Writing Often, Writing Relevant for Your Coaching Business

To be able to “coach the game” you have to “play the game“. In fact, you must “master the game“. You must be on the playing field with your players. That doesn’t mean you’re always “in the game” but your on the sidelines watching, and guiding the plays.

Writing Often (feel free to substitute writing with communicating)

The tools available in a profitable Internet marketing plan give you the opportunity to make your “Coaching Playbook” available in some format so that potential players at least know what game you coach. Like it or not you need to see your self in the publishing business because it is important to create multiple opportunities to connect, engage and make your offer. The tools for connecting, engaging and making your offer, to give your potential players the opportunity to discover you and your method for coaching the big games of life will most likely be:

• books – printed & ebook
• audio recordings – digital download or on CD
• video – online & DVD
• special reports – free & premium
• blog posts
• email – newsletters & auto-responders

Not only does creating these tools help potential players decide if you are the coach for them, but,  depending on your frequency, can give the feeling that you’re right along side them as they play the game.

All of these tools can give you the opportunity to create and maintain relevancy for your relationship with your players.

In 2010 I will be moving to a very prolific content creation and distribution schedule.  I have already moved to a daily email format which have caused many of my subscribers to unsubscribe. That’s a good thing. These readers were not my market and I applaud them for managing their intake of information. At the same time my subscriber number are growing daily because of the feedback I get on Twitter about the content in the emails as well as the fact that the emails are being forwarded to their colleagues. I am enjoying many personal responses with comments like, “I needed this message today…”, “This was so on target, it’s right where I’m at in building my business…”. or this one is the best, “When can I get started working with you?”.

Writing Relevant

In preparation for the massive amounts of content that I am creating for next year I have intentionally engaged with my potential players more frequently and more strategically. Here are some of the things that I am doing to keep me relevant and how I use the information to help me identify & attract my perfect paying client – and develop future products as well:

Client Calls: With permission I record nearly all of my coaching sessions. I have a high level of trust with my clients since most come from word of mouth. I am very clear that the purpose of the recording is so that my client can listen to the call as often as he or she wants to take notes and learn from, as well as be able to hear themselves outside of the moment for their own observations.  I also let them know that I will be listening to the call again and it will help me coach them better being able to listen out of the moment of the call. It’s kinda like how sports coaches use video tapes of practice and game to correct or learn new plays.

From these recordings I am also able to pick up on patterns and common threads of questions or mind sets that show up not in just one client but in many of my clients.  When I write emails, articles, or posts for my blog I’ve got lots of juicey content stirring inside because of real live stories that I am connecting with.

My famous “No Strings, No Cost Laser Coaching” calls that I offer on Twitter & Facebook. I usually do about two of these calls a week if my schedule permits. This gives a prospective player the opportunity to have another perspective of the business side of their coaching. I have mastered the ability to take a look at the overall picture of their business and point out possible gaps in their client path. They leave the call with a recording that they can listen to over & over – not just about some obscure strategy they could be implementing but a very specific personalized assessment they can take immediate action on.

When I offer these sessions, often an sense of imbalance is created. The prospective client wants to know what they can do for me. First of all this tells me they have already made the decision that this was a valuable session. If there is enough value in what I offer on the call to the point of making them want to do something in return – I know I’ve done my job. This helps me hone my skills and know that I am right on target with the issues that coaches building their business are facing right now. And, I always let my clients know that from my perspective the call is R & D. It keeps me in touch with my market. When they realize that they’ve helped me by keeping me in touch with my market they can see the value in that for me and it balances the scale.

I also get new clients this way. After a No Strings, No Cost Laser Coaching session it frequently leads to a perfect paying client relationship. And since I said “no strings” I do not attempt to sell them on anything in the future, but because I hold nothing back, giving them whatever I can in the way of guidance or perspective in a single 60 minute session – they almost always want to take it to the next step which would be to work with me on going as a paying client.

Response to my daily email: Since I now send out daily emails 5 – 6 days a week I get lots of replies. I reply to as many as I can. I get questions for more information about a topic or get positive feedback when my message struck a cord.  Quite often my reply will inspire a new writing project. In fact this blog post is an inspiration from on of my readers comments.

