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Holly Chantal/
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Articles by Holly Chantal

Browse published articles attributed to Holly Chantal, with full-archive search.

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By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

The Creativity Conundrum: Why Structure Unlocks Your Creativity

I used to think I wasn't creative. Any time I would try to come up with an "original idea" either it would have already been done, or more often - I would draw a complete blank. This was pretty frustrating because everyone knows that in order to stand out you have to be completely original. But do you? More on that in a moment. My way of compensating for my apparent lack of creativity was to take something that already existed and use that as a basis for something new. Sure, it wasn't completely original but at least I wasn't copying someone else.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,587 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Are You An Expert Or A Thought Leader?

I remember when I first started my coaching business and the idea of saying I was an expert gave me a queasy feeling in my stomach. After all, who was I to say I was an expert? Wouldn't that be bragging or worse - wouldn't I be laughed at if I didn't know the answer to a question? These thoughts and feelings come up for many people when they begin their businesses. Yet it's a necessary evil because having expert status has always been a cornerstone of your brand.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,347 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Should You Brand Yourself Or A Company Name?

One of those big hairy decisions you'll need to make when creating your brand is whether you want to brand your name or a company name. The natural tendency for a coach (and really anyone in general) is to shy away from branding their name because they feel like that would be too self absorbed and that they aren't important enough that people will be searching for them. My answer to that is simple: No one knows who you are right now whether you use a name or a company name.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,088 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Price Your Coaching Services

Are you charging too much? The short answer is probably not, so good luck and have a great day! Really though, what fun is a short answer though without an explanation? Pricing is a tricky subject because in many cases your feelings about pricing are also tied to your feelings of your own value in the marketplace and face it, we've all got self esteem issues. You may not realize it, but your pricing is a huge piece of your brand. If you price yourself too low you're going to look "cheap" and will attract a much different clientele than if you are charging a premium price.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,083 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Differentiate Yourself In The Coaching World

Every day the coaching world is getting more and more crowded. It is easier than ever now to start your own coaching business, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out and attract attention. Everywhere you look there are other coaches that are offering the same types of coaching programs, and they may have bigger marketing budgets and more whiz-bang marketing tactics. So how do you compete?

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,064 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Are You Suffering From Awesomitis?

Awesomitis affects thousands of coaches every day, and most don't even realize it. They go about their business creating awesome programs, sharing awesome content, and helping awesome people. What they don't realize is - they have too much awesome and it's causing a problem in their business. You see, awesomitis is one of the leading causes of confusion for prospects and loss of sales. As a coach, you bring a lot to the table. All of your experience, talents, skills, and training. That's a lot of awesome.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,050 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Does Your Business Have An Emergency Back Up System?

Emergencies are emergencies for a reason and while you don't know when they will happen, at least you can create a game plan ahead of time in case they occur. There are many types of emergencies, and in this article I'll be talking about systems you can put into place for personal emergencies that might take you away from your business for a short amount of time.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

1,046 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

3 Ways To Give Yourself A Raise (While Working Less)

As an online entrepreneur we're always looking for new ways to innovate and create businesses we love. We don't settle for the status quo, if we wanted to do the same thing day in and day out, and make the same salary ever year we'd get "real jobs". But that would be lame.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

998 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

7 Deadly Sins Of Designing Your Own Website

Over the last couple of years we've built over a hundred websites for online entrepreneurs and reviewed hundreds more. We've seen it all, and here is a list of 7 of the most common mistakes we see being made when a business owner goes it alone when creating their website. 1. No Clear Call To Action This one you've probably heard before but it bears repeating. The call to action for each of your pages needs to be font and center - and on it's own. Too often online entrepreneurs bury their main call to action with wishy washy copy, or too many features on a page.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

976 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Grow Your Brand With Experiments

As humans most of us are creatures of habit to some extent, and when it comes to running your business shaking up the status quo can be a bit daunting. When your purse strings are closely tied around every decision you make, you begin to think of every decision as permanent. To think otherwise means you're risking wasting your time and money in lost opportunity, right? The truth is - you'll never have it right forever and nothing in your business is permanent. - Your target market will change over time. - You have to stay on the cutting edge of your industry.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

