Market Yourself Online

Marketing yourself online is a very handy tool to have, no matter what your ambitions are.

You may be a networker, real estate agent, some other kind of sales person, personal trainer, nutritionist, writer, speaker etc, the list here is endless.

I am specifically writing this blog as I have had a few people ask me for advice on how to market themselves online and will no doubt get more people asking the same question in the future. So here it is...

Corey's 7 Hot Tips to Marketing Yourself Online.


Tip 1 - Know who your target market are, everything you do will be based around this key point, for example, a real estate agent might "specialise" in first home buyers / Sellers OR Multi-million dollar estates. You wouldn't try to market yourself to both as they are completely different target markets and you would do yourself more harm than good. Every industry will have a huge variety of different types of people within it, so it is very important to know which people you want to engage.


Tip 2 - Now that you know who your target market are, you need to present yourself as an expert in that particular field. This should be reflected in your bio's of social media sites, any comments you make and your status updates. You want people to see that you live and breath this particular skill/industry.


Tip 3 - Start a Blog, Fanpage, Business Page or all of the above. This should be completely separate to your personal profile and strictly about your business and or service. Include what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, why you are the best at it etc etc, this is where you basically sell yourself to potential buyers/clients/followers.


Tip 4 - Once you have set up one or all of the above, make sure it is full of helpful information for the people who visit it, ie a real estate agent could have updates on current market trends, the best places to buy or sell, links to youtube video's they think would be helpful, any current bargains on the market etc etc. You will also want to include some original material that you write or produce yourself so you are seen as an expert in this field.


Tip 5 - Get social proof, this is one of the most powerful things you can do. Basically social proof means if a business had a million fans, more people are likely to become a fan as well because it has large social proof... Society proves it's good. Another great way to increase your social proof is by adding testimonials to your fan page, blog, business page, website etc. This shows people that you are legitimate and can deliver what you say you can, the more testimonials and social proof in general the better.


Tip 6 - Link them all together, what you want to do is create what I would call a "web of information" about you and your service. It should be easy for people to become your friend, find your fan page, click on the link to your website and then get linked back to your Facebook page etc etc, what ever your prospects are looking at should have a link to something else of yours. Use this blog as an example...

You are reading this blog now and to your right you will see a box with my Facebook fans in it, this is social proof as there are xxx amount of fans in that box, but it also gives you the option to become a fan here and now or you can check out my fan page by clicking the display pic and read my info there. On my fan page you can get linked to this blog again, my normal Facebook page, my other websites, my myspace account etc etc. On every social media site, blog or website I have you are able to be linked to something else of mine. This is the web, it can be a big and complex as you want it to be, but sometimes the KISS principal is best... Keep It Simple Stupid.


Tip 7 - Network with likeminded people and people that you would consider your "target market" By networking with other people in the same industry, you will gain valuable insights and pick up ideas you can use for your own business along the way, you may even meet a future business partner. By networking with your target market you should aim to build trust and relationships before you even mention your product or service, people hate being sold. Let them read your info and slowly explore your web. If they think you can help them in some way, they will ask. This give you the advantage as they are seeking you, you are not chasing customers or clients... YOU are the expert and they want YOUR help.

Using the real estate agent as an example again. A good way to network with these groups of people is to search for groups related to them on Facebook ie Real Estate investing, First Home Buyers, Property for Dummies, I love my mansion, etc. have a bit of a play and see what groups you can find. Then start adding people as friends, posting valuable info on the page walls and go from there.


Set yourself up as an expert and continually grow your network of likeminded people and prospects. If you do this, you will see the business start rolling in and your reputation as an expert go through the roof!


See you at the top!