Finally…

I get the best response to the content I deliver – email, articles, blog posts, etc – when I am “in state“. For me “in state” is that energy I feel when I am perfectly connected with a client and together we’re perfecting the “plays” of the game. It is when I recognize what is needed by my client to move forward and I help them see it through the view of their current mindset and it moves them into a new mindset for growth. Many of the things I have described above either get me “in state” or move me back into state if I am listening to a recording of a previous session.

The creation of the Coaches Profit Wheel has come out of regular, relevant engagement with my perfect paying prospects & clients. I’ve been told that my emails seem as if I am reading their minds. I think that means I am “in tune” and writing relevant.

Tweet This Post 

Welcome back! Would you like to be updated in Google Feed Reader when I update my blog? Please subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks again for visiting my blog! Did you leave a comment? I'd love to know what's on your mind...

Coaches, What Do You Do? How do You Answer this Question?

I heard the most beautiful words from one of my clients. The words, “I think I understand who I’m marketing to much better.” When she did that my brain did a freeze frame. Yes! She is finally on the right track. She began to articulate who she discovered as her ideal client. But, that’s just the beginning. My next piece of advice to my client is really the most critical. Milana Leshinsky, of Coaching Millions, says it best (or at least I like it best) when she says in part one of her book:

“You can scream on the top of your lungs that you are a coach, but no one will care unless you can solve a problem.”

That line is underlined and highlighted in my copy of her book! This is absolutely THE most critical part of your coaching business. Leshinsky defines coaching with the following statements:

• Coaching is methodology
• A Coach inspires to take action and provides a “back-end” strategy that facilitates success
• Coaching is a tool or approach used to solve a problem

Let me ask you

• whose problem do you solve – this is your niche
• what problem do you solve – this is your message or solution
• how do YOU solve problems – this is your methodology

So, where do you start. First, after identifying your niche or your market, you start by listening, reading, watching the market to discover what they need. Jay Abraham says this well in this video on his “strategy of preeminence” – this is really important – it’s about identifying & articulating the needs, the pain, the anxiety of your market place.

Let me ask you again, Coach, what problem do you solve for your market place. That’s not the same as what is the benefit of coaching with you – tell me what is the “ouch” of your ideal client. Until you discover the problem, the pain, the frustration AND articulate it so well that your ideal prospect can identify with it – only then can you truely have a solution.

It’s like going to your doctor and have him pull out a box of bandaid, or bag of pills without ever taking the time to diagnose your need. Now, I know at coaches we don’t truly “diagnose” but you absolutely need to identify the need, problem, pain, whatever you want to call it – or you’re going to forever struggle as a coach trying to build a practice.

Here’s an example of what I mean by that. Scott Stratton created a movie to do exactly what I am talking about. I knew Scott on one of the early social networks before he was the go to expert that he is today. This movie went on to build his list to a quarter of a million subscribers. Watch this movie and tell me how this ‘moves you’ – we’ll talk more about this in another post – but see if you don’t agree that this movie not only articulated the anxiety that stirs in the soul of human-kind, but Scott never “spoke” a word in how he conveyed that he understood the viewers pain, questions, longing for more in a powerful way. Click here to watch Scott’s Movie – come back and tell me what you learned.

Tweet This Post 

What is the Biggest Mistake I’ve Made Building My Coaching Business?

The biggest mistake I have made in building my coaching business using online marketing is to not create enough content for my marketplace.

This year I committed to publishing more articles – every time I publish an article I get between 10 and 25 new subscribers to my email list.

Recently I decided to post to my blog daily and 2-3 times a day if possible. My RSS feed subscribers has increased SEVEN TIMES what it was two weeks ago.

I am not the only one who has noticed that consistent creation of content goes hand in hand with successful online marketing. Terry Dean, a  pioneer of many of the current Internet Marketing Strategies posted about what he has observed in his most successful clients. In his short video he says that his most successful clients produce regular content that is in some way unique in their market – Take a look at what Terry had to say about this here.

