On Sunday I had the opportunity to talk to a group of about 40 Coaches at the Coaching and Consultants Superconference in London.

Although it was the first time I'd spoken in public to such a group, the subject of my presentation was one that has long been dear to my heart. That is… helping coaches and small business owners (or 'solopreneurs' as they say stateside) to create websites that are simple-to-use, yet immensely powerful business marketing machines.

I started the presentation by asking the audience where they were at currently in using the web. Although it wasn't a surprise, I was still amazed that about 40% of the audience admitted that they still didn't have any kind of website at all. As a service provider in today's economy, how much longer do you think you can survive without at least some kind of professional-looking brochure website?

I asked the audience to contribute some of the greatest problems and pains they're currently experiencing with their websites. There was no shortage of suggestions and they covered the full spectrum including:

• How to get traffic
• How to easily edit their website and therefore feel in control
• How to use email marketing effectively
• How to create squeeze pages that will help build targeted lists of followers
• How to easily add audio and video files to a website

and more besides…

I then started to tell my story of being a naive new business-owner some three years ago, in partnership with my wife, and how we made bad decision after bad decision, wasting thousands of pounds on a website that became out-of-date in a few months and had to be written-off completely.

Fortunately, I subsequently discovered the power, ease-of-use and flexibility of blogs, and Wordpress in particular, from which point I never looked back. Soon I had the full functionality of a multi-page 'company brochure'-type website.

Our new site not only reflected the professional nature of our business – an Italian delicatessen in Bath – but my wife and I soon discovered the marketing muscle you will develop by regularly publishing high-quality articles to your very own blog.

My wife Licia's story is an amazing one. In short, thanks to the recipes, stories and photos that she'd published on our blog/website, she was invited to be a guest-expert by the top UK national food magazine 'Olive'.

Not long after she was invited to appear on a high-profile National UK TV show called 'Cooking The Books'. On this TV Show Licia was the 'expert' who had to judge the winner out of the two celebrity chefs that were competing to create the best dish during the program!

The point here is this. That if you publish quality information to a blog about your subject of expertise – whatever that may be – then you will…

• Build a following of people who interested in and like you.
• Become a recognized expert inyour niche – similar to being a published author.
• Increase your core knowledge and expertise thanks to the reflections you are making on your work in public. You will also become better at explaining and teaching these concepts to other people.

All three happened to my wife, but are also entirely relevant if you are a coach or consultant wanting to become better-known and achieve greater authority in your niche. And if you don't have a niche, well, that's the place to start…

In addition to creating easy-to edit brochure websites and the power of blogging, I went on to discuss putting audio and video on your website, creating squeeze pages, writing sales letters and how email marketing is one of the most important tools you need to drive traffic to your website and build your audience of loyal followers.

There was even time for a public demonstration of my new product – the Coaches Squeeze Page Creator…

Look out soon for a forthcoming free report based on this presentation that will detail the "7 Killer Website
Strategies To Kick-Start Your Coaching Business In 60 Days Or Less!"

Click here to view the embedded video.

My thanks to social media expert Dwayne Kerr for revealing the one strategy any coach can employ to grow their business and get more clients by using the power of online social networking.

If you're a coach or therapist with an already established, successful business, then you've probably already asked yourself this question whenever you hear the word 'website'.

Let's face it, if you've already got more clients or patients than you have time for, what possible reason could there be for adding more work and expense to your already busy schedule?

Are you already successful in attracting new bookings? Does word-of-mouth from your existing clients bring you plenty of new referrals? Perhaps you have an effective strategy for leafleting local homes or businesses, and that brings you enough new business as it is?

I recently listened to a podcast interview between Yaro Starak and Leigh Peel about Leigh's successful 'Fat Loss Troubleshooter' blog.  Despite (or I would suggest perhaps thanks to) Leigh's busy schedule as a personal trainer during the day, she has also built up an even more successful blog and internet business, including her popular ebook on weight loss and dieting.

There are many lessons to learn from Leigh's experience about how to grow a successful blog and web business in addition to a successful 'day job', which I won't go into here, but you can listen to the interview and read the transcript at Yaro's blog.

So, if you're already a successful coach of therapist, with a busy day-to-day working life, then I've written this post just for you.

6 Reasons Why Successful Coaches or Therapists Should Have Their Own Websites

1. Its easier to be successful online if you're already successful offline

This should be obvious but is worth emphasizing. If you already have clients, patients and a network of contacts and influencers who help refer new business to you, then a website will only make it quicker and more convenient for people to get in touch with you. A website will allow you to communicate with people collectively rather than purely on a 1:1 basis or via small groups.

2. You've already got lots of useful knowledge and advice to tap into

You've already proven that you have valuable expertise and knowledge. Yes, despite what you might think that is absolutely true. If it wasn't true, would you have any clients at all? In Leigh's case, she is able to publish useful tips and advice to her entire web audience in one go, rather than just repeating the same thing to people individually face-to-face.

3. You've got a ready-made audience from your existing clients and contact network

If you already have clients and patients, then its easy to mention your new website when you see them. A simple "I've started a new website with lots of special tips and advice,  feel free to go and check it out at …." will instantly start to build your audience. And if your content is as good online as it is offline, then your audience is only likely to build up and up.

4. Your perceived authority and expertise will only increase

If you haven't yet published your own book, then a website – and especially a blog – is almost as good. People who write books are perceived as experts, period. So, if you have a blog for the whole world to come and read, with lots of useful content, then in some ways that is even better than being a published author.

Why? Because unless your book is free not everyone will buy it, and of even those who buy the book, only a minority will read it. With a free website however, its much easier for people to consume your content as its free and in bite-size chunks. If they like what they read, they'll devour the rest of your information and will return for more as soon as you have some. Therefore, the more people that read your content on your website, the higher you will be perceived as an expert in your field.

