Here are 5 proven steps you could follow to get started selling your service online. The good thing is you can start implementing them straightaway.
You believe you have skills…
You believe you have something to offer.
And you believe that your skill is something people need. But for some reason, no one is hiring you.
You’ve tried everything – handbills, word of mouth, directory listings, BBM broadcast messages.
You’ve even bought email addresses and spammed them.
But still, you’re void of clients.
And worst of all, you’re going broke.
You need a way out, but all doors seem to be closed and you feel confused and helpless.
You think your problem is that no one wants you. But you’re wrong…many people need you.
Here’s the real problem…
You’ve Been Doing It Wrong
You’re probably using those methods because you got some advice from a friend who may have never gotten a single client online before. You tried out his advice only to get no results.
The truth is, those methods you’ve used actually work, but not for the kind of business you want to build. And even if they worked and you got any clients, you’ll burn out working with them because they won’t pay your rates.
Putting in more effort won’t get you any results either. You need to change your strategy.
Now I’m sure you’ve heard online rants about the importance of having a blog. And you already know that the only way you can get the kind of clients you want is to create a blog that would attract them.
But you’re avoiding it! Not because you don’t know how it works, but because you feel it’ll be too much work for you. You want to the faster way out.
You Have To Do The Work
What I’m about to show you is a blueprint for setting yourself up online so you can actually get more clients. But there’s a lot of work involved. And even though I’m writing this post, I sometimes don’t look forward to doing the work.
In fact, sometimes I avoid it completely and cover up by doing other things.
But at the end of the day, since I want to build a service business that helps my clients, I have no choice.
And I don’t think you have a choice either.
Here are 5 proven steps you could follow to get started selling your service online. The good thing is you can start implementing them straightaway.
1. Define Your Service For Clearer Direction
There’s someone who needs what you’re selling. There’s someone who would appreciate the skills you have to offer. What you have to do in this step is to find that someone.
Now this is the most important part of the whole process. At the same time, most of us skip this part because it involves a lot of thinking. The importance of this step is to help you know the kind of business you’re building.
Simply answer this: What am I selling? And who needs what I’m selling?
To answer this, outline all the kinds of people you think would pay top dollar for your service. That should get you started.
2. Build A Website And Populate With Content
This is probably another step you’ve been avoiding, but you also can’t skip it because this is how your clients would find you.
Your website is like your home. It’s where you sleep and wake. It’s where you entertain visitors. It’s where you hold slumber parties and cook great dishes for those who come around. Without your own professional website, you’re homeless.
And clients won’t pay top dollar to homeless people.
So, what are the steps to having your website?
- Get a domain name: A domain name is what you type into the address bar to visit your website (e.g. www.yourname.com)
- Build a professional website: There are various WordPress themes to choose from, but there’re only a few I recommend. You can read my biased review of the Genesis framework and why I think it’s the best theme for people who sell services online.
- Create your content: There are specific pages your website must have. This includes an about page, services page, landing page (like this one), and a homepage (pretty obvious, right?)
- Optimize for search engines: No one really likes SEO, but you should do it for two reasons – so that people will find you and so that Google will find you.
3. Use Email Marketing To Capture Your Visitors
By capture, I don’t mean bind them in chains and torture them. Even if you were a psychopath, that won’t be possible anyway.
With email marketing, you simply use email to engage your audience while selling your services to them. Unlike what you’re used to, this doesn’t happen on social media or your website.
It happens via email. Why? Because when it comes to selling, email is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined.
So, how do you use email marketing to engage your audience and persuade them to pay for your services?
The first thing you need to do is to integrate an email marketing software with your website. This is what would make the process seamless, and would require little effort from you. Email marketing software is what helps you retain your visitors as subscribers on your site.
However, to convert your visitors to subscribers, they need to sign up. For this to be effective, you also need is a sign up incentive (or lead magnet) that would interest them. For my blog, my sign up incentive is a more detailed version of this post on how to start getting your first few leads online. Why? My target is the skilled professional who wants to learn the ropes of getting leads and clients for his services online.
4. Use Social Media To Increase Awareness Of Your Personal Brand
I’m not the social media kind of guy. I don’t know how to hang out for hours on Facebook or Twitter. But that’s no excuse for not using it for my business. As addictive as it can get, you need to use this addiction to your advantage.
How? Get active and build communities on social networks where your audience is. There are only a few social networks you should invest your time in. If you defined your business well enough, you’ll know the right ones to use.
Once you’re clear on that, the next step is to set up your business pages on your chosen social networks. This helps increase your social proof by attracting fans and followers.
5. Use Traffic To Get The Clients You Need
This is the part that makes it all work – traffic generation. However, it is the part with the most tactics and schemes, some of which are not only confusing but ineffective.
Traffic is really important because it is what gives your website the attention it needs. Also, it is important that you get relevant traffic to your website and that you convert that traffic into subscribers/leads.
One of the most effective ways of getting traffic is guest blogging. Depending on your drive, this can be really tiring, but at the same time, very rewarding. All it involves is you publishing content on authority blogs where you know your clients are.
This is also the step where you populate your blog with content. The reason for this is so that when traffic from these authority blogs comes to your website, there would be valuable content on your site for them to read.
Besides, having quality content on your blog is a good enough portfolio for a potential client.
Setting yourself up online for clients to hire you is not a day’s job. But it is necessary if you’re working towards having consistent cash flow in your service business. In my blueprint, I’ve broken down these 5 steps into 20 simple bite-sized steps you can easily follow.
So if you want something more actionable that you can follow and tick off your to-do list, put in your name and email address below and you’ll get your free blueprint in your inbox.
What do you think? What struggles have you experienced while trying to sell your services online? Share your thoughts in the comments below.