7 Steps to Make Your Website Your Client Attraction Magnet

by Donna Gunter

When I started my online business in 1999, I had a website, but did very little with it, as it seemed impossible to get noticed by the search engines. My website simply served as my online brochure and I had no plan in place to drive any traffic there. Fast forward to 2007, and now almost all of my clients come to me from my website. In fact, my website has brought 5 clients to my door in the past week.

My website and my Internet marketing strategies do such a good job of promoting my business that when clients contact me, it's usually to say, "I've been to your site and I've been reading the great info you provide. I know you're the one to help me. When can we get started?" Consequently, I'm rarely in the position of having to "sell" someone on the benefits they'll gain by working with me, as my website takes care of most of that for me. I think that's very cool, as I absolutely hate trying to sell myself.

What can you do to make your website your client attraction magnet? There's so much information out there about online marketing and so many directions from which to choose that it's easy to become overwhelmed and confused Whether you have a website and have been online for awhile or are just getting started on creating your Internet presence, here are the most important first 7 steps you can take to get more clients from Internet marketing and create your own client attraction magnet:

1. Domain that reflects your brand. The domain name from which you transact all of your online business should reflect your brand in some way. You can accomplish this by purchasing a .com version of a domain name that is the same as the name of your business or by buying a domain containing keywords relevant to your business. Before buying your business domain, make a list of keywords that someone might use to find you online. This list could include your industry, your target market or niche, a problem your target market has, or a solution that you can offer. If you've been in business for awhile, it may make most sense to simply stick with the business name you have been using rather than trying to rebrand your business online. I highly recommend GoDaddy.com for all domain name purchases.

2. Basic website. In order to have a website and email addresses from your chosen domain, you need to purchase a reliable hosting account for your website. At a minimum, the services that you'll want in your hosting/design package include: hosting for 1 domain, 5 GB of space, 200 GB of monthly transfer volume (tied to how many visitors your site has), 10 email accounts, 10 MB storage per email account, 24/7 support, and basic website statistics. Resource: I highly recommend Aaces.com, HostMySite.com, and iPowerWeb.com for website hosting.

A very basic and attractive initial website of roughly 5 pages can be created by a web designer for as little as $350. Or, if you prefer to do it yourself, you can purchase Frontpage, Dreamweaver , or download a free HTML editor, Nvu, at Nvu.com and either build your site from scratch or customize a pre-made template. Another option is to use a hosting service that provides an online interface for website design, creation, and updates. This type of service enables anyone who's familiar with Microsoft Word to log in and create content, add images, and add pages to their very own website. The major providers of this type of service include GoDaddy.com, Yahoo Small Business, and 1and1 Web Hosting.

As you think about your site design and navigation, determine the look and feel you want to convey on your site, and make your content persuasive. Remember, people visit websites because they have a problem to solve. Visitors to your website will decide to hang around and browse through your site based on how well you answer the following:

* Who am I and why am I qualified to do what I do?

* Who is my target market? What are their problems?

* Do I fully understand and offer solutions to those problems?

You've got less than 10 seconds to capture a visitor's attention. So, it's imperative that your site speaks directly to your target market and that they get a good sense of who you are and what you offer so that they can get to know, like, and trust you and eventually buy from you. If you're not clear and confuse them, they'll be leave, so don't let them be distracted by pretty bells and whistles on your site. It's the content, call to action, and ease of navigation that ultimately matters in site design.

3. Call to action. Present a clear call to action that is clearly shown on every page of your site. Your primary call to action should be getting the visitor's name and primary email address by asking him subscribe to your ezine or by giving him access to a free information product like an ecourse, special report, audio/video recording, or ebook. In order to do this, you need to purchase and learn to use email marketing software that helps you capture visitor contact information. I highly recommend aWeber.com for this task, as it enables you to build, develop, and manage your online contact database.

4. Client-capturing device. The best way to obtain contact info from a visitor is to create an information product in which the content is so compelling that the visitor gladly parts with his/her name and primary email address to obtain the free giveaway. By giving you their contact information, they have become a warm lead and you can start to develop a relationship with them and begin to market to them.

