SEO Part 2: Reputation

Firstly, my apologies for not being as frequent as usual with my entries on this blog, normal service will resume very soon.

In this entry I wanted to carry on with the idea of SEO (see my last blog) and the need to build a reputation first.

In any business, but more so in the self help field, you stand and fall on your reputation (or “brand”). In any crowded field (and boy, is the self help field getting crowded!), it is often that a handful of people or businesses will be getting the lions share of the business, work and money and the majority are left fighting for the scraps.

So how do you become one of those that has the lions share?

Well you need to build a bulletproof reputation and become the “go to expert” in your field.

It’s that simple really.

To be a successful therapist or coach you need to become the RECOGNISED EXPERT in your chosen field.

To do this you need to 2 (surprisingly simple) things:

1) To join (or better still create!) a field or niche where you can stand out as the recognised expert.

I know I keep banging on about it, but this is down to creative thinking and research. Find out what NEED is not being fulfilled (or not being fulfilled very well) for your potential customers and create a SOLUTION for that need.

You could have the best niche in the world, but if there is a limited (or no) NEED for that niche you will fail. Always ask yourself (and research, research, research) why someone has not filled this niche yet??

2) Create a Reputation that sets you apart in that Niche.

Position yourself as the ONLY (yes, only!) person who is capable of fulfilling that need in your CLIENTS minds (remember, when developing your therapy or coaching practice, to be a success you have always ask “what does the client really want?”). You don’t need to be only person doing it, but you need to be the only person your prospective clients thinks of.

This means you have to do 3 essential tasks:

1. Dominate the search engines for your chose keywords (because most people will turn to the internet first nowadays when searching for answers). What keywords or phrases would your potential clients use to look for the solution you offer (see my previous post on this)? How can you make sure you appear on the front page of all the major search engines for these phrases, in the most cost effective way possible this will be covered in my next post)?
2. Creating a massive word of mouth reputation within your potential client base, so that you are the first thing on their minds when asked about the NEED you offer a SOLUTION to.
3. Creating a media profile that stands you out as the “expert” in your field. Why is it do you think Paul McKenna is so successful? Is he the best hypnotist in the world? Probably not. Is he the best known hypnotist though? Probably.

These things will cost you nothing (or very, very little). All it requires is a bit of time and effort to find the answers you need.

Matt

PS, if you have found this post useful, please bookmark it on twitter, facebook, digg, stumbledupon, etc. I would really appreciate it

SEO Part 1: Web Optimisation or Reputation?

One of the biggest questions I am asked by people starting out is “How do I optimise my website (ie, improve it’s rankings on search engines)”, or “Should I pay to optimise my site”.

Which is understandable, the self-help field is incredibly competitive and everyone is fighting to be found. And you need to be found to be successful.

But to be found do you need to be on the front page of Google (Google is still the number search engine, with over 85% of the searches being done through Google) for you to be found?

The first page of Google seems to have become the holy grail of small businesses. If you are on the first page of Google you are guaranteed business, right?

Wrong.

I have met people who are obsessed with getting on the front page of Google, who don’t even have a website yet! Often they haven’t even decided what they want to do, and they are already stressing about getting a good Google rank.

This strange belief has created a whole industry of people promising to get your website to the hallowed ground of the first page of Google (for the right price of course). Some are more reputable than others, but more on that in a little while…

The first question is…

…is investing in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) worth it?

Well, yes it is.

But not yet, you need to do some pre-work first.

Firstly, lets just talk very briefly about what the search engines do (I am sure you know this already, but it is worth reiterating). When someone searches for something, say “Life Coaching, UK”, the search engines use a (very complex) algorithm to decide which of the websites it has listed are most RELEVANT to this search. It them ranks them in the order it decides is most appropriate, with the most relevant at the top.

This relevance is decided on a series of (ever changing – and becoming constantly more refined) criteria, but to even be in with a chance you need have the right keywords to begin with. So if you are a life coaching living in the UK, you need to at least mention on your site the terms “life coach” and “UK” (obvious really!).

However, I am sure you can imagine there are lot of life coaches in the UK all trying to be found and fighting for the hallowed front page.

