Six Essential Web Pages for Coaches

June 4th, 2007

From the Wisdom Vault…

The process of developing your own coaching website may seem a bit daunting, but it can also be a rich opportunity to deliver your authentic message to your target market and brand your coaching business.Start creating your website content as soon as you’ve chosen one distinctive niche market for your coaching business, but not before. Design your website to inform, attract and pre-qualify your target market. Paired with an ezine (electronic newsletter) and/or a blog, it will also help to build visibility and credibility for your coaching services.Good Bones
Your website is the foundation of your marketing. Give it good bones - a structure that is strong and reliable, that will grow along with you and your company. Include these six essential web pages:
1. Home
2. About You
3. Coaching Services
4. Events
5. Ezine
6. Contact

Later, you may add a products page when you develop your own ebooks, books, CDs or other products for your niche market.

There’s No Place Like Home
Your Home page is the threshold of your business. First impressions will most likely determine whether your visitors click through to other pages or contact you. Imbue your home page with a look and personalized message that invites your target market in. Include:
1. Your company name, logo or logotype.
2.  A succinct, compelling sentence that defines your target market and how you address their top challenges and wants.

3.  An invitation and subscribe box for your ezine.

(Include 1-3 on every other page as well.)
4.  Your name and title.
5.  A professional photo of you.
6.  Attractive but not distracting graphics and colors.
7.  Streamlined and evocative text that invites and pre-qualifies your target market.Speak Directly to Your Target Market
Resist the impulse to genericize your website by using language that is vague, catch all or tries to speak to anyone - “I am the life coach to help you achieve your dreams.” Unfortunately, a large percentage of the coaching websites on the Internet are ineffective for this reason. Don’t look like everyone else! Your ideal clients will respond and refer others when your site is specifically designed for them.

Streamline the Text
It has been proven that most people read very little unless they are compelled by the relevance and ease of what they are reading. Keep your visitors reading with:
- Streamlined concepts and language.
- Occasional bulleted lists and short subtitled paragraphs.
- Links to full blown documents for deeper reading such as: FAQs, assessments and tools that you’ve created, relevant articles.

Tell Your Story
The About You page (your name in place of You) is your bio page. Write a 300 - 400 word story with interesting subtitles for each paragraph that tell prospective clients about your relevant work and life experiences.  Help your prospects see that you understand their challenges first hand and can greatly benefit them. Include relevant credentials in a list at the end or in a box to the side.

Make the Benefits Clear
Coaching Services is a description of each service you offer now (not what you hope to offer later). List the features but emphasize the benefits. Offer a free sample session with a link to the contact page.

Ease Enrollment
Only post an Events page when your events are available. Never put “under construction” signs on your website. Post succinct but compelling descriptions, benefits of attending, and specific logistical details for your speaking gigs, workshops, teleclasses, group coaching - any public event featuring you that is relevant to your target market. Consider investing in a shopping cart to have an easy on-line registration system.

Get Permission for Future Marketing
A website is relatively worthless if there is no way to capture visitors. An ezine is an essential network and credibility-building tool. Plan to launch your ezine when you launch your website. Make it easy and attractive for every visitor to subscribe to your ezine. Your ezine page will have a full description of the ezine as well as archives for past editions as you publish them.

Start the Relationship Now
Your Contact page isn’t just about providing your contact information. Include a form that visitors fill out for a sample session with you. In addition to their contact info, ask them for answers to meaningful questions so that you will have valuable knowledge about them before the sample session.

With these strong bones, your website will work on your behalf.

For in depth, step-by-step support in writing web content and managing the web design process, get Working Websites for Coaches. This resource-packed ebook is only $97.00 and will save you weeks of time while it gives you critical tools for developing your website!

Get Working Websites for Coaches today and have your website working for you in three to six weeks!

Blessings!Rhonda Hess
Founder, Prosperous Coach

posted under Website Success
 

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