Perry Marshall, another pioneer of Internet Marketing Strategies, recently posted about the “constant drip” process of marketing via email.  He gives an excellent word picture of how over many years the tiny force of a drip of water could create the Grand Canyon, making the point that by regularly sharing content with your market place “carves deep grooves in your marketplace. It leaves permanent, indelible marks.” Perry further makes the point that well written email autoresponders over the long haul will turn prospects from cold to warm to hot. Take a look at what Perry had to say about this here.

Here’s another word picture that you might relate to…

This weekend I started working out (again) at a gym just across the field from my beautiful Montana home. My sister is a personal trainer and looks like a million bucks. She tells me that if I follow her simple plan for weights and cardio, that I too, will look like a million bucks – and – all of my friends will notice my results in just six short weeks. Since Friday I have run three miles, not once but twice a day, in additon to various weight lifting exercises. Yet when I look in the mirror 3 days later I don’t look any different.

If you know any thing about physical exercise and the human body, you know, like my sister does, that this is going to take a bit longer than three days of working out. And, if I work out for a few days and then take a week off, I’m not going to make much impact on my muscles and the shape of my body.

It is the same with establishing yourself as an expert on the Internet to build your coaching business. You must commit to creating regular installments of your expertise for your ideal prospect to discover the wealth of wisdom.

The more you share in articles, blog posts, Internet radio shows, teleclasses, etc the easier it will be to not only create but more importantly to sell your products and your coaching. Every article, every post, shared not only in your own blog or article account, but even as a guest post or article – your message is spread far and wide. Even better is when your prospect has accepted your invitation to accept your free report or audio, in exchange for permission to contact them by email. That is the beginning of trust in your marketing efforts.

Each piece of content you create works to create a place in your prospects heart and mind, moving them closer to becoming a life long customer, and client.

I can say honestly that any time I have seen a lull in my own business it has been because I have slowed down my content distribution. In my opinion, that is my number one mistake – and this mistake is one that I see is common to many other coaches.

Does your client have enough information available from your blog, your articles which hopefully can be found in various places online and in regular emails from you – to make an informed decision as to your level of expertise so they can hire you as a coach or purchase your products online? Have you given your prospects enough information to decide that they “know, like and trust” you?

I would love to read your feedback on this.

• Is there something that’s really working for you in attracting your ideal prospect and client?
• How often is too often to post?
• How often is too often to send your clients an email?
• Have you tested your own marketplace to see what amount of content and contact equals an increase (or decrease) in sales or new clients?

Tweet This Post 

Blogging Software Comparison

I have already addressed the question of website vs. blog, but is any blog suitable for building your coaching business? I’m going to explain here what the basic differences of the major blog software options available and give you my perspective on what I believe to be the best option and why.

LiveJournal: This is where I posted my first blog which was more like an online journal for me. There is a cost to use and host at LiveJournal. Customization is limited and complicated for the average user. The addition of simple programming for implementing marketing strategies is also limited and complicated. I suppose it serves a purpose in the social networking but I don’t consider it a strong choice for business use.

Typepad: This was my next stop as I learned the benefits of blogging for my business. I actually liked this blogging software, but there are some of the same limitations with Typepad as with LiveJournal. There is a monthly fee for hosting and using the Typepad blog. Customization is a little easier with Typepad but still very limited. They make nice use of widgets that the blogger can add to enhance what the blog “does” in terms of marketability and monetization.

Blogger: this is easy blog software to use.  While I have an account / profile there I don’t actively post in a blog there. Apparently Google, who owns Blogger, does allow user to post advertising (which is important to the monetization of your blog). But Blogger, which is hosted and operated by Google, has a frequent planned & unplanned outages – downtime, which is extremely inconvenient if you’re trying to run a business. I am also told that it doesn’t take much to “exceed the bandwidth” and have too many visitors to your blog.

There are probably several more less popular options that because they are less well known there are limited resources for customization and upgraded programming to make your blog more “powerful” in terms of what it can do for your business.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of some of the most popular bloggers on the Internet – Wordpress is by far the most developed plateform for blogging for business.

Wordpress – Wordpress is  software that can be operated for a community hosted site at Wordpresss.com, or you can self-host on your own domain with hosting account at sites like My Small Business Website.

Here’s the biggest differences between the community / Wordpress hosted blog software. At Wordpress.com there is no software to install – just pick a free theme and start writing posts.

