I am going to tell you all the absolute truth about how I started out online and how difficult it was for me to learn all there was to learn and how confused I was. I was looking for some information online to help me start my coaching business and I found very little but I did find some and what I found helped me a great deal.

I want to tell you this so you will consider joining me for 12 weeks as we work our way through Dr. Jeanette Cates' "Online Success Incubator". I will be guiding and coaching you through each module for FREE! The way I will get paid is from the commission I make as an affiliate for Jeanette. The classes begin 7/19 at 8p ET.

I don't remember who's list it was but I signed up in someone's opt-in box and began to observe the process of online marketing and soon found myself as interested in the online marketing process as I was the information that I was getting. The next thing I knew I could not get enough of this whole idea of being able to market my coaching business to people all over the world! WOW! Imagine the possibilities…if I only knew more about this whole online marketing thing. I was bit by the online bug and I was off to find out as much as I could about this new form of marketing.

I spent months reading all the free material anyone offered. Soon I found myself on dozens of peoples lists and my mail box was flooded with more than I could possibly read. I would listen to free audio mp3's while I was exercising just soaking up every bit of information I could get. Only one problem with this idea….everyone said something slightly different so I could not determine who was correct. Soon I became confused and overwhelmed. In fact, I almost just gave up.

Then I came across Dr. Jeanette Cates and her "Online Success Incubator". It was amazing! She had tons of information, videos, how to's, PDF, audios on every topic you could ever want to know about. I found the gold mine of Internet marketing information but there was so much there!

I noticed that Jeanette lived in Austin…in fact she lived very close to me and I decided I was going to meet her. Long story short after practically stalking her she granted me a lunch meeting and we hit it off very well. I volunteered to do anything to help her in her business if she would just give me a little direction as I got started on the Internet.

Well, she took me up on my offer and suggested that I catalogue her videos in the Incubator for her….little did I know that there were over 300 videos. The result was that I had to make my way through the video content in the Incubator and boy did I learn a lot. I also become friends with this wonderful and brilliant woman.

Please consider joining me for this 12 week learning experience that will change your business completely! I will guide you each week on a webinar and you will have email access to me as well. http://www.jeanettecatesincubator.com

Many coaches want to use the internet to market their coaching businesses and many do so successfully. Still there are many coaches who never quite get the process rolling in a way that increases their client base or income. I would like to take a look at some of the reasons for this.

Why are so many coaches not making money on the internet?

Going to an internet marketing event  always makes me stop and ask why do so many people pay so much money to  travel to event after event, listen to the gurus, buy their products and still do not have a viable or profitable online business?

Every event I go to I see some of the same people who have not gotten their internet business of the ground. Some of them have been going to events for years and still don’t know what their niche is or they have a new niche every time I see them. I don’t want this to be you because there is no way to be successful with this approach to marketing your coaching business on the internet.

Knowledge is great and there is certainly a huge learning curve to use the internet as a successful coaching business tool but too many coaches get stuck in the cycle learning more rather than taking action. Take action, make mistakes then take more action.

Do you have an online business that you would do for free?

Let me ask, do you feel so passionate about your target coaching niche and your coaching business that you would almost do it for free? Ok, so some of you are doing your business for free because you are not earning anything. What’s with that? Why not? What is it that is holding you back from having the income and thriving business you deserve and desire?

The best business is one that blurs the line between work and play. You know you are working in your passion when you are having fun working on your business and you would rather be doing that than most anything else.

I’m not saying work all day every day but your work truly can be so fun that you have a hard time not doing it. If you do not have a coaching business that is in your passion then get one. Stop the continuing education cycle and begin applying some of the knowledge you have.

Move past your fear of starting out on the internet and just do the next right things to market your business. If you don’t have a blog then get one. If you need a sales letter then write one. Just take the next most logical step to get on the internet and begin building a list of potential clients to market to.

Marketing your coaching services is a coaching session in a slightly different form. Think about what your goal is when you write a sales letter or something to attract clients. You are helping potential clients see and define a problem then you are facillitating their finding a solution. That is coaching so keep that in mind as you write your marketing materials.

Our job as coaches is to get clients and potential clients to take action. Nothing happens until someone chooses to take action. Scarcity, properly used, is a tool to help motivate people to take action. It is not a trick or a ploy rather a motivator that encourages people to take action.

Scarcity
There are sever way to create scarcity and they are all effective. Time based scarcity and quantity based scarcity are the two most commonly used types of scarcity in marketing.

