Know Your Ideal Customer

Creating a customer friendly website begins with knowing your ideal customer. Spend some time thinking about your target market. What does your ideal customer want from your business? Is your typical customer male or female? Does your business market services to professional people or other businesses? These factors should all affect the design of your website.

Many business owners make the mistake of designing a website that appeals to them personally. This is fine as long as you represent your ideal customer. However, filling your website with the pastel colors you prefer is a mistake if your target customer is a male executive or business person.

Keep It Simple

Unless you are a graphic designer hoping to impress potential clients, flashy graphics and long intro sequences only slow your page down. In the time it takes to load your introduction your target customer will likely move on to the next site on their search engine list. Simple, readable text and clear images are much more customer friendly and appealing.

Apply the same simplicity test to navigation. Your customer wants to feel comfortable and enjoy their visit to your site. If they have to search to find the link to your blog or your contact page they will likely give up in frustration before ever learning more about you. Make your customer feel welcome and comfortable by clearly showing them around your site.

Clean and Crisp

Think about the websites you use frequently. Are they cluttered with lots of pictures, words, and visual stimulation or are they well organized with good use of white space? Just like an office or a home, a cluttered website is awkward and uncomfortable. The best websites are clean and crisp, easily readable and not overwhelming.

Take a look at your website and notice the blank places. The average visitor to your site makes a quick judgment based on the appearance of information on your site. Long sentences and paragraphs drive customers away rather than drawing them in. Bulleted lists, short sentences and two to three sentence paragraphs draw the visitor in by making information obvious and readily available.

Ask for Feedback

Are you wondering if your website is customer friendly? Consider the results. A customer friendly website generates contacts, requests for information and ultimately revenue. If your website isn’t performing up to your expectations it may not be as customer friendly as it could be. Ask your current customers what they think of the site and how they could suggest improving it. Often they have valuable ideas you haven’t considered.

Many website developers offer a website evaluation as part of their services. We offer a complimentary Website Checkup Strategy Session to give you feedback on your site and suggestions for improvements. We will gladly review your site and share our expert advice for not only making your customers comfortable but also increasing your sales.

Strategic changes to the appearance and organization of your site can make a huge difference in your results.  Schedule you complimentary Website Checkup Strategy Session with Agnes, if you want to grow your contact list, build your revenues, and ultimately increase your business success.

You want to get e-visible and to stand out online…

…someone to present you and your business in a way that is unique and as special as you and your services. Most of all, you’ve got to do it using a minimum of your time — time that is better spent developing and growing your business and working with your clients. In other words, doing rewarding, valuable, and yes, income-producing activities.

The answer to this challenge is to find the right experts who can provide you with an online presence that truly reflects who you are and what you stand for, so you can attract the clients you want to serve and who really need your services. Your checklist needs to also include finding a one stop service so that you don’t have to coordinate all the work of your online presence: your website, blog, free offers, e-zines, newsletters, and all the myriad of marketing materials necessary for maximum e-visibility.

How can you find the right e-visibility experts?

Finding the right experts isn’t always easy, so you’ve got to be sure to ask the right questions, which is tough to do if you don’t know what the right questions are. Here are a few to help you get started:

• What can you do to maximize my e-visibility? The right experts for you will be able to list a multitude of ideas and directions to take to get you effectively online.

• Do you have any experience with online marketing for coaches and therapists? You are looking for a team that has technicians (who are rarely good designers), designers (who frequently not good technicians) and writers who know how to write in your voice so your site sounds like you and not someone else. You also want a team that knows the ins and outs and special requirements of authentic internet marketing for coaches and therapists

• How many people do I have to work with on your team? Avoid hiring separate technician, designer, branding specialist and writers – coordinating this effort becomes overwhelming and often the separate services don’t play well together. You are looking for a one stop service where you are working with a project manager who is your main contact AND who keeps you updated.

• How do I know my presence will represent my brand and me authentically? It’s going to take a special team to provide online presence that is authentic to you – a team that understands where you are coming from, your business goals, and your style. You’ll want someone who has those capabilities.

