{"id":29161,"date":"2018-01-24T13:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T18:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/blog\/how-to-make-a-coaching-business-website-the-works\/"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:00:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T18:00:19","slug":"how-to-make-a-coaching-business-website-the-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/blog\/how-to-make-a-coaching-business-website-the-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Website Truly Working for Your Coaching Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is your website actually doing its job?<\/p>\n<p>I ask because there is a difference between just having a website and having a website that actually works <em>for<\/em> your business, helping to turn prospects into clients.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some tips to help you elevate your website so that it can work harder for your business.<\/p>\n<h2>Make a Great First Impression<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Minimize loading time.<\/strong> When prospects click on the link to your website, how long does it take for the site to load? <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kissmetrics.com\/loading-time\/)\">Research<\/a> suggests that 40 percent of p\u00ad\u00adeople will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to appear, so make sure to check your site\u2019s loading speed using a tool such as <a href=\"https:\/\/tools.pingdom.com\/\">Pingdom<\/a> and make the suggested adjustments if needed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ensure mobile responsiveness.<\/strong> With the majority of people now accessing the internet via mobile devices, it\u2019s become imperative to have a mobile-responsive website. Otherwise, your site will not be easy to use for those accessing it from the small screen of a mobile device, and Google\u2019s search algorithms will penalize your site with a lower ranking in search results, making it harder for people to find you online. You can check the responsiveness of your website using a tool such as <a href=\"https:\/\/website.grader.com\/\">HubSpot\u2019s Website Grader<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Optimize \u201cabove the fold\u201d content.<\/strong> People will quickly click away from a website if the first things they see on the screen give them the impression they might not be in the right place. The \u201cabove the fold\u201d content\u2014the content that is visible on the screen when someone first lands on your site before scrolling down\u2014needs to be customized to entice and resonate with your ideal clients. Let the right people know they\u2019re in the right place and should explore your site further by using language that your ideal clients use and by including imagery that reflects who they are or who they aspire to become.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Help Your Prospects Get to Know, Like and Trust You<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Show your face.<\/strong> Given the high-touch, personal nature of coaching, one of the main purposes of your website is to build the \u201cknow,\u201d \u201clike\u201d and &#8220;trust\u201d factors with the right prospects. There\u2019s no faster way to do this than with high-quality, authentic photos and videos of you. Let your website visitors see exactly who they\u2019ll be meeting at each of their coaching sessions, and they\u2019ll begin to envision themselves working with you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Display your expertise.<\/strong> Let your prospects know they\u2019re in safe hands by including \u201ccredibility indicators\u201d (signs that others already trust you) on your website. These could include highlighting the qualifications you\u2019ve earned, such as an ICF Credential; posting photos or videos of you speaking at events; or publishing thought leadership on your own site.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Share testimonials.<\/strong> You can powerfully illustrate the results people can get from working with you by posting short, descriptive testimonials from past clients (with their permission, of course) throughout your website. Don\u2019t just publish the types of testimonials that say things like, \u201cI love working with coach Barbara. She\u2019s amazing!\u201d (though those are nice, too). Publish the ones that really showcase coaching impacts. (For example, \u201cAfter coaching with Barbara, I\u2019m much more confident speaking up in front of my team. I trust myself more and don\u2019t second-guess every decision I make.\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Encourage Prospects to Take Action<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Focus on benefits.<\/strong> Economist Theodore Levitt famously said, &#8220;People don&#8217;t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!\u201d In the same vein, our clients don\u2019t want coaching, they\u2019re looking for a solution to their problems. When you point out the results and benefits prospects can get from coaching, you\u2019ll make a much stronger case for engaging with you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Create clear calls to action (CTAs).<\/strong> Now that you\u2019ve gotten them excited about the prospect of working with you, what action do you ultimately want your website visitors to take? Make a purchase? Give you a call? Schedule a consultation with you? Whatever it is, state it clearly and make it easy for people to do.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Minimize clutter.<\/strong> On each page of your website ask yourself, \u201cWhat do I want prospects to know and what do I want them to do?\u201d Make sure that the content on each page addresses those questions and that no distracting extra \u201dstuff\u201d is packed in there. Remember, a confused mind does nothing, so it\u2019s best to limit the number of CTAs on each page to one\u2014maybe two\u2014to make decision-making easier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is your website actually doing its job? I ask because there is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"3 Tips for a Coaching Business Website That Converts","_seopress_titles_desc":"Ensure your coaching business website effectively attracts and converts clients. Optimize your site and attract your niche by learning more in our ICF blog.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"audience-type":[118,121,124,120,125,117,113,114],"display-option":[],"post-type":[128],"topic":[99,64],"_person-tax":[2318],"class_list":{"0":"post-29161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"audience-type-experienced-coaches","8":"audience-type-external-coaches","9":"audience-type-icf-chapter-leaders","10":"audience-type-internal-coaches","11":"audience-type-mentor-coaches","12":"audience-type-new-coaches","13":"audience-type-professional-coaches","14":"audience-type-team-and-group-coaches","15":"post-type-blog","16":"topic-building-a-successful-coaching-business","17":"topic-business-development","18":"_person-tax-2318","19":"not-partnership-post","31":"_person-tax-28233","32":"has-featured-image"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience-type?post=29161"},{"taxonomy":"display-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display-option?post=29161"},{"taxonomy":"post-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-type?post=29161"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=29161"},{"taxonomy":"_person-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_person-tax?post=29161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}