You Try To Automate It.

I see so many people who think using social media is about the right tools that automate the experience. If a family member invited you to their wedding would you automate your interaction with them and your presence at their wedding? Too often we get caught up in growing our numbers that we forget how important our impact with those followers is. Automating your social media experience will undoubtedly lessen your impact on your followers. Spending more time making real connections will build you up faster than any automation.

You Pimp Too Many Links.

We’ve all seen these people on Twitter and Facebook, every update is a link to their website and if you dig deep enough (most people don’t bother) you will see that they are actually repeating the same links over and over. While this might get you a few clicks here and there certainly won’t ignite anyone or make them want to suggest you to their followers. The people who do get away with link pimping are the ones who interact and offer value 9/10 times while pimping a link less than 10% of the time.

You Follow And Unfollow To Try and Look Popular.

One of the biggest problems with Twitter is that the common misinformation out there suggests that you build up your following by following people and then subsequently unfollowing them. All this does is make people dislike you. You may look popular from a numbers perspective but your followers think you’re a douche bag.

The people who do well, follow those whom they respect and wish to receive updates from. Those people may or may not choose to follow you back, that should be irrelevant to you. The way to get more followers is to interact with the people you follow publicly as much as possible. Social media is here to stay and you should really consider what kind of reputation you are building for yourself online. Ask yourself this question every time you consider a new move. Would this fly at a party or business meeting? If the answer is no don’t do it on social media.

For those who already have a traditional business, this is the obvious place to start. Even businesses that primarily work in the “real world” can benefit from having an online outlet, if for nothing else than to reap the benefits of the worldwide marketing aspect.

However, one of the most common mistakes that a “real world” business makes when transitioning to an online outlet is that they become what is known as a “brochure website,” where the website itself offers little information other than scanned brochures and directions to the store itself. While there is some merit to be had in this sort of website – and it is, indeed, better than no website at all – this doesn’t maximize the potential that the Internet has in furthering the cause of businesses.

For businesses who are looking to transfer from the “real world” to the digital one, it’s recommended to consider looking at the website as if it was the main focus of the business, rather than a peripheral concern. If a business owner was starting from scratch with a website and trying to sell the product, how important would the website itself be? It would be vital, because the website is the medium that sells the product. Websites who have “real world” businesses should view their site in the same way.

For those who are looking to start an online business from scratch, the most important thing to do is research. What are competitors offering in the field? How much are they charging, and what do their websites look like? Try Google searching for others who are offering the same things that you would like to sell, and check out their quality and pricing.

Next, sit down and consider how you can improve upon what your future competitors have already brought to the table. Do most of the sites you see have uninspiring websites or difficult navigation? Take note and make sure not to make the same mistakes when it’s time for you to launch your own site.

Remember that your online business doesn’t have to necessarily be unique in order to be successful. It just has to be a more appealing option to the consumer than the others already on the market. Take note on what your competition is doing and envision making it better. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel to find success – but if you can package it better or get it out faster, that’s a major step in the right direction!

The fact remains, however, that you cannot rely exclusively on referrals if you want to make consistent income as a consultant. You will need to get out there and find new clients as you build your business.

This is an area of the business that many new consultants struggle with because they sometimes this cold-calling is the only logical next step. Nothing could be further from the truth. Finding new clients can actually be a very fun and rewarding experience. Like anything else, you will have to get creative and find ways that work best for you. But in this section of the guide, we will share some of the most effective ways to reach out and find new prospective clients for your consulting business:

Networking – In Section 8, we talked about the power of “schmoozing” potential clients and getting to know people who may require your services. Networking is one of the most important business practices you will ever partake in. Make sure that you make a point of regularly attending networking events where you get the opportunity to connect with other business owners. Don’t sell at these events, just make as many people aware of who you are as possible. You never know who you might get introduced to!

