The World Wide Web – a vast plethora of information, good and junk, alike. According to internetlivestats.com, there are over 1.8 billion websites as at August 2021. The question is: how do you get your coaching website found by your target audience?

Set and Forget? Well then… may the odds be ever in your favor!

You may be wondering just what you have to do to get your coaching website found online? How much effort do you need to put in? For many coaches who manage their business single-handedly, spending time on building a digital presence can seem overwhelming.

Many coaches make the mistake of neglecting their online presence or take a ‘set and forget’ approach. They set up their coaching website, put up some information about who they are and what they do and slap on a bright green Sign-up Now! button.

Then, they hope and pray for a surfing wanderer to stumble upon their website AND click the ‘Sign-up For My Coaching Services Now!’ button.

Taking this approach to get coaching clients online is a sure fire way to doom. If you adopt this approach, then in the words of Effie Trinket (she of ‘The Hunger Games’ fame)… may the odds be ever in your favor!

No matter how good you are as a coach, simply setting up your practice, sitting tight and waiting to be discovered is the fastest and surest way to failure.

Having an online presence is crucial to get new coaching clients.

Even if you have a good stream of referral clients, a prominent and visible online presence does wonders for your credibility.

Benefits of a Coaching Website

Before we dive into the must-haves of a coaching website, let’s take a look at some benefits of having a website:

24/7 Accessibility

One of the best things about your website is that it is like the salesperson and lead generator that never sleeps and never complains. It is always accessible from anywhere in the world, consistently presenting the face of your business.

This is really important for coaches who aren’t confined to the constraints of coaching face-to-face. With Zoom, Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp and dozens more apps, having a virtual coaching session with a global client base has never been easier.

A website enables you to reach a global customer base and even get booked for a coaching call while you’re asleep.

Your online soapbox

Your website is your space, your marketing real estate. Think of it as your online soapbox. If you were up on stage speaking to a roomful of your target audience, what would you say to them?

Just as you would deliver a speech with impactful messages that hit your audience right between the eyes, your website copy should be clear in its message and grab the attention of visitors within the first 7 seconds. That’s how fast it takes a visitor to click away if they don’t like what they see.

Make your online pedestal count! Deliver the right message in the right way to create stickiness with your audience and demonstrate your expertise.

Bring in the moolah!

Your coaching website isn’t all about pretty pictures and good copy. Ultimately, your website should bring in sales and deliver a return on your investment.

Providing useful and insightful content is extremely important to build credibility and authority. Furthermore, it’s also crucial that you get the sale. Don’t be coy about leading your audience to your coaching offer or other services.

The worst thing that could happen is for your prospects to read your content, connect with your message and want to work with you but they just don't know how to sign up! 

This may seem absurd but it happens! 

Some coaches are overly concerned about being salesy or pushy that they obscure their offer and the sign up button to the point where it just cannot be found easily.

The 3 Must-Haves For Your Coaching Website

Now that it’s clear how your website can help get you new coaching clients, let’s explore how to improve your chances of getting found online so the odds are really in your favor.

Remember that if you’re a business owner, then ultimately your website exists to get you business.

There are essentially three things that need to happen for you to win new clients online:

1. Your website needs to get found.

2. Your visitor clicks through to your website and sticks around to explore.

3. Your visitor takes the desired call to action on your website and now becomes a prospect whom you must convert to a paying client.

With these steps in mind, here are the 3 must-haves for your coaching website:

1. The Core Pages of Your Website

Home Page

This should be made with a clean design with clear language communicating the value that you provide and how you can help clients. Tell your visitors, in one sentence and above the fold (i.e. before having to scroll down), about who you are and who you serve.

This is the first page that most people will see before looking through the rest of your website; it must look professional and visually appealing. If you’ve done your research, you’ll know your target audience and what resonates with them.

About Page

This is your opportunity to shine and let your prospective clients get to know you more and what you can do to help them. Remember to highlight how you stand out from other coaches and describe your coaching style in more detail. Add a photo or video of yourself to this page.

Services / Work With Me Page

Describe your offer with clarity and what your clients will receive when they work with you. Talk about the benefits and the results that they can expect to receive. Elaborate upon how they will feel upon achieving the desired outcomes.

Blog Page

A blog page is necessary for a few reasons. Writing with good SEO principles in mind, you will demonstrate your expertise and authority, create stickiness and enable your website to be found. More on that below.

Page Titles and Meta Tags

Each of your pages should have a proper title and meta tag that succinctly describes what your page is about. Your page description must contain the keyword that you want to be discovered for on the search engines. It must also be appealing for people searching to click through.

2. SEO Optimized Content

After the first step of setting up your coaching website, there’s still work to be done. It must be found by people who are intentionally searching for solutions to their challenges.

This is where creating and publishing SEO optimized content comes into play. Writing articles about your subject expertise and posting on your blog is great!

However, content that’s not optimised for keywords that your target audience is searching for could mean losing out to competition. If other coaches publish the same topic with optimized content, there’s a high likelihood that they will beat you at the search results.

I’ve written a step-by-step post on how to write optimized content to get coaching clients online. It provides some good tips on the tools to use search for keywords and how to optimize your content for SEO.

3. Convincing Call To Action

Your call to action must be visible and not obscured deep within your website. It must be clear and explicit about what action you want your visitor to take.

When your message and content resonate with your target audience, they will feel that you are the right coach to work with because you understand them.

On most coaching websites, the desired call to action is for visitors to book a discovery or pre-assessment call. A discovery call is crucial since coaching is a one-on-one, human-to-human service.

Your prospect must have the assurance that they are making the right decision to work with you and vice versa.

Simply leaving a contact form on your website for your visitors to fill in their details has its downsides. It results in back-and-forth emails just to set up a time to speak. Your prospect’s initial interest could wane and result in a lost opportunity for you to win a new client.

You should therefore make it as easy as possible for your prospects to book a time to speak with you.

A convincing call to action is to have a Book Now button that links to your online scheduling page. This way, prospects can immediately reserve a time slot to speak with you. No more time-wasting with back and forth emails!

CoachVantage is a practice management software for coaches that can help with scheduling. It allows you to embed a scheduling page on your coaching website so prospects can easily book a call with you.

Not only is this convenient, but it also helps you stand out from other coaches who use contact forms.