Are you an effective or successful coach?

So you’re probably thinking, isn’t that the same thing?

Well in this instance, no it’s not. Let me explain:

As a coach, you help to bridge the gap between where your clients are, and where they want to be. When this is achieved, that’s what makes you an effective coach.

This is just one side of the coin though.

The flip side is – Do you also have strategies in place that consistently attract clients and create a sustainable & profitable income?

Because this is what makes you a successful coach.

When your marketing strategies are on point, you’re not only bridging the gap for your clients, but for your business as well. Ask yourself these 3 questions:

• Are you attracting clients (ongoing and new) that are generating consistent cash flow?
• Are your services sustainable? That is, is the way you’re coaching sustainable in the long term? (think burnout – is that a potential problem?)
• Is your pricing on point? Are you creating an income that will sustain and motivate you?

If you answered yes to these, kudos to you! Give yourself a high-five because you’re a successful coach!

So back to effective Vs successful. Consider these scenarios:

Effective: You’re an amazeballs coach who provides massive value to your clients, but you struggle with marketing and attracting leads.

Successful: You’re a marketing superstar who can sell ice to Eskimos… but can’t quite get the results your clients want yet.

I trust you see my point. Essentially, you can’t have one without the other… At least, not for long anyway.

Being both effective and successful is the secret sauce to creating a lasting and fulfilling career as a coach.

This is one of the reasons I personally wanted to specialise in supporting the coaching industry. If there are gaps in your coaching, there are plenty of ways to fill them:

• Getting coached yourself
• Allowing time for more practice and experience
• Additional education, etc.

And, there’s no mad rush for this. In fact, it’s an ongoing process anyway; there’s always something new to learn and develop.

The successful side of things though is a bit trickier…

Not everyone has the luxury of taking their time to grow, let alone scale their business. No matter how big our dreams are, we all have other important aspects of our lives, not to mention bills to pay!

I find this heartbreaking because I firmly believe that anyone, regardless of experience or background can achieve success in business. You just need the right tools, resources and support to help get you there. Thus the services that I offer in terms of coaching websites, website support and website marketing.

Additionally, this is one of many reasons that I also created Coach Connect Australia, to provide an effective tool to help coaches in their journey of creating both an effective and successful business.

I’m not going to blabber on that Coach Connect Australia is a silver bullet solution… because it’s not:

• The directory should complement your other marketing efforts (website, social media etc.). It should not be the only egg in your marketing basket.
• It can increase your visibility online, but the quality of the content you provide and how compelling it is… falls to you.
• How you nurture leads and eventually convert them, also falls to you.

Like all marketing efforts, a holistic approach will help set the stage for long-term growth.

The good news is, that in addition to the many benefits of directory advertising, CCA also provides resources to help our community get the most out of their listing, as well as support their other marketing efforts.

You can see what has been added already on our regularly updated resources page here.

Please Note: Everyone can see the archive of all resources, but only those with a paid listing with CCA can access each individual resource.

Help me help you!

(Yes, I stole that from Jerry Maguire ?)

I genuinely want to support the coaching community as much as possible, so if there’s a specific area of your business where you could use some more guidance, I would love to know!

Disclaimer: My background is in web design and online marketing so I don’t claim to be an expert in ALL things. One of my zones of genius though is I’m big on very thorough, evidence-based research and standing on the shoulders of giants.

So why not leverage my time and skills? Hit me with your feedback, questions and gaps you need to fill.

Shoot me an email, or submit a resource topic request on CCA here.

The services I offer become more valuable when I can better serve you. And that value can be translated to both your clients and your business.

It’s a win-win for everyone.

All the best,
Libby
Coaching Website Specialist
Rivmedia Web Design

The post Are you an effective or successful coach? Discover how to be both! appeared first on Rivmedia Web Design.

This is a guest post that was written by me (Libby Hogan) for Coach Vantage.

How To Market Your Coaching Business: 9 Effective Strategies

We all know that even if you’re an amazing coach or consultant, you need a solid marketing strategy to be able to attract clients and run a successful coaching business.

The kicker though is knowing what to do and how to do it right. And unless you’re a marketing expert, this can be an understandable challenge for many.

The good news is there is an abundance of different ways to market your coaching business. And do so not only within a budget that works for you but also with what’s in line with your strengths, and the target audience you wish to reach.

Meet Libby

Hi, my name is Libby and I’m a web designer, marketing strategist and coach in training. I specialise in helping coaches, like you, to build the business you really want, and live the life you dream about.

In this article, I explore 9 popular marketing strategies that you can use for your coaching business. As well as provide handy, actionable tips to improve your marketing efforts so you can attract more leads.

Marketing Strategies: Common misconceptions

First, let’s dispel some myths to get in the right mindset. In my time speaking with other coaches, a lot of misconceptions would often come up about marketing strategies for their business:

• They associate marketing with having to be “salesy” or even “sleazy“.
• The best way to get extra clients is through paid advertising.
• You absolutely have to multiple social accounts and do Reels, Facebook lives, YouTube videos and [insert every other medium that is every introvert’s worst nightmare here]. ?
• You should be posting on all the different social media platforms, multiple times a day, every day.
• Your marketing efforts should include: [whatever Insta’s latest marketing guru is flogging here].

Gah, no wonder so many get turned off by marketing. More good news though, none of this is true. So, as the old adage goes, ‘stop shouding yourself to death!’

Sure, there are foundations that are consistent in the marketing industry but there are no hard and fast rules. Even if you’re in the same industry and have the same niche as another business, what works and doesn’t work for them, won’t be the same for you.

What makes you unique and special, is also what makes your business special.

So, give yourself permission to take a breath, and not put any unnecessary pressure on yourself.

Choosing which strategies are best for your business to reach more potential clients

With numerous options to choose from to market your coaching business and every guru, each saying theirs is a “must-have“, finding what’s right can be difficult. My advice – ignore all the noise and shiny objects, and answer the following 3 simple questions:

1. What’s in line with your strengths: Seriously, if you suck at making videos but are great at content marketing, give priority to your content marketing! You’ll be able to do it well and more importantly, be more motivated to be consistent with it… and consistency is the key.
2. What will resonate with your target audience: There’s no point posting on Twitter for example if none of your ideal clients hang out on that particular social media platform. Plus, you don’t just want to reach any and all clients, you need to connect with your ideal clients.
3. What works with your budget: While we don’t always want to admit it, budget is often a factor, especially if you are a new business. There’s no need to break the bank though when so many effective, free marketing strategies are available. Find what is comfortable for where your business is now. You can always re-evaluate investing in new marketing strategies down the road.

