Are you working on list building in a competitive area of business? If so, selecting keywords to highlight in articles, videos, or web content can be challenging. The right keywords help improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To say it simply, they’re the words someone in your ideal market will type into a search engine when looking for your product or service. So how do you ensure you appear prominently in the results?

You can easily use keyword tools to find out what results certain keywords are producing for your business competitors. A tool like Google Adwords’ Keywords Tool lets you search for words and phrases relevant to your market and find out which are most “competitive,” or gain the most attention for businesses like your own.

It’s very likely that when you type words into a keyword tool, you will see a lot of businesses like yours using these words to boost their own SEO. It’s not always obvious which keywords you should focus your energy on to get ahead of the competition. Here’s how I recommend making that choice.

Identify a subset. Take a step back to think about what words you want to be known for. How can you refine your search and be more specific? For example, if you are a virtual assistant, think of that as the overall umbrella and then consider all the things you offer under that. Get into your specialties as a virtual assistant for:

• Customer service
• Online marketing
• Social media
• Web design
• Email marketing, etc.

You want to figure out the sub-keyword phrases that relate to virtual assistants.

• What do you have a specialty in?
• What do you want to be known for?
• What do you have a keen interest in?

Once you decide on the focus, then start to develop content. Whether it be your blog post, video or free teleclasses, center your keywords on this subset. Writing content around this subset gives you a higher likelihood of getting your results picked up when people search for that particular sub-phrase.

These are the steps we took when we started branching out from Client Attraction to list building. I searched for the term “list building” and the competition was through the roof. There were tons and tons of marketing firms and established bloggers that had been generating content for those keywords over a significant period of time. I knew it would be difficult to compete and land above them in search results, so that’s when I decided to break it down into sub-categories.

This is a smart way to address the big elephant in the room, so to speak. Focus on the less competitive level first and begin attracting traffic with that targeted approach. As we did this, we started to get traction for our bigger keywords too. The result? We were ultimately ranked higher for our umbrella keyword, which was list building!

It can be difficult to get visibility for the most competitive umbrella keyword phrases if you are just starting out. But if you focus your energy on the more refined subset of keywords that apply to your business and develop content around that, you’ll be off to a great start.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
What keywords are you trying to get know for? If the area is very competitive, take time out to give thought to the more narrow areas you specialize in. Then you can start to build traffic for the refined keyword phrase and ultimately, get traction for those higher level keywords you really want.

Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction  System^® gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

Something we are always teaching our students of The Client Attraction Business School is how to create an email newsletter, or “ezine,” to send out to an email subscriber list. Whenever I speak or teach on the topic of email list building or email marketing, people ask, “Derek, how do I put my ezine together? What should I include and where do I begin? How often should I send out my newsletter and which format is best?”

Sending a consistent email newsletter to your subscribers builds trust and value over time. You’re conditioning your readers to consume and appreciate the value of your content (and ultimately get to know, like and trust you).

Your email newsletter should be focused on building a connection between you and your readers. (Click here to tweet this.)

Your ezine is your go-to, stay-in-touch online marketing vehicle. It keeps you on your list’s radar screen. It helps build a connection and deepens the relationship between you and your readers.

There are three very important factors to consider when planning your ezine:

1. Content
2. Frequency and timing
3. Format and layout

In today’s video strategy, I cover: Content. Find out the essential components of an effective and memorable ezine by tuning in below.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/cUDdqj9l3Q0[/youtube]

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Conduct an ezine audit, specifically around your content. Looking at your own ezine, what areas are missing or lacking in some way? How can you improve on your content? Share below… I’d love to hear about it! And remember—if you need guidance, don’t hesitate to look at our Client Attraction ezine.

Next time I will share key strategies on timing and frequency for email marketing. Until then, Happy Client Attraction!

