Did you know that your prospects and clients will need to see or hear your message anywhere between seven to ten times before they will even consider buying from you? That' s a lot of times. But how do you get the chance to contact these people another nine times?

 

Well, the Internet is probably THE simplest yet most powerful way to stay in touch with your prospects and clients and bring in a consistent stream of paying clients day and night.

 

I can tell you now; if you don't have an online presence you're conspicuous by your absence. People actually make decisions about whether they want to work with you based upon your website. So, I've put together these five key pointers to help you avoid the pitfalls.

 

1. Using Your Website in The Wrong Way

 

The first mistake I see many coaches, consultants and other solopreneurs make is not using their website to grow their business. People come to me asking if I'd look at their site and to be honest, most are redundant; they're used for little more than an online brochure.

 

The first key point is to use your site in a way that will build a list of your target audience. Rather than marketing your products and services one-to-one as you might do at a networking meeting, you're able to market to hundreds and even thousands of people at one time. There are ways that you can do this quite simply and automatically.

 

The second key point is to have your website work for YOU and have IT build the relationship with your prospects. You must remember that web designers are very good visual artists but not necessarily the best online marketers. They may create a site that looks very pretty but is also dumb in terms of converting prospect into paying

clients. Why invest all that money if it doesn't MAKE you money?

 

2. Not Building a List of Prospects and Clients

 

To make a success of your business you need to remember this golden rule. 'The who is more important than the what'. And what I mean by that is developing a list of prospects is more important than the products and services you're offering. Think of it this way. Without clients you don't have a business at all! So instead of marketing one-to-one you need to be marketing one-to-thousands of your prospects and the way to do this is to set up an opt-in form on your web pages.

 

After that you need to get your visitors excited enough so that they'll be happy to give you their contact details that will then enable you to market to them over and over again. Remember you have to follow-up with people seven to ten times before they will consider hiring you. Trust is a key factor here too and that repeated contact builds that trust. Just think of TV ad campaigns for example. They are aired repeatedly to gain maximum effect.

 

3. Not Being Personal With Your Marketing

 

Whatever type of marketing you do you should always try to inject some personality into it and tell people a little bit about you. This could be anything from a holiday that you’re planning to a nightmare business trip or a little snippet about a pet. By all means give people valuable information but you will get a greater response if you give them something of you that's a little more personal.

 

Remember we are trying to build relationships here and people want to know that they are dealing with a human being. They want to buy from someone they know, like and trust. In a nutshell, people buy from people they don't buy from companies.

 

4. Not Setting Up Systems

 

The key here is to set up systems within your practice so that they work for YOU not the other way around. If you spend some time putting effective systems in place you can work less and set up your business so that it facilitates the lifestyle you want. And that doesn't mean more work! Once you've set a system in place it will work for you and make you money. Of course, with today's technology there are numerous ways to do this quite simply and cheaply.

 

5. Continuing to Trade Your Time For Money

 

The trap I see so many service professionals caught in is trading their time for money. Rather than working hours-for-pounds there are some simple ways to create a passive income, to have money coming in without having to work for it and there's a simple, low-risk way to do this... to create information products.

 

What you're doing here is taking your knowledge, your gift or expertise and you stop trading hours-for-pounds and begin to package what you know or the information you've learnt and start selling that for money. This gives you unlimited earning potential.