• does not allow ads – such as Google Adsense for the blogger’s account
• does not allow programming for lead capture forms
• adds links to other peoples blogs at the end of your posts instead of other relevant posts within your blog
• limited customization available – many free themes but no truly custom premium themes can be used.

IMHO – Self-hosted WordPress Blogs are the ONLY way to go if your blog is a serious part of your overall marketing plan. At sites like My Small Business Website the blog installation is done for you, however you do need to customize it…but more on that in another post.

• the blogger has full control over customization of blog – much of it is simple for the average user to control with minimal explanation
• hundreds or possibly thousands of widgets and plug-ins have been and are being developed that are completely free to add to your blog
• tools are available for attracting traffic to the blog, capturing leads and engage in with visitors to your blog.
• the blogger can place ads on the blog with out worry of being shut down like other community hosted blog software.

In a future post we’ll discuss widgets & plugins – what are they, what to use and why.

Do you have a question about blogging, blogging software. Leave me a comment and I’ll add it the the questions I’m answering this week about all things blogging this next week.

Come join me over at Coaches Community. More informatin by click on the link in the tab above.

Tweet This Post 

Website or Blog?

“I don’t get it, Melody, should I get a blog from Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org. What is the difference? And don’t I need a website first? How do I add my blog to my website?”

I heard this rush of questions come at me over the phone from a coach anxious to get rolling with her online business as a coach. I started rattling off answers about why she needed a “self-hosted WordPress blog” and she stopped me, “Whoa, Whoa, What the heck did you just say? Remember, I am a coach, not a geek!”

Okay, Okay, I know I talk “geek-ese”, but I promise I will try to make this easy to follow. And let me start by saying that you CAN do this and exercise some creative control over your Internet presence without turning into a geek!

Let’s start with

“Website or blog, do I need both? or which one is better to build my coaching business?”

From what I’ve read from other individuals that are thought leaders in the Web 2.0 world, the Internet is much more about engaging and communicating with the people who come to your “site”.  A traditional website of the ’90’s and early 2000 is more of an online brochure. It’s not very interactive though it does create a place for all the basic information about you to be found all in one place.

However, the same thing can be achieved with blog softare while offering you the ability to add fresh, changing content which is what the search engines love to match you with relevant search terms. A static (or unchanging) website gives the search engines very little information to use to match up with the terms that are being searched, especially when compared with any of the blogs in your niche. A blog will rank higher than a static webpage or website.

Your goal with your Internet presence is to share your expertise with your ideal prospect. Rajesh Setty of Life Beyond Quote, and The Fulcrum Effect
says that the more you share will cause a small percentage of your audience to pre-qualify themselves as your best clients setting above the “lowest price for hire” because they’re aligned with your message.

In what ways do you share your message so that you are able to establish yourself as an expert coach in your niche? Do you post in your blog frequently enough to engage your audience? How often should you post? What do you think?

In another post we’ll discuss the basic difference between blogging software and give you some information you can make a decision with.

Oh, and by the way, I covered this and 10 other questions about promoting your coaching business and establishing your Internet presence on a 60 minute teleclass. I host live events each week and cover the most frequently asked questions about how to Build Your Coaching Business Online. If you want to know more about the live teleclasses and the recordings, check out the page “Coaches Community“

Tweet This Post 

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Blog to Build an Online Presence & Establish Yourself as an Expert in your Niche

The very first thing a new coach or a coach new to online marketing needs to do is to

Build an Online Presence & Establish Yourself as an Expert in your Niche

There are many tools available that assist in this process of building an online presence, in my opinion and the opinion of many other business people online – a self-hosted blog is the best ‘hub’ for establishing yourself as an expert. The other tools such as social media play a part in your overall marketing plan and work well with your blog as “home base”.