973 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Choose Fonts For Your Website - 4 Common Mistakes To Avoid

Before I got into the business of creating websites for solopreneurs I had no idea that fonts were such a big deal. Having the right font can make your website look polished and put together, and the font you choose also gives your text a particular personality. Who knew? Unless you're a self proclaimed "font snob" (something else I hadn't heard of) chances are you are choosing your fonts willy nilly depending on what appeals to you at the time. So here are some common mistakes that solopreneurs make when choosing fonts for their websites, and what you can do to avoid them.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

969 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How People Really Perceive Your Brand (And It's Not Just About Your Website)

When you think of branding, chances are your mind goes immediately to your website and logo. Traditionally branding has been thought of as the visuals that are associated with your business, but your brand is so much more than that! Your brand is really how your business is perceived as a whole, and that encompasses much more than a website. Your brand is a statement of why I should hire you over everyone else. There are 4 aspects of your brand perception and any one of these can either make or break your chances with a prospect hiring you. Your Personality

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

941 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Ensure Your Branding Is Matchy Matchy

Picture this: You've just invested in a gorgeous website and finally have a brand you're proud of, and now it's time to make the rest of your branding such as your business cards and social media profiles all matchy matchy. You ask your designer for the colors they used, but the ones they're sending you still don't seem quite right. And matching colors on a computer screen never seems to work. In this article we're going to put the power in your hands to get the exact shades you need from your website.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

937 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Reach Out to Potential JV Partners and Start a Conversation

Sometimes reaching out to people that you want to promote your products or services can feel a lot like making cold sales calls – not fun. Your knees start to get all shaky and there’s a butterfly totally going nuts in your gut. • What if they think your idea is stupid? • What if they say no? • What if you spend all this time trying to find partners – and then don’t sell anything? Yup, I’ve been there and so has every coach out there.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

930 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How To Structure Your Newsletter (So That Readers Look Forward To It)

Your newsletter is a wonderful thing, it builds trust with prospects that are interested in what you do, it's a fantastic way to get your message out there, and last (but certainly not least) it's an awesome sales tool. A newsletter is also one of those elusive strategies that looks and sounds easy - but many solopreneurs hesitate to get started for two reasons: 1. They aren't sure how to structure it/what to say. 2. They are afraid to commit to writing something regularly.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

917 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Social Currency And How To Manage Your "Budget"

Social currency may not be something you've heard of before but it is a critical part of building a community around your brand. Social currency is how engaged your followers are with your brand, and how much they respect and value your opinion. It's not something that is tangible which makes it very hard to measure, but as you begin to find the pulse of your community you'll begin to understand how to manage your "currency". Many things will affect how much currency you have like: • How often you email to your list. • Your level of engagement on social media.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

912 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

3 Ways To Get Prospect's Noes Out Of Your Copy

Do you like being sold to? Chances are your answer is no. No one enjoys being "sold" to, but most of us enjoy buying. As a society, we love buying things. We buy things because they're cool, they solve a problem we're experiencing, they improve our quality of life, and the list goes on. We also like taking our sweet time with buying decisions. We like to go through the phases of making a purchasing decision at our own pace from becoming aware of a problem, researching solutions, alte atives, and ultimately choosing what option we want to go with.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

910 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How Are You the Same?

When creating your brand the main focus is usually on what makes you different. What are you bringing to the market that no one else is. What are you offering that hasn't been seen a zillion times before? And yes, of course your brand is what sets you apart from your competitors. It is the vehicle of communication with your prospects and shows them why you are the obvious choice. In order to have that line of communication your prospects need to be aware of your brand. And that happens in a few ways. You bring your brand to them where they are already hanging out.r

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

907 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

3 Reasons for Coaches to Write Their Own Website Copy

It's one thing to write website content that describes your services, it's another thing to write sales copy that draws your prospects in and positions your programs as the obvious choice to solve their biggest challenges. I'm not going to lie, writing sales copy can be a beastly undertaking for coaches. Being persuasive without sounding like a weirdo, promising results without sounding like a hyped up car salesman, and making a solid call to action without watering it down with too much detail are all challenges to the inexperienced copywriter. They are also hallmarks of great copy.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