This is where the importance of niches and specialty comes in. You need to decide on your niche, your “unique selling point” and research it. It will be much easier to appear on the first page of Google for “smoking cessation, Leicester”, for example (not that I have checked that search term. I have no idea if smoking cessation in Leicester is a viable niche or not!).

Once you have found your niche, you need to find relevant and related keywords or terms.

I use a mixture of Google Keyword tool:
https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal

and Good Keywords:
http://www.goodkeywords.com/

to find relevant terms (including common misspellings, which can be very useful).

If you don’t want to do this yourself, this is part of what your SEO company will do (if you decide to employ one).

But, I don’t want to jump too far ahead in this blog entry about how to do SEO, I wanted to discuss what else you need to do to be successful.

Say you have managed to get on the front page of Google for the keywords that you have chosen and therefore are well placed to take the most advantage and pick up the most business in your niche. Right?

Wrong.

Before you even need to consider going about getting yourself on the front page of Google (either by taking the time and effort to do it yourself or employ an SEO company), you need to consider some key points, otherwise your arrival at the hallowed first page will be wasted (and most probably short lived).

Landing on the front page of Google means you are more likely to found, it does not make it more likely that you will get work.

Think about that for a moment.

Then consider the 2 following points:

1) You need to spend a long time planning and designing your website.

Which should be obvious really, but needs reiterating (so many people I work with who moan about lack of clients have the most appallingly bad websites). If your website is unclear, untidy, messy, badly designed, badly written, and cheap looking, you will immediately lose any advantage you have from your placement on Google.

But  most importantly (the crux of this post in fact, it has just taken awhile to get here):

2) You need to build your reputation.

In fact, I would argue that a good reputation is easier, cheaper and more powerful (and more reliable) than a good Google rank, and if you are starting out, it is better to spend your time money and effort building your reputation than improving your Google rank.

I know some very, very, very (you get the idea) successful coaches, consultants and therapists who never turn up on Google for the keywords you would think they would (and a lot of them have rubbish websites too!).

Because, they have decided to take the time and effort to build a reputation, rather than build an online presence.

In the next few posts I intend to cover a mini-theme. Firstly I am going to go into a little more detail on how to do SEO or how to choose an SEO company (if you still want to go down that route) and how to build an excellent reputation (I would suggest, if you have time, to do both, obviously!).

Matt

NOW is the Best Time!

I am not saying that in some fancy personal development language that now is the best time to start just because it is now (although that is true), but I really believe NOW is the best time to set up a therapy or coaching practice or training business.

Yes, I know  it is all doom and gloom on the news about business going bust left right and centre, I am not saying now is EASIEST time to start, but upheaval creates opportunities as much as threats and right now there are lots of opportunities. The recent reports of us starting to emerge (I say “us” as in a global sense, Britain is still lagging behind somewhat) from recession and the global economy is looking to recover in 2010.It ie worth getting a jump on the recovery and position yourself to take full advantage of the recovery by acting now…

There is still work out there and I know a lot of coaches and trainers who are doing very well (some, better than ever!). The people who are being successful are not doing what everyone else is doing. That won’t work any more; you have to be a bit cunning and a bit daring.

The self-help field has grown bloated and stagnant, riding the waves of the boom years. Back then any idiot (and there were – and still are – a lot of idiots) could set up a therapy or coaching practice and get a decent level of success. But now the game has changed and it is a very different playing field. The self-help field is overcrowded and I expect a massive cull in the next 18 months. NOW is the time to get in and take the opportunity to sneak into the gaps this shake up is creating.

Let me give a quick example:

McKenna Breen, once the worlds largest NLP training company began in the last recession in the early 90’s, but they recognised exactly what I have just told you: Change and upheaval creates opportunities as well as threats, they saw that they could shake up the NLP training market and create massive success for themselves.

To be successful now you have to different, creative and challenge the status quo.  Remember the old rules no longer apply, you can no longer enter the market place and expect to set up a generic therapy or coaching practice, you need to do something very different.

Don’t look at what everyone else is doing and just copy them (how many websites have you seen with almost identical content? All spouting the same old “success” or “inspirational” rhetoric), it is easy to think when you are starting out that everyone out there is really successful and when you are not sure what you are doing it is comforting to follow the crowd with the “It must be working for them…” attitude.