Before you launch any marketing activities, know who your ideal clients are!

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have complete clarity on who your ideal client is. Without this knowledge, you won’t know what they really need, let alone how to create compelling content that resonates with them.

Before you can market anything effectively, you need to understand your ideal customer completely. Then, integrate this knowledge across your entire coaching business and marketing strategies.

If you haven’t defined your ideal customers yet, or if you’re messaging isn’t quite landing, I’ve already written another article about this which will help. In it, we explore the importance of defining your ideal customers so you can confidently create marketing strategies that work.

Check it out here ? Successful marketing: It starts with your ideal customer

Now, let’s dive into the different ways you can market your coaching business. And remember, you don’t have to use ALL of these. Hone in on the ones that are best for your business.

Marketing Strategy #1. Instagram, Facebook Pages & Facebook Groups

Having an appealing social media profile legitimises your business and is an effective way to attract followers and reach new potential clients. With best practices in place, the multitude of free options is almost always sufficient for many coaches.

If you want to reach even more clients though, paid ads are a cost-effective option. (discussed further below)

Plus, you can be found in multiple ways. Such as through keyword searches, hashtags and even by scrolling through other social media accounts to see who they are following.

Joining Facebook groups is also an easy way to increase brand awareness and start building your network. Like guest posting, this is an easy way to leverage someone else’s larger, more established audience.

Social Media Pro Tips:

• Optimise your profile on all social accounts with a great headshot and make it clear what you do and what your niche is.
• Take the time to create relevant content your current and potential coaching clients will gain value from.
• Social media is a social network, so get in and participate. Don’t expect people to engage with your business if you don’t return the favour. It’s a great opportunity to get the conversations rolling and start building strong relationships with your potential customers.
• Leverage the power of social media apps and scheduling tools to make posting consistently easier. My personal favourites are Later and the Meta Business Suite Planner.
• Facebook Groups: As above, it’s important to engage with Facebook group members as much as possible in order for them to take you seriously and view you as an authority figure in your industry.

Marketing Strategy #2. Start your own blog and guest blogging

Blogging is an effective form of content marketing to attract new clients. It gives you a consistent platform to share your ideas, build your reputation as an expert in your field, and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

Furthermore, each new blog post can help potential clients understand what services you offer, how much value you can give your customers, what kind of results they can expect and all that before they even opened their wallets.

If your own blog readership is low, guest posting is another option that ticks a lot of boxes:

• Contributing an article to a more established site allows you to reach a larger audience and build your credibility and authority.
• You get a link back to your own website which is beneficial for SEO.
• The blog post will continue to drive organic traffic to your website for as long as it remains published.
• In return, the host website gets valuable content to serve their own audience, as well as drive more traffic to their own website, and all with minimal effort on their part. It’s a fantastic win-win situation.

Marketing Strategy #3. List Your Business on Directory Websites

Listing your coaching business with online directories is quick, affordable and an effective way to target specific online consumers.

Directory websites have a number of benefits in helping you to to reach more coaching clients, such as:

• They allow you to gain an instant online presence, particularly helpful if you don’t have a website yet.
• It can give your own website an SEO boost.
• Niche directories help to build your credibility and provide social proof (for example by including client reviews or through guest posting).
• Pricing varies but most offer plans where you should only need to gain 1-2 new clients per year to get a return on your investment on top of what you the benefits mentioned above. So, the cost-benefit is incredibly good.

Directory Website Pro Tips:

Like all of your marketing activities, directory listings are not a magic wand. You have to do your part also in optimising them:

• Make sure you have appealing content that is SEO optimised.
• Ensure you have a strategy in place to make it easy for potential clients to take the next step with you, such as offering a free consultation or free coaching, getting them into your sales funnel, or something as simple as just getting them to visit your website.
• Always keep track of all your directory listings and ensure your business’s content is always up to date, relevant and fresh.
• As long as the websites are reputable, don’t be afraid to list in multiple directories, the more online awareness you have the better.
• Listing on directory websites specifically for coaches is a no-brainer in terms of not just expanding your reach, but in gaining higher quality, targeted leads for your business.

Shameless plug – my website Coach Connect Australia is specifically for coaches and consultants within Australia and has over a dozen categories to niche down even further.

Marketing Strategy #4. Create a Strategy-Driven Website

A website allows you to showcase your knowledge, credentials, experience, services and success stories, making it an effective means of establishing the credibility of your coaching business and authority in your industry.

Having a website isn’t enough on its own though, in addition to being visually appealing and functional, a conversion-focused strategy is a must-have for successfully converting visitors into clients.

Website Pro Tips:

• Make it easy to use and navigate.
• Make sure it loads as quickly as possible, everything works and no broken links.
• Avoid unnecessary bells & whistles, they just distract from the important stuff!
• Mobile responsiveness is a MUST.
• Have a robust, value-based content marketing plan for each primary page of your site.
• Include social proof (testimonials, reviews etc.).
• Include CTA’s (Call To Action) to create more touchpoints and to start building know, like and trust.
• Utilise the power of lead magnets: Create a free offer (checklist, guide, etc.) that gives your potential client lots of value and an easy quick win. Make sure it’s integrated with your email list so you can build the relationship from there.
• Be searchable. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is an ongoing effort for every online coaching business. For example, research and implement relevant keywords into your content and inbound marketing efforts, include alt tags in all your images, gain reputable backlinks and so on.

Marketing Strategy #5. Speaking Gigs

Similar to joining a relevant Facebook group, speaking gigs are a great way to introduce yourself to your host’s audience. They allow you to increase brand awareness, build connections and networks, and possibly even gain media attention.

Plus, once you have provided value and gained credibility, it’s a great platform to promote your services. Such as a free workshop, your coaching programs, or offering a free session.

Speaking Gig Pro Tips:

• Focus on providing massive value first, before talking about any of your coaching services. Serve first, sell second.
• As always, align yourself with an event that has the same target audience as you
• Know upfront what other business owners will also be speaking about so you can make sure your content is differentiated from there’s

Marketing Strategy #6. Be a Podcast host or guest

With our on-the-go lifestyles, the popularity of podcasting has grown exponentially over the last few years.

