me drive traffic to OnlineBizU. 

However, I'll have to admit that even I, the Online Biz Resource Queen, grow weary of site development and updates after awhile.  So, as you can see, it happens even to the best of us..;->

How to increase conversion rates

Q:  I get tons of offers to join programs but no one will sign up with me, even if it is free.
Valarie

A:  Hi Valarie--

It's not easy getting people to sign up for anything any longer, even if it is free.  Enormous amounts of spam landing daily in our inboxes as well as email laden with viruses and malware have made everyone very reticent to take any unnecessary chances online.

Here's what you can do to seem more "real" and get visitors to take a chance with you:

1.  Place your name and contact info on your site.  If visitors feel as though they can reach you via a contact form or by snail mail or though a phone number, they're more likely to trust you.

2.  Place a photo of yourself on your site.  Visitors need to be able to visualize that you're a real person. Visitors don't like doing business with what appears to be a corporate entity unless it's one they already know (i.e. companies with household brand names. i.e. Johnson & Johnson, for example).

3.  Place audio or video on your site.  If visitors can hear or see you, your trust factor with them increases.

4.  Write a sales page and give a graphic representation of your free offer.  Now, you have to sell the free offer just as much as the fee-based offer.  Write some short sales copy that gives your visitor the benefits of your free offer.

I've written a more comprehensive article about how you have to move the free line (i.e. up you offering) with your giveaway here:
5 Secrets to Moving the Free Line With Your Client-Capturing Device

These tips should help increase your conversion rate.

For more in-depth info on other web design strategies, try a membership to OnlineBizU.com.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

5 Secrets to Moving the Free Line With Your Client-Capturing Device

Want to listen to this article instead?

Once upon a time, in the dark ages of Internet marketing (only about 10 years ago in Internet years), all an online business owner had to do was stick an email opt-in form on her site and request visitors to join her list.  Simple, wasn't it?

Then, the legion of sp*mmers began to grow and started to make marketing by email more difficult.  So, then to encourage someone to opt into your list, you had to give something away, typically a very short assessment, checklist or special report.

As more and more online business owners implemented this strategy, website visitors started to become more skeptical.  The giveaway then had to be more substantial, like a free ebook or transcript or recording, to get a visitor to part with his contact information.

And, today, the free bar is raised yet again. Ongoing difficulties with sp*mmers and email marketing has caused online business owners to almost give away the store, it seems at times, to interest visitors in parting with their name and email address.  If you've been in business awhile, you probably have some valuable content that you can easily add to enhance your giveaway.  If you're newer in business, the first pieces of content you create should be used as your fr*ee giveway rather than creating them in hopes of selling them.  Remember, your primary call to action on your website or blog should always be to grow your list and a great giveaway does just that.

How can you be more competitive in a landscape full of marketers with fr*ee client-capturing devices?  Here are 5 secrets to moving the free line with your website giveaway:

1.  Be Content Rich.  If your giveaway isn't chock full of useful content that helps solve some immediate problems of your target market, you shouldn't waste your time.  Sure, your client-capturing device needs to have info in it about you and your products/services and an upsell to purchase from you.  However, if your giveaway is nothing but an extended infomercial about how wonderful you are and why the reader should buy from you, you won't create a trustworthy relationship with your reader. Visitors conduct Internet searches because they're seeking fr*ee info to help them solve their problems.  If they get valuable and credible content from you that they can immediately begin to use, they are much more likely to pay attention to what else you have to say and begin to like and trust you, which, of course, leads to their eventual purchase from you.

2.  Multiple Offerings.  A lone ebook, recording, or checklist is no longer enough.  Now, multiple offerings in your free giveaway are necessary to lure the visitors onto your list.  Creating some type of kit or package that includes three or so items, like a free ebook or report, an audio file, a video, etc. all focused on a similar topic is now what is required as an effective client-capturing device.  Your graphical representation of this giveaway needs to reflect that you are offering multiple items in the giveaway, as well.

3.  Monetary Value.  Because you're including valuable content in your giveaway, you need to determine the monetary value of this content.  Determine a reasonable price in line with your other offerings, and don't do what so many other marketers do by creating ridiculously inflated prices for their fr*ee information.  Place a value on each piece of info that you provide in your client-capturing device, and then a total price on the entire giveaway.

4. Sales Page Required.  Just like a fee-based product, the free giveaway also now needs its on sales page to let the visitor know why the giveaway is useful and wonderful and how their lives will change (or problems will be solved) by requesting the giveaway.  I don't think it has to follow the long sales letter format (the one that seems to go on forever and ever) but follows a shorter, more succinct sales page that clearly outlines the benefits and features of your offering to the visitor.