5. You can replace manual labour with automated systems for generating new and repeat bookings.

This is probably the most important reason for having a website if you are already in a successful business. The chances are that your business works thanks to lots of manual processes e.g. answering the phone, making bookings, answering queries about pricing etc, perhaps even chasing payments. Well, if so, then a website can start to automate as many of these processes as you wish.

To start with,  it certainly should capture people's details via an enquiry form. It can automatically send out a reply to that person immediately thanking them for their enquiry. Your website could also offer a page of information in the form of 'frequently asked questions', thereby reducing the number of phone calls with the same questions time after time. Finally, you can even make special offers to people and take orders at the same time. Are you offering a special course of treatments, or a new seminar on a hot topic of likely interest to your existing customers?

6. Google is the new Yellow Pages.

Its a fact that more and more people, especially when they are looking for local services, are turning to Google before going anywhere near the Yellow Pages or other offline directories. So, if you are ranked highly for the following search term 'physical trainer + the name of your town", your details will be the first that they see. no longer do you have to change your business name to be 'AAAA_Your_Name' just to get first in the Directoty listings!

Instead, people will potentially be seeing your name first in the list! And providing your website is of a suitable professional standard, how positive a first impression do you think you'll make? Chances are they'll be contacting you straight away, either by phone or perhaps more likely, that very convenient, simple contact form on your web site. Indeed, they're also likely to sign-up for your e-newsletter or blog at the same time…

For me, RSS Feeds and Google Reader are rare examples of technologies that have massively transformed my general productivity as well as the marketing of all the blog websites I've created over the years.

RSS Feeds (RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication') are a mystery to most people, but often when I explain how I use RSS Feeds and Google Reader, using examples from my own experience, people normally "get it".

Some people have even told me that it has transformed their lives just as much as mine! So I've created a new video to show you exactly how I use 'The Power of RSS Feeds and Google Reader'

In simple terms, RSS Feeds are 'streams' of content from places like websites, or any site with the familiar orange logo (see the orange subscribe button near the top-right hand side of www.CoachesWebMarketing.com.

One of the many tremendous advantages blogs have over normal 'websites' is that they have RSS feeds built into them as standard.

Whenever you publish a new post to your blog,  then your blog's RSS feed is updated as well. This means that any website or person who is 'subscribing' to that RSS feed will automatically receive your latest post by their preferred means.

Why should you care about this?

Well, it means that your content can reach many more people than those would actually return to visit your website directly. To market your business services effectively you need to get your message to as many people who are receptive to your information as possible.

RSS Feeds, therefore, should be your new 'best friend.'

So please, if you have a message on your website that says 'please return to my website often as it is updated regularly' then get yourself a friendly orange RSS button instead.

Why? so people who want to can receive your content in the way that is most suitable and convenient for them, without being forced to come back to your website every single time.

For example, if you click on the orange subscribe button above then you will be given a variety of choices as to which service you would like to use to subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog.

How to subscribe to RSS Feeds

You can use a free service like Google Reader to subscribe to this feed, and then all of the latest posts will automatically arrive on your Google Reader web page, shortly after they are published.

Now,  if you only follow the RSS feed from one website then there's little point in doing this. But what if you want to follow the feeds from 100 websites, or 200 in my case? (as I show in the video).

It would be impossible to go and visit 100 websites one after the other, just to see if there is anything new. Often there won't be anything new to see, so your time would be wasted.

RSS Feeds, however, give you two fantastic benefits that will increase your ability to consume information that is important to you many times over:

1) They allow you to see when the content from your favourite websites has been updated, so you know what you are reading is new and not the same as you've already seen

2) You can read the content within your RSS Reader without having to go to the website of origin (No need to open 'yet another' browser window and wait for it to load up)

Again, as I show in the video, you can organize your feeds by subject (much like your browser's bookmarks), and Google Reader especially gives you some fantastic ways to share your feeds with other users. Again, I show you how in the video itself.

So if RSS Feeds are new to you, but you like to get information from websites, for business or leisure, then set aside some time and start subscribing anywhere you see the RSS feed orange button.

You can start with the one above!

Then get yourself an account at Google Reader and prepare to join RSS nirvana.

This week I spent my first full day in the company of fellow members of Dan Bradbury's Platinum Mastermind Group.

Although this was a new experience for me, it was truly energizing to spend a whole day with such a terrific group of like-minded coaches and entrepreneurs who are all fully committed to either creating new opportunities or improving their existing businesses.

One of my biggest takeaways from the day came after questioning exactly what I want to achieve with my new business in the year ahead.

On reflection, I suppose, its far easier to focus on outcomes and goals when you're effectively starting a new business – as I am here at 'CoachesWebMarketing.Com'.

If your business is a 'mature' one, however, will you also be taking the opportunity to question what you'd like to achieve with your online marketing within the next 3, 6 and 12 months?

To help with this process, here are my 5 quick questions for checking your web marketing goals in 2009.

1. Is your website an asset that reflects and enhances the quality of service you provide?
2. Does your website capture new leads for you systematically?
3. Are you communicating regularly enough with your existing clients and/or potential new prospects?
4. Are you using audio or video communications to reach a wider audience with a bigger impact?
5. Will you be giving yourself permission to experiment with new strategies and techniques without undue fear of failure?

If you can honestly answer more yeses than nos to these 5 questions then congratulations… your business must already be a very prosperous one!

If that's not the case then the question to ask is this…

What concrete steps do you intend to take to leverage the low-cost, hi-touch and hi-impact marketing opportunities which the internet can offer so readily and easily?

And in times in times of a significant economic downturn, perhaps an even more significant question is… what are the implications for your business of not taking action instead?

Image credit – 'New Year'