Tech Tips

#1 on Google . . . and A Growing Number of Coaching Clients

Here's a note that I received from Jeannette Samanen -

"Your strategy has made me #1 on the Philadelphia Life Coach google page, which has led to an interview on the local ABC evening news, an interview for a magazine article (good PR) and a growing number of coaching clients.  I will always be grateful for your support and guidance."
Jeannette Samanen, Ph.D.

Of course, I LOVE receiving emails like this, because I LOVE seeing my students succeed. I had to find out what Jeannette was doing to make this happen.

I knew that Jeannette was a very dedicated coach, and that this success did not happen on it's own. Jeannette created a website, a newsletter (to keep in touch with her website visitors) and a blog. These are all ways of building relationships with potential clients, and helping them become familiar with her work.

But the final step and CRITICAL step was to drive traffic to her website using article marketing. You simply write an article in your niche and this service blasts the articles out all over the internet. If you want people to find you, you have to give them something to click on.

Using the internet, you are marketing to the world. These clients are finding Jeannette. She doesn't have to go look for them. Once the work is done, she can focus on what she does best - be a great coach.

Coaching Websites: Biggest Mistakes

Captivating Your Audience

A few weeks ago, my family and I tried out a new church. You can imagine my shock when the rock band started off the service with their rendition of "Revolution" by the Beatles (we were in the 3rd row). We continued to be captivated by a full multimedia presentation, including audio, video, hip hop music, live skits and comedy -- anything that would drive home the message.

How Important Is Your Domain Name?

If you are lucky (?) enough to become a parent, for God’s sake before you name your child, make sure the domain name is available.

This just in from Wired Magazine . . .

“…One of the criteria was, if we liked the name, the domain had to be available,” Pankow said. It was, and Pankow quickly grabbed Bennett’s online identity.

Have You *Googled* Yourself?

The other day, while I was on the phone with Lynne Berrett, she *googled* her name . . . that is, she typed her name into the Google search box.

What a surprise when her Easy Coaching Website came up #1. And because she and some of the other folks in my Website Workgroup were linking to each other on their blogs, Shaun Kieran's site came up too.

Why is that surprising?

Lynne has 2 other blogs that have been up longer, but it was her Easy Coaching Website that came up first. Awesome!

So it's fun and easy to do -- Google your name and/or the name of your website and see if you are showing up in the search engines.

If you like what you see, great!

If not, see what you can do to get better results.

Your goal is to be on the first page -- that's how the game is played.

Here's my class schedule for the fall:

No Excuses Blogging (3 spaces left -- Starts 8/23)

Profit From Your Ebook (Sold Out)

Profit From Your Newsletter (Starts 9/5)

Profit From Your Website (Starts 10/3)

Blogs vs. Traditional Websites

Websites are tricky business. You can have a beautiful website, but if it doesn't perform well, it really won't do you much good.

By "perform", I mean that people can actually FIND you in the search engines, and your site is actually organized in a way that people can find what they are looking for when they get there.

And that people are actually contacting you for more information about your services.

Of course, you want your site to look good too. But most people get way too overfocused on the "look" of the site, when it is the performance that counts.

I get asked pretty often about the difference between a blog and a traditional website. Should I have a blog or a website or both? Blogs (especially Wordpress using Semiologic) have made it easy to have a blog that looks like a traditional website, with it's own pages and "blog" section . . . it can be hard to tell the difference.

Of course, a blog IS a website. And your visitors won't care which "platform" you use. So the difference is in the functionality.

There are 3 BIG advantages of using a blog and scrapping traditional websites. OK, OK, you don't have to scrap it -- you can let it sit there and look pretty if you want. But DO add a blog if you want people to find you. Here's why:

1. Blog-style websites have built-in editing software. So once it is set up, you don't need special software to change something on your pages. It's very easy to use.

2. Blogs are search-engine friendly. Google LOVES blogs, which is why you find so many of them when you search for information. Blogs get indexed FAR more quickly than traditional websites.

3. Easy Organization. When you add something to your blog, everything gets organized and categorized for you. It makes everything easy to find -- like an awesome filing system online. You (and your visitors) can easily find whatever you/they are looking for.

But what if I already have a website? Great -- get a blog and link to it.

Already have a blog? As Kathy Hendershot-Hurd says, "blogs are like potato chips . . . One is never enough!" She should know -- we both maintain multiple blogs. She optimizes the blogs that we create for others at Easy Coaching Websites and they get phenomenal results.

We're teaching a teleseminar together to answer the nuts and bolts questions on blogs. To register and get the details, go to: No Excuses Blogging

Get A Great Domain Name NOW!

Anyone who has taken my classes has heard me rant about domain names.

http://www.Profit-From-Your-Website.com (Starts October 3rd)

http://www.Profit-From-Your-Newsletter.com  (Starts September 5th)

But here's another tip:

Register your domain names for a long time.

I am going to register www.CarolSolomon.com for 10 years.

Apparently Google considers that a positive trust factor, since spammers will rarely register a domain name longer than one year.

It also doesn’t hurt at all that CarolSolomon.com was first registered in November of 2001. Domain age is also a trust factor.

So when you find one you like, register it right away even if you aren't ready to use it yet.

Resizing Photos

Sometimes I need to submit a photo to a website that requires a particular size. While there are many programs to do this, here's a service online where you can do it quickly and easily.

Want an easy way to resize photos? Try Snip Shot

Profit From Your Website starts February 7th

Register now at: http://www.Profit-From-Your-Website.com

Profit From Your Website Teleseminar

PROFIT FROM YOUR WEBSITE

HOW TO FOCUS ON WHAT WORKS

TO EXPLODE YOUR BOTTOM LINE

Websites can be a profit center . . . or they can be time and money down the drain.

Websites are a *key* marketing tool for coaches. But you can't just throw up a website and expect clients to find you. There's an art to it.

You have to know what to focus on to reach the potential clients that you want. Your perfect clients want to find you -- and they are looking for resources online.

Announcing New 4-Week Teleseminar . . .

JOIN THE NEXT "PROFIT FROM YOUR WEBSITE" TELESEMINAR

Go to: ---> http://www.Profit-From-Your-Website.com

Starts January 9th!

"This class is full of information that would have taken me hours to find on my own . . . It's like opening a wonderful gift . . . all presented in a very clear and understandable way, so I don't feel overwhelmed, just incredibly energized!" Ginny DeLuca

Hope to *see* you there!

hugs,
Carol

Google Adwords

One way that I drive traffic to my websites is by using Google Adwords. At first, I just figured it out myself.

Then I got smart and got the Definitive Guide to Google Adwords.

Things made much more sense when I learned more about the program, rather than just bumbling through it myself.

You can get a free e-course on how to use Adwords here.