For a coaching business specifically, the platform allows you to connect with customers on a much deeper level as the listener can hear the passion in your voice and the emotion behind your words.

If that’s not your forte, having your own podcast is not a must. Instead, you could consider appearing as a guest on someone else’s and still reach a large audience and provide massive value from there.

guest podcasting Pro Tips:

• Before you even approach a podcaster, be sure to listen to at least 2-3 podcasts to get a good sense of their content and so you’re well prepared to participate.
• Only approach channels that have the same target audiences as you.
• Have a look through their reviews so you can get a good idea of what the listeners like (and don’t like) about the show.
• Get your tech sorted. Nothing worse than low-quality audio!

Marketing Strategy #7. Networking groups

Networking is another great way to gain more exposure, especially to your local area for in-person events.

You can try your local BNI chapter, local business chambers, or other business groups. Or, you can try social media groups to find other online communities.

Networking groups Pro Tips:

• Have a goal. What do you actually want to achieve by going? Don’t just go to these events because you have been told that you should. Set a purpose, so you remain focused on it, rather than just aimlessly wandering around.
• Have a solid elevator pitch prepared and ready before you go.
• Whilst many predominantly run an online coaching business, business cards are still handy for in-person events and make it easy to remember your name, website etc.
• Dress the part – you want to be comfortable but also give a good impression.
• Use your coaching skills! Listen and ask good questions.

Marketing Strategy #8. Email Marketing

Email is one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential clients and stay in touch with existing ones. It provides a great way for you to share content with your audience, build relationships, and promote your services to new and past clients alike.

Plus, it’s relatively easy to set up and manage as long as you invest in a reputable email management system, for example, MailChimp, Aweber or Klaviyo.

Email marketing Pro Tips:

• Create an opt-in list that allows people who visit your website to sign up for news about upcoming events or webinars. This gives them an opportunity to learn more about what you have going on without being pushy or spammy
• Send emails that contain valuable information that might interest readers who aren’t necessarily looking for coaching specifically but might still benefit by learning something new. This is a great way to build trust.
• Personalised emails (i.e. where you use their name within the content or subject line) have better opening and click rates. As do interactive emails, (e.g. including a video)
• Be realistic. Our inboxes are overflowing so don’t be discouraged if not everyone reads all of your newsletters. For example, according to 2022 statistics from Oberlo, the average open rate for a welcome email is only eight percent.

Marketing Strategy #9. Paid advertising

Paid ads are one of the most effective ways to gain more clients for your business and build your brand. Plus, you can decide upfront exactly how much you want to spend and you can refine the targeting options to very specific audiences.

So, if you’ve got a budget for it, here are some great places to start:

Google Adwords

We all know it and we all use Google. So it just makes sense that boosting your business on there has a strong chance of giving you a solid ROI.

There are multiple ad options to choose from including text, image, videos etc. plus multiple budget choices such as impressions versus clicks. Between that and what can be a very complicated-looking dashboard, this can be overwhelming for some.

So, if you do want to utilise this service, my advice is to first get yourself familiar with the foundations and basic terms. Then, set a small budget to begin with and use that as a low-risk, learning opportunity before diving in further.

If you’re new to Google AdWords, Neil Patel offers a great overview and step-by-step guide to help you get started. And, Google itself offers a very handy checklist to follow here.

Facebook

This social media giant is the largest so there’s already a lot of noise out there and it’s true, reach is getting harder and harder.

It is still a good option though in that it can work with any budget, targeting options can be as specific as you need, and the insights make it easy to refine and optimise your campaigns.

Instagram

With over 2 billion monthly active users Instagram is another great option to promote your business. Like Facebook, budget choices, targeting options and insights are very good.

For example, say you’re a health coach that works with Australian mums over 40 who want to lose weight. You can create a social media campaign that targets that specific demographic, and within a budget you choose.

You Tube

Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine?! As such it’s getting a tonne of traffic and it’s not all funny cat videos and such. A lot of users come to YouTube for a variety of purposes such as education, inspiration, and motivation… which is right up your alley!

Interested? Check out this video: YouTube Marketing in 2022: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

LinkedIn

Being a work-centric space, this is a haven of quality clients for business coaches and the like. It can be expensive, but if this is where the ideal customers for your niche are, then it should be a worthwhile investment.

Final thoughts: How to market your coaching business effectively

I hope this article has given you a good overview of the different ways that you can promote your coaching business effectively and attract more potential clients.

Remember:

• Each strategy could warrant an individual article on its own (e.g. for each social media platform), so this is really just a taster to give you inspiration, and motivation to get started.
• As you go through each strategy, think about how it might fit into your overall marketing plan. The idea is not to use all of them (that would be exhausting!), but to hone in on the activities that work best for your business and your ideal clients.
• I suggest starting with at least 3. Educate yourself on the foundational details and best practices and get in there and just start experimenting.

Finally, don’t be afraid to delegate! There are experts who specialise in every single advertising option mentioned above. By hiring a pro, not only will you get the most out of your investment, but your time and energy will be free to do what you do best… coaching!

Good luck!
Libby Hogan ?
Coaching Website Specialist at Rivmedia Web Design and;
Founder of Coach Connect Australia

The post How To Market Your Coaching Business: 9 Effective Strategies appeared first on Rivmedia Web Design.

Creating Your Ideal Customer Avatar

In this article, we explore the importance of defining your ideal customers so you can confidently create marketing strategies that work.

Before we dive in though, do any of these situations sound familiar?

• You struggle to write content & social posts because you aren’t sure what your customers really want from you
• Or perhaps you are blogging, posting on social media and all that jazz… but getting poor engagement
• The marketing strategies you’re running don’t seem to inspire customers to take action
• You’re investing substantial hours in time (probably $$$ too) in advertising but not getting a great ROI
• When you do get leads, something just isn’t hitting the mark and your conversions are low
• Customers who aren’t ideal have been buying from you, and the outcomes aren’t great (for them and you) because the fit just isn’t quite right.

If you answered yes to any of these, know that you’re not alone. A lot of business owners struggle with this piece of the marketing puzzle.