When you use scarcity in your sales letter it must be believable and it will backfire if it is not. Some reasons that scarcity would exist are special offer, testing the market, collecting testimonials. Be genuine when you use scarcity and understand that you are increasing your client’s chance for success when they take the steps necessary to begin coaching.

Story
Tell the story of how you came to create the product you are offering. Tell them about the problems that you found and how you understand they are the same problems that your clients are experiencing right now.

Tell them about the pain that you felt and how that affected you. Tell them how you decided to overcome the challenge and how you went about doing that. Describe the results you got by applying your solution and why the same solutions will work for others with the same problems.

Show them how this led you to create the product or service you are offering. Explain that you know it will help them just as it helped you.

Benefits
What is in it for me? This is the question everyone has when you approach them with an offer of a service or product. It is human nature to want to know how a service or product is going to help or benefit you.

What your product does is a feature and how that changes your customers life is a benefit. Write down everything your service or product does and then write down how each of those things benefits the client.

Organize those benefits from greats to least and do the same with the features. Theses will attract your clients to you and your solution. Your solution is the answer they have been seeking. People don’t want things what they want is the feeling those things will bring them. So ask yourself how does this feature change the life of my potential client and how will they feel when it does.

When you include these elements in your promotional material you will communicate with your clients in a way that resonates with their deepest thoughts and desires. You will be able to motivate them to take the action that they have not been able to take previously.

Give your coaching clients the information they desire in an interesting and captivating fashion. Coaching clients are interested in getting information that can help them achieve their goals and solve their problems. As a coach, it is your job to provide hungry consumers with the product they desire.

There are several types of content that will always attract readers and hold their interest so I would like to go over a few of them to help you with some ideas to get started.

How To

People always want to know how to do something and if you can help them learn how to do what they want to do then you will begin a lasting relationship with your readers. A great way to find out what readers want to know how to do is to type the word “how” and a keyword for your target coaching niche into Google Keyword Tool and let it do your work for you. The Keyword tool will come up with commonly searched phrases like “how to date”, “how to change jobs”, “how to get a new job” and more.

Reviews

Reviews are a great way to start writing because it is always easy to analyze someone else’s work. Find a recent book or course by a famous person in your target coaching niche and write a review on it.

Tell people what you think of the report, book, or course using your own language and personal style. Tell people what you liked, what you like best and why. Also, let them know what you did not like and why. Be kind but be honest when you write your reviews and remember it is OK to criticize the work but not the person.

Quick Tips

You can write a short blog post or article that includes several quick tips on how to do something or how to avoid something. All of your writing does not have to be long or information packed. You can write short article and blog posts that cover a few quick points that will interest your readers.

Lists of New or Popular Things

Making a list of useful items, website, tools or information is a top notch way to gain your readers interest and to get them to view you as a resource. Writing an article that lists the ten best ways to look for a job would be a great article for a transition coach. Seven foods to avoid is a great article for a health coach.

You can use the word “best” or “top” along with a keyword for your target coaching niche and find what your target coaching niche would like to have information on in the form of a list.

You must be consistent in marketing your coaching business. That means you must do at least three things to market your coaching business every day. You will not have as much success if you market for a while then stop. People need to hear your message several times before any comprehension takes place then they need to hear it several more times before they will be motivated to take action.

There are many things you can do to market your coaching business and most of them will not take a big chuck of time out of your day. Make sure that you reserve some time each day to market your coaching business. Set the time aside just like any other important appointment. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Teach Someone Else’s Program or Teach About a Product- Teach the basics of a program that you recommend to your list or teach people how to use a specific tool that could help them. I teach people how to work on Typepad because I know they will need a blog to have a successful coaching business.

Share a secret or some insider information- Everyone love to get information that is clandestine. You can share some information that is not commonly know by people outside the area of your expertise or you can share a secret tactic or trick that you have discovered to be helpful.

Create a Facebook Event- You can turn a normal FREE teleclass into a Facebook event and invite all of your Facebook friends even those that are not on your regular list. Just create an event in the Events section of Facebook and schedule a FREE teleclass. Invite all of your Facebook friends and ask them to register (opt-in) for the FREE class. Each time you do this you will pick up new people on your list.

Video Marketing- Most of us were raised on television so we are a very visual society. Use this to your advantage by creating short two to three minute videos explaining what you have to offer. You can put these videos on your site, blog, sales pages, and You Tube to tell people how they will benefit from what you have to offer.