The easiest way to create a client-capturing device is to simply make an electronic recording of you talking about a topic that helps your target market solve a problem, have the recording transcribed, edit it for readability and continuity, create a cover, save it as a PDF file, and you now have a client-capturing device you can give away.

5. Stay-in-touch mechanism. A regularly published ezine, or email newsletter, is one of the most effective ways you can keep in touch with your prospects. For the greatest success, publish your ezine consistently on a weekly basis.

Since you're developing a relationship with your prospects, the best way for them to get to know you is to let your "voice" permeate your newsletter. Demonstrate your expertise in your ezine by writing articles addressing relevant issues of your target market and how they can resolve the issues. Keep your newsletter short and to the point and create 3 columns for each issue -- a personal welcome and insight from you, a main article that provides useful information for your readers, and an invitation to buy a product, buy your services, or attend an event.

6. Your first product. There are any number of types of information products you can sell online. The ones that are easiest to create and require little investment (other than your time to create them) are those sold as an electronic download. The quicker you can develop your first product, the closer you are developing both an effective marketing funnel and multiple streams of income for your business.

7. Traffic generating strategies. Once you've built it, will they come? Only if you start to implement some traffic generating strategies. My favorite traffic generating strategy is article marketing, in which I write a new article each week and submit it to online article directories through my article submission service, SubmitYourArticle.com . I've had my articles reprinted on blogs, in ezines, in professional association newsletters, and in print magazines. After reading my article from one of these sources, the reader goes to my website, signs up for my client-capturing device, and then receives my weekly ezine that I use to develop a relationship with that reader, who has now become a prospective client/customer.

Other effective traffic generating strategies include pay-per-click advertising, being a guest on someone's teleseminar, submitting online press releases, or creating a blog or a podcast. You don't have to do them all. Just pick one and implement it consistently.

Follow and work this 7-step plan and experience first-hand the joy of getting more clients online.

About this author
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com
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18 Web-Marketing Concepts That Make A Difference

1. Think Audiences Not Markets

What's your market? Hire a consultant to help you with your Web-business problems and one of the first questions he or she will ask is, what's your market? How about eighteen to thirty-four year old, single male college graduates with a dog named Spot; or maybe forty-five to fifty-nine year old married women, who hate their husbands and can't get their adult children to move out of the house. Maybe, just maybe, they're asking the wrong question.

The Web isn't about markets, it's about audiences. Audiences need to be entertained, enlightened, and engaged, and if your website doesn't, you're never going to achieve what you want.

Time to rethink how you're delivering your marketing message. Start treating Web-visitors like an audience not a market, and you might just find what it takes to be successful on the Web.

2. Think People Not Customers

You know all those visitors you attract to your website with your brilliant search engine optimization schemes, how many actually purchase anything? Stop treating visitors as if they are already customers and start treating them like what they are - people. That's right, people. You know the two-legged funny creatures with wants, needs, desires, and maybe even a few bucks to spend.

Customers are always looking for a deal and they're leery of websites that only want to take their hard earned cash. Treat your Web-visitors like people who can satisfy their wants, needs, and desires with your assistance and guess what? Maybe it will make a difference: one small step for Web-credibility, one giant leap for Web-success.

3. Think Experiences Not Features

Bought any good features lately? Didn't think so. You would think the way business pushes the whole feature-frenzy thing that features are exactly what people are looking for, but nobody buys features, they don't even buy solutions - boy doesn't that whole solution provider nonsense really get to you after a while.

What people really buy are experiences, hopefully positive ones. Whether it's soft ice cream or a new accounting program, what people are paying for is the experience your product or service provides.

Does your website offer an experience? Does it explain the experience your product or service delivers? If it doesn't, then you really haven't got anything anybody wants.

4. Think Emotion Not Logic

Think you're a logical person, always making rational decisions based on practical criteria, and bottom line results. So tell me what was the functional thinking that went into the purchase of those leather pants you bought last year, or that sixty inch plasma television you bought just to watch the big game?