Only by having a crystal-clear picture of who you want to reach, can you purposefully tailor your messaging to your target market. Only then can you have the strongest impact on your audience.

So, do you know exactly who you’re selling to?

It’s very easy to get caught up in what you’re selling and overlook who you are selling to. As a result, if you’re not reaching the right people in the right way, it doesn’t matter how good your offerings are… If you’re messaging isn’t on point, you won’t reach your sales goals.

But here’s where so many businesses come unstuck: Fear.

Fear that if you focus on a smaller group of people that it will restrict your business. The fact is though, if you try to help everyone, you’ll never help anyone.

When your marketing is communicated to a broad audience it becomes generic, uninspiring, and won’t address the specific problems your ideal customer wants to be solved. You won’t speak directly to the psychological drivers that influence their buying decisions.

This results in a lack of empathy, connection and subsequently, a lost sale.

Essentially, your ideal customer (AKA customer avatar, ideal client, buyer persona, ideal customer profile) forms the foundation for ALL your marketing efforts. So, if this isn’t on point, it can be like the kiss of death for your business.

What is a Customer Avatar / Ideal Customer Profile?

A Customer Avatar is a semi-fictional character that is based on your ideal customer. You create one by gathering demographic and psychographic data:

• Demographic data refers to things such as age, marital status, location, etc.
• Psychographic data is about a person’s personal traits such as fears, frustrations, wants, needs, buying motivations, and more.

This information helps you to understand your ideal customers better and target them specifically, rather than taking a hit & miss approach with a generalised audience.

Why having a Customer Avatar is the secret sauce to a successful business

At the foundation, knowing your ideal customer allows you to hone your marketing efforts to high-quality leads. Then, create messaging that resonates with them in the most compelling way possible, persuading them to buy.

This is by no means manipulative or salesly. You’re simply helping your perfect customers to achieve their desired outcomes because what you’re selling is exactly what they need…

And just like that, your sales process becomes simple, smooth, and much more likely to have a positive result.

Conversely, doing this also limits or even polarises those you don’t want to sell to.

As harsh as that may sound, it’s just as important. If you don’t target your marketing wisely, there’s a possibility that people who are not your ideal customer could buy from you. You may find it hard or even unpleasant working with them, simply because they’re not the right fit.

Plus, because they’re not the right fit and what you offer is not quite right for them, a positive outcome is less likely, and customer complaints are a real possibility… no one wins.

– “You can’t be all things to all people”
Joseph Abboud, American menswear fashion designer & author.

The more you can refine your ideal customer, the better you’ll understand what they want, how to reach them, how to get them to buy, and most importantly, how to give them the outcome they desire.

Plus, your marketing campaigns will be tailored to the exact type of people you want to work with… Everybody wins!

Before you can sell anything effectively, you need to understand your ideal customer completely. Then, integrate this knowledge across your entire business and marketing strategies.

Your Ideal Customer Profile: What to include

There are 5 major components to creating an ideal customer profile which include:

1. Demographics – To paint a clear, more personalised picture. This will help you to target & reach more quality leads.
2. Frustrations & Fears – The problems that your ideal customer wants to move away from. Plus, how these pain points make them feel so you can truly empathise and build a connection with them.
3. Wants & Desires – What they want to gain, how that will benefit them and the positive experience they will have as a result.
4. Transformations: Before and After States – What your ideal customer can expect to experience before and after purchasing your product, and how you can use that transformation as a highly effective motivator.
5. Buying objections and purchase drivers – Determining what might stop your ideal customer from buying and conversely, what will motivate them to buy. Knowing and addressing both will give you a huge advantage in your sales conversions.

Using it in your marketing strategies

Digital marketing has numerous elements. Social media, content marketing, email marketing, product descriptions, and the list goes on. Each discipline comes with its own skill set and way of being implemented.

Your ideal customer profile however is something that is applied across the board. For example:

• Blog Posts: Knowing your ideal customer will help you to determine which topics to write about on your blog. You will know what will be the most engaging and helpful to them. Even what kind of tone and language you should use that will be the most appealing.
• Products: Knowing your ideal customers’ wants and needs will help you create products that are exactly what they are actually looking for. Then, describe and present them in a way that speaks to their needs and inspires them to buy.
• Social Media: Choosing which platforms to invest the most in will become clearer. Which one/s your ideal customer spends the most time on, and when. As well as what content they are most likely to engage with.

All your marketing efforts will improve once you are crystal clear on who your ideal customers are. That’s where the Customer Avatar Worksheet comes in!

With this practical and quickly actionable document, you’ll be able to create highly targeted content that speaks directly to your ideal customers. It will help you to find new customers, create meaningful connections with them, improve your sales cycle and subsequently drive more conversions.

Ready to dive in?

Great! You can complete the worksheet online (via google docs) or download it as a Word Document to complete n your computer (or print and write on if you’re old school! ?). I’ve provided some instructions below… don’t stress, it’s easy!

Google Docs Instructions:

1. Follow this link to the worksheet and sign in to your Google account if you’re not already
2. Go to File, click Make A Copy, and then save it to your Google Drive
3. Once you click OK, your copy of the resource will open and you’ll be able to start editing it

Microsoft Word Instructions:

1. Follow this link to the worksheet
2. Go to File, click Download
3. Select Microsoft Word and save it to your desired location. Easy Peasy!

Pssst! Before you go. Are you an action-taker who would like more guidance?

The above worksheet to create your ideal customer profile template is a great start and will help you implement better marketing strategies. Want to take an even deeper dive though to ensure you really nail down your ideal customer?

We offer an online course that will give you a greater understanding, and we’ll walk you through the process step-by-step.

You will learn:

• What an ideal customer profile is exactly, how it can be used to refine & improve your marketing, and why it is the secret sauce to a successful business
• How to go about collecting data and what critical pieces of information to include so you can target higher-quality leads
• How to identify the frustrations, fears, wants & desires that your ideal customer has & the emotions associated with them so you can make them feel heard & understood, and genuinely build a connection.
• The psychology behind buying choices and what switches your product or service from a “nice to have” to a “must-have”
• Factors that might stop your ideal customer from buying and conversely, what will motivate them to buy. Knowing and addressing both will give you and your sales team a huge advantage in gaining new customers and increasing your sales conversions.
• What your ideal customer can expect to experience before and after purchasing your product, and how you can use that transformation as a highly effective buying motivator.

