One last post on internet marketing, just one last thought to share.  And that thought happens to be about what you should, and shouldn’t, share.

If you are using the internet to market your birth business, you probably have a blog, facebook page and/or a twitter account.  You might also have other social media pages and accounts you use depending on how tech savvy you are, but most non-tech savvy midwives know about these three ways to interact with the internet community.  While a blog gives you a platform to share complex thoughts and ideas, Facebook and Twitter demand a very short interaction.  As a rule, the shorter the written work, the longer it takes to plan that written work.

What do I mean?  A short sentence or paragraph doesn’t give you much room to explain yourself in a post.  Your thoughts need to be written as efficiently as possible to help prevent misunderstanding.

Making these resources even more difficult to work with is the reality that they are both short-lived and long-lasting.  The “lifespan” of a post will depend on the number of connections each member of your audience has made.  Some posts may appear to some audience members for less than 30 minutes, while they may appear to other audience members for several hours. Some posts will never appear to some audience members. Yet, every member of your audience has the option to visit your unique page and read every post you have made.  Within this environment we are told to “engage” with our audience, to build a “conversation.”

When deciding what to share, the first thing to understand is the audience for your posts.  If you are sharing birth business information on your personal social account the messages are potentially being shared with your family, close friends, people you attended grade school with, coworkers from an old job…do you get the picture?  On the surface you might think this will help you build a good network – your friends will share these posts with their friends.  The reality is a bit more like your friends ignoring or hiding the posts they are not interested in. The flip side of this is that your clients will now have the potential to see your photos from your brother’s wedding, your five year old’s dance recital video and your complaints about the weather.  Neither side of this equation sounds very professional.  I always recommend starting an account specifically for your birth business and inviting your friends, family and previous co-workers to find out about your work through the business page.

Once you have established a “birth” audience defined, you can start to make decisions about what is the best way to connect with this audience.  You have many options:

• Links to interesting articles or videos
• Links to new pages from your blog or website
• Information about upcoming events
• Interesting questions the members of your network would like to discuss
• Quick recommendations for books or products
• Quotes from leaders in the birth community.

What you choose will depend on the composition of the audience and the nature of their connection to you.  You will probably find the “right” sharing is a mix of most of the listed options.  Remember, your audience is “listening” to you not only for the latest information, but also to know what you think about something.  So don’t just link to the video, tell them why you are linking.  Your post might read something like this:

Great use of vocalization in this hospital birth video:  link

I do have a few rules I follow for what NOT to share.

1. I never share information about someone else’s birth.  I would never steal a mother’s opportunity to experience the joy of sharing her own story.
2. I never make critical comments about a person.  If I disagree with something written I explain my disagreement with the concept or idea while remaining respectful to the other person – I would hope they would treat me the same.
3. I do not engage in name calling or bullying. I wouldn’t do it in real life, I refuse to do it on the internet.  Not only is it completely unprofessional, it makes me look as if I am only upset that someone thinks differently about the topic than I do and draws attention away from any additional information I have to add to the discussion.
4. I do not give unsolicited advice.  If a reader has a question about how to talk to her doctor about something, I do not tell her to have a home birth with a midwife.  Although I might think it will solve her problem, in her mind I have completely ignored the issue she is facing and have not respected her decision to use this provider.

Before we dive into the next common problem with birth business websites, I want you to think about how you find websites.  Pretend for a moment that you are going to do some infrequent home maintenance, maybe you need to repave your driveway.  How are you going to find information about professional driveway paving companies in your area?

Will you start at the National Driveway Paver Association and look for a link to someone near you?  Probably not until a last resort.

Will you search for a database of links to driveway pavers and look for one in your area?  You might search through a list if you find it, but like everyone else you will stop when you realize the number of bad and redundant links (a fate to which only the most well maintained internet link lists are immune)

Chances are the majority of your search will be conducted on a search engine using variations of the keywords:  driveway paving AnyTown.

If this is how the average person searches for something on the internet, you need a website that helps the search engines understand that you provide birth services in your town.  A search engine only knows what you put on each web page of your site, and thinks of each page as a separate entity.

So what does this mean?  Your website must clearly state the services you provide, and the area you serve on one page.  Here is an example:

Better Birthing Services

Doula and Childbirth Educator in Boise Idaho.

Here is another example:

Welcoming Hands

Central Indiana’s Home birth Midwife  

It is OK to have a separate services page which breaks down your fee schedule.  But what I want you to understand is that if you list services on one page and your service area on another, or not at all, your website will become very, very unimportant to the search engines.  This is because the little bit you say about midwives or doulas will be compared to the little bit every other website says about midwives or doulas.  When someone searches for a doula in your area, the search engine will look at all the pages it has about doulas and first list the ones that talk about doulas and that area.  Then it will rank all other doula webpages in order of importance – and due to the sheer volume of this type of website yours won’t be very important.