5. Audio and Video Help.  Almost everyone to whom I've spoken agrees that their opt-in rates have increased when they add audio to the giveaway sales page, and have skyrocketed when video is added.  Typically all the audio or video does is welcome the visitor to the page, run through why the visitor would want to get the giveaway, and then walk the visitor through the process of requesting the information.  The audio and video component is simply a smart marketing strategy because it lets the visitor know that they're dealing with a real, live, human being and if they can now see you in video, it hastens their feeling of connection to you.

Email marketing continues to be a viable marketing strategy.  However, in order to convince savvy Internet searchers that they should do business with you, you need to up the ante and create more offerings and greater content in your website giveaway.  Follow these 5 secrets to enhance your offerings and watch your list grow!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Strategist and Boomer Biz Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses that they love by demystifying and simplifying the tools and strategies needed to market and grow their businesses online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at  AskDonnaGunter.com.

Software to Build a Website

Q:  From a marketing perspective, which website tool (i.e. Wordpress.org, free CMS like Joomla/Drupal or Dreamweaver/Microsoft Visual Studio) is best for creating a site for a solopreneur?
Jo

Hi Jo--

If I were starting from scratch, I'd use either a blogsite or a CMS management system to create my website.  Why?  Because both options signal the search engines when new info is added to come and index the new material.  This happens much more quickly than on a traditional, static website.

Here's an article I've written about blogsites that might help you out: http://www.getmoreclientsonlineblog.com/2008/06/7-reasons-blogsites-attract-more-visitors-and-help-you-get-more-clients-online.html You can have a blogsite designed for around $350. 

Regardless of what platform you choose, you need to be mindful of keywords in the titles of your posts, as the title of a post is what the search engine will index.  If you choose to create additional static pages to add to the site, be mindful of keywords in both the name or your page as well as the headline of your page.

IMHO, a Wordpress blog has a much slighter learning curve than CMS software.  If you hire someone to customize a Wordpress template for you (as noted above), the learning curve is further reduced, since all you have to do is enter new info/posts in a Word-like interface.

Good luck on creating your new site!

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Cost for building a website

Q:  What would be a reasonable kind of "average" price to pay for a website to be set up? Up to 5 pages, include ability to add blogs / articles, and a link to a free demo for an eLearning program. Preferably be able to include e.g. some audio or YouTube content (as per your suggestion!) but nothing "extraordinary" or complex?

Mike Reed
www.MirandaManagement.com

A:  Hi Mike--

I've seen quotes on 5-page websites range from $100 all the way up to $2000.  Most of the price differential depends on the amount of customization that you want on the site.

You can use the ready-made templates as found at GoDaddy.com's Web Site Tonight service for as little as $50/year, but they are tough to customize to your look and feel and if you ever change from GoDaddy's hosting services, you can't take those with you, as they own the template.  The same goes for any other template-builder sites, like Yahoo Small Business.

You can purchase a template (which does become yours to use for the duration of the life of your site on whatever hosting plan you desire) from a template site like www.TemplateMonster.com or www.templatefactory.com.  These usually run $50-$100, and for another $200 or so, you can customize the color of the site and/or have the designer add in your logo.  The downside to this is that you might see other sites using this template.  Most of my sites are built with templates, and I haven't run across that many other sites which are using the same template.

If you're starting from scratch, you might think about a blogsite, which is a website that operates on a blogging platform, like Wordpress.  The benefit of this strategy is that your blog and your website are integrated together, and Google LOVES blogs.   Here's an article I've written about blogsites that might help you out: http://www.getmoreclientsonlineblog.com/2008/06/7-reasons-blogsites-attract-more-visitors-and-help-you-get-more-clients-online.html  You can have a blogsite designed for around $350.  One perk about using this strategy is that you don't need a web designer to update the site for you -- you can do that using your blog post interface.

If you want to hire a web designer, I think a good median price would be about $800 for a 5-page site.  Here's an article I've written on questions to ask before you hire a web designer: http://www.getmoreclientsonlineblog.com/2008/06/7-reasons-blogsites-attract-more-visitors-and-help-you-get-more-clients-online.html

In terms of adding audio or video capability to your site, www.GetMoreClientsAudio.com makes it quite easy for you to upload your audio and video to your site and embed a player on your page.  This service runs $19.95/month.

Good luck on building your site!

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.