Article Resource: By Debra Gilroy of Standout…The Freedom to be Yourself and Build a Wildly Profitable Business Online.

Add this code to to bottom of your functions.php file in the theme folder:

/**
* Creates sharethis shortcode
*/
if (function_exists(‘st_makeEntries’)) :
add_shortcode(‘sharethis’, ‘st_makeEntries’);
endif;

And finally, add the [sharethis] shortcode to the pages/posts that you want the buttons to appear on.

Firstly, I continue to build valuable personal and business relationship and I’m so encouraged by seeing many women and a few brave men in my network do great in their businesses. Then secondly, I see the people who are struggling and many times I can pinpoint some of the reasons why.

These are usually the underlying challenges that they are experiencing:

- Not connecting with their tribe
- Having trouble raising their prices
- Not showcasing their solutions
- Not making informed money decisions

A huge part in having these none fulfilling experiences has to do both internal and external challenges. The internal struggles encompasses having a mindset that doesn’t foster growth and this is strengthened by negative past experiences that continues to keep one in that place of hopelessness. Then there are the external challenges that surrounds what a person projects outwardly.

For many of us, our websites are the first point of engagement. And if people have a slight inkling that you might not be where they want to go…they would move on to another business owner who represents what they desire and ultimately their goal.

You know the value, freedom and transformation that you can bring for people but they just can’t see it because your house is not in order. Your website is generic, your message is unclear and your expertise plus solutions are not presented effectively and finally all of your online systems are disjointed. Potential clients just can’t make sense of who you are and how you can help them.

It’s extremely important to work on resolving ones internal challenges but not also working on rectifying the external challenges as well sets limits on the results that we as business owners and our clients deserve.

Many experts have shared tips and tricks and you have tried them all. But you are now feeling confused, defeated, exhausted from worry and just about to throw in the towel. STOP! You should no longer invest your precious time and money in learning the latest gimmicks or fads. You just need to focus on what you do best, showcase it effectively and connect with your tribe.

To leap from confusion to purpose and fulfillment, you should be ready to step back and possibly take a left turn. Get back to the reason why you chose this path and the difference you can make in many lives.

Are You Being Left Behind and Potentially Losing Clients Because of An Outdated – Or Nonexistent – Website?

Is your website so old and outdated, you can’t even change the content, much less upload videos and audio – and get in on the latest and greatest ways to connect with potential clients?

When people visit your website, are they blown away by your professionalism – or turned off by a stale, unimpressive design?

Or – worse yet – are you missing out on the hundreds if not thousands of people searching for your products and services every day because you don’t yet have a website?

If you’re sticking with an archaic website, or foregoing the website altogether, because you think it’s too expensive or time-consuming to make a change, this will be the most exciting news you’ve heard all day.

Because the fact of the matter is that you can get a fully functional, beautiful, search-engine-friendly website in less than a day, and at a rate that fits into any small business budget.

In just a few hours, you can have a website that:

• Can be easily edited with NO technical skills needed (it’s so easy, a 6-year-old can do it!)
• Holds videos and audios (which can skyrocket your know, like, and trust factor)
• Attracts all the RIGHT clients – those that are ready & willing to pay your rates (no questions asked)
• Is more easily found by search engines (so more of your ideal clients are actually finding your website!
• The good news is that you can change it all. And in just one day.

The time is now…

If you’ve been thinking about getting – or redoing – your website for 3 months, 6 months, a year…that task will never find its way off your to-do list until you make the decision and DO IT!

Investment in your Business: $247 before April 27th and $297 after.

Date: Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Time: 9 a.m. until noon
Venue: Homewood Suites
8320 Benson Drive, Columbia, MD 21045

Reserve your seat at http://www.aivirtualsolutions.com/workshops/

Contact: Agnes Ikotun
info@aivirtualsolutions.com

http://www.aivirtualsolutions.com

The keys to effective client attraction when combined efficiently and actively would yearn returns. Which is why the first component involves embracing a marketing mindset. The truth is that, no matter the kind of business you find yourself in…without marketing, you won’t see the results that you believe are possible for you.

