Do you enjoy working one-on-one with people? Are you a helper by nature, always looking to solve people’s problems and help them live better? Are you organized and a good communicator? If this describes you, then you have what it takes to start earning money as an internet coach.

Before you begin, it is important to know that the world of coaching has exploded, with there being coaches for just about every field. You can find marketing coaches, nutrition coaches, parenting coaches, personal coaches. The list goes on and on. To earn income as an internet coach, you need to offer something unique.

Choose a Highly Specialized Niche

It’s important that the coaching niche you choose is something about which you are passionate and knowledgeable. You want to be able to provide your clients with your undivided attention and full knowledge.

However, you will earn more money as an internet coach if you are able to specialize. For example, if you decide that you want to become a parenting coach, consider what type of parenting coach. Some possibilities are coach to parents of troubled teens, to parents of toddlers with special needs, to parents who home school, to parents of large families or to single dads.

Specialization will help you eliminate competition and you can set higher coaching fees.

Publish a Book

This is a step that makes many potential coaches pause. They immediately think that they are not a writer; however, you don’t have to be a writer to publish a book. You can have someone ghost write it and you can most certainly write it yourself.

The best books are written conversationally, meaning that they are written the way you speak. In fact, you could dictate your book and have it transcribed. A virtual assistant could format it and edit it and you would be ready to publish.

A published a book is a product that you can sell to make more money. It also sets you apart and helps you establish credibility as an expert.

Partnering

Consider partnering with other coaches to offer more value. For example, a parenting coach might partner with a personal coach. A diet and nutrition coach might partner with a fitness coach. A personal coach might also partner with a home business coach. Together you and your partner(s) can send clients to each other and also offer coaching packages that provide value to your customers and create more business opportunities for each of you.

Coaching is a business model that offers tremendous freedom. You are able to work from home, and consult with your clients via email, Skype and through web chat. You are also able to provide value and help other people live a better life.

Live chat is a tool that can drastically increase conversions for certain businesses. It is not for everyone, but for the businesses that could benefit, the gain can be dramatic. Case studies have shown that conversions can increase by as much as four times after a live chat.

Why Live Chat Increases Conversions

There are many reasons why live chat can increase conversions. First, if people haven’t heard of your brand, they are likely to be somewhat cautious about ordering from you. However, if they have the opportunity to have some human contact, they are a lot more likely to lower their guard and be comfortable with placing an order.

A lot of people who are browsing your website may actually be quite close to buying, but have a question or two that is keeping them from placing the order. They might not want an answer badly enough to telephone or send an email. However, if a chat box is already on their screen, they might readily click on the box and send you a quick message.

These questions could be as simple as asking whether they can get a refund if they are not satisfied, or how the billing will appear on their credit card statement, yet if their question goes unanswered, they won’t order. A live chat box allows you to address all of these issues and turn these near-buyers into actual buyers.

Businesses that Will Benefit from Live Chat

Whether or not to use live chat is mostly a question of return on investment. The question is whether live chat will increase your conversions and therefore worth the cost. Is it worth the monthly or one-time cost of purchasing the live chat software? Is it worth the cost of your time or that of your employees spent on answering customer questions?

Typically companies that would benefit from live chat are companies that have the resources to staff the live chat for as many hours a day as possible. You could man it yourself, but you will likely be distracting yourself from building your business.

Determine Whether it is Right for Your Business

Perhaps the best way to find out is just to test it. Is a fourfold increase in conversions from the percentage of people who use the chat box worth hiring someone for $10 to $20 an hour?

The best way to know is to put one staff member on the project for a month to gauge the return. If it is positive, then hire someone full time to take on the live chat box.

An internet marketing firm can help you manage all your internet marketing for a fee. Great firms will make you much more than you pay them, while poor firms just won’t deliver results. How can you make sure you are working with a marketing firm that can get you where you want to go? Here are a few things to think about.

Know What Results You Want

Before you start, know exactly what results you want. It is not enough to walk into a marketing office and say “I want someone to do my marketing.” Instead, walk in with a specific strategy you want executed. Strategies might include AdWords, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Social Media. There are many firms that specialize just in one of those three strategies.

Do your research on the specific method before you meet with the firm. Know what’s reasonable and what is not. In that way, if they try to over-promise you (“We’ll guarantee a number one ranking”), you will know.

Always ask about their exact methodology for getting you the results. For example, if you’re hiring an SEO firm, ask them how they get their rankings. What’s their on-page strategy? What’s their backlink strategy?

Never take a firm’s word blindly – always ask before you commit.

Finally, ask about their past results. Ask for examples, as well as references. Call the references and make sure the results are legitimate.