Our courses are about taking action, not just consuming content.

This course was created to save you time, money & frustration, not to add yet another thing to your to-do list that ends up collecting digital dust on your computer.

Our step-by-step guides will give you the resources to confidently take action that will move your business forward, so you can finally get the results you desire!

Sound good?

Learn more about the Ideal Customer Avatar Course.

The post Successful marketing: It starts with your ideal customer appeared first on Rivmedia Web Design.

We’re at the start of the New Year which is often a time when people think about making updates to their websites. One change that is incredibly important to make is also a task that so many overlook. Your website copyright date.

Ok, so it’s not as exciting as adding new products, changing some images, or uploading a new blog post. But, it’s more important than most people realise, for 2 crucial reasons:

1. To build trust and boost your brand’s reputation
2. To protect your hard work and IP (intellectual property)

A quick note: The following information is for guidance only. I’m not a solicitor so this is not legal advice. It is written based on my knowledge of online marketing, website best practices, and Australian copyright law.

Now that I’ve covered my bum ? ?… For those that aren’t well-versed in website copyright, I have provided a quick and straightforward explanation of what it entails below. Then we can dive into why keeping it up-to-date is so important.

What is a website copyright notice?

It is a notice saying that the work within the website is owned by you and is protected by copyright laws. This protection gives you the right to control how your material is used and most importantly, prohibits others from copying or using it without permission.

The good news for Australians is that as soon as you publish material online (blog post, written content, photos etc.), copyright ownership is automatically applied.

Things get a little more complicated when it comes to your website’s code and design, but that isn’t relevant to this particular post (important to chat about it with your web developer though). The main thing you need to know is this:

With the exception of working directly for an employer (does not include freelancing), unless they agree to transfer it, the person who created the material owns the copyright.

If you want more information on copyright issues concerning the creation and management of websites, the Australian Copyright Council has a very useful Fact Sheet you can download here.

If copyright is automatically applied, why do I need a copyright notice?

In short, because some people suck. ?

Content theft is prevalent on the internet. A common (and annoying!) misconception is that if something is online; because it’s readily available you are welcome to do what you please with it. This is not true. ?‍

Another reason is that some people are just jerks who steal content instead of investing the time and/or money to create their own. ?

Adding a copyright notice on your website is not a legal requirement to assert your rights, but it does make your ownership of the content clear and will hopefully help to discourage theft.

Why an up-to-date website copyright notice is so important

1. To build trust and boost your brand’s reputation

When a visitor lands on a site that has last year’s date (or worse, even older! ?), many will assume the content is also outdated and therefore of low value.

Or, it could even leave them with the impression that if the owner can’t be bothered to stay on top of such a simple task, what else are they neglecting? Are they lazy, disinterested or just don’t care?

We all know how important first impressions are and your website is often the first place people will go to check out your business. When it comes to websites, people do judge a book by its cover and will form an opinion quickly.

So, an outdated website can often come off as unprofessional and negatively influence how a customer perceives your business.

I explore this further in this article too if you’re interested:
How often should I redesign my website?

Your copyright date may be a small piece of the puzzle, but it all adds up and contributes to how you are perceived online.

Conversely, displaying the correct date will subsequently have the opposite effect.

You will help to build trust and authority by leaving visitors with the impression that your site is up with the latest trends and information. It also demonstrates that your website and online presence matter to you, and in turn, so do your customers.

2. To protect your hard work and IP

As mentioned above, content theft is sadly not uncommon, so by including a current copyright notice you are providing yourself with some extra protection. It also helps should an infringement occur and you need to take legal action.

A lot of time and/or money goes into creating the content that goes up on your website. So, having that content stolen can be really disheartening (not to mention aggravating!). Hence, doing what you can to avoid this experience is…

How to nail your website copyright notice

To be the most effective, you want your notice to be visible on every page of your site, which is why you will usually find it within the footer.

And, to be valid, it needs to include 3 parts:

1. The copyright symbol ©, or the words “Copyright” or “Copr.”
   (You can use one or the other, or both.)
2. Current year
3. Name of the copyright owner

Current year: As websites are regularly updated, you have two options here. You can either provide the current year (2023).

Or, a date range indicating the year of original publication to the most recent (2014-2023). Either option is fine, it’s just a matter of preference. I personally prefer to keep it simple and just have the current year.

Name of the copyright owner: For individuals, you can simply use your name. It’s preferable that you use your legal name (i.e. not a pseudonym, handle or alias).

For businesses, you need to use your registered company name (not trading name) for the notice to be valid. For example, here’s my copyright notice: © 2023 Rivmedia Pty Ltd.

You will observe that it states Rivmedia Pty Ltd as that is my company name. Rivmedia Web Design is my trading name and as such is not a legal entity that can own IP.

Final Thoughts

Keeping your copyright date current is one of the simplest tasks to complete yet can have an impactful result. More so when combined with staying on top of your other updates and marketing strategies also.

So, kick off the New Year on a positive note. Show your visitors that you are up to date, that you care, and you’re on your game ?

Need help with your website updates or marketing strategies?

Chat with me today to create a digital marketing plan for your best year yet!

The post Kick-Start the New Year with this simple, yet important website update appeared first on Rivmedia Web Design.

Practical advice to stay competitive and get the most out of your digital marketing in 2021

No one can predict what is in store for the business world post-COVID-19. What we do know for sure is that when the pandemic forced everyone indoors, they turned to the internet to consume information and shop online, making digital marketing a top priority for all businesses.

With our ever-increasing busy lifestyles and the convenience the online world provides, this shift in habits is unlikely to go back to how it was before the pandemic, the consumer landscape has changed forever.

So, in order to stay competitive, businesses need to continue to evolve.

If you’re in the process of building or revitalising your digital marketing, here is some useful information and actionable steps to help you stay on track.

Smart digital marketing tips post-COVID

Today, there’s no telling when the post-COVID era will happen exactly. But what’s certain is that after the pandemic ends, businesses will continue to work on rebuilding themselves or may even need to start from scratch.

Brick-and-mortar industries might have to work harder to reach an ideal level of stability. However, the future seems brighter for online businesses, as more shoppers have been and will continue to make purchases online because it’s cheaper and more convenient — with or without a pandemic.