905 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Why You Aren't Attracting The Right Coaching Clients

Have you ever had that feeling that no matter what you do, you keep attracting dud clients? No matter how many brilliant blog posts you write, tele seminars you deliver, or videos you create people just aren't "getting" what you do? Well there might be a fairly simple reason for that, you know too much.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

904 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

3 Ways To Keep Prospects Engaged With Your Brand

When it comes to selling your packages and programs it pays to play the long game. Sure there will be those few brave souls that contact you upon seeing your website, but for the most part you will need to build trust over time with prospects before they'll take the leap and hire you. One of the tricky things about building trust over time is that you need to get prospects to stick around! And getting prospects to stick around is all about engaging them with your brand. So here are 3 ways to help you create a more immersive experience with your brand that engages prospects.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

894 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

13 Ways A Free Community Call Will Build Your Brand

Creating content every week for a teleseminar, let alone for free is a big undertaking - and something many solopreneurs shy away from. After all, why do all of that work if you aren't making money from it? Au contraire my fine solopreneur friend, having a free community call will go a long way to building your brand and will pay for itself in clients that are lining up to work with you. So if you've ever considered doing a regularly scheduled free community teleseminar but have been hesitating - here are 13 reasons you need to!

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

891 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

3 Step System For Selling Your Coaching Programs

Your website is the backbone for all of your marketing. When used correctly your coaching website is the best tool in your tool-belt for filling your coaching practice. This sounds easy enough but there are two common misconceptions that coaches have when they start marketing themselves online. 1. That marketing gets them clients. 2. That your website is for selling. You're probably wondering how those two things could possibly be misconceptions, I mean they seem to be pretty much common sense!

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

890 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Read This Before You Sign Up For Another Certification

My best friend since forever is starting a coaching business which means that I get the rare treat of watching (and helping) a business grow from a spark of an idea into reality. It's been eye opening to say the least. It also makes me think back to when I first started my coaching business and how differently I would have done things if I knew what I know now. Though on the other hand I wouldn't have that knowledge if I didn't experience the process.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

886 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

The 3 Corner Stones Of An Opt In Offer That Converts

What to use for an opt in offer is a hot topic whether you are a newbie or seasoned veteran to internet marketing. There are many options out there from a simple checklist to a full blown video training course. Many experts will give you reasons why one is better than the other, and of course all of their advice is conflicting - which makes this question ring even louder. From what I have found there is not a definitive right or wrong when it comes to creating your opt in offer. However, there are definite goals your opt in offer needs to accomplish.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

884 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

A Nifty Way to Choose Colors for Your Coaching Website

Choosing your website colors can turn out to be way more complicated than it should. You want to make the site look classy, but not boring. Colorful, but not busy. You want it to appeal to women, but not turn off men. This list goes on, and your color choices can play a role in all of these things.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

883 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

5 Branding Elements You Should Get From Your Website Designer

If there's anything I've learned during my time as a coach is that, ignorance is not bliss. What you don't know can hurt you and unfortunately, almost always does. And one of the biggest unknown realms for coaches is the technology that goes along with running a business. Specifically, your website.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

864 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How You Can Still Get Clients Even If You're A Total Jerk

As people in a civilized society we've all been taught to behave in certain ways and been told what is proper and not proper. We've been taught to be conce ed about what other people think, and that we always want to be perceived as nice - or there's something wrong with you. In short, we've all been brainwashed into thinking that there is a particular "way of being" that you need to embody in order to have a happy and successful life. And that's just not true.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

864 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

List Building Pitfalls To Avoid And Why Double Opt In Is The Way To Go

Building your subscriber list can seem like a daunting task and it never seems to grow fast enough. Many coaches try to find short cuts and ways to get a few subscribers under their belt right off the bat to give them momentum. What they don't know is that by cutting corners, they end up paying more for dead leads and sometimes even drive potential prospects away. Are you committing any of these list building follies? • You turn off your double opt in option and add everyone you know to your list.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

