Zeus: An excellent way of improving link popularity of your site is to exchange links with other sites that are related to yours. However, main problem with this method is sheer amount of time that is involved in identifying sites that you want to exchange links with. You may often find that number of links that you manage to get is not worth time that you spent in trying to get those links. Zeus will allow you to locate and exchange links with sites that are related to yours and manage those links on an ongoing basis in a fraction of time it would take for you to do it manually.

You can download a free trial version of Zeus at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5043&zeus/ While program does take a while to get used to, results that you can obtain with it are simply phenomenal. We highly recommend that you download free trial version and try it out.

In fact, we recommend that you use both Optilink and Zeus as they are complementary to each other - while Zeus helps you quickly locate hundreds of potential link partners, Optilink tells you which of these sites are worth getting links from and which of these sites you should avoid.

Agent Web Ranking: Once you have optimized your site for search engines, you will need to continuously check your site's rankings. We have found Agent Web Ranking to be most reliable tool for telling us how our clients' sites rank in search engines. Apart from major U.S. based search engines, it also supports plenty of European search engines. One problem with most such position reporting software is fact that search engines constantly change way they display their search results. This means that most position reporting software get outdated very quickly and it often takes an unacceptably long time for company producing software to prepare an update. However, Agent Web Ranking is only program which has a guaranteed 72 hour turnaround time - i.e. if any search engine changes way it is displaying results, it will have an update for that engine within 72 hours or less. You can find more information on Agent Web Ranking at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5043&agentwebranking/

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This grabs their attention and lets reader know what you can do for them; big benefit. Say what biggest benefit is up front. Make it about them. Use attractive words that rock their boulder so they read more.

Element 2: COMPELLING CALL TO ACTION

Your desired result is to motivate your ideal client to act immediately to engage you directly or indirectly and generate a prospect by getting their contact information. What do you want people to do? E-mail, phone, what? What will compel them to take action?

Element 3: OFFER THEM MULTIPLE CONTACT METHODS

Offer a choice between e-mail, telephone, web site, etc, so your prospect can choose what is most comfortable to them. I have visited many web sites where I had to search for five minutes to find their contact information. I am a persistent person and I know that most others have left after 30 seconds. Can visitors to your web site find your contact information in 30 seconds? Put information on every page.

Tip 4. CREATE A SYSTEM

Design a marketing system that you can implement repeatedly. Make it as automatic as possible. Ask most valuable series of questions to yourself: "And then what do you want them to do? And then what? And then what? Etc." If they visit your web site ask, "And then what?" If they subscribe to your ezine ask, "And then what?" And then when they do that, ask "And then what?" Keep challenging yourself to come up with answers.

No, I didn't say it was going to be easy. When I work with clients, sometimes it takes months to create a system. Most people give up to easily. Once you have it set up and it runs automatically, you will understand.

Don't waste your time, effort, and money with one-shot deals or fragmented marketing activities. Leverage everything. If you use writing for publicity, don't just write an article once for your ezine, ask "And now what?" Send article to past clients with a "just in case you didn't see this yet."

Tip 5: FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, AND FOLLOW UP AGAIN

Following up is one of biggest areas independent professional fail to do. Set up a follow up system that is a part of your overall marketing system. Make it as automatic as possible -- so that I can run while you are on vacation.

If you want to always have that "personal touch" with everyone, hire a virtual assistant as part of your system. Always have next step planned and let your prospects know of future opportunities to engage you.

Working with many independent professionals this past year, including coaches, insurance agents, real estate agents, engineers, too many medical practices to mention, I found they never asked challenging question I mentioned earlier, "And then what? And then what?" Etc. They did speaking engagements and there was only one "And then what?" and they stopped there.

Remember, people are at different levels and need to build trust with you. Give them ladder and rungs to do that and they will.

Always contact your leads within 24 hours of receiving them. Contacting them a week or two later, they have moved on. If they had an issue they need to solve that you had a solution for, they had most likely already found someone else and by-passed you.

Always follow up by e-mail, telephone, etc, multiple times. Yes, it’s true, 80% of sales are made after five or more contacts.

These elements will make all difference in world between struggling to get clients and becoming wildly successfully in marketing your services. They are worth investing your best efforts and getting support you need to implement them effectively.

(c) Copyright Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.