Here are the top 10 reasons for a coach to use a blog to build their practice:

1. Your blog is a “hub” for all your other activities online. All marketing /networking efforts you do should point back to “home base” where your friends and fans can discover everything else (all your other publicized marketing / networking efforts) about you in one location.  Add links to your social media / social networking profiles where you can be found. If you produce audio or video to share your coaching message with your market – also list it on your blog.
2. Establish yourself as an expert with regular posting on your coaching method / solution.  Your posting frequency will increase your popularity two ways.
   • Face Value – the more you get your coaching message in front of your ideal prospect the more you build your credibility. Not a post that is a sales pitch – though it’s not bad to ask for the business – post something that is truly of value.
   • Google Juice – Google loves fresh, relevant, updated content with lots of internal linking – exactly what your blog is designed to provide as long as YOU post with regularity.
3. Engage your ideal prospect in conversation – the whole purpose for having comments available with every post is to open up the other side of the conversation. You will learn so much from you readers. The more feedback you get from you ideal prospect and readers the better your posts will be. Your readers will think you are reading their mind! So, write provocative posts, ask questions, encourage your readers to comment. Don’t worry though according to Jacob Nielson, 90% of online community users are lurkers (read or observe without contributing) with only 9% of users contributing “a little” and 1% actively contributing.
4. Help people – after all isn’t that why you became a coach in the first place? As you build up your readership and get feedback in the comments you will begin to see comments how helpful your post was or you might see it on a social networking site. Even better is when your readers love your post enough to re-tweet and share it with their friends & fans.
5. Market your own product and services, as well as selectively promote affiliate partners. Your blog is your online place of doing business so don’t feel awkward “selling” something from your blog. This is the place to talk about your coaching services. This is the place to announce your newest product launch. Bad idea to make every post a strong push for business, but you can “season” every post with a small dose of soft sell.
6. Connect with Your Ideal Prospect. Your ideal prospect is online searching for products and services to relieve pain or improve the quality of their lives. Every post is an opportunity to connect and engage. Your readers will discover and connect with your energy as you share your information. And as far as search engines go – the relevance of your posts is how the searcher is matched up with your blog. The more you post the more often that is likely to happen.
7. Make a difference. Your blog gives you the tools to use words to make a difference in individual lives as well as in your community of readers / followers as a whole. This is very powerful. You’ve heard the saying, “The Pen is mightier than the sword.” You power to influence your niche is limited most often by you. Be a bold idea person! Make a difference!
8. Stay active and knowledgeable in your niche. If it is credibility in your area of expertise is what you are after – then count on putting time into research for your topic. Or as Guy Kawasaki put it “eat like a bird and poop like an elephant.” Birds consume 50% of their body weight in nourishment & food – and elephants…well you can imagine how they poop. What Guy was communicating in that statement is to consume voraciously on your topic of expertise and share your knowledge generously.
9. Create product. Yes, you read that right to create product - everything you post in your blog could be put together in an organized fashion to become an ebook or a printed book. This is a great thing to keep in mind as you’re laying out your blog categories & topics. In 30 – 60 days you could have enough material for a book (depending on how frequently and at what length you post.)
10. Attract clients – Isn’t this why you’re reading my blog? It is time to start making money. Your blog will attract and then develop the interest of your ideal client, but the more he or she reads desire will develop for closer access. If you are doing your job and making the offer in a variety of ways – you will attract your ideal client with your blog.

Here’s a question for you – How often would you be willing to post, if the more frequently you posted, the faster you could be considered the expert in your niche? 3 times a week, 2 times a week? Would you make time to post more frequently?

Tweet This Post 

Expanding Your Circle of Influence Increases Traffic

The key to building your coaching business online is being seen where your ideal client is looking, or at least hanging out, even if they don’t know they’re “looking” you can be seen – when the time is right.

So it started on a Monday, we both showed up and connected; then by Friday we both showed up and did a fabulously inspiring show.

What?

Two coaches showed up on each other’s Twitter stream on Monday. Actually we’ve probably been following each other for 6 months. I’m seeing her tweets but not really seeing her tweets. Not sure why. But then on Monday one of the tweets really get’s my attention and I reply. Back and forth we tweet.

Am I ready for the answer? Yes, I AM ready for the answer. She sends a tweet with a link to THE life changing video. Life Changing? Yes in 24 hours I had a major breakthrough because of this simple interaction.

I send her a thank you tweet and offer to write a testimonial in gratitude for her intuition and generosity to share. By Friday morning the blog post is prepared with the story (much more detailed than this) on her blog. We’ll all set to Tweet about it and share the power of Law of Attraction and Twitter.

