As the wold evolves, practice marketing is becoming increasingly internet marketing. "IM" [from now on] is a VAST area and I could set up a Membership site just for that alone, trust me. Here's a list of the areas IM includes, off the top of my head:
1. Article writing – 500 to 1,000 words written by you & published worldwide – just like this one!
2. Affiliate programs – person A sells person B's product for a percentage
3. Audio – so people can play audio recordings on their PC
4. Blogging – an online web log, or regular journal full of news and content
5. Domain names – what you call your website is critical
6. eBay – vast site ideal for selling your products and acquiring clients
7. Headlines – writing benefit laden, eye-catching laser phrases
8. Keywords – the exact terms people type in and search for on the web
9. Killer Sales Letters – creating irresistible offers in writing
10. Listbuilding – acquiring leads and converting to paying customers
11. Newsletters – regular contact with clients by sending them information
12. Niches – finding and choosing a particular area to sell in
13. Pay Per Click advertising – buying highly targeted visitors to your site
14. Search Engine Optimization – making your site easy to find
15. Product creation – getting knowledge out of your head and earning you money
16. website creation – putting yourself on the world wide web
17. Squeeze pages – a web page designed to get a prospect to type in their details
18. Target Marketing – how to find and reach your chosen ideal clients
19. Traffic – a website that no one sees is useless – how to get visitors to it
20. Video – filming yourself or your advert and playing a video on a site
21. Social networking – tap into the latest trends online like Facebook & MySpace
22. Social book marking – let the public tell others about you by voting for you.
As you can see, there's a lot to learn, and it's always changing, but there are a few core concepts that always remain the same, and it's these that I want to get you familiar with.
Basically there are 3 steps you need to accomplish, and you could do that in as many weeks. I want to keep this really basic. There are plenty of "IM gurus" out there who sell big home study programs with audio, video, cheat sheets, software and all sorts of bells and whistles. I should know – I buy them all! So let me save you YEARS of learning curve and THOUSANDS of hard earned pounds. Here are the basics:
1. Create a web page
2. Offer a free or low cost offer that people get by entering their details
3. Follow those people up with valuable emails
So it's set up website, get people to it, offer something to get them on your list, then follow them up.
The same basic principles that I teach in my coaching program.
Now there are zillions of fancy bolt-ons and variations and cool tricks you can do to dress up that skeleton, but you need the basics in place first.
And again let me stress this is all assuming certain fundamental building blocks are in place first – you must FIRST have an income, a conveyor belt [the website may well be the start of that], good positioning, a target market and an irresistible offer . The Therapists and Coaches who skip those essential building blocks will struggle – online and off.
The aim here is to use the internet – the largest library and superhighway on the planet, to build your list by appealing interested, targeted prospects, even while you sleep. Like the sound of that? You offer them something they want for free or for buttons, in exchange for their contact details.
So decide who your target market is, and what they want. Create something to give them that's valuable. The offer may be a free report, or a CD, or an Mp3 digital audio, or a short telephone consultation, or an e-book – whatever you decide. But make sure it has a really sexy title. You could have that done this weekend.
So you'll need a one page website, often called a "Landing Page", or a "Squeeze page". Now every coaching site out there is the same, boring format – About Me, What is Coaching, How does it work, how much does it cost, blah blah blah. Do not do that. Your one page site has a killer headline, a really tempting offer aimed at a specific prospect, and a chance for them to opt in or leave. That's all you want.
The email part is done by setting up an Autoresponder account. Again for a small monthly fee you set up an email address and write an email message that will go out automatically to anyone who opts into your offer. You can write as many emails as you like and the software will email them for you at predetermined time periods that you decide, such as one per week. It also collects all the email addresses of the prospects who take you up on your offer, building your list for you during sleep, internationally, 24 hours a day.
How do you then get traffic? Aah, that's a whole science in and of itself. But briefly, you've set up a blog with a link to your landing page, write articles with a link, send out a press release, set up Google Adwords, and write your web address on EVERY piece of written marketing you do – leaflets , Brochures, business card, invoices, etc.
Hope that helps – these are the basics. Set these up and you'll immediately be divided in front of your competition.