That may have worked back then, but now you have to be different to everyone else Study the field you want to enter. What is it like? How many companies are there? What is missing? What can you do that is different? What can you do better?

Fortune favours the brave and all that.

Matt

If you liked this post, please bookmark it on Digg, Stumbled Upon, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it

Cooperation NOT Competition: How to use Joint Ventures for Your Advantage

Another NLP trainer, Max Watts from Kanousei, rang me up out of the blue the other day. Max had someone interested in doing her NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner training, but they could not do Max’s Practitioner dates, so she was wondering they could book on my Practitioner training instead.

Now, if you can get round all the scope ambiguity in that introductory paragraph, it is a very nice example of the idea of co-operation rather than competition. It was surprisingly open minded of someone to offer up a potential client or customer to someone else rather than try and keep them to themselves.

The self-help field is cluttered with a lot of people all doing similar things. Some better than others. If you go into setting up your therapy or coaching thinking about competition you could struggle to make yourself heard in all the noise out there, even if you have a fantastic and original niche.

It is much better to look around at the other people in the field you want to enter and consider how you could create co-operative relationships with these people.

It could be about creating a formal partnership with someone, or about creating a working relationship where you pass work to and from each other and team up where required. They could be doing the same thing as you or something that is similar and complimentary.

For example, I have often do work, pass work to and receive work from a network of people I have worked with, experienced and therefore trust.

These include (but are not limited too):

• Hazel Bagley, NLP Therapist and Coach, specialising in addictive behaviour and anxiety www.hazelbagley.com
• Cain Leathem GB Fitness, one of Britains leading Exercise and Nutrition Consultants www.gbfitness.co.uk
• Mark Peters, Balanced Approach www.balancedapproach.co.uk

So, whilst doing your research and developing your therapy or coaching business see who is out there that you could team up, maybe they are doing the same as you want to where you can share clients (and costs), or maybe they are in a similar and complimentary field where you can recommend and exchange clients.

Matt

How to Use Internet Social Networking When You Are Just Starting Out

Social Networking is the HOT topic at the moment when it comes to internet marketing. There is a lot of information about how to use Social networking to grow your business. I have been researching and testing out most of these networks for some time (mainly the “big 4″: twitter, facebook, linkedin and ecademy) including blogging (I have been blogging  – with various degrees of success – for about 6 years) and podcasts/video syndication.

I don’t intend to go into detail about blogging or podcasting etc, as they are subjects in their own right, but will touch on them when relevant.

So, the idea of this article to explore 2 things:

1. Is social networking relevant to the coaching or therapy field?
2. What is the best way to use it if you are just starting out?

The answer to question one is probably the easiest to answer. As is it simply YES. Web 2.0 is where the internet is heading and is all about creating connections and user generated content. So, being in the personal development field it is an ideal way to develop your presence online.

The questions is what should you do and how much of your time should you spend on it??

Well, the key thing to remember is most advice given about how to use Social Networking for business assumes that you are running an online business of some kind (selling CD’s, ebooks, etc) and is not relevant to people in the coaching or therapy field.

Remember: The MAJORITY of business or marketing advice, DOES NOT WORK for the coaching and therapy field.

If you try and follow this advice you will end up wasting a lot of time and money. And nowhere is this truer than trying to market yourself on the internet…

The other thing you have to consider about so called “success stories” about how social networking can become a phenomena is this and created a “grass roots” following that they have often been  blown out of proportion. And also, think about how many “success stories” you have heard and who they have been about.

They are usually in the entertainment field (Lily Allen, The Arctic Monkeys, etc) or it is something very new and original and never been done before. If you don’t fall into these fields then it will be harder. Also, remember that these so called “grass roots” successes often had massive marketing budgets and the “grass roots” story is just part of that marketing campaign!

You can make money from social networking, especially blogging. But this is not an overnight thing and can take years to build a big enough following to generate a decent income. The people who make money primarily from blogging and social media are the people who spend all their time doing it! And that is not what you want to do.

When you are just starting out, you need to the simple things that will generate business quickly and cheaply. In this case, social networking is really not the best place to do it. Work on the basics first (decent niche, good website, etc) and then start expanding your online presence (and, most importantly, your offline one!)