On Friday, early in the morning another twist enters this story. My scheduled guest, Maritza Parra, emails me that her voice is gone and she needs to reschedule. The Get More Business Show will go live with no scheduled guest.

I email an invite to my new treasured Twitter friend but she never receives until much later in the day. Fourteen minutes before the show I announce I have no guest but I’ll open the lines for listeners to ask questions – guess who my first caller is?

If you guessed that it was my new Twitter friend who had so profoundly touched my life, you’d be right. We did an hour long show discussing how opportunity and the answers we seek are all around us but sometimes our thoughts and perspective do not allow us to see because there is no framework for reference.

The moral of this true story could be any or all of the following:

• Marketing can be much more effective with proper use of Law of Attraction
• It’s amazing what happens when you make your self available to opportunity
• Setting your intentions gives you the ability to see what you’ve been missing

Are you hanging out with your ideal prospect?

• Social Networks – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning groups
• On your own blog – how often do you post to be seen by those that are looking?
• YouTube – You have so much to show and say – Just do it!  You’ll get better.

Here’s the link to much more details to this story over on @AffirmingSpirit / Nancy Barry-Jansson’s blog. The story will make much more sense if you read her story and she even share’s the links to the life changing video’s that impacted me.

I am looking forward to hearing how you are learning to “see” opportunities all around you by expanding your awareness.

Tweet This Post 

It’s time to take intelligent, bold action to empower your life and career…

How long have you wanted to, planned to, hoped for and even ached to write your own book?

In these competitive times, a book with your name on it increases your market value, your credibility, your opportunities and your professional profile in every way. Not to mention, the process of becoming an author is incredibly fun and fulfilling! And now, the popularity of ebooks is out-pacing traditional books!

Join me and Maritza Parra (the Product Creation Queen) on Get More Business Show as we discuss how to draw out your expertise and deliver it in various information products that connect with your ideal prospect – deliver your own special coaching process and offer compelling proof to your audience that makes them HAVE TO purchase your solution.

You simply must have a variety of “entry level” products

• for your ideal prospect to experience your coaching method and solution.
• to create a healthy cash flow to keep you in business

What do I mean by “entry level”?

It’s a big leap for some of your ideal prospects to go from knowing you, and liking you – to parting with $500 a month or $150+ per session (or whatever you happen to charge). As a coach it is important for both you and your ideal prospects that you give them different levels of entry into your coaching method. It is much easier to start your ideal prospects out at $9.97 or $27 on an ebook or an audio CD.

It’s good for your ideal prospect because it gives them temporary relief with your coaching solution and at the same time builds their appetite for more of your expertise. It also give him or her the opportunity to decide if you’re the right coach for them at a much smaller investment.

For you - by providing different low cost entry levels for your prospects you have the opportunity to let the individual qualify themselves. If they’ve experienced your coaching method and solution in a book or on CD – and still come back for more there’s an improved chance that coaching with them will be successful. And, here’s the biggie, you will have multiple streams of cash flow outside of your one on one or group coaching. This is important for sustainability of your business. You don’t want to quit before you get a full practice and you don’t want to have an overly full practice just to pay the bills and burn out.

Do I have your attention now? I hope so. Get your pen and notepad out; be prepared to take notes on today’s call with Maritza Parra. Here’s an outline of what we’re going to talk about on the show.

1. Crafting your Story – How to Tap into Your Story to Help Others.. (& yes, YOU have a Story that can help other people)
   • Why you’re qualified
   • Connection with people or not – won’t make everybody happy
2. Context for your content – How to Get Your Audience on the Same Page… (So they can actually use your stuff)
3. Why your information works Creating your Free Stuff to Give Away
4. How your Coaching Method works (this is where you deliver BIG VALUE for your prospect )
   • processes
   • recipe for success
5. Show ‘em how it works
   • examples
   • case studies
   • testimonials
6. Edutainment (Educating + Entertainment)

Join in live and chat at http://www.GetMoreBusinessShow.com – I will have the archive up for one month from time of original live show and then this will be available as part of the Coaches Profit Wheel subscription

Tweet This Post 

Vote for me! Best Coaching Blogs!