The Process of Choosing a Firm

Talk to at least three different firms before making your decision. Any one firm might make a great sales pitch, but until you have a chance to compare and contrast, you won’t know what the market has to offer. Talk to firms both local and national. Local firms have the benefit of easy face-to-face meetings and are often lower priced. National firms often have more experience. Avoid working with one-person firms unless you know and trust them. Most internet marketing firms need a wide range of skills (copywriting, tracking, design, SEO, etc.) and do a better job by having many specialists rather than one generalist.

The Money

How much does retaining a marketing firm cost? Generally you can expect some kind of commission split, along with a cash payment. Few firms will accept just commission, and few clients will accept just cash. A 10 percent to 30 percent payment on revenues or profits is standard. There’s usually a minimum of $2,000 to $3,000 a month, sometimes more depending on the firm. Avoid arrangements that work based on a percentage of advertising dollars spent. That encourages the firm to spend more money, rather than generate more revenue.

You now know some of the most important things you need to know about hiring an internet marketing firm. Do your research beforehand, know how to compare companies, what to look for in a firm and what you can expect to pay.

Years of marketing research has shown that word-of-mouth marketing is not something that happens by accident. In fact, it can be consciously created if you understand what drives it. Here are some of the most important factors that drive word-of-mouth advertising.

Something That’s Very Different

If something is truly different, people are going to talk about it. Things that have never been done before are hot topics of conversation. Whether it is a new buffet restaurant in town or the iPhone 5 release, if it is new and unconventional, people are going to talk about it.

Even if your product isn’t one hundred percent original, you can still do something unique. For example, a cake company isn’t anything new, but one cake company generated a lot of buzz by baking the largest cake in the world.

Unusual Human Interactions

Another thing that tends to drive word-of-mouth marketing is human interactions. When someone spilled coffee on an executive’s suit on an airline flight and a flight attendant offered his own suit so the man could go to his meeting properly dressed, the story went viral on the Internet.

Another example is a restaurant whose waiters are constantly insulting customers. It’s their brand. It’s actually funny and customers go to this restaurant just for the unique experience. The examples go on and on. Out of the ordinary human interactions drive word-of-mouth.

I Think Someone I Know Will Love This

Another core thing that drives word-of-mouth is the “I really think my friend will love this” mindset. Friends are always on the lookout for friends. If your product, service, article or blog post is written so it will help other people, chances are that friends will pass it along.

Try to create content or products that will appeal to different kinds of people who have a common thread. For example, if you have a website about making money on the internet, create content that will appeal to both freelancers and internet entrepreneurs.

Various Formats

Different people like to share different kinds of things. Some like to share and talk about contests, videos, or funny graphics, while others will share only strictly educational material they think friends will enjoy. Don’t just appeal to one kind of person. Create your word-of-mouth marketing so that it will appeal to a wide range of people.

These are some of the main factors that drive word-of-mouth advertising. Word-of-mouth can be planned. You don’t have to hit all of the topics discussed above, but to succeed you should aim to hit at least one or two of them.

According to news websites and reports, more than 4.6 billion people have smartphones or other mobile devices. Part of that may be due to the fact that some people have more than one mobile device or cell phone, but that is still an enormous large number.

As a business owner, this number may get your creative juices flowing, thinking how you can use this technology to grow your business. There are many ways you can reach your potential customers through smartphones and other mobile devices.

Social networking – Social networking isn’t just for the laptop or desktop computer anymore. You can connect with your prospects whether you are out and about or they are. In fact, consider creating interactions where you encourage your prospects to connect with you from their mobile devices. Ask them to upload photos or to post status updates when they are out.

Group texting – Instead of, or in addition to asking people to subscribe to your email list, ask them to sign up to receive text messages. You then have their permission to connect via text. Consider your audience and the type of message subscription service you can create. For example, if you are a personal coach, you might send motivational or inspirational quotes to your subscribers each morning.

Make your website mobile ready – The reason some websites look terrible on your smartphone and others look excellent is because of the technology being used. You can make a few small changes and have a mobile-ready website or blog. Once it’s ready to go, promote it and ask people to view your site on their mobile device and share their experience.

Blog – You can record video posts from your mobile device and instantly post on your blog and/or YouTube. You can also write blog posts using a blogging application for your smartphone.

Games and downloads – Consider offering mobile technology to your prospects. You can create an application or a game that they can download for free. Ringtones are one type of download. However, you can also offer documents and videos.

In addition to the many ways you can reach your audience through mobile devices and smartphones, there are ways you can monetize the experience, too; for example, by using AdSense for Mobile. As the technology continues to grow and improve, there is no doubt that more opportunities to market via mobile devices will continue as well.