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Before you build your website – 10 tips for success

So many coaches have websites that do nothing for the businesses. These sites are often confusing, lack good content, and are visually unappealing.

 

The best website would be easy to use, exciting, and lead visitors through action steps to engage with you—basically asking for you to coach them.

 

A little planning goes a long way…

 

As a website designer for coaches for over 20 years, I know that if you don’t do THESE 10 THINGS at the start, you’ll have to do them later on — making the project take forever. Or you’ll end up redoing your website (doh!)

 

Kenn Schroder, Web Designer for Coaches at CoachingSitesThatWork.com

 

Let’s dig in …

 

1. Recall your business goals 3, 6, or 12 months out.

 

What will your business look like? Get specific about the number of clients, income earned, hours worked, and all.

 

Definitely remember your WHY for this business and how you might translate this into a viable business. I suspect you already have your vision in mind.

 

Getting clear where you’re headed will help you figure out the next part…

 

2. Clarify your specific marketing tactic.

 

Ensure your website supports the tasks you intend to do to reach new clients, such as:

 

  • Grow a social following
  • Build an email list
  • Manual outreach
  • Advertising of some sort
  • Or perhaps a strategic partnership for referrals

 

3. Identify your ideal client (or realize this …).

 

If you pursue a niche, understand that person’s (or organization’s) needs, pains, and goals. Think, research, and outline it in detail.
If you’re going to remain general, then expect to uncover the person’s needs/wants/goals as part of your approach. Knowing someone well is a MASSIVE trust builder and helps you land them as a client.

 

4. Map out the content structure.

 

Diagram pages and functionalities needed — like email list cpature, blogs, booking calendar, and forms.

 

You don’t have to have them all, but be clear about what you’ll need to support your vision.

 

5. Determine the primary user path.

 

Think about the headlines they’ll see, copy they’ll read, pages they go through, and buttons they’ll click — that you want them to take through your website.

 

Know where you want them to end up. Is it an invitation to meet? Join a program? Or request to join a group? Something else?

 

Then, definitely run through that path yourself to experience it.

 

6. Draft page content.

 

Outline key points, the size of text, the headlines, and calls-to-action for each screenful of content.

 

Remember the screen sizes! People will only view a laptop or phone screen at any point in time.

 

7. Describe the visual vibe of your site.

 

Choose visuals that support your content and resonate with your audience — from fonts to colors to textures to imagery to voice.

 

Are we going for simple and minimal, energetic and colorful, or perhaps calm and wise? This should align with your personality they can expect when you coach them.

 

Here’s a handy article called Coaching Brand Archetypes.

 

8. Get THESE good photos of yourself.

 

Your photos are part of the website’s visual design, so it’s best to get those taken before you work on the visuals.

 

Get at least these:

 

  • A good headshot (be approachable)
  • A good hero shot — you in your workspace or presenting or working with a client.
  • A good non-work shot to show more of your personality. It’s great if this pic supports your image (like hiking up a challenging mountain).

 

9. Set a deadline to launch.

 

Establish a firm but doable deadline to ensure accountability and progress. I don’t need to tell you about this, do I, coach?

 

10. Choose a winning domain name.

 

It’s best if it’s memorable, easy to spell, and related to what you do. There are still plenty to choose from, and you can get creative. For example…

 

  • ExecutiveCoachMike.com
  • FindYourWayInLife.com
  • LeadWithNLPMagic.com

 

Oh! This will help, too…

 

In summary, remember that a little strategic planning is worth the effort at the start. Not only will planning help you get value from your website, but it will also be easier to build.

 

My website, CoachingSitesThatWork.com, has many blog posts and a very handy WEBSITE PREP CHECKLIST of small, doable tasks you can check off to gain momentum on your project.

 

Oh, and my name is Kenn Schroder.

#webdesign #coaching #business