How to Keep People Interested In Your Website

Sometimes it can take prospects more than one visit to your website before they decide to become a client. But how can you get them engaged in your website (that is, how can you get them to come back?)

Here are six strategies to implement on your website to keep people interested — and coming back!

#1  Blog.  Blog comments are a way for people to be interactive on your website. Of course, you'll have to offer regular and valuable content and youíll want to inspire conversation. This can be done by asking a question, stirring the pot with a little controversy, or by offering valuable content people feel compelled to thank you for and comment on.

#2  Let them promote you! Digg, Twitter and other sites let readers, fans, and prospects promote your posts and content. Use "social share" buttons on your website that make it easy for visitors to do this.

#3  Sponsor contests or sweepstakes.  There is nothing more fun than winning something and people love to enter contests. Whether it's a sweepstakes where the item is won via a drawing or a contest where skills are required, winning is fun and a great way to get people involved.

#4  Surveys/polls. Ask your visitors for their opinion. People love to share their opinion and voice their concerns, interests, and challenges. Get them involved by posting surveys and/or polls. (You can also use the information that you learn from the surveys to design additional services and information products to serve jobseekers!)

#5  Ask for feedback.  Want to know what your prospect's most pressing concerns are? What they need, want, hope for and desire? Ask them.  It's a great way to research your target audience and a great way to stimulate a little website interactivity.

#6 Question of the day/week/month.  If you blog, posting a regular question of the day, week or month is a valuable way to connect with your audience. Your audience is able to communicate what they need, you gain valuable insight, and you boost interactivity. It's a win-win-win! (This is also something you can do on your Facebook page.)

Interactivity is a fantastic way to build trust with prospective clients so they become customers. Loyal customers and prospects boost awareness, word of mouth communication, and your bottom line.  Implement a few of these interactivity-boosting strategies today!

12 Ways to Increase Visibility and Market Your Business Services

I'm always looking for opportunities to learn — especially marketing strategies for career industry professionals — so I was happy to see that Debra Ann Matthews was presenting a teleseminar for the National Resume Writer's Association (NRWA).

Debra Ann shared "12 Ways to Increase Visibility and Market Your Business Services." (Usually, the NRWA allows you to purchase the recording/handout after the call — but the link to do that wasn't yet up by the time I posted this.)

While some of the strategies will already be familiar to experienced resume writers, she shared a couple of surprising tips.

For example, #8: Share who you are with your colleagues.
Did you know that other resume writers can be a GREAT source of clients for you? But that's only possible if they know who you are, and who you serve.

"You must understand what you have that is valuable." via @Letmewriteit4u on her @TheNRWA teleseminar.
— Bridget Weide Brooks (@RWDigest) October 24, 2014

Debra Ann is also a strong believer in using public relations/media relations to increase your profile, attract the attention of prospective clients, and justify your value to clients. Like me, she advocates using strategies like article writing, podcasting, radio and television interviews, sending news releases, and subscribing to services like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) to take advantage of media opportunities.

Resume Writers: Want More Clients From LinkedIn?

You know that LinkedIn is an important website for your jobseeking clients … but are you taking full advantage of LinkedIn's power to connect you to prospective clients for your resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profile development services, and job search support offerings?

Check out this special report from BeAResumeWriter.com:
"14 Ways to Get More Clients From LinkedIn"

Tips include:

1. Take full advantage of your public profile.
2. Create a unique public profile vanity URL.
3. Create a profile badge.
4. Thank people for Recommendations.
5. Create a Company Page.
6. Maintain your LinkedIn account via mobile.
7. Set up a Google Alert for yourself to monitor LinkedIn.
8. Be choosy.
9. Import all your offline and online business contacts into LinkedIn to create your social graph.
10. Share your social graph with other social networks.
11. Share your LinkedIn posts with Twitter.
12. Whitelist LinkedIn in your email filters.
13. Rearrange your Profile sections.
14. Use LinkedIn – don't just be on it!

The guide includes step-by-step instructions for implementing many of the tips too. And it's free.

Colleagues: Like this post? Please share it!

Resume Writers: Are You Easily Distracted?

Are you easily distracted? It's not uncommon -- after all, self-employed resume writers wear a lot of hats, meaning we have to accomplish a lot of different types of tasks each day.

Why is being focused so important in today’s world? What results happen when you are focused? Does being focused make you less stress? Happier? If it’s so important, why don’t people focus more?

Being focused on one thing for a certain period of time allows you to do better quality work, more work gets done quicker, and your creative ideas flow easier. Being focused on one task at a time is less stressful. And being less stressed allows you be happier.

It’s difficult for people to remain focused on one task for a variety of reasons. For one, we live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with TV, radio, cell phones, Internet/ social media, as well as a much larger population that lives closer together than ever before.

It’s difficult to get completely away from all these distractions. Here are some tips to help though:                                                                                                                                      

• When you focus on a single task, avoiding distractions, your brain becomes focused on that task alone. This lets you complete that task much more quickly than if you are trying to complete two or more tasks at once. For instance, let’s say you need to write a blog post, do your bookkeeping for the week and research information for an upcoming speech. The best thing to do is to set aside all but one task. So, for this example, you want to give all your attention writing your blog post. That means turning off the TV, cell phones, social media pings, closing your door and putting all your attention on writing. 

• By giving all your attention to the task without distraction, you can get it done much more quickly and with fewer mistakes. Your work will be higher quality as well. Another benefit to being focused is that your creativity will kick in too. You’ll come up with new ideas associated with the task at hand, whether that's a client resume, a blog post you're writing, or a brainstorming opportunities for passive income in your resume writing business.

• Being constantly connected to others and having many distractions that take away your focus can affect your stress levels as well as your productivity. When you aren’t focused, you don’t get as much done as you could if you were truly focused on the task you’re doing. 

• Focusing on one thing for a certain period of time helps you think better. Having your mind scattered over several tasks at once keeps you from thinking about what you are actually doing. You only have time to complete a task quickly before you must move on to the next one. All the while you are trying to remember everything that has to be done. When you focus, you are able to think about only one thing for that period of time. 

• Focusing allows your subconscious to do the work. Think about when you learned to ride a bike or drive a car. It was difficult in the beginning, but when you began focusing on what you were doing, your subconscious took over and helped you learn. The same is true in your everyday tasks. Once you begin focusing solely on one task, your subconscious helps you do them quicker and easier. 

It’s important to focus on one task at a time to become more productive, do better quality work and be less stressed. Focusing can help you be more creative and have more happiness. 

If you want more tips for getting focused, check out Kelly McCausey's "Managing Bright Shiny Object Syndrome" program. It's free for a limited time, and includes two worksheets and an audio training.

Get your free access to "Managing Bright Shiny Object Syndrome"