1. Get that email address.

Without the visitors’ email address, you essentially have no way of initiating further contact. Do whatever it takes to get each and every visitor to provide their e-mail.

Try: Freebies. Free is an awesome incentive. Try providing a free book, subscription, or mini-product. You are much more likely to get contact information from your visitors if they feel like they are getting something in exchange right away.

2. Optimize usability.

The more convenient it is for your clients to sign up for your product, the more likely they are to actually hire you.

Try: Calendar inputs. If you let your potential clients have a sense of control over when they can receive your product, they are more likely to use your services. By letting your visitors book themselves in your calendar, you have eliminated unnecessary back and forth communication and given your visitors more control over their experience.

3. Show your skills.

The goal is to demonstrate that you have what your visitors want. Illustrate to them that you have both the expertise and the knowledge to help them.

Try: E-books or Top 10 lists. You want to grab your visitors’ attention in a way that proves to them you are a fantastic resource. You can do this by giving them a glimpse of how much you have to offer. WPA, for example, has a Portfolio section where the visitors can see the websites we created for our clients.

4. Convenience of Product.

The more accessible your product is, the more likely your visitors are to buy.

Try: Shopping cart for your service. Even if your product is not tangible (for example, coaching sessions), having a “shopping cart” where visitors can hire you on the spot can make the whole experience more pleasant and profitable.

5. FAQs.

Everyone has questions. Take advantage of your control over the site by answering some of the most popular questions that might arise from your potential clients.

Try: FAQ page or Q&A section on your home page. Again, you want to demonstrate your competence and your attentiveness to the client. By creating a basic FAQ page, you illustrate that you have the ability to empathize with your visitors, those people who need your service.

1. Demonstrate how your product is ideal.

The idea is to convince your visitor that they do not need to continue looking at other sites; your site has it all, and your product is exactly what they need.

Remember: The goal is to show your visitors that they need you. Make your visitors feel like you are addressing them and not just bragging about yourself. For example, instead of listing testimonials, try describing various situations and how you helped the client. You want the client to recognize him/herself in the scenarios.

2. Utilize home page sign ups.

The more convenient your contact information, the more likely your visitors are to actually use it. Many people only view a site once, so grab their attention early on and start the relationship right away.

Remember: Many people are wary of new relationships, even if it is a simple web presence. By circulating a weekly or monthly newsletter/ezine, you can maintain contact without seeming overly pushy.

3. Immediate gratification goes a long way.

Give your visitors something they can use immediately. Whether this is a free gift incentive, a fantastic Top 10 List, or downloadable forms, provide every visitor with a takeaway resource.

Remember: Don’t forget to put your name on these documents! Publicizing yourself, your site, and your product is vital. Every pdf or downloadable document your visitors print is one more piece of advertising.

4. Create a sense of personal commitment.

If you portray yourself as invested, your visitors are more likely to think you are invested in them. Be direct. Make it personal. Above all, make it crystal clear that you can help solve their problems.

Remember: Position yourself as an invaluable resource and make your contact information accessible and easy to locate. This brings you one step closer to gaining a new client.

5. Quality is obvious.

When it comes to your actual website, you get what you pay for. While it may seem expensive in the beginning, think about how much money will be generated from a professional website.

Remember: Website maintenance is extremely involved. Not only does the content have to be exact, the design, development and usability must be exceptional. It is usually beneficial to contract with a designer who can transform your product ideas into a credible and professional website.

It would be very surprising if visitors came to your website because they wanted to learn about coaching. They need someone to coach them and turn their current issues into opportunities.

Consider the following suggestion: instead of listing testimonials raving about your practice, describe the situations in which your top clients found themselves and how you helped them. That way, the visitor has perspective and can see a practical application of your skills. You will be seen as a person instead of a website.

Provide a Newsletter

For repeat visitors, acquire email addresses in order to market to them later. Since a relationship takes time, a weekly or monthly newsletter allows visitors to warm up to you. They can hear your voice and understand your mission.