When you are just starting out (or re-inventing and re-launching yourself if you haven’t done too well the first time round) I find the best way to use Social networking is to manage my offline contacts (and maybe make some new ones!). Treat your social networking profile a bit like a contact list. Invite all your clients, friends and contacts to join you and use it to send simple updates (using the status box on facebook for example) and promotions (but don’t be too “in your face” with the latter!). You can then use it to expand your contact using the “6 degrees of separation rule” (click here for more info on that), by asking for contacts and introductions. LinkedIn seems particularly useful for this.

My thoughts on the big four:

LinkedIn

I have to admit to have been a bit slow on the LinkedIn front and have only recently started using it (a thank you to Jarrod who finally convinced me!), so I cannot really comment on that, I will keep you informed about it as I get on!

Facebook

The big site of the moment. It may go the way of myspace, but I doubt it now. I made a big mistake on facebook, which I will talk you through, so you don’t make the same mistake…

With some networking site such as linkedin or ecademy, they are obviously more business orientated. Facebook is a bit vaguer and can be used for business or social networking. If you are going to use facebook, decide which one you are going to use it for. You cannot do both. Either use it for business (doesn’t mean you can’t have you non-business friends on there, they are still your network after all!), which means you have to keep your profile clean and “on message”, or use it purely for social networking, and don’t accept business “friends”. I did a bit of both and messed it up totally! No I have to try and rescue my profile and sort it out to reinvent it as more “business orientated!”.

The good thing with facebook is you can set up groups and pages for your business as well as event invites and adverts. Mostly for free, or very little cost. I know someone who was essentially using JUST facebook to run their business and was doing very, very well at really no cost at all.

Ecademy

I have been a member of ecademy for over a year and have found it of zero benefit. I am sure there are people out there who are doing well with it, but not me. It reminds me of a lot of networking organisations, the only people who make money out of it, is the networking organisation…

Twitter

Still getting my head round it, but a recent report (you can read it here) has highlighted a few things that suggest it is not the “next big thing” that everyone is raving about.

After struggling with the best way to use twitter over the last 6 months or so, I have started to us it as a “live bookmark” system, where I can post links to article and resources I have come across and share them with my “followers” who will hopefully find them useful. This is a new strategy and I will let you know how I get on!

A word of warning about twitter: people seem extra specially impatient on there, if you don’t post for a few days you will lose dozens of followers (as I have). So if you cannot or do not want to post regularly, don’t use twitter.

Other Sites

There are dozens of networking sites out there: myspace (great, if you are musician), bebo (really for teenagers and kids), etc. I personally don’t bother with them, it spreads my time too thin.

Want to join me on any Social networking sites? Please click on the links below:

Facebook Personal Profile
Facebook Business Page: Matt Caulfield Training
Facebook Business Page: Slow
LinkedIn
Ecademy
Twitter

Why You Need to be a SWOT

(This is a re-print from an the April 2009 newsletter)

What is SWOT and why do you need it?

In the “Professional Practice Builder Handbook” I talk about the essential steps you need to start up your own business and the one thing I stress is research, research, research! You need to know your capabilities and skills, your environment, you competition and your “product”. Good quality, thorough research will save you 1000’s of wasted money and 1000’s of wasted frustrating hours and will be your key to success. A lot of people rush through this step, convinced they know what they are doing and just ash to try and make money, this soon descends into fire fighting to sort messes out you should have done in your set up and may lead to a very quick failure…

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

It involves specifying the objective of your business, identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieving that objective.

SWOT is actually the 2nd step to take once you have developed your niche (or your potential niches).

If a SWOT analysis does not start with defining a desired end state or objective, it runs the risk of being useless.

Internal Factors:

Strengths: attributes of the business that are helpful to achieving the objective.

Weaknesses: attributes of the business that are harmful to achieving the objective. Things you need to work on, learn, etc.

As the ancient Greeks say “Know thyself”! You need to be honest about your strength and weakness, since your business, at the moment is essential you. It takes a lot of honesty and self-awareness to see things as they are, not worse or better. It is always worth running these by someone you know and trust who is disconnected from you and your business.

External Factors:

Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving your success. The obvious example of this is discovering a massive potential untapped market, it could be developing or discovering contacts, potential joint ventures etc

Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the business’s performance. Examples are your direct competition, even bigger things like the economic climate!