Today I want to talk to you about building your list with your website.  If there’s one question I get asked all the time by our clients and members of the Client Attraction community it’s this:  “Derek, what is the best way to build my list?”  Often, people expect some form of a magic bullet answer or a simple shortcut that will help them attract tons of ideal clients and prospects to their list overnight.

Well, as you can imagine, it doesn’t always work like that.  In fact, it doesn’t work like that at all. If it did, everyone out there would have thousands and thousands of subscribers on their list, which we all know is not the reality.  So, what does it take to build your list with ideal prospects, loyal fans and tons of subscribers that love your high value free content and your paid offerings? (Click here to tweet this.)

First, it’s important to understand a fundamental principle when it comes to building a list of email subscribers.  This principle is lead generation versus lead capture.  Lead generation is all about where you find ideal clients, either online or offline and how you attract them to you in ways that will want them saying, “This I exactly what I’m looking for.” They happily opt in to your list. There are probably hundreds of ways to do this and we’ll dive into many of those lead generation strategies in future videos.

Let’s look now at lead capture, which is the process by which someone actually joins your email list once they land on your website. In the online world, this is where practically all of your prospects will land when they find you—your website.

Chances are you’ve been focused exclusively on lead generation or what’s known as driving traffic to your site, but not necessarily focused on the critical elements and strategies of your website that will actually capture those leads onto your list once they land there.  So here is the formula that contains the three most important elements of a client attractive website that will effectively and easily build your list of email subscribers.

The formula is the following: video, opt-in, offer.  That’s it.  Those are the three most important website elements to have in place to build your list and I’m going to explain how each one of them works for you right now.

1.  Video –  Unless you’ve been living under a rock, considering everything we have at our fingertips with technology and online video, there’s really no reason to not be using video on your website.  Video is essential for developing a connection with your visitors.  Being able to have someone watch you and look into your eyes allows them to get a real sense of who you are. It builds likability and a trust factor that is very compelling when you’re asking them to enter something personal like their email address.

Look, for example, at ClientAttraction.com.  You’ll see just this in the video from Fabienne. She introduces the free CD and what it’s all about and how to get it.  It’s very compelling and it leads them to joining our list.

2. Opt-in –  The opt-in is a must have on you website.  Again, at ClientAttraction.com you’ll see how we’re asking our visitors to enter their first name and their email address. It’s very visible.  It’s very clear to them how to do it and it’s not being lost elsewhere on the site.  It’s right there in the upper right for them to see and we spell out exactly how to do it with very simple-to-follow instructions.  Keep it simple for your visitors and your list will grow.

3. Your offer – This is what is often overlooked the most. Many websites I see don’t have a compelling offer but instead offer to “join my newsletter.”  Listen, I’m here to tell it to you straight, people don’t want to just join another newsletter.  It’s just more email in an already crowded inbox.  What do you they want?  They want something that is irresistible, something that’s compelling and something that’s free with great content that’ll have them jump at the chance of getting it and happily provide their contact information to receive it.

Just look at ClientAttraction.com and see our free CD.  It’s high value.  It’s high content. And for someone who’s looking to attract clients, it’s in perfect alignment with what they need so they opt in happily to get it.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Now, here is your assignment.  I’m going to ask you to do an assessment of your current website.  Do you have all three of these elements in place?  If so, fantastic, you’re probably getting some great results and you’re building your list with highly qualified leads.

But, if you’re missing one or two or even all three of these elements you want to go ahead and change that.  You’re missing a huge opportunity.  Add that video to your homepage.  Create and irresistible and compelling offer and make sure your opt-in boxes are easily displayed with simple and easy to follow instructions.

Here’s the thing.  Building your list is critical if you want a steady flow of clients and customers, but we need to make sure your website is designed in a way to support that.

Now, imagine this scenario. If I were to send you 1,000 highly targeted and ideal clients to your website today, how many will actually join your list?  If you’re being honest with yourself, the number will probably surprise you.  Your success in business and attracting clients is dependent on a website that builds your list and these three strategies I just shared will help you do that.