Online Advertising – Show your prospective buyers that you believe in what you sell. Buying ads on networks like Google and Facebook allow you to create advertisements that are targeted to local companies and make local offers. You can get started with ad campaigns for $20 and be up and running in a few hours. You very well may a potential buyer!

Offline Advertising – While some of your prospects already spend time on Facebook and Google, many of them are too busy “out in the field” running their business. So online advertising would never reach this crowd. These people do read newspapers and magazines. In smaller cities, a display ad in a newspaper can purchased for a reasonable price. This is a traditional method of marketing but it could very well still work for your consulting business.

Mail – Traditional direct response mailing (ie postcards) or custom mailing can be a good way to find clients. Your local post office likely has an arrangement in place for sending flyers to local businesses. You might also want to target certain companies and send hand written letters to the primary decision makers in the company. When the letter looks personalized and hand written, there is a very good chance it will be opened and read by the person.

Email – Cold calling is something that is not even being suggested in this list because there are more effective ways of getting ahold of clients. Sending cold email, however, is something to take note of. With email, you have the ability to research a company ahead of time and do some fact finding. Look for a company where you truly believe you can deliver serious value to. Then put together an email introducing yourself and quickly mentioning some of the potential benefit you see THEM achieving with a better online strategy. Follow up with a phone call a few days later if you do not get an email response.

Press Release – You can sometimes get free media coverage if you have a story that is of interest to enough people. If you specialize in some kind of consulting service and you have an interesting story that relates to your speciality, try submitting the story to local newspapers. Having a story in print might get an offline company calling you directly as there is perceived credibility attached to your name since you have been published in the paper.

Craigslist – This may seem like a dated solution but the truth of the matter is Craigslist is still one of the busiest sites online. Many businesses go on Craigslist looking for help with different needs in their business. Make sure you keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening on Craigslist weekly.

Introductory Service – Consider visiting companies in person but not with the intention of selling. Offer a free flyer for their waiting room with “Social Media Safety Tips” (as an example) or offer to take a photo of their office and use it to create a Twitter account for their company (as another example). Literally make a point of selling nothing but deliver value first. Now they know who you are and will be more receptive to invites/requests in the future.

Directory Service – Create an online directory or blog that profiles local businesses in the area. Offer a free listing to the companies that you would like to target for your consulting services. Once they see how nice their free listing looks, they will be much more receptive to hearing about what you can offer in terms of your consulting.

Now consider some facts. Most people in the world are not users of the Internet. Let’s repeat that. The vast majority of people who you want to reach don’t use the Internet. It doesn’t matter how well you optimize your web site, they simply will never find it.

Here’s another fact. Some of the best Internet marketers make most of their sales ‘offline’. They sell their books, CD-ROMs and so on at seminars, workshops and conferences. Indeed, for many ‘Internet marketers’ these ‘offline’ sales represent the bulk of their income.

So what do these facts tell us? They show us that ‘offline’ promotion is more important than online promotion. You may be able to optimize your web site to get high rankings in a search engine. But that doesn’t mean you’ll reach the vast majority of people who could buy your product or use your information.

This was confirmed recently by one study that showed most people go to an Internet address (URL) after having read it in a newspaper or magazine, been given it by a friend or colleague, or having heard it being mentioned by someone speaking at a meeting or on TV. In other words, it seems that significant numbers of people who get to your web site will do so having heard the URL somewhere outside the Internet.

You can get many people visiting your web site, even if you are not ranked highly by the search engines. You can do this in two main ways:

1. Write articles for use in regular publications – newspapers, magazines and so on. Always include your URL in the article and you’ll get millions of people to notice your web site address.

2. Speak at every opportunity. Make presentations to business clubs, chambers of commerce, local societies – you name it, you should speak at it. Every time you speak, announce or your web site address.

Although these are the two principal ways of gaining offline publicity for your web site, don’t neglect your business stationery, posters, car stickers and so on. The more your web site address is visible outside the web, the more visitors you will get regardless of how kind the search engines are to you.