863 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

6 Strategies To Supercharge Your Content Marketing

I consider blog and article writing to be one of the easiest marketing methods to keep up with and build your authority over time. The beauty of content marketing is that you get to share your point of view, your personality, and your expertise which are a surefire ways to establish yourself as the go to person in your field. Even though it's one of the simpler marketing methods that doesn't mean that there isn't a good amount of strategy behind making content marketing work well for you.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

862 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Make Your Coaching Programs Worth Talking About

To create buzz, you need to make a splash and with thousands of coaches out there selling the same types of services you are that can be tough to do. So how do you make a splash and get people talking about your programs? Well, you need to be more than just a coach. You need to be an innovator! And that doesn't mean coming up with the cleverest title. What your program is called is probably the smallest piece of the puzzle, yet that is where most coaches start (and get hung up on) because they don't want to sound like everyone else.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

862 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Why Stereotypes Can Be An Asset To Your Brand

The idea of stereotypes generally holds a negative connotation. As individuals we don't like the idea of being put into a box. We are highly unique and don't want people to make assumptions about who we are based on what we look like, how we talk, or what activities we choose to engage in.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

845 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

The Bare Minimum You Need For A Brand

When I say the word "brand" people often cringe. It's such an ambiguous word and can mean so many different things. Brands are also perceived to be very complex. After all, doesn't one major soft drink company spends millions per year on building their brand? How can a coach or solopreneur expect to build a brand on their shoe string budgets.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

843 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Develop a Brand Identity That Gives You More Confidence As A Coach

Women know that wearing the right pair of shoes can make you feel like you can take over the world. Not only that but different styles of shoes can make you feel and act differently. They can make you feel flirty, powerful, demure, sexy and of course, confident. So what does this have to do with your brand? Well your brand is a lot like a pair of shoes, depending on how you brand yourself you will exude a certain type of energy, and make your prospects feel a certain way when they interact with your brand passively or directly.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

839 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How Do You Rebrand Without Having to Start From Scratch?

When you start your business it’s like a wild love affair, it’s new, it’s exciting but sometimes, after a while things change... • You’re going through the motions, but the passion just isn’t there. • You start seeing happy coaches, and wonder what they got going on that you’re missing. • You’re afraid to leave because you’re not sure what comes next. Your relationship with your business is not unlike a personal relationship. Sometimes you’re just not a good match, or you begin to grow apart as you grow as a person.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

778 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

Why Planning Is The Most Important Step In Your Website Design Journey

You would think that getting a website that works would be as easy as finding a designer you like, telling them what you want and badabing badaboom you have a client magnet! Unfortunately that's not the case. The problem is that most solopreneurs take a "looks" approach when they start their website design. They pick the colors, they have a vision for ideas that they want to convey with imagery, and they have some ideas for sweet doohickies that will make it all cutting edge... and that's it. What they're missing is the functionality and strategy that needs to go into their design.r

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

777 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

The Number 1 Trait Most Crazy-Successful Coaches Have in Common

Do you remember dances in high school? Brings back some pretty awkward memories right? Well let’s not focus on your sweet dance moves (or lack there of). What I want you to think about were the people on the dance floor vs. the wallflowers hanging out on the side watching the action. Which group are the ones more likely to be noticed when someone walks into the gym? Obviously the peeps out there shaking their booties. It doesn’t even matter if they’re a good dancer or not. What matters is that they are out there being seen, expressing themselves, and taking action.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

776 views

By Holly ChantalRecently published1 topic

How to Diagnose Causes Of Poor Website Performance

When you're pouring your heart and soul into your business and not seeing results it can be very frustrating. You start to doubt your abilities, you may even start to doubt whether you should be in business at all. Where most coaches focus the majority of their marketing time is in their website. Creating sales pages, writing blog posts, implementing opt in offers and the list goes on. Your website is the backbone of your marketing and speaks to your audience on your behalf on a 24/7 basis. So if it's not working for you, your business is in trouble.

Primary topic: Small Business Marketing

Small Business Marketing

700 views

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