The basic idea is to get more exposure to a lot of really great coaching blogs. So tell all your Twitter and Facebook friends about the Best Coaching Blogs – okay and please ask them to vote for Building Your Coaching Business.

If you’re a coach with a terriffic blog then head on over an enter your blog until 5/31/09.

Please vote for Building Your Coaching Business Blog while you’re there – I would be honored by your vote.

I’d really love to hear what you like about this blog – even better tell me what you’d like to see or see more of here on Building Your Coaching Business. Leave me a comment – Talk to me!

Tweet This Post 

Coach Training Course: Analyze a Top Blog in Your Niche [Day #4 - 31DBBB]

Remember – In this series I am writing follow up posts to Darren Rowse’s series on his website with my post taking off on his topic/task expounding on it for coaches who are building their coaching practice.

I am sitting here wondering how to do this – deciding on whether or not to actually post my analysis here in my blog.

Here are a few of the thoughts that stood out to me – with this disclaimer…I did NOT do an exhaustive search, and more research is probably needed. I welcome comments from my readers on any of these thoughts.

1. I didn’t find any super hot – “high traffic – lots of conversation happening blogs ” on the topic of coaching. I went to both Technorati and Google Blog Search. First thought that came to mind is that there is lots of room for improvement if you’re a coach with a blog. There is virtually no competition when it comes to a standout blog about coaching – any kind of coaching.
2. Many of the blogs that I did find totally missed the opportunity to engage deeper with their readers – there was either no email capture or it was below the fold (you had to scroll down to find it).
3. The posts were very informative but one sided (in my opinion). We all need to get more creative in engaging our readers to comment on our blog so that there is an interaction between blogger (coach) and reader (ideal prospect).
4. Missed opportunities to “make the offer”. I did visit one coaching blog that made the email sign up very prominent and when I clicked on the subscribe button I was immediately taken to a thank you page that made me a bonus offer of two books for a bundle price. That’s one of the opportunities that I’m talking about. This coach took the wonderful opportunity to make me an offer to purchase her life changing information during a time when she already had my attention. Once I clicked the subscribe button I was looking for instructions to get to the promised download.

A GREAT Blog by a coach who get’s it

One of my favorite blogs by a coach,  Dawud Miracle who get’s it

• lots of traffic,
• a healthy amount of comments to his post
• and takes opportunity to make the offer right from the beginning

So what are some great blogs that are NOT on the topic of coaching to use as examples:

Problogger – www.problogger.net

What I like about this blog:

• Darren regularly posts on his topic and he has for years.
• He has covered the topic of blogging from every conceivable angle.
• His posts never sound like he’s bored with the topic – it’s always new, fresh and interesting – and very actionable. His readers go there to learn what to do.

CopyBlogger – www.copyblogger.net

What I like about this blog:

• Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger, created a frame work for delivering a simple message that can be found on the About page – get traffic,gain subscribers, attract links, sell something – It’s all about write in a strategic, persuasive, compelling manner.
• Copyblogger takes many opportunities to make the offer for everything from their custom Thesis theme to the promotion of their blog post

What can you do?

• Make sure you have a call to action where it can easily be found – sign up on your email list AND subscribe to your RSS feed – these are two different levels of connection with your readers.
• Include a call to action - invite your reader to work with you as a their coach or purchase one of your many products with your coaching message (oh, you don’t have any? I can help.)
• Invite your readers to share their thoughts about a particular topic or post. Ask provocative questions of your readers. Write in such a way that it get’s inside their head-space.
• Ask for your readers help to promote your blog – “Stumble this – Digg this – Bookmark on Del.icio.us”
• Create an editorial content / posting schedule to keep your blog alive with your coaching message and keep your reader coming back for more.

It’s your turn – What blogs do you read that

• you learn from
• inspire you to action
• make you laugh
• make you cry
• helps you to build your coaching business

If you are a coach, speaker or author that would like some help building an Online Marketing plan for delivering content and attracting more clients, selling more products, booking more events and selling more books. Call me (406-278-6140)  for a 1 hour Online Business Audit or to schedule monthly coaching either one on one or in a master mind group.

Tweet This Post 

Next Page »