I dont have a website yet, how do I attract more clients to my profile?
I would like to do more coaching clients online and offer training because of the wealth of experience I have. I am in South Africa and would like to assist many organisations around the globe.
Hi Nellie,
I hope you have social presence, like in Facebook, Google +, Hangouts, Twitter, Linked In. They will do most of the JOB a website can do for you.
On the other hand It depends on the content you have to present to the potential clients. In case you have plenty of information for example course information and previous testimonials or more data to present to the client then it will greatly help you to present them upfront to the potential client.
What topic do you provide courses on?
Do you have a blog, since you are into business writing, coaching kind of stuff, you should have lot of stuff to tell the world, you may read many books. So you can make one to 3 blogs per day on all those topics you mentioned. Will do a better job than a website.
I'm going to go right ahead and answer your question in the most appropriate way possible. I dontt have a website as yet, how do I attract more clients to my profile?
Get one!
There's nothing stopping you, absolutely nothing. If it's a lack of funds (and you can easily get a decent starter site built for you for $200) then go one of two ways, either a fully functioning site created with Wordpress, no coding required, or your hosting package likely comes with a form of "Sitebuilder" where with a few clicks, you can have a website built for you, no it doesn't offer the same functionality as a Wordpress but it gives you what you need.
well my answer is a little bit different then others,
if you dont have a web site you can get it build it free in many ways
but i strongly believe that in today world the best way to attract more people and organisations is by personal referrals or social media like linkedin, google+ and more. my biggest suggestion is to keep on doing and believing and success is your any way... just remember to keep doing more and more steps everyday .
Hi Nellie, I think most of it has already been covered on how to get an online presence. The one tool I'm using is wix.com. This is an online website builder that I'm personally using for my pages. You can build it yourself and all it cost you is a little time and effort to build it the way you want to. It's all free until you want to connect your own domain and then you can easily use a package that is suitable to your own needs. But you could always start free and see how it goes.
You've mentioned already a lot of clients in your profile that you've worked with previously. My advise would be to go back to those clients (if they were happy with your services and coaching/ training) and ask them for referrals. You may be surprised how many referrals you could get from a client if done the right way.
I'm not sure if you have a speciality, one that makes you stand out from all the other coaches and training companies out there. If you do, use that to your advantage. Look at your target market (who is your ideal client) and find the ones you would like to work with. Once you found their details (and make sure you get a name and email address that you could send an email to) and write a compelling email about your topic and how this could benefit them. I would urge you to look at email marketing and how it's done properly. Find the right subject line etc. Once you have that, send the email to your target audience. Within 48 hours follow up with them, but not by email, you would need to pick up the phone and either arrange a meeting with them (if they are local companies) or arrange a Skype meeting to discuss their needs.
You will see this is a great way to get new customers. It requires some work and research but it can definitely be done.
You could also do some free webinars to attract clients. In those webinars you need to offer your services, make it appealing. I'm sure you've seen them before. The Americans are very strong in this area and far ahead. But it is all about providing some free information that could help a person or business in some ways and then use your own selling skills and tactics to convert many of the free attendees into properly paying clients. The good thing with webinars is that you could do them internationally. There is plenty of service providers out there who you could use (one of the more expensive ones is webex but they are also very good and have good value for money).
I hope this is a bit helpful to you. If you need more assistance please feel free to add me on linkedin. Good luck
Hi Carsten, thanks for the info, really appreciate it will do exactly what you told me. I have sent a request to connect with you on linkedin. Nellie
Hi Carsten, thanks for the info, really appreciate it will do exactly what you told me. I have sent a request to connect with you on linkedin. Nellie
One way to get yourself out there without a website Is to use social media and other sites like this one, or linkdin, Facebook and Twitter. You can go and search for people you would like to coach or contact and follow them or add them to your network. Then you will have a network that you can use to find business. I have found clients via Facebook and linkdin so I know that works. Hope this helps!
thanks Liz, I am on twitter, facebook and linkedin...don't know how to connect my profile with those accounts. On linkedin I have a detailed profile. how do I go about connecting my mosaichub profile to these social sites?
I think you can do that under edit profile and there should be areas at the very bottom for you to input your twitter,facebook and linkdin addresses. That's how I connected them!
Nellie, guess, I will mostly just repeat all the previous answers and pieces of advice to you, but still. A web site is not a cure-all. People would rather come to you through referrals, personal loyalty, evaluating your social media activity.
Having a web-site is a big plus, but not the main tool for attracting customers. Nowadays, there are so many social networks, professional forums where you can share exeperiences, provide useful content within your professional field, i.e. perform different activities that would attract attention to you. So, just use your potential, and you'll see the results.
Not having a website is not a best option, however, to answer your question... there are a number of ways to attract potential clients. What works best can depend on a number of things about your business and target market. With that said, video marketing is the fastest way to get found online and can direct traffic anywhere you want it to go. Like anything online, it is essential to optimize your video and YouTube channel to get found in searches.
As far as the suggestions for getting a website, which are good suggestions, a website still needs to be found online. Be careful of free website builders which you can't do on-site SEO since that is the starting point for SEO to get a website found.
Nellie, if you don't have much computer experience and no budget, consider http://weebly.com. It's a "drop and drag" website builder. Spend $10 to buy your own domain name through them. It's good for a year. You can get a website up in a day, or a weekend even if you have no skills. Later you can graduate to Wix. Wix is more complex than Weebly and takes more time. I do wordpress and have found for my clients who want to do their own sites that Weebly is awesome. Do as others here suggest and complete your profiles and keep them updated. Create a Facebook page for your business apart from your personal site. Keep them separate. Don't create a bunch of profiles right off the bat. I would complete Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, then decide which social media sites your potential clients are most likely to use. There is absolutely no reason to scale your business until you're comfortable with it. Start small, get confident, then build. Best book I can recommend is "The Pumpkin Plan" by Mike Michalowicz.
Hi Nellie,
This is just one small element, but you could start by making sure all your profiles are complete. Recently, I heard a social media expert speak and he said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is to put up a half done profile and expect for it to drive business. A well done, complete profile says a lot about you and how you operate.
I agree with Carsten that www.wix.com is a great place to start with a free site. I did this for the first 6 months and recently purchased the domain. I caught a promotion that wix.com was having and got an entire year of hosting and a domain name for $79.00 US. Granted, I had to spend quite a lot of time and energy putting it all together myself...but I was starting from $0 so it worked for the time being. A website is a great tool and you should definitely look into getting one. Best wishes!
Hi Nellie
Getting a website will help you stand out since you can place testimonials there from your clients and you can better manage your client interaction. Testimonials play a large role in attracting clients. You will also be able to add all your social media options so you and your clients can quickly connect and share information e.g on MosaicHUB you can see the social media logos on the right of the screen which quickly helps us to share information. If you are interested in a free built for you website let me know.
If you decide to stay with just your profiles - may I suggest that you review your target audience and the information to better sell yourself. This is where you will have your sales pitch and your call to action option. For your Facebook you will need to develop targeted posts specific to your target market to get conversions to sales. You may want to boost your posts to reach your target market. Again if you need help let me know.
Email marketing works well but your email must be properly crafted to get it read and you must follow up. You may also want to invest in some solo ads on LinkedIn.
Also consider asking for referrals from your past clients.. Make a note to do this every 3 to 6 months.
To complete the training online whether is SA or globally you will need access to a webinar facility. If you do not have this let me know and I will send you the information.
Hope the information was helpful.
join groups & sites pertinent to your area of work & start answering them to make connections. Linked in works...
All very good responses here. If I may add to it, you might want to ensure that you invest in a personal email id - not the typical @google.com or @yahoo.com though they can still be your service providers. Having one such will communicate that you are professional and not the run-of-the-mill kind.
Hi Arthanari, thanks...I provide a variety of courses and all are listed on my profile on linkedin..I don't know how to connect my profile to the 3 social sites. On mosaicHUB profile I have also listed the courses too.