I’ve noticed a big gap for many business owners, solopreneurs, home based ceos, coaches and creatives today. You know you need online marketing solutions, but you aren’t sure why you need them or even if your clients are looking online. First, your clients are looking online. Think of it this way, we no longer yellow page anything, we Google it! The first place anyone looks for anything, whether it’s directions, a new product, a new service provider, a place to live, even a soulmate (think online dating) is on the worldwide web. So rest assured your ideal clients are looking for you there too.
The key is in knowing where they are looking so you can show up there simply and easily on a regular, consistent and persistent basis. Afterall the web makes it easy to be found 24/7 /365 days a year without taking calls at 11 pm or 2am! So here are five hot places to find your clients (places they are looking for you).
#1 Your Blog (and others when you guest post)
Your clients are looking for your expertise online and there is no better way to showcase that consistently and persistently than with your own blog. When you learn to leverage keywords, master the art of killer headlines, and provide value information they are looking for, you will become their resource of choice.
#2 Your Ezine (and others when you share posts)
Today an ezine (electronic newsletter) isn’t just a one time send to your list. Instead you can tie it easily to the social networks to ensure it gets a lot more visibility and you can even list it in the Directory of Ezines, where clients are looking to find ezines on topics of interest with your expertise.
#3 Expert Articles (think www.ezinearticles.com)
In old school terms this would be like a client looking up a newspaper story, except today when they want expert knowledge one of the top resources they use article directories where you can put your expert content. The cool part about this is it can be the very same content you used in your blog post and in your ezine. Repurposing saves precious time.
#4 Online Forums
Forums are just another way for people in a specific industry or interest to get together and share their expertise, get answers to burning questions and meet top notch providers. You are one of those top notch providers so finding the right forums where your ideal client is looking for answers and your expertise is a hot way to garner new clients.
#5 Social Networks
Yes, it’s true that there are over 500 million people on Facebook and 200 million on Twitter. Do you really think that your ideal clients aren’t there? These are social networking platforms that have revolutionized how business is done and how consumers and businesses buy. Jumping on without a plan, without knowledge of these tools will just rob you of time and prove generally frustrating. With a strategy and a bit of knowledge you can easily target your ideal clients, attract and capture their business, and profit.
The bottom line is that your ideal clients are looking online for you and you have the choice to be easy to find or not. Leveraging the tools of a blog, an ezine, article marketing and more can be time effective and profitable when you have the right plan and winning strategy.