Offer Free Resources

These can be Top 10 lists, free ebooks, step-by-step guides, or even checklists. These are all brochures for your business, and they tell the client who you are. Give your clients material to allow you to stand out among the numerous websites being browsed.

Speak Directly to the Visitor

Tell visitors you can help them. Mostly visitors are looking for someone and something to help them achieve a goal. Sometimes this need is subconscious and sometimes it’s an active pursuit. Stand up for your work. Speak up. If you can’t help, you can refer them to someone who can. Give them resources. Perhaps you can even offer a free session with no additional obligation.

Invest Wisely

Nobody takes a self-made website seriously unless you have solid computer science knowledge. Invest in a credible website that looks slick and professional. While a brand-new website can run between $1,000 and $10,000, a client can be worth up to $25,000 in his or her relationship with you. Don’t feel guilty about spending the money to hire a talented designer who understands your work.

Remember: a shoddy website is the same as showing up for a business meeting in jeans and a ripped tee. Put your best foot forward.

The following techniques will focus more on on-page SEO, creating valuable content, and off-page mentions.

So, what are these techniques?

1. Create valuable content. When you answer a search query thoroughly, then you’re giving your readers what they want to know.
   • This will increase user engagement on your website, which will tell the search engines that your content is valuable. Consequently, the search engines will rank your website highly for that search term.
   • For the highest rankings, go more in-depth than your competitors, provide clear answers, and provide graphics or illustrations to help your reader understand the content clearly.
2. Try to rank for longtail keywords. These are keywords that are niche-specific and may have very little search engine traffic. The reason why you will be aiming to rank for these terms is that there is less competition, so they should be easier to rank highly for.
   • Ranking highly for these terms will be easier and maybe quicker to achieve too.
   • Plus, if you rank highly for lots of these terms, your overall traffic will increase. At this point, you may be able to consider ranking for more competitive search terms.
3. Get customer reviews. With local businesses, reviews submitted about your website online can affect your search engine rankings as well.
   • For many reasons, it’s worth your time and effort to ensure that you are providing the best service possible for your customers. This will lead to great reviews and more customers!
4. Copy your competitor’s on-page SEO strategy. Visit your competitor’s website and study their content. You may think that creating longer forms of content is best when it comes to ranking. However, this is not always the case. Check whatever pages are ranking for each particular search term.
5. Build internal links. For each of your longer, authoritative articles, link smaller supporting articles in your website to this main page. This will help your longer page achieve higher rankings.
6. Ensure that your website is easy to navigate. If your website isn’t easy to navigate, your visitors will just click off your website and go somewhere else. This can lower the time spent on your website and increase the bounce rate. These are both negative SEO factors.
7. Have a mobile-friendly website. These days, most internet users will access your website through a mobile device. If your website isn’t rendering properly on mobile, this will have a negative impact on user experience, rankings, and sales. So, be sure to optimize your website for mobile devices as well as desktops.
8. Increase your page speed. Page speed refers to how fast your website page loads, and this affects your rankings.
   • A faster-loading website improves the user experience of your visitors. No one wants to be waiting for a website to load. Chances are if they have to wait more than a few seconds, they will leave the website entirely.
9. Get an SSL certificate for your website. It has been shown that having an SSL certificate on your website increases your website rankings.
   • These days many search engines will warn its users that a website without this certificate is not secure, which will result in a user leaving the website immediately. This harms your rankings and possibly your reputation as well.

If your website is still new and has yet to establish any authority within the niche, or if the competitors in this particular niche have very few backlinks, then it is certainly possible to rank highly for various search terms using these strategies.

As your website becomes more competitive, then building backlinks will certainly help you to continue to rank higher.

But in the meantime, don’t worry about the backlinks. Draw your visitors to your secure, quick-loading website and provide quality content that they’ll want to engage with and share with others.