Being listed on other websites is helpful because search engines like to know that other websites think your website is important enough to link to.  But being listed on other websites is probably not going to get you the kind of traffic you would get if your website accurately listed your services and location.  Even worse, being listed on a website as providing services in an area, but not listing that area on your website means potential clients have to decide your business is worth the risk of emailing or calling to make sure you really do provide services where they think you do.

If you are afraid you will lose potential clients by listing your location too specifically, then think about the most broad term that locals use to define your area.  When I lived in New York, I lived in the “Capital District” which included three main cities in close enough proximity that I would act as a doula in any of the three.  My webpage might have looked something like this:

Welcoming Hands

Midwifery Services in New York’s Capital District

When I lived in Michigan using only the broad term of “West Michigan” would have included two cities I would not have been willing to drive to for doula work. By listing my home base city I could avoid getting doula calls from people I was unlikely to serve, but still received childbirth education calls from people who were willing to drive to me.  My webpage might have looked something like this:

Better Birthing Services

Childbirth Education and Doula Services in West Michigan

Serving Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo

Time to go check your website.  Google the services you offer and your location to see if you come up, then go make sure your services and service area are clearly listed on your main webpage.

I realize that at this moment in time (having ignored my website for the better part of four years of nursing and midwifery school), I am not in any position to be a model of good internet marketing.  However, I do see a lot of birth professional websites due to the work of the Natural Childbirth Directory. I see a lot of what not to do, but I didn’t realize how confusing it could be to potential clients until my daughter started doing the directory updates for me.

You see, she had questions.  The exact questions I know readers have as they check out the websites.  The exact questions that have moved me to have such strict guidelines for putting a website into the directory.  The exact questions that many birth professionals don’t understand because they don’t see their website or their business as a potential client does.

I decided to spend a few days helping you see how an outsider views your business based on your internet presence, and hopefully help you fix any gaps that may exist.   So today we will begin with the first and most important concept:

If it is not listed as a service on your website, I cannot hire you to perform that service. 

Even birth professionals understand this about other industries, using websites to determine if a store caries a particular brand, dates for specific movies or what classes are available at a local school.  But when it comes to their own website many birth professionals forget to list everything they do.

As an example, consider Jane.  Jane is a doula who does private childbirth education for couples. On her website she lists her doula work, being sure to highlight that she does belly casting.  When she submits to the directory she indicates she does doula work and childbirth education. When I check the listing, all I see listed is her doula work (with childbirth education listed as part of the doula service package).  Nowhere does she list that I can hire her for private childbirth education without hiring her as a doula.  As a potential client, I assume she doesn’t offer this service and I search elsewhere for a childbirth education class.

I’ve heard many reasons why professionals choose not to list a service they are willing to provide.

“I don’t want too much business, I mostly get doula work from my childbirth classes.” 

“It’s just a side job for me, I don’t advertise myself as a childbirth educator.”

If either of these are true, you shouldn’t be listing yourself in the undesired role on web directories. Usually, the birth professional simply did not realize they had not listed all their services on the website – perhaps because in their mind they are so linked.  They think, “I’m a childbirth educator, of course I would do doula work for my students.”  The problem is outsiders (potential clients) don’t think that way.

The trick is to have someone else look at your website and have them tell you everything they can hire you to do.  Make sure that list accurately reflects all the things you are willing to be hired for, and then ONLY advertise yourself in those roles on internet directories.

I’ve just realized that over two weeks ago my husband and I had planned to mark out our travel calendar for the year; but we haven’t actually found the time to sit down and compare.  Google calendar to the rescue – all travel plans are put in there so I can see what he knows about already.

So I wanted to discuss calendars again and be sure you took the time to map out your year.  Do you know what conferences you want to attend and when?  If you do not know what is available, check the conferences page at the Birthing Naturally website – it should be updated over the weekend. Do you know what training programs you intend to participate in?  Do you know when your childbirth classes are going to be held? Do you know how many doula clients you will take each month?

I know when you are just starting out it can be intimidating to plan a schedule before you have people signed up for the class. What if no one calls? Do you want to keep your options open to start the class a few weeks later?  Well, think about it from the clients perspective.  What do you think when you call to inquire about a class and the teacher says, “No one else in interested right now.  Maybe I could find more people and we could start next month?”  Not exactly building your confidence in this teacher.

