How to begin an online relationship with your target market

I write in my free bulletin about the number one mistake that coaches make when it comes to setting up a website... The fatal error of believing that you just have to put a good-looking website up on the internet and the phone will start to ring instantly with keen new clients. When actually coaching is all about building a relationship between coach and client.

I recommended that you create an easy route in for interested visitors to your website by offering something for free in return for their name and contact details. That way you can build the relationship with them over time and don't have to win them over in the space of one website visit. But what should you offer them?

* An on-the-spot offer

Well I call it an on-the-spot offer. This is usually a free report, a newsletter, a top ten tips sheet... something that is so interesting to your target market that they are prepared to give you their name and email contact details right there and then to get their hands on it.

*The important characteristics of an on-the-spot offer are:

- It's free

- It can be delivered immediately

- It's relevant to your target market

- It has a strong title

- It's only available in return for name and email address details

What you are aiming to do with your on-the-spot offer is to create a strong and immediate desire in your website visitors. Strong enough for them to give you their details on the spot and get their hands on your offer straight away.

* What does your target market really want to know?

So how do you know what subject matter will create that immediate desire?

Often the best way to come up with targeted content is to think of the title first. You know that question that so often gets asked in surveys... 'What's your greatest challenge?' The answers to that question regularly get turned into freebie offer titles.

So if your target market's greatest challenge is: 'How can I be a stay-at-home mum and still make money?', the report title becomes something like: 'The top 7 secrets of high-earning stay-at-home mums'. Then you write your top 7 tips. You don't have to give everything away, but what you write must offer value. And so begins the relationship with another potential new client.

* What's the best format for an on-the-spot offer?

Many coaches deliver a free weekly or monthly newsletter as their on-the-spot offer. Others send a free report or top ten tips list.

The immediacy of a one-off report is generally more appealing to an interested website visitor, so you will probably find that you get more sign-ups if you choose this format. On the other hand, a newsletter gives you the opportunity to build the relationship better by offering useful and interesting content on a more regular basis.

To get the best of both worlds, you can offer a one-off report, then send newsletters to your mailing list as a follow up. Just be sure to state clearly that they are signing up for a free report plus the newsletter.