How does your coach website stand out from your competitors’ sites? Want to know what you can do to optimize your online marketing to get found, get known and get clients? Here’s why this is important:

I’m going to ask you to put yourself in the shoes of your ideal clients. Imagine they’ve got a problem. Or they’re curious and maybe bothered about something. They think maybe they’d like to get some help and heard about a friend who has a coach.

Who do they call? Nobody, they go to Google! They start looking around for coach services. But let’s face it, there’s nothing fun or easy about searching online for the right coach to work with.

People start with a Web search for an executive coach. On the first page of search results, they see a few coaches that appear to be “their kind.”

They begin the tedious process of reviewing the coach websites, looking for something that attracts them.  After the second or third site, the web pages start blurring together. All the websites look similar, with pictures of attractive, well-dressed executive-types smiling.

Most coach websites have a ton of content they can read…There are pages and pages about the coach’s various programs, leadership development, team training, keynote speeches. Many explain “What is Coaching?”  – but it all sounds the same after a while and nothing connects or seems really helpful.

And then they click on your coach website. Right there, on the home page, the content is speaking to them, addressing their most pressing problems right off the bat.

Your home page addresses typical questions, and tells a story about a person you helped with coaching. Not only that, but you list four successful outcomes, measured in percentages.

…Solid results that sound really obtainable and desirable.

Their choices for what they need to do next are clear. Your website focuses on answering their questions, removing doubt and helping them understand what’s involved in arranging possible coaching.

In this way, your website differentiates your services from so many others by providing immediate and recognizable value that your prospects seek.

Sounds delightful, doesn’t it? That’s what happens when your web pages are optimized with content marketing.

Here are four goals the content on your website must achieve to rise above the online clutter:

1. Connect immediately: From the first few seconds, the look and feel of your site should build trust and rapport, by speaking to the concerns of prospective clients in need. When your site is more about their needs than it is about you, you’ll gain credibility. For example, a short video clip can address their most typical problems while giving them an overview of what next steps should be.  At the same time, video gives them an impression of what working with you is like.
2. Answer questions and educate: Clients who seek coaching services are often not sure what they want or need. Your site should answer questions about the value of coaching, options for services, and basic processes. People may not necessarily want coaching, but they want to solve their problems and improve their lives.
3. Provide choices: There are many decisions needed to enter a coaching relationship:  what kind of coaching, how often, how long, how much? Provide choices, but don’t confuse people with too much information. Keep it simple on your website. A confused mind with too many decisions to make will click away to another site.
4. Take action: You want first time visitors to be compelled to learn more so you can follow-up with them by email. That is the primary action you want them to take. Get them curious enough to know more by filling out a simple form with their email. Access to a valuable report is typical.

Within the first ten seconds of landing on your site, visitors form an impression. They will decide to stay and learn more based on those first impressions. Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your site inviting? Is it attractive?
• Does it stand out from your competitors?
• Does it do a good job of connecting with the immediate needs of people?
• Does it provide enough information without confusing readers?

If not, then send me an email to me, Patsi@ContentforCoaches.com and let’s discuss how you can upgrade your content marketing.

Learn how to get your quality online content to turn readers into real clients.

How does content marketing work for executive coaches and consultants? What makes someone pick up the phone and call you to inquire about your coaching services after they read an article you publish in your newsletter or blog?

Ah, yes, but there’s the problem right there in red, the “ACTION” word. How do you get readers to contact you?

It’s all fine and dandy to publish interesting articles that show off how smart you are… but there has to be something that compels readers to take further action… like email or call you about how you can help them.

That certain “something” lies in how well you communicate your personality, values, and authenticity to your readers. I can’t do that for you, but I can supply credible, interesting, and quality content for your newsletters and blogs.

Then, all you have to do is add your own stories and anecdotes to connect the dots back to your web pages and contact page.

May I suggest you visit this page at ArticleNuggets.com, and listen to the short video I made about what may be missing from your content marketing?

My solution is to provide ready-to-publish blog posts that are easy for you to add your own personal client stories. That saves you time and energy with research and writing.

Visit ArticleNuggets.com and see if this content subscription can help you get more action from your web pages and blog.

A subscription of 12 article topics are delivered as 5 article nuggets written in blog style, using the personal pronoun “I” so that you only have to add your own stories from the work you do. You also add links back to relevant web pages about your services and products.

Each nugget can be modified. Keywords are already hyperlinked for you. You can use “as is” but it’s suggested you make each nugget your own by adding your perspective and links.

In this way, 90% of the work is done for you. When you think of the times you’ll save writing and researching, you won’t want to do without this service. To find out more, go to ArticleNuggets.com.

How do you know if your blog posts and web pages are optimized for search engines?

Good question… and no  easy answer… well, except for one which I’m going to share with you here!  Here are a few options for optimizing your content for search marketing:

1. Study Google and search engine optimization (time-consuming)
2. Hire an SEO person to do some optimization for your web content (expensive)
3. Become a subscriber to a service called Scribe Content Optimizer (easy, instant & affordable)

Here’s how it works. You go here, you sign up, you install it to your WordPress blog. You start using a free plug in called All-in-One SEO Pack.

You write a blog post, you fill in the information on the SEO plug in, you click the Scribe analyze button, wait a few seconds and get a review of how well your content will do with search engines. You then get a list of things you can do to raise your search engine optimization score.