Make time each day to market your coaching business and you will see an increase in the number of clients on your list and on your coaching schedule.

Customer service and care is an area that is vital to getting the most out of your internet marketing yet it is an area that is often overlooked by many people who market coaching on the internet.

The coaching business is based on relationships and how much people know, like and trust you. These relationships are built over time and you must nurture the relationship you have with people on your list so that they will become buyers and clients.

The first step in nurturing clients is to know what they want from you and to deliver what they want. Many coaches assume that they know what their clients want and they go out and develop products based on what they believe their customers want only to find that the products don’t sell because the product is not what the client wants.

Remember to serve your clients in the best fashion possible give them what they want and stay in contact so you can serve them in the future. Let’s talk about several ways to do both of those things.

Surveys- People love to offer their opinion about subjects that care about. You want to know what your niche wants from you so the best way to find out is to ask them. Survey your market to find out what their greatest challenges are and create programs and products that help them with those challenges. You can also ask them what they like about what you are doing and you will get testimonials.

Create a Group on Facebook- You can create your own group on Facebook designed just for your target coaching niche. Invite your friends and the people on your list to join your group on Facebook. You can also make new Facebook friends in other related groups and invite them to your group.

Answer Any and All Questions from your list- It is great to hold a call where the people on your list can ask you their specific questions. The great thing about this type of call is that everyone gets their question answered at one time and when one person asks a question it is always a question that other people have. You can answer questions, give critiques, or do short coaching sessions on a specific issue.

Remember Why People Got on Your List to Begin With- Everyone who signed up on your list had an interest in your topic or coaching niche so be sure to stay true to that topic. Don’t get off into other areas that are too distant from your main niche. Give continuous information related to your niche and make sure that the information is helpful to your list.

Copywriting is one of the forgotten areas of knowledge that can cause a lack of success if overlooked. I want to focus on copywriting and what it takes to write copy that will draw people to you as a coach.  Copywriting is not difficult if you look at it as a process and include all the necessary elements for success.

Traps to Avoid in Copywriting

There are several traps that should be avoided. These mistakes or traps are common so don’t be surprised to see many others falling into these traps. Just because others are doing something does not mean it is the right thing to do so don’t play follow the leader when it comes to copywriting.

Welcome Message Trap

The most valuable part of you website it the top of each page and everything that is “above the fold” or visible without scrolling down. Above the fold means what is visible without having to scroll down. “Above the fold” comes from an old newspaper term that meant everything above the fold in a newspaper.All of your most important copy and your most enticing copy should be here. This is where you want to make the client want what you have and want to read more.

The tragic thing is this is where many coaches put some sort of welcome to my webpage message. Don’t waste this valuable space with a welcome message. Instead put a tantalizing headline at the top. Make sure you headline addresses the main interest of your client and does so in an inviting way.

Goofy Graphics and Images

If you use a graphic at the top of your website make sure it is relevant to the site. Don’t just put a sunset of trees or something there that is not related to your subject. Every item on the page should help potential coaching clients get clear on what you do and how you can help them.

Images can be very effective if they relate to the topic and illustrate a point better than words can. Images can speak better than words as the old saying goes so use them when they are appropriate.

Make sure that everything above the fold is relevant to what you are trying to communicate and keyword rich. Get the clients attention, point to a problem, show that you have a solution to the problem and get them to read on until they accept the offer. No other information should be above the fold on your site if you want the most effective site possible. Follow these guidlines and you will see results.

When I started on the Internet I had no idea how important keyword research was. I had no idea that I needed to have keywords in my article and blog post titles. I didn’t realize that my articles and blog posts should be keyword rich. I had no idea what a title tag was much less how importnant it was to include keywords in my title tags.

Keywords are probably the most important single aspect of internet marketing yet they seem like the sort of thing that some techno geek should be concerned with not a coach. Start working on getting familiar with your best keywords and Google’s Keyword Research Tool so you can out smart your competition.

Keyword research should be the first thing that you do when you are starting your internet business. Your keywords should be considered when choosing a domain name, business name, and almost every other aspect of your internet business.

Become a Spy
Take a look at the keyword Meta tags your competitors are using. I know that sound technical and difficult but it is very easy to do. Just go to your competitor’s site and right click, scroll down until you see “view source” and when you click that it will reveal the “underside” of your competitor’s website. Here you can see the details and at the top of the page you will find the Meta keyword tags.

There is a list of every keyword your competitor is using right on their webpage for you to see. It is a little sneaky but it is a common form of research if you are savvy to its existence. Now you are aware so use the tool to find the best keywords.

You should be able to gather a sizable keyword list by combining these brainstorming and research methods. Now that you have a list the next step is to determine how many people are searching for these keywords and phrases then narrow your list to the most sought after keywords that will bring the most traffic to your site.

Include keywords that are broad and narrow to do your research. For example, if you were researching coaching you could use a broad keyword such as life coaching or business coaching. A narrower keyword would be life coaching for women or life transition coaching.

The goal is to choose a keyword that is popular but not so widely searched that you will find too many people who do not fit your specific target coaching niche.

Finding the right keywords is an art and you will have to test different keywords to determine how effective each one is for your particular product, service and business. Keywords research is also an ongoing proposition because internet marketing is dynamic and things are constantly changing.

I surveyed the coaches on my list to find out what you would most like to learn about right now. The overwhelming response is that you want some exact steps to take to get clients now, right now! OK, I 'm going to tell you exactly what you can do to get 5 new coaching clients next week.

Now, I get to tell you what I most want from you because you are the one who has to actually do something to make this happen. I can teach you what to do until the cows come home but I cannot make you do a thing and none of my teaching will work until you get off your butt, stop making excuses and do this stuff! I want you to commit to do this stuff this week!

Stop lying to yourself!
I have heard it all so here are the top excuses for not truly being committed to having the coaching business you want. These are the things I hear endless numbers of coaches' whine about and use as their reason for not doing what they have to do to reach the goal they desire.

It is sort of funny that we are talking about coaches who are trying to have a business where they help other people overcome their challenges, solve their problems and reach their goals but they are whining to me that they don't know how to get clients.

If you don't have the skills or the knowledge that is one thing but once you find where to get the skills and knowledge of how to attract coaching clients then you are out of excuses and it is all on you! I am going to give you the tools so let's take a look at what else is stopping you or holding you back from getting what you say you want.

Top 3 excuses for not taking action to grow your coaching business
"I don't have any time". We all know that we always have time for what we love and want to do. If you don't have time to grow your coaching business then it is because you are choosing to do something else for some reason.

What are you choosing to do instead of taking time to market your coaching business? Let me ask you a few questions to help you take a look at how you really spend your time? Do you take a lot of self help classes? Do you spend time continually learning how to do things rather than doing them? Do you watch television? Do you really need to work as much as you do or could you cut back your "real job" hours and trust that you will make it on the reduced income?

Document exactly how you are spending your time. Write down your true activities for the next week and document exactly how you spend your time then stop doing the things that are not helping you have the time you need to grow your coaching business.

You will probably have to sacrifice to get your coaching business of the ground. Reduce your monthly expenses by 10% by cutting out things you don't really need and things that are a distraction to growing your business.

Stop finding excuses to keep doing what you have been doing and find the time and money you need to grow your coaching business. Dedicate one hour each addition hour each day to taking actions that will support your business growth.

"I don't have the money".
Absolutely everyone can reduce their living expenses by 10% and be perfectly happy!  Could you live on your income if it were reduced by 10%? Do you have cable TV, a cell phone with email and a digital charge monthly? Do you get a manicure or a pedicure regularly? How often do you eat out?

"I don't know what niche to coach".
If you have not chosen your target coaching niche, defined your target coaching niche, set up your business structure, developed your identity statement or unique selling proposition then get my "Coaching Business Blast Off" home study course.

Invest in your business.
But don't invest if you are not going to do what the course directs you to do because these are the primary things you must do or your coaching business is destined to fail. Simply put you cannot sell to a market if you don't know who the market is!

I know two things for sure. One, if you keep doing what you have been doing you will get the same results you have been getting.

If you do nothing then nothing then your coaching business will not grow and eventually it will only be a wishful thought.

Marketing and advertising are not one in the same. Marketing is part of every aspect of your coaching business. Advertising is only one component of your marketing plan. Successful marketing required a well thought out plan and a marketing mindset.

Getting rich on the internet is possible but doing it overnight with little work is not the way it works. You have to set your intention on success and then follow through with consistent action.

Be determined to succeed
I would like for this or that to happen is not enough to succeed. You must be absolutely determined to accomplish your goals. You have to be absolutely resolved to succeed in your endeavor and in your marketing. Visualize what your success will look like and