7 Steps to Make Your Website Your Client Attraction Magnet

When I started my online business in 1999, I had a website,
but did very little with it, as it seemed impossible to get
noticed by the search engines. My website simply served as
my online brochure and I had no plan in place to drive any
traffic there. Fast forward to 2007, and now almost all of
my clients come to me from my website. In fact, my website
has brought 5 clients to my door in the past week.

My website and my Internet marketing strategies do such a
good job of promoting my business that when clients contact
me, it's usually to say, "I've been to your site and I've
been reading the great info you provide. I know you're the
one to help me. When can we get started?" Consequently,
I'm rarely in the position of having to "sell" someone on
the benefits they'll gain by working with me, as my website
takes care of most of that for me. I think that's very
cool, as I absolutely hate trying to sell myself.

What can you do to make your website your client attraction
magnet? There's so much information out there about online
marketing and so many directions from which to choose that
it's easy to become overwhelmed and confused Whether you
have a website and have been online for awhile or are just
getting started on creating your Internet presence, here
are the most important first 7 steps you can take to get
more clients from Internet marketing and create your own
client attraction magnet:

1. Domain that reflects your brand. The domain name from
which you transact all of your online business should
reflect your brand in some way. You can accomplish this by
purchasing a .com version of a domain name that is the same
as the name of your business or by buying a domain
containing keywords relevant to your business. Before
buying your business domain, make a list of keywords that
someone might use to find you online. This list could
include your industry, your target market or niche, a
problem your target market has, or a solution that you can
offer. If you've been in business for awhile, it may make
most sense to simply stick with the business name you have
been using rather than trying to rebrand your business
online. I highly recommend GoDaddy.com for all domain name
purchases.

2. Basic website. In order to have a website and email
addresses from your chosen domain, you need to purchase a
reliable hosting account for your website. At a minimum,
the services that you'll want in your hosting/design
package include: hosting for 1 domain, 5 GB of space, 200
GB of monthly transfer volume (tied to how many visitors
your site has), 10 email accounts, 10 MB storage per email
account, 24/7 support, and basic website statistics.
Resource: I highly recommend Aaces.com, HostMySite.com,
and iPowerWeb.com for website hosting.

A very basic and attractive initial website of roughly 5
pages can be created by a web designer for as little as
$350. Or, if you prefer to do it yourself, you can
purchase Frontpage, Dreamweaver , or download a free HTML
editor, Nvu, at Nvu.com and either build your site from
scratch or customize a pre-made template. Another option
is to use a hosting service that provides an online
interface for website design, creation, and updates. This
type of service enables anyone who's familiar with
Microsoft Word to log in and create content, add images,
and add pages to their very own website. The major
providers of this type of service include GoDaddy.com,
Yahoo Small Business, and 1and1 Web Hosting.

As you think about your site design and navigation,
determine the look and feel you want to convey on your
site, and make your content persuasive. Remember, people
visit websites because they have a problem to solve.
Visitors to your website will decide to hang around and
browse through your site based on how well you answer the
following:

* Who am I and why am I qualified to do what I do?

* Who is my target market? What are their problems?

* Do I fully understand and offer solutions to those
problems?

You've got less than 10 seconds to capture a visitor's
attention. So, it's imperative that your site speaks
directly to your target market and that they get a good
sense of who you are and what you offer so that they can
get to know, like, and trust you and eventually buy from
you. If you're not clear and confuse them, they'll be
leave, so don't let them be distracted by pretty bells and
whistles on your site. It's the content, call to action,
and ease of navigation that ultimately matters in site
design.

3. Call to action. Present a clear call to action that is
clearly shown on every page of your site. Your primary call
to action should be getting the visitor's name and primary
email address by asking him subscribe to your ezine or by
giving him access to a free information product like an
ecourse, special report, audio/video recording, or ebook.
In order to do this, you need to purchase and learn to use
email marketing software that helps you capture visitor
contact information. I highly recommend aWeber.com for
this task, as it enables you to build, develop, and manage
your online contact database.

4. Client-capturing device. The best way to obtain contact
info from a visitor is to create an information product in
which the content is so compelling that the visitor gladly
parts with his/her name and primary email address to obtain
the free giveaway. By giving you their contact information,
they have become a warm lead and you can start to develop a
relationship with them and begin to market to them.

The easiest way to create a client-capturing device is to
simply make an electronic recording of you talking about a
topic that helps your target market solve a problem, have
the recording transcribed, edit it for readability and
continuity, create a cover, save it as a PDF file, and you
now have a client-capturing device you can give away.

5. Stay-in-touch mechanism. A regularly published ezine,
or email newsletter, is one of the most effective ways you
can keep in touch with your prospects. For the greatest
success, publish your ezine consistently on a weekly basis.

Since you're developing a relationship with your prospects,
the best way for them to get to know you is to let your
"voice" permeate your newsletter. Demonstrate your
expertise in your ezine by writing articles addressing
relevant issues of your target market and how they can
resolve the issues. Keep your newsletter short and to the
point and create 3 columns for each issue -- a personal
welcome and insight from you, a main article that provides
useful information for your readers, and an invitation to
buy a product, buy your services, or attend an event.

6. Your first product There are any number of types of
information products you can sell online. The ones that are
easiest to create and require little investment (other than
your time to create them) are those sold as an electronic
download. The quicker you can develop your first product,
the closer you are developing both an effective marketing
funnel and multiple streams of income for your business.

7. Traffic generating strategies. Once you've built it,
will they come? Only if you start to implement some
traffic generating strategies. My favorite traffic
generating strategy is article marketing, in which I write
a new article each week and submit it to online article
directories through my article submission service,
SubmitYourArticle.com . I've had my articles reprinted on
blogs, in ezines, in professional association newsletters,
and in print magazines. After reading my article from one
of these sources, the reader goes to my website, signs up
for my client-capturing device, and then receives my weekly
ezine that I use to develop a relationship with that
reader, who has now become a prospective client/customer.

Other effective traffic generating strategies include
pay-per-click advertising, being a guest on someone's
teleseminar, submitting online press releases, or creating
a blog or a podcast. You don't have to do them all. Just
pick one and implement it consistently.

Follow and work this 7-step plan and experience first-hand
the joy of getting more clients online.

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Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals
learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their
expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To
claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .