If you want to do business over the Internet you’ve got to write to reach and connect with customers. Writing on the Web is a blog about how to do that: how to use your words to build relationships with people who are looking for products and services on the Internet.

When I started writing this blog in 2004, I focused on writing great newsletters and ezines, hence the name, CoachEzines. It evolved as I included everything I was learning about writing for blogs. Now the name more accurately reflects the content you will find here: this is about all kinds of Writing on the Web.

It used to be to make money over the Internet, you wrote web pages and published a newsletter. The web pages were often a version of the company or professional brochure. Companies with budgets spent it on advertising, such as banners or pay-per-click programs. Marketing over the Internet was done like traditional advertising: all push, hoping for pull.

8 Ways to Market on the Web

Rapidly, as new software and Web tools emerge, the last few years have brought changes in the way we communicate on the Web with words:

• Blogs
• Ezines, e-newsletters
• Web-based press releases
• Article syndication directories
• E-books, e-courses and autoresponders
• Podcasts and audio files
• Video clips
• Social communities and networks

If you’re a solo professional, small business, or established company marketing on the Web, your words are all you’ve got to make an instant impression and connect with the people you’re trying to reach. Your words are your customer representatives: they’ve got to smile and be helpful, before they can sell. Do you know how to do that with your Writing on the Web?

Marketing is Changing, Are You?

You can see the changes in TV ads. There is more personality, more personal connection than ever before. Traditional marketing is now influenced by the Internet instead of the other way around.

Today it’s all about pull, not push. How can you engage people’s interests, get them to stay and enjoy their experience, and interact with you?

Have you learned the new ways of writing to connect with your target audience? I listed 8 ways any business must publish in order to have a strong Internet presence. How many of those Internet marketing tools are you using?

Where to Start?

If you’re new to marketing your business, products or services over the Internet, you should know that a brochure-style website, while ‘nice’ to have, isn’t the best way to start for fast results. Start with a blog.

A blog will get you found more quickly by people looking to solve their problems. Getting found on the Internet is one of the biggest challenges for business. Because blogs are keyword rich, search engines have an easy time indexing them.You can even build a strong web presence using a blog platform: a blogsite.

Get Published, Get Found, Get Clients

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? There are a lot of things that go into making money over the Internet. A blog is an important step, but by itself it won’t convert readers to clients.

You must have something to give away in order to build a list of prospects. What information do you have that others would love to know? What irresistible offer will compel readers to give you their email address?

That’s what it’s all about: give readers something so valuable that not only they will give you their email address, but they’ll tell their friends about it too.

A Shopping Cart Infrastructure

Of course in order for all this to work, you must have an impeccable process in place, an infrastructure that confirms their registration, and delivers the free product along with autoresponder email messages that reassures them their email is safe and not shared.

You can’t do that without a shopping cart service working in the background. What has this got to do with Writing on the Web? Well, you’re responsible for writing those confirmation emails and follow-up marketing requests. Your words with solidify your customers’ relationship with you, or they will break it off.

More Writing?

Well, yes. I used to think that to make things simple and easy, I would use the standard confirmation emails that shopping cart services provide. Well, no. You can’t do that.

On the Web, people expect personal attention and each contact is an opportunity to treat them special. You can include their first name in a confirmation email, so why not customize the message?

I could go on and on about what happens after that first point of contact but I think you already get the picture. From your first blog post to your sales confirmation messages, you have an opportunity to make people glad to know you and glad they found you. You do that with your Writing on the Web.

Who’s The Blog Squad?

Many people know me as co-founder of The Blog Squad^tm. I’ve been helping people market with business blogs since 2004.

I started out marketing on the Internet in 1999 when I published Coaching Matters, a newsletter service for executive coaches and consultants. Today, that still exists, although it has morphed to ContentforCoachesandConsultants. I provide ezine, blog and marketing services including quality articles for executive coaches.

The Law of Action

If what I’m saying here makes sense to you: that you must learn and practice good writing skills if you want to attract clients to your business, then it’s time to act.

Good ideas and wisdom won’t matter if you don’t take action.

Here’s what you can do: sign up to get updates to this blog so we can stay in touch and I can bring you tips for Writing on the Web.

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Thanks for staying with me to read this, and I hope you’ve found something of value for your business, so that you can Attract, Sell, and Profit online.

Patsi