So how do you plan for classes when you don’t know who will call or when?  Make sure your classes are as evenly spaced as possible based on the number of weeks you teach.  Teaching a six week course?  Maybe you have a class that starts each month (which overlaps with the previous class for one or two weeks). Do you teach an eight week course?  Maybe you start a new class every six weeks.  Teach a one day intensive?  Maybe you plan one each month.  I always gave families the opportunity to join a class up to week two if they needed it.

How do you handle the “one family signed up” classes? To start, they do not need to know they are the first or only family to sign up for any class – it gives the impression that no one else is interested in your classes so they must not be worth it.  Instead, let them know the other families who were interested couldn’t make this class time work and give them the option to do the class privately (perhaps with fewer classes), or to sign up for the next class.

Do you change your planned class meeting time if someone cannot make it?  My rule was always no. But I had other teachers in my area who taught on other nights. Changing days seemed disrespectful to the other teachers, and the families who had agreed to meet on the scheduled day. If there are no other options, you can offer to provide private education for the family.

Rule of thumb, when someone calls or checks your website they need to be able to quickly and easily find out when your next class is being held (and where).  They need this information to decide if your classes will work or if they should continue looking at other options. Honestly, if you do not or cannot give them this information they are going to go look at other options anyway. Besides, if they really want to be in your class they will do whatever they can to make it work.

My sister is having a baby soon.  We both agree she needs a baby sling, but which one? It needed to fit her personality, be easy enough to use and be acceptable for her husband to use as well.  And really, there are so many choices.  Were do we begin?

We began by deciding any mass produced or marketed sling wouldn’t do.  Her sling needed to display her personality.  So we jumped on the phone (we live 1000 miles apart) and searched online for the perfect fabric. It is soft, colorful and has images of the members of the Beatles throughout. You see, my sister adores the Beatles. I ordered the fabric and started to make some plans.

My first thought was to hire a local sling seamstress to turn the fabric into a wonderful gift of sling and matching bag.  But I don’t really have the time right now to dig further than the hour I have already spent looking for someone. School has to come first.  So the fabric is on the shelf waiting and my sister is going to have this baby soon.

I will be visiting her over the Holidays, and though I had hoped to be bringing her a sling I will be bringing her fabric instead.  Good news is we both sew.  We can pick the “sew-your-own-sling” directions we like the best from a Google search and make her a sling in a few short hours of too much fun and laughing.

Which got me to thinking.  If you are looking for a way to market your services or expand the work you do, why not add special order slings?  You could even do it as a sewing class if you are skillful enough.  What a fun way to help a group of expectant moms meet each other and prepare for their new baby.  I’m sure you would get lots of questions about your other services, which could lead to more work. But even if it doesn’t, it is still may be a great addition to your birth business.

This is another recycled post from the accidentally deleted blog.  I wanted to re-share it because I think it is very important to really think about the messages you send and why you are sending them.

I have quite a few birth-interested Facebook friends, so I see quite a few articles on my newsfeed.  Often I see the same article several times throughout the day as the article makes the rounds. Usually these are articles that are encouraging, uplifting or are seen as more support for the poster’s positions.  More often, articles are posted out of anger, frustration or the desire to punish the author or main subject of the article.

Posting as punishment?  True.  I see it in the replies to the articles as well.  Reader after reader tries to find the most eloquent way to say the author is a nincompoop, or the other readers are. It is fascinating to me that these posts almost never simply state they disagree and list factual reasons why.  Instead the discussion is a back and forth of the author is perfect – the author needs to grow a brain.

I am reminded of a comment made by the speaker at a recent law school graduation, “Most people claim they want justice, but what they really want is vengeance.”

But here is the secret…I think the authors of the articles and the companies that publish their articles like it that way. The page views do not record whether you were there to see the disaster or because you wanted the encouragement.  I doubt anyone “official” ever looks at all the comments, they simply check to see how many have been made.  An article that gets an emotional response – one that divides the readers and gets them shouting back and forth – increases profits.

Profits?  Well, yes.  What do you think a website exists for anyway?  Do you really believe the New York Times, Time Magazine, Cosmo or even Facebook do what they do to provide education for the masses?  These are businesses, and even not for profit businesses need to support themselves.  If there is no income, the business ceases to exist.  In the world of web articles, that money comes from advertisers.  Advertisers want more people to see their ads.  Websites must provide content that is stimulating to ensure readers share.  Sharing is an inexpensive way to get more people to the website.

