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8 Secrets to Fill Your Business in 60 Days
By Donna Gunter (c) 2009 OnlineBizU.com

Recently I was asked in an interview to imagine that I was
starting all over again, and as a  newbie, how I would fill
my business in 60 days. Things have changed tremendously
since I began my online business in 1999, mostly for the
better. Most of the steps, however remain the same. Best
of all, the strategies I recommend to fill your business
are the same  ones that can be applied to any business, and
then applied again and again to other online ventures.
Here are 8 secrets to filling the  prospect funnel in your
business in 60 days:

1.  Success mind set. Don't gloss over this  strategy --
it may be the most important of  all. If you truly want to
succeed in your  business and are passionate about what you
do,  nothing will hold you back. This often means that
you have to step out in faith that you'll succeed, and
most importantly, believe in yourself as a success. Sure,
you may stumble, or even fall, but you must be willing to
pick yourself back up and persevere -- even without  a
safety net hanging under you.

2.  Target market. The biggest mistake that business
owners make is wanting to sell to everyone. If you've
tried this, you have no doubt discovered that casting your
net around everyone is a very difficult task. Narrowing
that group to a more manageable number will actually serve
you much better, believe it or not. If you can identify a
smaller group of  hungry prospects who are willing to pay
for the  solutions to the problems that keep them awake at
night (or those who are willing to pay for  more
information about a hobby or interest that occupies much
of their free time) AND who are reachable in groups
(associations, membership  sites, magazines, newsletters,
discussion forums or lists, social networking groups,
etc.), then you have made a key discovery that will
catapult your business forward.

3.  Client Attraction Device. You've heard it said time
and time again that "the money is in the list." This
still holds true today, as well. Without a list of
interested prospects to whom you can market, you don't
have a business. The quickest way to begin to develop  a
list is to give something away. Yes, you  heard me
correctly. If you have content you have already created,
dig through that to see if you have something appropriate
for your chosen target market.

If not, identify a problem of your target market, and
create some content that answers one of those problems.
Perhaps it's a checklist, a Top 10 list, an ebook or
special report, an audio interview, a pod cast, a video
-- do whatever is easiest for you. Just ensure  that it is
in a plug and play format, i.e. don't make your prospect
download some weird  software that's not commonplace to
read and view this material.

Make sure that your Client Attraction Device has some
valuable content in it.  Nothing is more frustrating to me
than to read a free giveway that only serves to remind me
that I have a problem and offers no solution unless I pay
for it. Don't be afraid to demonstrate your expertise by
giving "how to" information away. Trust me, if you are
truly good at what you do, there's no way that you can
share everything you know on a topic in one short
information product. Your Client Attraction Device starts
your prospects on the like, know, and trust road that is
imperative for them to travel before they will decide to
buy something  from you.

4.  Email marketing system. You must have some  way to
collect your prospect's information and  a system by which
you can stay in contact with them. The best way to do
this is by purchasing email marketing services. Do not
use a free service for this, nor try to  send emails out of
your Outlook program. If  you want to be a serous online
business owner, invest in the most important asset in your
business -- your email marketing system.

5.  Blogsite. A blogsite, which is a  web site/blog
hybrid, is the quickest way to  build an online presence.
The two most popular blogging platforms, the fee-based
Typepad and open source software Wordpress, can be used to
create a blogsite very quickly. If you want either of
them customized with a particular look or feel, that may
take a bit longer and require a greater investment.
However, either  will work well to get you started, and
both will permit you to enter your email marketing
system's signup code onto a page so that you can
immediately begin to collect contact information from
prospects who have requested your Client Attraction Device.

6. Stay in touch. Whether you do this by submitting
regular blog posts or publishing an email newsletter (or
both), you need to reach out and touch your prospects at
least weekly (or several times a week if you are
blogging).  Give them some insights about what's happening
with you personally as well as sharing some aspect of
your expertise with them by creating a content-rich
article or answering their  questions. And, don't forget
to sell -- offer some product or service in each email
newsletter, or submit regular blog posts that remind your
readers about what you are selling.

7.  Social networking. Never before have we had the
opportunity to connect with others online easily and
inexpensively as we do now with social networking. Create
profiles on the  social networks) used by your target
market, do research to add friends/followers in your
target market, and use the status updates to be useful to
your followers, i.e. by sharing  resources, asking
questions, and updating them about how you help
clients/customers.

8.  Drive traffic to your site. There are a  number of
ways to accomplish this, but my  favorite starts with
writing an article.  Once it's written, I publish it in my
ezine, my  blog, and to my web site and syndicate it on
article directories all over the Web. Then I  have the
option of making a pod cast with the content; creating a
screencast video or "talking head" video from it; writing
and submitting a press release; creating a teleclass;
create a Q&A radio show interview opportunity; breaking up
the points as separate Twitter posts, or Tweets, and
tweeting them to  my followers; or sharing it on my Squidoo
lens or other information-sharing portals. The  point
here is to work once and profit, profit, profit.
Repurpose one article as many ways as you can to drive
traffic back to your blogsite and thus get more and more
prospects to sign up  on your list and ultimately convert
them to  customers.

The advent of the Internet makes it easier than  every to
create and promote a business online with very little
startup capital. And, if done correctly, the strategies
will results in you filling your business in 60 days with
eager and willing prospects ready to buy what you are
offering.
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Online Business Manager and Online Business Coach Donna
Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to
automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the
Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE
gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her
site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask Donna an Internet
Marketing question at http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com
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