The keys to effective client attraction include:

1. Committing to marketing: This is where service providers struggle the most. It’s so easy to spend all ones time working on clients requests and generally being busy with other “important” things. The goal is to do more business generating activities in your business and this would result in your keeping your funnel full.

2. Identifying your ideal clients: The goal with this is to find the people that absolutely need your products and or service and these people also have to both support your business in growth and equally make it possible to bring your vision and goals for both yourself and your business(es) to fruition. Step back and have a look at the clients that you are currently working with. Are you happy working with them? Are you positively challenged working with them? Are you still passionate about what you do and how you do it? Are your clients achieving their goals by working with you? Is there the right balance between give and take in these relationships and financially, do these clients afford you business growth? or Are you struggling financially by working with these clients?

3. Knowing the challenges that your target clients face: It’s important to figure out exactly the pain that your target market is experiencing. Then working out the solutions that would effectively help them solve these problems and then clearly and confidently communicating your solution to them. The most effective way to do this coming from speaking from the place of results and not “I can do this or I can do that”. So “This is the results or outcome that you get from working with me”

4. Defining your “added-value”: Your “added-value” refers to your Unique Selling Proposition. This is separates you in your industry, market or niche. And this also help the people that approach you, not to do so from the pricing point of view. For example, there are many business coaches, marketing coaches, wellness coaches, career coaches, relationship coaches, etc but the coaches that have the most suited client-base are those that offer a higher value than just being competitive price-wise. To a large extent you will determine your value by how much value you place in your business. If you look at yourself as any other therapist out there then you would be perceived as such.

5. Creating a Marketing Plan of Action: This is the “something”, an action, that you put into motion and the goal with this is to reach your target market and engage them. The intention with having a concise marketing plan of action is to create a “cause” and “effect” environment. With a Marketing Plan of Action, you outline the marketing activities that you would engage in, as well as a timeline for this actions and your goal or end result that you want to achieve.

6. Leveraging your business: Leverage is define in the dictionary as “power or ability to act or to influence people, events and decisions” To leverage is to create an opportunity for yourself and for those that need your products and or services by providing services and or products that not only meets their needs but also exceed it. You have to be known as a person with superior knowledge and experience in your industry, a person with clout and pull. You have to know your stuff…inside out! The proof is always in the pudding…your goal is for your business to speak for itself. At this point, you don’t want to force, convince, blackmail, guilt-trip people to buy from you…you should never ever force yourself or business on people…never come from the place of desperation!

Connect with people that can help you get to that next level. Getting a coach, a mentor is advisable when you are ready to up level yourself. Become known as a leader in your industry!

7. Creating Systems: This starts by identifying what you have to offer and do things. An important step is to narrow down your services and products and final create packages around them. For example, when I was starting out, my services list included: administrative, bookkeeping, real estate administrative, research, web design and programming services. At that point, it seemed logical to try to capture every small business owner out there. It took me a whole year to figure out that people got really confused when they visited my website…they didn’t feel I was “specialized” in the area that they needed help.

Creating a unique services and products point of view works…then you create systems for everything. From the point from someone contacts you till the sale and even beyond a sale. And this is something that you have to continue to work on as trends, needs and other elements change with time.

8. Having the right mindset: You have to listen to and understand what your inner voice is saying. Are we operating from the place of fear, lack, overwhelm, doubt, etc. We have to pay attention because “we can only go as far as our fear takes us, or operate at the point of lack plus overwhelm plus doubt finds us and this can be extremely limiting.

Then Fabienne finally said, possibly what we didn’t want to hear: “Marketing“! I wanted to bury my head in shame because she wasn’t revealing a spanking new revolutionary concept…it was simply Marketing but the kicker for me was the word that I have conveniently forgotten to apply in my business for the last two plus years…CONSISTENCY. I would confidently tell clients that marketing and marketing consistently was the key to growth. But yours truly, has not been practicing what she has been preaching.

