Seth Godin in his latest blog post has outlined the factors that can get you more customers and clients.  You need to find people:

• You can identify and reach
• Who have a problem and that problem can be solved by your service or product
• Who have the desire and ability to pay for your service product

These are very common sense factors but amazingly many businesses lack them in one way or another.

Let us see how I can apply the above information to increase the number of clients I have (I have been taking small steps towards generating more business).

Identify and reach people who require my writing services.

What sort of people require writing services?

• People who cannot write well in English
• People who are not very articulate and convincing when it comes to writing
• People who need a writer but don’t want to hire a full-time person
• People who need lots of content but don’t want to spend their own time writing and supervising and consequently are eager to pay someone else for the same
• People who want to increase their search engine rankings with the help of targeted content but don’t know how to do that
• People who want to maintain a regular blog but don’t have the time to remain regular
• People who are looking for a highly professional writing service for their business writing requirements without having to hire in-house writers

You can keep on adding to this list.  I have recognized the sort of people who require my writing services; the tricky part is reaching them.

I am trying to search engine optimize my website and my content as much as possible. I am expanding my network and trying to make more and more people aware of the writing service I provide. I also plan to write for other blogs and websites but somehow there is a mental block and I never seem to come up with catchy titles, although I have no problem if I have to write catchy titles for my clients.

Now and then I will be sharing with you on this blog how I’m trying to generate more business for myself as a freelance online writer.

Do you often come across Internet marketing and business promotion programs that claim they can help you sell your product like hot cakes, that people will be crazy to do business with you? The promoters of these program often claim to have earned millions of dollars in a few hours or a few weeks or a few months. There is one thing I can never understand: after having earned around $20,000,000, why are you selling an Internet marketing program from a lousy-looking website. Anyway.

Some programs are cheap (costing you $20-100 for some ebooks and presentations) and some are quite expensive (around $2000-5000 for DVDs, ebooks and even one-to-one consultations with the “expert” who made a few million bucks in a few days). Are these programs for real, and do they really work?

I’ve never participated in one of these programs, and I’ve been doing business on the Internet for the past 8 years. Of course I’m not rich like crazy and my finances are not ideal, but I live a comfortable life and I manage to save every month, and I must confess, I haven’t been doing much in terms of marketing and promotion; heck, I don’t even blog regularly. I fully understand that in order to grow my business I must promote it.

So what does a marketing program normally teach you (logically, again, I’ve never participated in one)?

• How to recognize what you can actually do and get paid for
• Recognizing your marketing and creating a niche
• Setting up a website
• Defining a marketing plan and sticking to it
• Website/blog SEO
• Resources that can help you promote your business
• Building a mailing list and growing a blog
• Developing your brand presence
• Growing your network
• Establishing a social media and networking presence

Every course revolves around these broad topics. Now, if you have spent a few years doing business on the Internet then you can pretty well figure out by yourself what all it takes to be successful (actually, it can be applied to any kind of occupation). Does this mean all these programs and courses are a rip off?

Not exactly, some of them must really be good. But they mostly talk about common sense, and even the information you are paying for can be obtained free of cost if you try hard enough. Of course spending money on a program and getting this information saves you lots of time, and sometimes money too (by avoiding wrong tools). So I’m not saying you shouldn’t invest in such programs and courses. These programs can be excellent for those who work hard but only when they follow well-defined guidelines; it’s always better than randomly aiming at your targets and working in an environment of hits and misses.

My only suggestion is, just think before you take the leap, especially when you are going to spend lots of money. Be prepared to realize that most of the information that exists in these programs is common sense, and you may already have this information. Do you have some business promotion ideas and plans that you’ve been thinking of implementing but have been postponing or procrastinating? Implement those ideas and plans first. Do it with conviction and perseverance. For a couple of years, for instance, I have been thinking of writing articles and blog posts for other websites and blogs but so far haven’t been able to do so. I could have also developed a mailing list in all these years. My networking efforts are non-existent. I am half-heartedly in the process of optimizing my website for search engines. Although my website contains lots of content I can add a lot more. Similarly I haven’t been doing much in the field of social media and social networking. Considering all this I don’t think it is prudent of me to invest in a costly Internet marketing program. I should only opt for it if I have already, sincerely, exhausted all the options that are currently available to me. So if I haven’t done things that I already know what is the guarantee that I will follow the directions in the program? Of course you can say that the expense of a couple of thousand will keep me motivated. But then if I can do the same thing without spending the money then why go to all that trouble?

The best option would be first to exhaust all your ideas and plans and after that to give momentum to those ideas and plans you should invest in a marketing program. Otherwise you will be uselessly spending your money.