Okay, seeing is better than me telling you. Here’s a snapshot of a blog post that didn’t score well, and here’s one that got a perfect score. You can see for yourself that the Scribe report tells me what I can do to raise my score, to improve my search engine optimization.

And here is a screen capture of a post that got a perfect score:

What can you learn from reviewing each post before you publish and fixing it for the search engines?

For one thing, I’ve learned that sometimes I am not clearly identifying keywords in the title or beginning paragraph, and sometimes I don’t use enough hyperlinks. Also, sometimes I will  use a keyword too often in a post. This makes search engines think that I’m keyword-stuffing.

The truth is, I simply don’t use enough alternative words and synonyms. By verifying with Scribe, I can tweak my post to make it more search engine friendly without destroying the quality of the content for readers.

Details? It costs me $27/month for the pro version and I can use it on my own blogs as well as my client blogs, the ones for whom I do ghost blogging. I can use it up to 300 times in one month, which is more than enough for my purposes.

Interested? Please use my affiliate link, here, for Scribe SEO Optimizer. You won’t regret it, it’s so easy to use and it’s a teaching genius. Soon, after a few weeks, you’ll be getting 100% perfect scores on your first try…

If you’ve ever struggled to publish a page on the Web, for example, a sales or landing page, here’s how you can use your easy WordPress blogging platform to avoid the hassles. I’ve interviewed Suzanne Bird-Harris.

Here’s how you can find out more about how to Create Great Sales Pages Using WordPress. Free audio, PDF transcript and slides available.

I hosted a teleseminar this past month and the recording is now available:

The Ultimate Traffic Formula with Michael Martine of Remarkablogger

Access to handouts, worksheets, action steps and MP3 audio file.

Information and registration here: Get More Blog Traffic $49.00

If you’re not getting good results from your online marketing, don’t miss this workshop.

There are three bonus ebooks included. You get access, for free, to Time-Saving Tips for Smart Blogging, a $39 value audio program + 23 pages of worksheets on best blogging practices.

Plus, How to Start a Business Blog and Get Them in the Door: Using Blogs, Email and Social Media for Retailers. All in all, this is a comprehensive program for any professional who wants to use the Internet to get found, get known, and get clients.

There’s nothing worse than spending time and energy writing on your blog and not reaching the very people who need your help, the ones who have the problems you solve.

I take that back, there is one thing worse, and that’s NOT to write your message at all. At least when you publish on a blog, you put it out there on the world-wide bulletin board. Eventually someone will see it, and if you do a few things right, many will see it.

In my ongoing traffic survey, www.surveymonkey.com/s/getmoreblogtraffic, more than 80% respond that they don’t have enough readers to their blog, and more than half report they’re not sure how to attract their ideal clients.

If you haven’t taken the survey yet, please do so now. I’d like to find out what your challenges are with driving traffic to your blog.

If you’re going to use a business blog to drive sales and grow business, you’ve got to tackle the traffic problem. But don’t worry, you don’t have to hire an SEO expert and spend a lot of money. You don’t have to be a techie-geek type either.

A business blog is the best darn marketing tool on the planet, but only if you use it right. I found out the long, slow hard way. I fell into blogging backwards. I randomly wrote about my favorite topics without any training about keywords, search engines, tags, etc.

I was lucky because almost immediately people began to find me, even though I’d been working online for five years already. Within a year, my list had tripled and revenues had doubled, and it has continued to grow steadily ever since. I attribute all my business growth to blogging.

When I started blogging in 2004, Facebook had barely started, Twitter didn’t exist and nobody was using LinkedIn. All that’s changed and now social media has a major impact on the way visitors find you on the Web.

Writing optimized, compelling, keyword-rich content on a blog is the quickest, least expensive, easiest way to grow sales and build your business.

Don’t do like I did. Don’t rely on random luck. If you’re going to spend time and energy blogging, do it right, do it smart. It’s not rocket science, and you’re probably not simplifying your traffic-driving tasks the way you could.

Here’s a suggestion: Take the survey and let me know what your questions and challenges are. If you don’t want to do that, leave me a comment here on this blog.

The other thing you could do (just saying) is sign up for the Get More Blog Traffic workshop I’m doing with Michael Martine May 12, 2010. There’s a fee, but what you learn could make the difference between blog success and blog oblivion. Find out more here: Get More Blog Traffic.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Webinar: How to Do Surveys to Attract, Sell, & Profit

One of the challenges with coach and consultant websites and blogs is capturing the attention, engagement and email addresses of visitors. Offering a survey or a quiz is a great way to do so, but it’s not easy to write one that is effective.

A good survey can do several things for you:

1. Gather information about your visitors
2. Find out more about what they need and want
3. Get their opinions, ideas, feedback
4. Get social proof & testimonials
5. Gauge how much they know, where the gaps are
6. Hold their attention long enough for them to remember you
7. Make them think (i.e. get them involved and engaged with you)

Here’s another crucial piece of information you’ll need to be aware of: new FTC rulings making many of us afraid that we can’t get the proof we need to bring new clients in and keep the clients we have.

If you’re not sure what the FTC rulings mean for you and your marketing, and want to learn more about surveys and quizzes, don’t miss the Webinar I’m leading with Jeanne Hurlbert, Ph.D., MySurveyExpert.com.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

3 p.m. ET

Register here (will be recorded):

How to Do Surveys to Attract, Sell, & Profit

You will receive a free report when you register:  “How to Avoid the Top 10 Survey Mistakes That Cost Marketers Millions, and Double Your Profits in 90 Days or Less.”