#1 ~Look at your past customers~
Notice trends in the type of clients you attract and pay particular attention to the ones who provoke you to be our best. How do you feel when you get off a call with a client who's "got it together"...Great, right? What about the client who's a real downer? The phone rings and you glance at the caller id. Ugh! Not her AGAIN! I'd rather stick my hand thru the paper shredder than answer the phone. (LOL, we've all been there!) Remember the tolerations from unpleasant encounters and be sure not to allow them into your newly formed target market.
#2 ~Think about ideal future prospects~
Make up an imaginary customer. For example: mine is "Caroline Everson". She's a 35 year old coach/therapist, married, lives in LA and works out of her home office. She's been in practice for 3 years and has two daughters-10 and 6. Caroline's website is so stagnant it stinks because it hasn't been updated for over a year. She wants to revive her online presence, and attract a full roster of clients from all over the country in the next 6 months.
Focusing on one person allows you to really get to the "pain" your prospect is having. What keeps her up at night? Where is she stuck? How is she feeling? This will give you the "emotional" element in your web copy to hook the prospect. Your ideal goal is to connect with the reader so they will take action and contact you without hesitation. The tighter your niche, the better!
Also remember that your niche can have sub-niche's and can change at any minute. This is a process?do not obsess... it may take 1 week, 6 months or even a year to figure out exactly who is your ideal client.
#3 ~People we DON'T want as customers~
The message we craft is to attract the folks we WANT to do business with. If our message is CLEAR, we will weed out the wrong types of prospects by allowing them to self-qualify and not bother contacting you.
Sometimes I'm asked by people who haven't visited my website if I can create their e-commerce site, or other commercial site. By simply stating who my niche or market is (therapists & coaches) it gets me off the hook easily and prevents me from getting involved with a project that's not in my area of expertise.
So, ask yourself... who's your Caroline Everson?
Donna Payne is the Chief Web Goddess of The Web Coach.net and is known as the gal to call when you're feeling overwhelmed by the internet. To spend some more time with Donna and to experience Web technology, Development and Marketing in the most SIMPLIFED way possible go to http://thewebcoach.net