Filed under: Marketing Your Business
This article appeared in my e-mail, courtesy of Debbie LaChusa. Enjoy!
“When marketing online, one of the first rules is to set up a system on your website that enables you to build a relationship with new prospects, vs. trying to sell to them on their first visit.
To do this, you offer visitors the chance to get a “free gift” from you in exchange for their name and email address.
This is nothing new, and it’s always the very first marketing strategy I work on with my clients. We set up a lead generation system on their website so they can build a list of their ideal clients. This way they have a solid foundation to build a strong, long-lived business on.
But one of the first challenges they often face is getting people to their website so they can then get them onto their list.
Now there are lots of ways to drive traffic to your website, but we want to make sure we’re driving qualified traffic – that is, ideal clients, not just any Tom, Dick or Harry!
Here are 10 quick & easy ways to attract your ideal clients:
1. Article Marketing
Write articles in your area of expertise and post them on online article directories likewww.ezinearticles.com. This positions you as an expert and drives people who are interested in your topic to your website.
2. Teleseminars
Do teleseminars for other people’s list. Find other solo-professionals with the kind of clients you are seeking, and offer to teach a free class for their audience.
3. Joint Ventures
Find other solo-professionals serving your ideal clients and find ways to partner, promote each other, or even feature each others articles in your newsletters.
4. Reciprocal Links
Find other websites that your ideal clients would be interested in and post links to them on your website. Then ask those websites to return the favor.
5. PRWeb
Publicize your business by posting a press release on http://www.prweb.com. This gets the word out about you and drives people who are interested in learning more to your website.
6. Social Networking
Network with other solo-professionals on sites such as Facebook. This is a great way to share what you’re up to and connect with potential joint venture partners.
7. Google Adwords
Buy your way onto page 1 of the search engine results for your top keywords and start driving traffic to your site immediately.
8. Advertise in Other E-zines
Find e-zines that reach your ideal clients and if they sell advertising, buy an ad and promote your free gift to build your list.
9. Affiliate Programs
Use a shopping cart system like http://www.10stepcart.com with a built-in affiliate module to enable your happy clients to get paid for spreading the word and promoting you.
10. Offline Networking
Don’t forget about good old fashioned networking events and conferences. Attend them on a regular basis and hand out business cards with a call-to-action for your free gift on the back.
If you’re not getting all the traffic you want to your website, pick 3-4 of these activities and start implementing them right away. If you do them consistently, you’ll see your traffic and list start to grow and you’ll be on your way to building a solid foundation for your business.”
© Copyright 2009 Debbie LaChusa
Debbie LaChusa created 10stepmarketing to help solo-professionals and small business owners market their own businesses more successfully. Debbie believes creating a marketing plan is the first step in building a successful business. Don’t have a marketing plan? You can get a marketing plan template to help you create one when you subscribe to “The 10stepmarketing E-zine” at http://www.10stepmarketing.com.
1 Comment so far
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Tomato Design Goes Green! 
Handing out your business cards to as many people as possible should be the goal.
Share to the world what you do, and they will reward you with business. Just a matter of numbers.
Comment by Josh March 3, 2009 @ 4:12 pm