No, I am not anti-corporation.  I don’t mind that these businesses provide information as a way to make money.  In fact, I’m rather fond of some of them.  But I do want to encourage you to think twice before you hit that share button for an article you don’t want to support.  Your share will be shared, and the impact will multiply and the article will get lots of attention.  Attention is what websites need – which means that author or that type of story will likely be repeated. In some systems your link to the article is counted as a “vote” for the importance of the article.

Just a reminder to think twice before you “vote” for an article.

I hope that by now you have your website, a Facebook account and a Twitter account, and anyone who finds one should be able to find the others because you have linked them.  Now the question is, how do you get people signed up for them?

First, be sure to include the information about your services on all your print materials. This ensures everyone you meet has access. Keep your business cards with you so you are always ready to share no matter where you meet someone.

Secondly, be sure to add your website to any listings.  Start with the Natural Childbirth Directory and then move on to join all the directories available. You will find a listing of directories at the Natural Childbirth Directory.

Consider sending an email to all your recent clients letting them know about your new internet presence. Invite them to become a friend or follower, and encourage them to share the links with any who might be interested.

But the most important part of internet social marketing is to be social.  It is not enough to have a Twitter account, you need to tweet.  A Facebook fan page is useless unless you post things.  So here are some suggestions to make things work.

1. Make a schedule for posting and tweeting, and stick to it. You can be as simple as having two or three times a week you post something, or you can have a detailed schedule.  For example, on the Birthing Naturally Fan Site I always ask a personal question on Monday and I post a birth related question each Friday.  I can post more often if I want, but this makes sure that I keep the page current.  Remember, the posts and Tweets are your way to reach new families interested in what you have to offer.

2. Make a list of topics you would like to share and discuss, and then choose a topic for each post or each week.  Topics can easily be used and reused since you will change what you say about them each time. For example, this week on the blog I talked about marketing – specifically on the internet.

3. Subscribe to two or three RSS feeds that provide information about birth.  Check them periodically for topic ideas. If you use Outlook, you can have feeds read into your inbox.  If you use gmail, you might prefer using the Google Reader.

4. Make a list of blogs you like to read.  Check them regularly and share interesting posts with your audience. You can start by looking through the listing of blogs on the right hand side of this screen.

5. Consider using a service that lets you schedule your posts and tweets so you can continue the conversation even when you are not able to be at your computer. I like to use HootSuite, I have friends who use TweetDeck.  I am sure there are others.  Pick the one that fits your style best.

Remember, the more you post the more information your readers have to share and the more likely your audience is to grow.  Though not all of your readers will be local, every reader helps to build your reputation as a trustworthy and influential birth professional. This makes it easier for local families to trust your services and hire you.

Twitter is fast and easy, but just like Facebook it can quickly become overwhelming. Just like Facebook, it can be difficult to manage a Twitter account that blends family and business. I’m just starting with Twitter, but I do see some potential for its use in your birth business.

The big difference with Twitter is that others choose to follow you, and you choose to follow others.  The selection does not have to be mutual.  This means people can see what you’ve posted, and you never have to see what they post.  But that would really go against the whole point of social networking, which is to interact with people. Again, I recommend keeping two Twitter accounts, one for business and one for pleasure. This lets you interact with the networks you have built seperately.

Twitter isn’t really going to be a way for new clients to find you, but if you offer access to follow you from your website and other marketing materials, you can build relationship with people over Twitter that encourage them to choose you as their birth professional. Welcome new followers and be sure to interact with them when appropriate.

One of the great things about Twitter is the fast way you can get communication to a large group, like reminding all your clients about a La Leche League meeting tomorrow. And those who are part of that conversation can communicate back, perhaps to ask if anyone wants to go out for lunch afterwards. Taking this to the next step, you can use Twitter as a way to start your clients and potential clients thinking about questions or direct them to interesting articles.

Don’t forget to follow interesting organizations on your birth account.  For example, I use the Birthing Naturally Twitter account to post links to pregnancy and birth related research. Other organizations post links to new content or interesting articles.

Twitter can also be used as a way to build your skills.  Twitter parties are groups of people who communicate about a pre-determined topic at a scheduled time.  This gives you the ability to ask questions and get answers while you help answer other people’s questions.

This is a repost from the old “opps I deleted everything” blog.  Hope it helps you create a Facebook presence that works for you.

I have quite a few Facebook relationships with birth activists, doulas, childbirth educators, midwives and the like.  Some of them, in my opinion, handle the strange linking of business and pleasure well.  Others seem to struggle.

I’ve had friends who receive not so friendly messages and posts from other Facebook friends who either disagree with statements or links, or simply do not appreciate the frequent reminders that natural birth is best.  When this happens, if you are lucky, you are ignored – but usually you simply become an un-friend.