In this section of the guide, you will find a list of services that many offline consultants are performing today in their own consulting companies. It is impossible to list every possible service opportunity but let this list serve as a starting point and you can create your own unique ideas from there.

Web Design – Creating websites, company blogs, mobile sites or specialized sites to meet a businesses particular industry needs.

Website/Blog Maintenance – Once a site goes live, it needs to stay current. Many companies do not have the time or expertise to do this themselves so it presents a fantastic consulting opportunity.

Search Engine Optimization – Once a company has a website live on the internet, they need to make sure the site is found by potential buyers. SEO services can be an easy sell if the client sees the potential payoff of being ranked high on search engines. Google Places is a “must learn” for local SEO.

Media Buy Campaigns – Most companies have advertising budgets and they understand that their audience is surfing websites like Facebook. Helping companies run effective Pay Per Click campaigns on these kind of networks can be very profitable for both the consultant and the offline company.

Lead Management – Generating and managing leads found through online methods can also be a profitable service. If you can help a company capture warm/hot leads online and turn them into buyers, you will have repeat business for a long time.

Domain Registration and Hosting – While these are both very inexpensive things to setup, most offline companies don’t even know where to begin. This is a very easy way to help a company and make a nice profit as a consultant.

Social Media Management – Ask any local business if they think Twitter and Facebook are important and they will agree. They will also be willing to pay credible consultants a management fee if they can take care of the company’s social media profiles.

Mobile Marketing – Mobile media is exploding and offline companies are noticing that most of their customers are carrying around hand held devices. Turning those devices into marketing messages for a local business is something that many of these companies would be very interested in learning about.

Video Marketing – Once a business has a website and/or company blog running, they are going to attract an online audience. A great way to extend more value to that online audience is showing them videos of the company in action. A restaurant owner can show “behind the scenes” footage of the kitchen, a dry cleaner can show the detailed process they follow to make their client’s clothes come out clean and perfect every time.

There are many other opportunities available to a consultant when it comes to working with offline companies. In the end it all boils down to your interests, your skill set and what the customer sees as the highest value in terms of return on investment.

The first way is to promote affiliate links directly in your ebook where appropriate. You can casually mention a product in the body of a particular chapter, review a product as part of your ebook, or add an “Additional Resources” section to the end of the book.

The second way is to link to your content site from your ebook. You can offer additional information on the site or link to a review page. By sending your readers to your website you get the chance to expose them to additional affiliate products and have the opportunity to get them on your newsletter list.

Let’s take a look at how you can get started on your first ebook.

Find a topic that you are fairly knowledgeable about and come up with an overall theme for the book. What are people looking for on the particular topic? For example, parents of infants will be interested in tips and strategies to get their baby to sleep through the night. A mom looking for a work at home job may be interested in how to spot a work at home scam and where to look for legitimate jobs.

Come up with an outline, or group some related articles you have written on a particular topic. Now all you have to do is flesh it out a little bit and of course incorporate your affiliate links.

An ebook typically consists of at least 25 pages. That may sound like a lot, but you should keep your font size fairly large to make it easier to read on a computer screen.

Let’s talk about format for a moment. You can purchase software to create an ebook, or you can make it a PDF document. PDF documents will work on just about any computer and people are comfortable downloading them.

I usually write my ebooks in Microsoft Word, format it in there, add any pictures or graphics and then turn it into a PFD. You can either do this with Microsoft Acrobat, or use one of the free PDF creation services on the web.

Your next step will be to get the ebook circulating. After all you are not going to make any affiliate sales if no one reads your book. You can offer it as a free download on your site or give it away as a bonus for subscribing to your newsletter. I also like to add a note in the footer of each page that the reader is welcome to pass the book along to others who might be interested in the topic.

Offer the ebook as a free giveaway to other website owners and post it on the free ebook directories. Then sit back and watch the book do the work for you. After a few weeks you should see the affiliate sales come in. Time to move on to another book.