Let's get real. You make purchasing decisions based on what you want, and then justify them with seemingly sensible rationalizations, just like everybody else. So stop trying to appeal only to the practical, logical, aspects of bean-counter sales, and start pushing the feel good aspects of emotional marketing.

If you're trying to appeal to an audience that gets its only satisfaction out of acquiring the most features for the least cost, then your marketing to the wrong audience.

5. Think Memories Not Promotions

Most animals live in the moment, whereas human beings live in the past. Our here and now and our plans for the future are based on our experiences, our histories, and our memories.

We take pictures of our kids, holidays, and special events; we commemorate birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, and milestones of all kinds. Even the significance of our prized possessions is centered on the fact that those mere objects represent memories of the people, places, and events that shaped our lives.

Real marketing, the kind that creates long-term clients and customer relationships, is not about coupons, sale promotions, or deep discounts; it's about delivering memories.

6. Think Marketing Not S.E.O.

Okay, here's one you've heard from us before: think marketing not search engine optimization. Sure you've got to drive as many people to your website as possible, but if your marketing message is so confused, unfocused, and hard to comprehend because of all the keyword density and S.E.O. tricks, then what have you really accomplished other than wasting people's time? And people really get upset when you waste their time.

7. Think Stickiness Not Hits

It's not about how many hits you get on your website, it's about how long people stay. If visitors remain on your site long enough to get your marketing message then you must have said something worth listening to, and if visitors get the message, your site has done its job.

If your website delivers the message, then you can expect the email inquiries and phone calls to start flowing, but it's still up to you and your sales staff to close the sale: people close sales not websites.

8. Think Stories Not Pitches

Did you hear the one about the farmer's daughter and the search engine optimizer ... Stories, everyone loves stories. In fact before the invention of the Gutenberg press, oral story telling was the way knowledge got passed down from one generation to the next, and how news was sent from one region to another.

Now that we have this multimedia Web-environment, we can continue the tradition of real people delivering creative audio and video presentations that capture the imagination and drive home the marketing message so your audience won't forget who you are. Nothing informs, engages, and entertains, like a good story: sounds to me like one heck of a way to sell to an audience desperate for meaningful communication.

9. Think Focus Not Confusion

There you go again, telling everyone who will listen all the wonderful things you and your company can do. Trouble is, telling them all those things just confuses them.

What is the product or service that is most important to your company, the one you are determined to sell to your audience? That's the one you want to talk about. That's the one you want to devote your marketing effort to promoting. That's the one you want people to think about when they hear your name or see your logo. Focus your communication or your message will just be a forgettable, incomprehensible blur.

10. Think Campaigns Not Ads

Isolated one-time advertisements are like one-night-stands: exciting for a while but ultimately unfulfilling and devoid of meaning. Your audience is looking to get married, not a short-term fling. Your marketing has to woo your visitors with long-term campaigns that tell your story and deliver your focused message; audiences expect to be courted and counseled with meaningful communication. And that takes time and commitment.

If you're spending money on just ads, you might as well be throwing that money down the drain. There is a better way. So if you're looking for a long-term relationship with your audience, think campaigns not ads.

11. Think Message Not Hype

What message are you delivering to your online visitors? Are you telling them you've got the best product, at the best price, with the best staff, and world-class customer service? Is that what you saying? Guess what? Nobody cares, because nobody believes you.

There is only one way to show people you're the best and that is to prove it, but here's the catch, you can't prove it until they become customers. Whoops. Okay, so what's the solution? How about a real marketing message that speaks to what your audience really wants. It's not about you it's about them.

12. Think Personality Not Banality

Does your website just lie there like a lox; you know that cold, dead fish that often comes with a bagel? No personality, just more of the same tedious, dull, dreary, mind-numbing, tiresome, lackluster, monotonous, stuff everybody else has. Boring! This is the new Web, so if you can't get with it, you'd better get out because you're wasting your time and everybody else's.