Another common problem is the mixing of friends, family and clients.  When clients become Facebook friends they can see all your status updates, they see everything your sister and friends write on your wall.  They comment on the picture of the dress you are thinking about buying.  It can be a little to close for comfort.

I’ve seen some wonderful ways to prevent this, and one of them may be helpful for you.

One method to avoid losing real life friends or those coveted long lost connections is to have two Facebook profiles.  One profile should have your name and be you personally.  This profile lets your friends know you saw the latest movie, your child has a solo in the school choir or your dog really needs a bath.  The second profile is your name and title, Jane Doe Birth Doula.  This profile is where you friend clients and others who are interested in the articles you share.  This method works if you have more than one email address and can keep track of which account you are using when you hit the share button.

Another method is to have a personal profile and then start a group or a fan page for your business.  Groups and fan pages are slightly different.  For example, fan pages allow your posts to show up on your fan newsfeeds, groups do not.  Both allow you the freedom to share links, host discussions and accept posts on your wall.

But what if you, like me, have already mixed business and pleasure?  Sort through your Facebook friends placing them in appropriate groups. Don’t worry, friends can be part of more than one group.  Then, when you want to share a post or a link, customize who can see it so that only those members of certain groups see it on their newsfeed or on your page.  Your privacy settings will also allow you to set who can or cannot see photos you post and photos of you.

Hope these tips help keep your Facebook relationships flourishing!

I thought I might spend a bit of time this week talking about marketing skills.  So marketing 101 – there are two ways to get a customer/client.  You can either make someone you meet want what you have to sell.  Or you can help someone who wants the product you sell find you.  I am sure there are a myriad of theories that go into how to do each of those best, but that is as far as we will get into marketing theory.

Instead, lets chat about your website.  Why?  A website is an inexpensive way to help the people who want what you have to offer, find you. For the most part, websites are easy to maintain and offer a very low effort way for the general public to find out about you.  But just having a webpage doesn’t mean the visitors to your site are going to choose your services.

How do you get them to want to hire you?  You need to understand that your website, should you choose to have one, is your first interview with potential clients. Your website should answer all their basic questions, build their trust in you as a professional and give them a reason to call or email you.

Remember, the people who are going to find your website are already interested in the services you have to offer. Think about how the internet works – how does an expectant mother find your website?  She probably does a search for doulas in your state or city, or she follows a link from a list of childbirth education websites.  She is not clicking the link to find out what a doula is or why she should have one.  She is clicking the link to find out why she should hire you.

What does she want to know?  Basically, she wants to know these things:

1. What services do you offer?
2. What areas do you serve?
3. How experienced are you?
4. Are you available when I am due?
5. How much do your services cost?

Working on the Natural Childbirth Directory, I see a lot of websites.  I can share with you the most common mistakes people make and how to correct them easily.

1.  What services do you offer? You would be amazed how many times I get submissions for websites who incorrectly list the services they offer.  For example, they tell me they offer childbirth education services without ever listing anywhere on their website this service is available. The most common problem is listing childbirth education as one of your “doula” services. This is confusing for readers who will think they cannot hire you for education unless they hire you as their doula.   The fix is easy.  Make a list of all the services you offer, and separate out the list so readers can easily tell what they if they hire you for different roles.

2. What areas do you serve? If your website does not say what regions you serve, including the state and/or country, you are losing business.  Why?  Because readers cannot find you in a search for doulas in your area if you don’t include your area on your website.  You basically make your website invisible to search engines. You are also likely to lose business from link services as well, because readers are less likely to contact you if they are not sure of where you work. Once again, the fix is easy.  Be sure to add your service area at the top of your main web page.

3. How experienced are you? Readers of your website want to know what types of training you have had.  This helps them determine what skills you have, and what philosophy of birth you have.  Telling potential customers you are new to paid doula work is not a bad thing, but be sure to share about the training you have had and previous experiences. Remember that other skills may help families choose you. So if you are also a massage therapist, have a background with herbs or aromatherapy, trained in photography or any other wonderful skill list it.

4. Are you available when I am due? You might not want to go through the work of keeping a calendar on your website, but you could list information about where you are in the scheduling process.  For example, you might keep a list of all classes you will be teaching for the next six months, when they start and end and when enrollment closes. Or you might post something like, “Now accepting clients for March, 2011 and beyond.”

5. How much do your services cost? Have you ever been at a restaurant that does not list its prices on the menu? It immediately makes you anticipate a very expensive meal. It is the same with birth services, if you don’t list it your readers will assume you are very expensive.  They don’t know by reading that your fees are negotiable or sliding scale or that you offer discounts unless you tell them. You have a fee, be open about it.