This means that when businesses and people recover from the effects of the pandemic, all your digital marketing efforts will continue to pay off and provide your business with that competitive edge.

But if you haven’t ramped up your digital marketing strategy before, now is a good time to start by implementing these tips:

1. Update your website.

Now is the time to do a site audit and see your website for what it is. Does it load slowly? Does it look old-fashioned? Is it functional, responsive, and user-friendly?

During your site audit, make sure you identify information, photos, and other media or content that require updating. Fix errors and take note of page loading times. Check out competitor websites to find out if there’s anything you’ve missed or information you should be providing but isn’t there.

Ensure your website is mobile-responsive and if it isn’t, brace yourself for the possibility of needing to build an entirely new website.

>> See our tips here to help you get the most out of your current website as well as questions to ask to determine if it’s time to re-develop.

2. Post content regularly on social media.

If you have social media accounts set up for your business, start using those to reach out and engage with your audience.

Social media is a great space to put the word out about your company, products, and services, even on a tight budget. There’s also plenty of content you can include in your social media calendar, including:

• Updates about your products/services, including launches
• Sale or discount promotions
• Photos or videos of your offerings
• Content that gives your audience an insider’s look into what goes on in your business
• Live selling or promotions
• Games, quizzes, surveys
• Content about or from your brand ambassadors
• Testimonials and reviews
• A featured employee of the month
• Corporate social responsibility events or programs
• Videos or images that resonate with or relate to your brand

>> Check out more awesome social media posts ideas by Sprout Social

3. Improve customer service.

There are plenty of opportunities to show your leads and customers you care by providing personalised and prompt customer service. This includes answering enquiries and replying to comments or reviews in a timely manner. Your staff needs to not only be able to address questions and comments but also be trained on how to respond properly to negative reviews and when to escalate certain complaints.

Customer service continues to make a big difference in how loyal consumers are to certain brands. By providing your customers seamless, professional customer service, the more loyal they’ll be and more likely to refer your business to their own network.

4. Optimise your consumer database.

In the course of conducting your business, you would have collected a number of email addresses, social media accounts, and mobile phone numbers. Use these to your advantage in creating integrated email and SMS blasts and social media campaigns.

You should also dig into your customer database and take time to get to know your buyer personas and who your customers really are. You can also tap into your leads and see if you can reconnect and engage with them so they turn into customers.

5. Outsource some of your digital marketing tasks.

If you have a small team or budget and do not have the expertise to handle digital marketing tasks, it might be time to look into outsourcing these to digital marketing experts. These include website development — which we can definitely help you with — plus website marketing, social media marketing, e-commerce store setup, and so on.

This way, you won’t need to hire full-time employees to perform these highly specialised functions. Instead, you’ll have access to the expertise you need for as long as you want, minus the big budget for salaries and benefits.

Business growth post-COVID

One of the biggest and hardest lessons companies worldwide have learned from the pandemic is that the most agile businesses that can easily adapt to changing times not only survive but also thrive amidst crises like COVID-19.

This business agility pertains to companies being able to work with an online business model — or, at the very least, having an online presence. So don’t get left behind.

For your web design or digital marketing needs, you can find plenty of info here on our website, or feel free to get in touch with us for a chat. We can work together to build or boost your digital presence and optimise your business growth.

Further Resources:

• Why is Responsive Design So Important? – Why does responsive design matter? Why do you need it? Get all your questions about website responsiveness answered here.
• Why Will the COVID-19 Crisis Boost Digital Marketing in the Future? – The coronavirus crisis may seem like a huge threat to businesses but digital marketing may in fact take a great leap forward as a result.
• Effects of Covid-19 on digital marketing – The pandemic has compelled businesses to transition online to showcase their products and services. This, in turn, has prompted brands to create content that is contextual and relevant in order to garner a larger mindshare from their customer base.

The post Post Covid-19: Now is the time you need to elevate your digital marketing appeared first on Rivmedia Web Design.

If you build it, they will come

After investing time and money into a website, there’s nothing more frustrating than low website traffic. In this article, we list the main factors that can affect site visits & what you can do to increase them.

So many times I see people who mistakenly think that just because they launch a website, site visitors will automatically come. Truth is, this is not Field of Dreams and just because you build it does not mean customers will magically appear, no matter how good your website is.

Think of it this way, if you held a party but didn’t send anyone an invite, how many people would even know about it, let alone turn up?

Beyond that, even if you are promoting your website gaining those clicks is getting harder and harder. It’s mandatory for practically all businesses to have a website now so the internet is heavily saturated with competition making it difficult to rank well and stand out from the crowd.

Factors that can affect website traffic & what you can do

Brand New?

If your website is brand new it won’t just appear in search engine results immediately. First, your site has to be submitted to search engines and then they need time to crawl your site and index it. Be patient and make sure everything is done on your end (site submission, sitemaps etc.) to help this process.

Hopefully, your web designer has already done this for you, but if not, here’s a great article to help you out: How to Submit Your Website to Search Engines.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

It goes without saying that having a quality website to begin with is an important factor but not just in how it looks, but in how it performs too. A lot of the factors covered below can be held under the umbrella of SEO and if you manage them all: Good SEO = better ranking = increased website traffic.

Your website has to be optimised to help get people to it in the first place. This is where in-site SEO comes in,  such as appropriate use of keywords, proper use of titles and meta descriptions, quality code, optimised images and so on.

This is such a large field it’s impossible to cover everything, so my advice on this point is to either ensure you find yourself a web developer that is proficient with it or be willing to invest a good deal of time in educating yourself about it.

Use social media

The impact of social media on website traffic is two-fold. Firstly, if you have reasonable engagement and social shares, these can help your Google ranking as well as expose you to a wider audience. Secondly, the posts themselves can drive traffic to your site via page links, blog posts etc.

Best of all, you can take advantage of all of this for free! Of course, you can use the paid facilities to boost things further, but if you’re sharing quality content you might not need to spend a cent.

If the thought of posting regularly on social media makes you cringe, there are a few options to consider. Firstly, there’s a huge market for social media managers out there, so if you have the budget, outsource it!

However, if you need to manage it yourself and posting regularly is too hard, aim for at least once a week or even once a fortnight… anything is better than nothing. There’s a range of scheduling tools that are available to help make this easier; Facebook, for example, has its own in-built scheduling tool and one of my personal favourite all-rounders is Later.

