Delivering services virtually means that you need a website. Prompto.
But how can you use your website to get more clients?
Well, to answer this question, let’s first look at how you probably search for information on the web.
If you are like me, you enter a few keywords into Google, scan the results for the best description and click on the link to enter the website. Once you’re on the site, you look at the header and outlay; get an instant feeling if you like the site or not; read the headline; scan the other sub-headlines; scan the sidebars and navigation links and if your eye doesn’t catch anything that interests you on the site, you leave and try the next Google result.
Well, this is what most visitors do with your website as well. Although we think that our visitors spend hours on our site to read each and every word (wouldn’t THAT be great!), they merely scan the content.
So, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. If you think about it, this is actually quite scary, because if your web visitors leave without taking any sort of action on your site, they are probably lost forever and you have lost a change for them to really get to know you better.
So the bottom line is: For a website to be an effective marketing tool and to help you get more clients, it needs to convert visitors into prospects and eventually into clients.
One of the best ways to do that is to grab your first-time-visitors’ attention by offering them something valuable for free – something so irresistible that they do not hesitate to give you their name and email address in exchange for your free offer.
The truth is you never know how long it may take for someone to start working with you. Some people will make the decision instantly after visiting your site, but most people need some time to first get to know you better. If you do not have a way to capture your site-visitors details, and then stay in touch with them via your e-mail marketing, you lose out on potential clients.
So, here are 6 tips for setting up your free offer and turning your website into a “lead magnet” for getting more clients.
1. Know who your target audience is. You do not want your free offer to attract anyone and everyone. You just want to attract your ideal clients – the people you really want to work with and who have the problems that you can solve with your services.
2. Identify your ideal clients’ most pressing problem. People search the internet to find solutions to their problems.
3. Provide a solution to that problem in your irresistible free offer. You want people signing up to learn something, gain something useful and / or experience some “a-ha” moments. The info and value in your free offer needs to win the like and trust of your subscriber and make it easier for you to convert them into a paying client when the time is right.
4. Use an eye-catching headline / topic for your free offer. Clearly state the value a subscriber will receive after signing up in order for them to not hesitate giving you their name and email in exchange. (Ensure visitors have to sign up for this offer – i.e. give you at least their name and email address in exchange for it. Don’t let them just download the offer. The whole purpose is to get their contact details so you can stay in touch afterwards).
5. Display your offer prominently on EVERY page on your website. You never know where a visitor enters your site. Your free offer should also be one of the first things a visitor see when they land on your site, so you can display it either as a pop-up, in the header, across the top part of the page or in the top sidebars.
6. Market this freebie everywhere. Mention it in all your marketing and other communications. This will drive more visitors to your site, leading to more people entering your client pipeline when signing up for your free offer.
Using an irresistible free offer on your website can eventually result in converting more prospects into paying clients.
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About the author:
Francis van Wyk is a business and marketing mentor and the founder of Be Virtual Assistant Wise. She helps Virtual Assistants and women solo-entrepreneurs with a results-focused, step-by-step, “how to” approach for positioning and fine-tuning a business to get more clients and enjoy a better income. Sign up for her FREE training on the “6 Steps To Business Success” at Be-Virtual-Assistant-Wise.com