You're so worried about downloading times that you forgot to put anything on your site worth seeing or hearing. Check your logs. If people are jumping ship faster than rats on a burning ship, it's time to try something new; like, maybe some compelling content.

13. Think Branding Not Copyrights

Hay, I love the Beatles. I grew up with them, and I have all their records - ya records, like vinyl dude, not CDs. And guess what, I've also got a Mac, in fact I've got a bunch of them, not to mention iPods and other assorted Apple gizmos and gadgets. And you know something, I've never once got John, Paul, George, or Ringo confused with Steve Jobs. Amazing!

Worry just a little less about all that small print stuff and more on building a memorable brand that people will remember, and that nobody will mistake for some johnny-come-lately imposter.
14. Think Positioning Not Slogan

It's funny how people have a position on almost everything: you name the issue and people will have a definite opinion on what they think, except when it comes to their businesses. Just because you have a cute slogan that you print under your logo, doesn't mean you own a position in your audience's minds.

It seems businesses can't stand to make a definitive statement about who they are and what they do. Why is that? Afraid they'll lose a customer I guess, but if people don't understand exactly what you do, and why they should be doing business with you, then they're never going to be customers anyway.

No company can be all things to all people and companies that try, never go anywhere. Tell people who you are and what you do and forget about all the other stuff, it just gets in the way.

15. Think Sensory Appeal Not Cents Appeal

Do you want people to sit-up and take notice of what you have to say? Do you want people to actually remember what you're telling them? While if that's the case, you better appeal to their senses, and we're talking about sights and sounds.

Deliver all your juicy, got-to-have content in an audio and video presentation that will stick in people's heads.

If all you're doing is appealing to their desire to spend less, then maybe they aren't the customers you're looking for anyway. Nobody can afford to sell for less all the time, every time.

16. Think Identity Not Logos

Is your company the equivalent of the invisible man? You're on the Web, but nobody cares because you're not saying anything worth listening to, and if they do see you, you are instantly forgettable.

You've got to have an identity, a personality, an image, and there is no better way to create that identity than with a video of a real person delivering your marketing message in an entertaining, memorable manner.

17. Think Entertainment Not Biz-speak

Speaking of entertaining, you cannot engage, enlighten, or entertain if everything you present sounds and looks like it came from some b-school text book, or from one of those self-help courses on direct marketing guaranteed to make you a millionaire in only three weeks.

Every business has a story to tell and they can all be presented in a compelling way with a little imagination and creativity. And yes, even b-to-b businesses can rise above the mundane and deadly boring, if only they take the time and make the effort.

18. Think Communication Not Copy

Last but not least, let's all remember, that websites are about communication. If you've got nothing to say, nothing to offer, or are afraid to say what you can do for your audience, then how do you expect to be successful.

Filling your Web pages with keyword density prose and instantly forgettable sale's copy is not going to win the day.

Whether you are presenting your case in text, audio, or video, it better be interesting and enlightening - even text can be entertaining if written with style and attitude.

When websites fail, they fail because they do not communicate a realistic, believable, convincing marketing message.

About the Author: Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Make Money From Internet Writing - TOP 5 TIPS

You can make a lot of money by writing and self-publishing your own material, if you are willing to write ebooks, articles, reports or newsletters that millions of people across the United States, and throughout the world for that matter, desperately want to buy.

Today, more than ever before, is the age of information. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, there continues to be an incredible demand for information throughout the world. There is an astronomical demand for information-packed ebooks, articles, reports and newsletters of almost every imaginable kind. You can start putting a price on information you have no doubt been giving away.

1. FIND YOUR MARKET-THEN WRITE YOUR MATERIAL

Anyone who can communicate an idea to another person, should be able to get their same message across on a written page. If you are either an expert on some subject, or are interested enough to obtain the information needed for a project, you have what it takes to go from having an idea, to self-publishing your own material in whatever format it develops into.