Don’t forget why you’re reading this article;
you want more website traffic and social media is an effective way of getting it.

Finally, choose your platforms wisely; you don’t have to be on all of them. For example, LinkedIn is effective for B2B companies, whereas creative businesses tend to have better engagement on Instagram & Pinterest.

Find out which ones are best for your industry and stick to them. Setting up a page isn’t enough, you need to be active on your accounts. So if time, motivation and/or budget are a problem, I suggest choosing 2 and doing those well.

Are you blogging?

Blogging can be time-consuming and at times tricky to come up with new content, but it’s a worthwhile exercise. By creating regular new content you can achieve the following;

• Provide helpful and/or engaging content that your readers will appreciate (which hopefully results in a share or purchase)
• It shows Google that your website (and business) is active and fresh thus helping your ranking (Google doesn’t favour stale websites)
• If you blog quality content, it too will rank well and drive more traffic to your site
• It also provides additional content you can share on social media.

Google Analytics

If you’re not utilising Google Analytics, you should be! It’s a great tool for understanding your site visitors and how they engage with your website. It provides insights into what you are doing well and what you can improve.

What works is always changing so this is an ongoing process and one you should get used to checking in on. It takes a while to build up enough data to start analysing it, but once your site has been up for at least a few months you can start experimenting and tweaking.

Poorly performing website

If a website takes too long to load, is difficult to navigate, confusing, unattractive, or just plain boring people can be pretty brutal and leave very quickly. This can affect what is called your “bounce rate.” A high bounce rate (where people leave your site quickly) can be interpreted by Google that your site is obviously of little value, which can lower your rankings.

If you have google analytics installed you can check a number of statistics including bounce rates to help you determine what changes you need to make to improve things.

Mobile-friendly & secure websites

With a huge number of website traffic coming from mobile phones, a responsive website is no longer optional but a must. If people can’t easily view and use your site on mobile, this too can affect your bounce rate which = lower ranking and less traffic.

Furthermore, the responsiveness of your site is a contributing factor to how Google ranks your site and you will be pushed lower than your competitor’s sites if you’re not meeting best practice guidelines. The same goes for sites that don’t have an SSL certificate (security for your website).

Here are a couple of related articles that explain the above in more detail:

Website not secure? – Here’s how to fix it
Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

Keyword-focused content

Keywords are the terms and phrases that people enter into a search engine to find you online. So when writing your content you need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, determine what they will search for and write your content accordingly. Doing this well will give you a better chance of your content showing up among the results.

At the same time, this has to be done the right way and if you go too far with it (this is called keyword stuffing) it can actually work against you and lower your rankings. A good rule of thumb is to keep keywords and SEO in mind, but write for your audience first and Google second.

Backlinks

No website was meant to be an island, but rather a part of a much larger interconnected “web” (www = world wide web). The number of backlinks your site has is an indication of its popularity and importance so to google these act as a thumbs-up so to speak because your content is obviously valuable if people are happy to link to it.

As with keywords, there are certain do’s and don’ts to avoid being penalised.

Do:

• Create great content that people want to link to
• Share on social media
• Comment on other websites/blogs with relevant content – but don’t spam!
• Guest post
• Ensure your backlinks are quality links
• Ask clients to link to your content

Don’t:

• Pay for backlinking schemes
• Send spammy emails asking for backlinks
• Inject links into other websites

Final Thoughts

As you can see there are a number of factors that affect the amount of website traffic your site can receive. A lot of these factors may require professional assistance such as SEO (both in-site and external), content creation, social media management and so on. However, with a little time and education, there’s a lot you can do yourself with little financial investment.

It’s also prudent to remember that this is an ongoing process that you have to be consistent with.

The post Why is my website traffic so low? (and what to do about it) appeared first on Rivmedia Web Design.

Negative Online Reviews and how to deal with them

It’s never pleasant receiving poor feedback but negative online reviews are not necessarily a bad thing & can actually be used to your advantage.

In this digital age, online reviews now play a huge role in influencing customer’s buying choices. According to a recent survey by Bright Local a whopping 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (see full survey results here). With that in mind, I often hear concerns from new businesses about setting up social media accounts or listing their business on directory websites purely because of their fear of possibly receiving negative online reviews.

In my opinion, this is nothing to fear; not only do the benefits of online reviews far outweigh the risks but as strange as it may sound, receiving negative feedback is not necessarily a bad thing.

Negative Online Reviews can actually be used to your advantage for a number of reasons:

• You’re human and humans aren’t perfect so seeing the odd negative comment among your list of reviews can make them more authentic (and not just a heap of 5-star reviews submitted by your friends!)
• If other potential customers see that you are actively handling problems (and not ignoring unhappy customers) this is going to give them greater confidence in you.
• You may just receive some feedback that helps you to improve your products and/or services; contributing to the growth and ongoing success of your business.

How to Respond to Negative Online Reviews

Respond promptly, but take a deep breath first

People expect a quick response in the online world so you need to deal with this promptly, but at the same time when you are best equipped to do so. Understandably you might feel sad or angry after reading negative online reviews but the worst thing you can do is respond to them when you’re still upset. So go grab a coffee & some chocolate and deal with it after you’ve cooled down and have a clear head.

Be professional and understand the customer’s point of view

There’s nothing worse than reading a response to a negative review that is defensive, making excuses, or sometimes even rude; even if you disagree with their comments or if they are being unreasonable you need to be polite, professional and keep your personal thoughts to yourself. You need to try and understand why the customer has posted it and what their pain points are if you hope to have a successful outcome.

If the review is valid:

If they have a justifiable complaint, take responsibility for it and do what you must to address the situation. Most people understand that sometimes things just don’t go quite to plan, but if you take ownership of it and resolve the situation you’ll earn their respect and they may even change their review as a result. Furthermore, if other current or potential customers see this, it will give them greater confidence in your customer service.

If the review is unfair:

No matter what you do, there will be the odd occasion where someone just cannot be satisfied and may even be unreasonable. In these cases, again address the customer’s complaint and make it known what steps you have taken to resolve the issue. Even if they don’t change/remove their review, most people understand that some people just cannot be pleased, but if you at least demonstrate that you have tried everything to make a difficult customer happy, it’s only going to reflect positively on you.

