You want to work as a business coach. Great, you chose a profitable career path. You created a website to highlight your education and training, and outlined how and why you can help business owners, but now what? If no one sees your website, you will not get any clients. So, now you need to develop a marketing plan. What should that plan include?
Article directories. You may be surprised how many people want to work-from-home or start their own business. You may also be surprised how many people turn to the internet to make that happen. Each day, thousands of men and women search the internet looking for small business ideas, ways to make money from, home, and so forth. If you write articles for article directories, they may find your content. Include a link to your website at the end of those articles and they will find your website.
The key to writing articles for article directories is to write on related subjects. You want to target new business owners and struggling business owners. Write articles on how to start a home based business, how to start a small business, how to run a profitable business, and important keys to running a smooth business. At the bottom of each article, remember to place a link back to your website. If they can use your services, they will.
Message boards for work-at-home parents. As previously stated, a lot of men and women want to work from home or be their own boss. For most, this is because they are tired of having someone else to answer to. For parents, this is to spend more time with their kids and eliminate the need for costly daycare. A stay-at-home mom may have a great idea to sell handmade toys online, but there are thousands of others doing the same. You can help her improve her products, create good sales pitches, and market her website.
To get clients from work-at-home message boards, you need to rely on posts, signatures, and your profile. Interact in the community. Even if you aren’t a parent yourself, you are free to join. Does a parent ask about business ideas or marketing tips? Offer a few suggestions, but avoid from outright posting an advertisement. In fact, some message boards have an “Advertise Your Business Here,” section. If signatures are enabled, create a catchy phrase and make it clickable and leading to your website. That signature will appear below each of your posted messages.
In addition to targeting work-at-home communities, you can also do the same with small business communities. There are many online message boards where small business owners get together to share tips and tricks. Insert yourself in these types of communities.
Online business directories. If your business isn’t already listed in a number of online business directories, get it. Perform a standard internet search with the phrase “business directories.” Those searching with the same phrase will get the same results. Start at the top of the list and work your way down. Most are free and you can add your business right away. When doing so, be sure to include a link to your website. The search engines and readers will pickup this link.
Search engine optimization. If you don’t know what search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is, it is time to learn. You are hurting your business by being unfamiliar with the phrase and practice. When you created content for your website, did you use a keyword tracker tool to see what internet users are searching for? No? Go back and do so. You will find that people want to learn how to start a small business, how to open a storefront store, how to market and online store, and so forth. Take these exact phrases and incorporate them into your website content. The search engines will pick them up and list your website in related search results.
Searching engine optimization is a very important part of internet marketing. It can help your business or greatly hurt it. Your goal as a business coach is to teach others how to market their business. You need to be able to do the same with your own. If a reader searches for “business help,” “business coaches,” or “business coaching services,” and your website does not appear until the 10th page on Google, you are out of luck.