It's Sunday night and I am getting ready for a new week. I am somewhat dreading what the week will bring because I have five clients who I am coaching who are deathly afraid of confrontation. You see, they believe that it is the web site and not themselves that will get them the clients and close the sale. That is where a lot of my coaching clients get it wrong consistently. This simply is not the case.



A web site is nothing more than a media device that leverages your time.

Let me explain. You see, I hate talking on the phone with people on an 9-5 basis. In fact, I refuse to do it even though I carry two phones with me at all times. I am not into the whole thing. I used to get on the phone with prospects and talk their ears off till my voice physically gave out. I quickly realized that after a while I really hated marketing my services this way so I decided to stop doing it. I opted to can all of my presentation messages in video and audio and put them on a web site and direct people to it. This was a lot more effective and it freed up a lot of my time.

Here is my list to automate your online sales.

Rule 1: Your sales are not going to automatically occur just because you have a web site or a web video. You will still need to drive people to see your online media.

Rule 2: I like to use social media because it is cheap and free. However it can be time consuming so you will need to keep that in mind. I am always surprised at how many people actually don't do any online marketing whatsoever. Your web site designer and your web video director are not responsible for any sales you may get online. They only create the needed media for you and a platform for you to sell on.

Rule 3: Drive traffic to your online sites. Either invite people in person or build links in high visible locations. I like to do this online and offline. I am relentless about this and will drive people to my sites by any means necessary. This does not have to be expensive.

Rule 4: Do not ignore doing any PR related to your web site environments. This can increase the number of live eyeballs that physically look at your site. It is important not to confuse search engine bots as opposed to real human eyes looking at your site. Web traffic is not about how many hits you get but instead how many live people you have looking at your site.

Rule 5: Ask for the sale. You need to have something to give away on your site once people arrive. I like to give away additional information to further free up my time on the telephone. This eliminates my need to be right in front of one client when I can be blasting my message to many people simultaneously. This is very important.

Rule 6: Go to where the people are. There are groups of people on MySpace, NING, Facebook, and other social media sites that are categorized by many diverse interests and organizations. This is going to save you a bundle on postage and connect you to serious minded future clients. This is also a great way to build up a list of potential clients based on academic information, clubs, associations, business affiliations and hobbies.

Rule 7: Invite reporters to take a look at what you are creating. There are many reporters on television and radio who need content and are clueless when it comes to getting new stories. The web has become more visual in the last two years it makes sense to create interesting segments of your business and invite real media people to take a look at your web sites. You may find yourself to be the leading expert for the media for what you do. Being the media GOTO person is a very powerful position for any professional. This can be a huge opportunity for you.

Remember the worst thing you can do is get a web site and then do nothing to promote it. Sadly, this is what a lot of professionals choose to do. Online marketing is just what it is… you need to market online. This is an activity and not something you take lightly. It is an ongoing activity that takes determination and perseverance. You have to be willing to take the rejection as well as the praise. Depending on what you are trying to promote online you may not get it right the first time. You may have to tweak certain things before you finally get it right.

The results can be totally worth it.