Identification of SWOT’s is essential, because subsequent steps in the process of planning and developing your business success comes down to knowing these for factors. It will help you identify which one of your potential niches will be the most successful.

However the real power of SWOT is to generate strategies that mitigate threats and weakness and build on your strengths and opportunities.

• You can do this by asking each of the following four questions, many times:
• How can I use and capitalise on each strength?
• How can I improve each weakness?
• How can I exploit and benefit from each opportunity?
• How can I mitigate each threat?

Finally once you have done that you can use SWOT for matching and converting.

• Matching is used to find competitive advantages by matching the strengths to opportunities.
• Converting is to apply conversion strategies to convert threats or weaknesses into strengths or opportunities.
• An example of conversion strategy is to find new markets.
• If the threats or weaknesses cannot be converted you must minimise or avoid them.

I hope you find that useful. It may seem a bit of hard work, but a good SWOT analysis will save you time and money in the long run.

Matt

The Economic Cycle: How Much Attention Should You Pay To the Bigger “Picture”.

All the news of late is that we seem to be coming to the end of the current recession, consumer confidence is on the rise, the stock market is in the middle of a record breaking run, house prices are going up again…

So, as a coach or therapist, how much attention should you pay to these sort of things?

Well, there are 2 opposing arguments to this:

One says that if you have done your research, and have your niche and your marketing set up, you don’t need to worry about the economic cycle, in fact, if you pay too much attention to the “big picture” you may well get distracted and take your eye of your business. Especially in a downturn, when all the news is doom and gloom, it is easy to get in to the “well, of course I am not going to do well in this climate”.

As a friend and martial arts teacher said to me the other day, “Recession? What recession? I don’t waste my time paying attention to that sort of thing!”. And his classes are thriving.

The other argument goes that you should pay attention to the economic cycle as this can inform your business, help you develop and design your niche and prepare for the inevitable downturn (there is a reason it is called an economic “cycle”).

The answer, really is up to you, but I would suggest this: Some of your business will come from economically aligned custom. Those of you that are involved in corporate work will know how quickly a training budget can be axed! If you are involved in one of those vulnerable sectors you need to be paying attention to the economic cycle so you can make the best of the good times and prepare for the bad. However, if your niche is something that would most probably be in demand, no matter the economic climate, smoking cessation for example, then looking at the “bigger picture” will probably just distract yourself (and in the worst case fall into the thinking trap of “it is not my fault my business is failing it is the economy”, that just won’t help anyone!).

What I would suggest is that you do not need to be an economist to run your own therapy or coaching practice, but it is useful to keep at least one eye on the state of the current economy. How much is up to you!

Matt

Article: Should You Do a Free Introductory Session?

Some people swear by free sessions to get clients (I have even seen a training course built around the free sessions to get more clients!), others refuse to the do them. So, what is the best approach?

Well, before I go on, remember the golden rule DON’T GIVE DISCOUNTS, ADD VALUE.

Once you have got the hang of it you can learn when to break it, but for now I suggest you stick to it.  So, you have to figure out how to offer free sessions whilst appearing to add value…

The focus of this article is to help you decide whether you want to give away a free session to encourage new clients and then convert those new clients into paying clients.

I have experimented with giving free sessions and have found that there was very little difference between bookings when I was giving away a first free session and when I was charging for it. The only thing I noticed was with free sessions I seemed to get a lot more time wasters and “magic wand” seekers who were disappointed to find out that I wasn’t going to do all the change work that they wanted in the first session and would have to actually book (and pay for) a full session or series of sessions.

Having spoken to a variety of different therapists and coaches, I have come up with a rule of thumb about whether to do a free introductory session or not, and that is this:

If what you do is a “brief therapy” (such smoking cessation, phobia cure, remedial body work, etc) that will only last a few sessions (3-5ish), then giving a free session is not the best way to get new clients (people expect quick results and you will get the “magic wand” seekers I mentioned above). However, if what you do is more medium to long term (5 or more sessions) then giving a free session to get new clients may work for you.

So how do you give free sessions away without attracting time wasters or seeming to be giving discounts? Well, that is a topic for a different post…!