One of the biggest challenges of marketing your programs and services is the behind-the-scenes sales, squeeze, landing and splash pages if you're a coach, trainer or consultant. Yes, it's great to have a team of qualified people working to help make it happen.

What do you do if you're doing it yourself?

You look for the hottest marketing tools to simply the process so you can be really productive.  You want your marketing tool to help you:

• Design compelling sales campaigns to showcase your coaching program.
• Easily attract ideal clients to your website with color and splash.
• Incorporate videos to make your marketing campaigns rock.
• Create highly attractive opt-in boxes.
• Invite website visitors to spread your message via social media with just a few simple clicks.

After years of fighting with my website trying to make it look and feel pretty despite my limited web development skills, I've discovered THE tool that makes my marketing easy-peasy!

My #1 marketing tool is Optimize Press.

I share this tool with all of my clients and colleagues.  It makes marketing easy! I love being able to add built-in buttons and homemade videos to all of my sites.  Yep, it's so easy I've licensed it on all of my sales pages. That's just for starters!

I also love the 24 hour user-friendly membership area with comprehensive how-to videos and support. It's been a wonderful addition to my marketing toolbox and I had to share it.  The developers created this powerful tool to help you look like a real pro every single time.  How kewl is that?!

What's your number one marketing tool? Let's share the wealth!

In my last post I told you about the importance of having ONE very clear ideal client to focus your marketing efforts. When the light bulb turns on for the coaches I work with around this simple concept, it opens up a brand new perspective about how to attract and reach their ideal clients. I love sharing the reasons why having one ideal client is so important.

In this post, I want to give voice to how knowing your ONE ideal client intimately well helps you grow a very strong and profitable niche.

I define niche as having a clear and purposeful arena in which you serve your ideal client. Your ideal client group may expand over time but the work you do is what you really want to develop. A solid niche affords the coach the opportunity to use a comprehensive approach with your client, ultimately supporting the whole client. That's what coaching is all about!

Begin by understanding my Power of One strategy:

• Identify your one ideal client with great detail. Get to know your ideal client intimately well. Details matter!
• Clarify one core problem faced by your one ideal client. Get to the root of the problem rather than addressing symptoms caused by the problem.
• Determine the one solution to the problem offered by your coaching services.

As coaches, we know our client has more than one challenge she's facing so it doesn't end there.  As your relationship with your one ideal client grows, document additional problems that surface so you can revisit them and identify solutions you're able to offer with coaching.

Imagine identifying 20, 30, 40 or 50 presenting issues from your client that match the solutions you offer (your very specific coaching services). You have a product, program or service for every problem your ideal client has.  Cha-ching!!

Follow this 5-step niche-building strategy:

1. Create, market and fill a group coaching program based on the core problem identified by your one ideal client. With your ideal client clarity, you will attract multiple clients to your group coaching program who are equally ideal.
2. Match your coaching program to solve your ideal client's problem.  Your ideal client hires you as her coach because she wants change, help, support and resolution. You're well-equipped to handle that responsibility!
3. Turn your program into an information product. You're also creating passive revenue and there's nothing kewl-er than that!
4. Listen to the questions your ideal client asks and pay close attention to issues not resolved by the current program.  Opportunity is knocking and you get to be the one opening the door.
5. Develop new programs, products and services based on each new problem. You ARE the solutions-provider after all, right?

Start back at #1 for each problem-solution combination. This process is so repeatable and tenacity is the key!

I've been where you are now and know this strategy works. I believe in it so much that I specifically train coaches on implementing this strategy in the Certified Group Coach® Program. Yes, it works that well.

Try it for the next six months and you'll be able to see your profits are way up. Now you have a really strong niche  - a clear and purposeful arena in which you serve many of your ideal clients. Most importantly, you're loving the coaching business you've created filled with those ideal clients who love you and keep coming back to you for more.

Ever found a dollar bill on the ground? Pretty exciting, huh?

Would you like to find a hundred dollar bill… or even a thousand dollar bill?

You don't have to loiter in the bank parking lot hoping someone will drop a large bill. Just go back and review your blog's comments over time. There is money scattered all over the comments section of your blog!

Here are five easy ways to profit from your blog's comments.

1. Notice when a blog post strikes a nerve
Example: A relationship coach writes an article about becoming the person you want to meet. She gets a dozen comments from people saying that they want to take her advice and are trying, but each commenter is struggling to achieve that. That coach could take the questions that are being asked in those comments and create a four-week coaching program with those commenters in mind as her ideal learners. The commenting system even makes it possible for her to reach them to follow-up and gently make sure that they know about the program!

2. Use your comments as a filter for topics
Are you writing about a range of topics? Suppose you are a life coach who writes about productivity, work-life balance and self-care. All wonderful topics but there is a strong likelihood that if you review your posts and comments over time, you'll notice trends that certain topics evoke more responses than others. If your productivity posts generate lively discussions and lots of "thank you" comments, use that as a cue that your audience wants more than just posts on that topic. You could host a quarterly productivity check-in call that could generate a low-stress stream of income for you - and probably inspire lots more blog post ideas, too!

3. Recognize what doesn't work
No matter how good a writer you are, some topics may never get any traction in the comments. Maybe the topic isn't consistent with your brand or you don't bring the same energy to it. If the blog audience doesn't love it, then you might struggle to find program customers, too.

4. Test a topic in your blog
Experimenting with topics in your blog is a great way to find out what resonates with your audience. Before investing a lot of time and resources into developing and marketing a class or product, try blogging about it for a while. Not only is it a great way to create content that you can later use in your program, but it will help you probe the interest of your readers.

5. Engage with your commenters
Comments are often quite short but tantalizing. Sometimes you can reply to a comment with something as simple as "I'd like to learn more from you about your idea" to foster a constructive conversation. It's always valuable to thank your commenters, too.

Your blog is a big part of your marketing effort as a coach. Try mining your comments as a way to painlessly convert that investment into a handsome return.

Laurie Foley, Blogging Expert

Laurie Foley has been helping people and organizations thrive online for more than 15 years. Resourceful and intuitive, she's an online business coach and dedicated guide for those who want to create meaningful work and amplify their message. Besides writing as Group Coaching Mastery's Blogging Expert, you can find Laurie at http://lauriefoley.com and on Twitter as @lauriefoley.