Do I believe that marketing works? Of course, I DO! I’m still reaping the benefits of all the marketing activities that I diligently carried out in the early years of my business, between 2007 and 2009. So I know it works and it continues to work for the clients that we manage their marketing strategies and activities. Where would my business be today if I had decided to not ignore my own advise? I can only wonder. So I’m taking Fabienne’s advise to use the “No Excuse” Approach to Marketing which is why I challenged myself in the last 45 minutes to write a blog post that my OBM had practically begged me to do for the last three weeks.

Here it is, I’m marketing and I’ve decided commit to doing this consistently. I remember CJ Hayden saying in her Get Clients Now book, every activity that you do takes you closer to the people that need your expertise. So why not just do it?!

Fellow business owners, lets be very honest about this…it doesn’t matter which new marketing strategy you discover. If we don’t work the strategies that we already have in our toolkit, I can confidently say that we’ll possibly get the same results as previous years.

Having said all these, Are you a coach, therapist or internet marketer and you are just stumped on the next step to take in marketing your business? You have tried it all, you have purchased every blueprint, system and program out there but you still find yourself at a standstill. You desperately want to start afresh, you no longer want the band aid marketing approach in your business. It’s simple…connect with me and we’ll review your marketing plan and strategies and also design a customized done-for-you service package that would get your marketing engine into motion.

Also don’t hesitate to download my free gift to you, a blueprint/guide Is Your Website Holding You Back? 7 Easy Ways to Attract and Retain Customers on Your Website. This guide is jam packed with valuable information that you can use immediately to enhance your website and business.

PS: I completed this post in 1 hour 4 mins:).

Have you recently (as we are starting the New Year with renewed focus), taken a step back and had a good look and think about why some potential clients have clicked away so quickly? Why some have stayed a little longer but didn’t fill out your contact form, email or call you?

What is your BRAND saying to them?

How does your website look and feel? Is it distinct? Does it look exactly like every other coaching or therapist website out there? Does it stand out from the crowd or not? It is welcoming and also attention grabbing?  Does it strategically and effortlessly show the potential client that you know who they are? Are you connecting emotionally and mentally with potential clients?

What is your message? Is it speaking to that exact pain that your potential clients are feeling? Or is it trying to speak to many different groups and many different problems? Is your message focused on resolution and the next step? is it confident and encouraging? It is optimistic and full of the appropriate energy?

What makes you different from every other coach or therapist? What is that extra “something” that you know and have experienced that would bring “added value” to potential clients?

Have you given a voice to past and current clients, who you’ve helped move from pain to joy? It’s so much easier for someone to listen to another person who has walked the path that they are on.

Potential clients are looking for every reason to choose your practice, programs and more! You have the responsibility to help them identify you easier. There are two things that you need your potential clients to know, they have come to the right place and you will help them as you understand their pain and you have the experience and expertise to get them to where they need to be.

Don’t cheat yourself out of not fully realizing your vision and goals. Now is the time to focus on the elements that work, having a well thought out and executed brand makes all the difference. Haven’t you had enough of just growing at a slow rate?  The keys to creating a successful brand is to identify your strengths and speak to the needs of the many potential clients that want to partner with you to get them on the road to healing and success. But this has to be done in a manner that works and is authentic.

Connect with us if you need branding help and what we would do for you is: identify your invaluable strengths, show you how to leverage these and get you to where you start to consistently grow your clients base. And don’t hesitate to schedule a Branding and Marketing Discovery Session for your business.

Also download my free gift to you, a blueprint/guide Is Your Website Holding You Back? 7 Easy Ways to Attract and Retain Customers on Your Website. This guide is jam packed with valuable information that you can use immediately to enhance your website and business.

7 Things Highly Productive People Do by Ilya Pozin

You have more important things to focus on than, um, focusing. Get back on track with these tips.

You probably don’t want to admit it but you love distractions. In fact, just like monkeys, you get a shot of dopamine every time something pulls you in another direction. Why do you think you check your email so much?

Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.

Easier said than done, I know.

Continue reading at Inc.com