There are hundreds of publications filled with ads by people just like yourself, who discovered they could make a lot of money writing and publishing their own work. Looking through opportunity magazines, Article Directories on the web or other publications that cover the field you are interested in, is a good place to start looking for ideas.

Review all the advertisements in the magazines or Directories you have chosen to see what popular topics and subjects are being written about in ebooks, articles, reports and newsletters. Then ask yourself if you can come up with a better way, or have equally interesting information you can present from a different angle, or with a different twist that would also be of interest to the readers in that market. If the answer is "yes," then you can enter that market and also make some money!

2. HOW TO PACKAGE YOUR INFORMATION

After you have written your material, you will have to decide on how you will package the information to make it sell-able. Depending on your market, some packaging will sell better than others. For example, you can print your information in a series of publications, print it in a ebook, article, report or newsletter.

One thing is certain, people are paying billions of dollars to obtain well-packaged information! There are ebooks that sell for up to $100 and more, with articles coming in a close second. There are reports that consist of 10-12 pages selling for up to $10 or more, while some seminars can cost as much a $15,000 for a single weekend. It may sound incredible to the average person, but people are willing to pay top dollar for information. However, the "packaging" must be perceived as being worth the price you are asking.

But before you decide on how to package your information, you must first consider who your primary audience is, and cater to those people in everything you do.

3. FOCUS ON SUBJECT MATERIAL THAT IS SELL-ABLE

Information for your subject matter can be found in various places. For the very best results, start with your own field or expertise and turn it into a ebook, article, report or newsletter.

Focus on providing your targeted market with simple, understandable, and helpful information. It must overwhelmingly appeal to your customer's wants and desires.

Never forget that this is the age of specialized information. People are completely willing to spend their money for tens of thousands of different forms of information, provided it is useful to them. Your job is to either find a need and fill it, or create the need and supply it.

One of the best ways to get started is to sit down with some paper and write down every subject you have some degree of knowledge about. Your list of subjects doesn't have to be in any particular order. Don't force it. When ideas for headings no longer come easy, stop and start up again at a later time. When you feel comfortable that you have covered most of the areas you know, start picking out the topics that interest you the most. Then you can start researching more material for your writing projects. A great place to find material for articles is in Article Directories. You will find lots of these on the internet.

4. BASIC ADVERTISING RULES

Effective marketing is a vast field. It includes using marketing tools such as: direct mail; classified ads; signs; internet marketing; radio and TV commercials; business involvement, and more. In fact, the approaches you can take and the methods you use are only limited by your imagination and resources. There are basic rules that do not change, however. They are as follows:

Rule No. 1 - You must get a prospect's ATTENTION. The Headline is very important.
Rule No. 2 - You must create reader INTEREST.
Rule No. 3 - You must arouse the reader's DESIRE.
Rule No. 4 - Your ad must move them to ACT.

It is essential that you have a plan before you take action on developing an advertising strategy. Your plan must be based on an objective analysis that has resulted from your knowledge and research. It doesn't matter what your background is, you can learn to master the type advertising that is needed to launch a self-publishing business.

Through research and careful planning you can become familiar with the writing skills you will need to create effective adds. Obtain all the information you can from the masters in the business. Read and study every ebook, article directory, report, newsletter, ad, article, and publication you can get your hands on that will help you in developing your own successful strategies and techniques. Then bring all of that knowledge together to obtain winning results.

5. How to Make Money

You can make money from your writings in several ways. You can sell you writings in the form of an ebook or report on Ebay. You can sell it in the form of a newsletter on your webpage and ask people to subscribe for a small fee.

Another alternative method is to write your article for free but attach a link to it for some product which the article is promoting. There are lots of products on the web which you can sell for other people and earn a good commission. Sometimes up to 70% commission. Examples of such websites are Commission Junction, and Click Bank. You can submit this article with the link to hundreds of Article Directory websites for free.

The advantage of this is that you will have loads of links on the internet promoting your product. This in turn will lead to sales and profits!.Please don't blatantly promote the product in your article and don't include links to it in the body of the article. Most Article Directories will decline such articles.