Take it offline if necessary

If things don’t go quite to plan, it might be prudent to take the conversation offline. Provide them with your direct contact details so you can deal with it privately; any continual negative back-and-forth that is public won’t be helpful to anyone.

If it comes to it, ask for the review to be removed

If the review is intentionally malicious or breaks any rules (swearing, personal attacks, etc.) you can reach out to the site owner and ask for it to be removed. This can be a slow process sometimes or the site owner might disagree with you, so it’s always best to try everything else first and remember to keep your cool.

Learn and move forward

It’s never pleasant receiving a negative review but you can also turn it into a positive by learning something from it. As a result of the negative feedback you can:

• Address any flaws in your products and/or services that might have been previously overlooked
• Re-write some of your website copy or terms & conditions to give customers more accurate expectations
• Adjust some of your business practices to address the issues raised
• Learn how to avoid certain problems in the future or if they do arise, be able to deal with them appropriately

Final note: “How many people are completely successful in every department of life? Not one. The most successful people are the ones who learn from their mistakes and turn their failures into opportunities.” Zig Ziglar

More Helpful Links

Here are some related articles you might find useful:

• Online reviews – a guide for business & review platforms:
  This guide has been designed to help you ensure the integrity of reviews on your site or about your business…
• Local Consumer Review Survey:
  This survey explores how consumers read and use online reviews. The information contained in this survey helps businesses and digital marketing agencies qualify the value of consumer reviews and how reviews impact consumers’ opinions and actions when searching for local businesses…
• Google+ It’s more important than you think:
  We all know that reviews play a huge role in online marketing and influencing a customer’s buying choices. As Google is by far the most popular search engine, having reviews on there is super important!…

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Tips for Starting a New Business

Starting a new business is an exciting and empowering experience, it can get a little daunting or even confusing at times though, so here are some basic steps to get you started in the best way possible.

1. Choose and register your business name

Sounds pretty simple right?

And you may already have chosen your business name, but before locking anything in, we suggest asking yourself the following:

1. Is it easy to spell and pronounce? (there’s nothing worse than trying to “google” a business name when you can’t spell it correctly)
2. Is it memorable?
3. Is it available? (both the business name itself through ASIC and the domain i.e. www.yourbusinessname.com.au)

Even if you don’t plan on getting a website straight away, it’s a good idea to lock in the domain name anyway so you have it ready to go. It’s also a good idea to “google” any potential business names to make sure there isn’t something similar out there already that you don’t want to be associated with or that might cause confusion.

It would also be prudent to do a Trademark search and consider if it is something you may want for your business. If someone else has already registered a Trademark and is providing similar goods and services, it is irrelevant if you have registered the business name with ASIC and you could be breaching trademark rights.

Relevant Links:

Check business availability through ASIC
Check domain name availability through Netregistry
Conduct a Trademark search through the IP Australia website

2. Choose a Business structure

The four main business structures used by small businesses are; Sole traders, Partnerships, Trusts, and Companies.

There are advantages and disadvantages for each so we recommend conducting some research of your own to understand them and which would best suit your business. We also highly recommend finding yourself a good accountant and seeking their advice as to which structure they would recommend for your business from a taxation point of view.

There is a wealth of information on business structures and types within the business.gov.au website.

3. Do the research and have a plan

Before investing a tonne of time and money, we recommend getting in and doing the hard yards with both research and planning. Believe me, it will pay off in the long run and possibly save yourself some heartache.

I’m going to assume you’re already well educated in whatever product or service you plan to provide but have you done any market research?

Not only do you need to know all about your potential customers; what they want, where you will find them, and how to convert them to existing customers; but you also need to know your competitors as well.

Who are your competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What point of difference are you going to offer to separate yourself from the competition?

Keep in mind that marketing is essential to any business, so it’s important to make it part of your ongoing business plan.

So what about the business plan – If you’re groaning I totally understand, writing them is tedious and a lot of work but they do help you to identify your goals and therefore figure out how you are going to attain them. Your business will grow and evolve over time so it’s also wise to revise your plan accordingly.

“Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” -Richard Cushing

Here’s another great resource from the business.gov website on how to write a business plan.

4. Branding and Getting Online

Now comes the fun part, sorting out your branding, and getting online!

Branding is more than just a logo, it’s how your customers identify and experience your business. Your branding can literally end up everywhere; on your business card, website, uniforms, print materials, and more, so getting the concept, quality, and impression you want to make right to begin with is pretty important. Again, pre-planning and putting some thought into your initial brand and logo design is important and will save you time and headaches in the long run; re-branding is a major task and one you want to avoid.

Getting Online – No matter what business you’re in, having a website these days is a must; more and more consumers are using the internet as the first place to look for the products and services they need so if you’re not online, you don’t exist! There are 3 primary types of websites, HTML, CMS (such as WordPress), and E-Commerce and you need to decide which type you need. There are pros and cons for each so do some research and speak to your web designer about what would work best for you and your business.

5. Be persistent, be prepared, be adaptable!

Initially, it’s pretty exciting starting a business, then the reality of how hard it can be, kicks in and it can be overwhelming but if you can push through it, it can also be very rewarding!

So here are our final tips:

Be persistent – passion is not enough, you need to work your ass off. Success won’t happen instantly, you need to work for it, and keep trying.
Be prepared – there will be bumps and setbacks along the way but don’t look at them as failures, use them as a learning experience and stay positive.
Be Adaptable – Always be thinking of ways to evolve your business; how can you do better? How can you embrace new trends and technology? Never stop re-evaluating, there is always room to improve and grow.

Helpful Links

• BEC Business Advice – BEC Business Advice delivers advice and assistance to local businesses across the Riverina and southern, and west NSW. From startup to social media & beyond.
• Wagga Wagga Business Chamber – As the leading advocate for business, the Chamber is proud to be a vital part of the Wagga Wagga community and is a strong campaigner for its broad and diverse member businesses to help build a climate of growth and success that benefit the whole community. From the moment you join, you can increase your networking opportunities and take advantage of the many benefits of being a Chamber Member.

Ready to get started?

Rivmedia Web Design specialises in working with start-ups and we love seeing people’s entrepreneurial dreams come true! Get in touch with us today and let’s chat about getting your dream business up and running.

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