#1 Make “What You do and Who You Work With” Obvious in Seconds
Attention spans are getting shorter by the day it seems! It is likely someone may only be on your site for a short amount of time, and they will bounce away WAY quicker if they don’t understand what it is you do and if they’re the type of client you work with.
The hero area of the homepage (the space of the page you see right when you come to the site, before having to scroll) should make it clear as far as What you do, and WHO you work with. Sometimes I may put a more fun and creating brand tagline as the larger text in this space, but then I’d advise following that up with smaller text that check the clarity box. After all, clarity trumps creativity any day of the week with your messaging!
#2 Make it Easy to Take the Next Step
People shouldn’t have to be searching around for a way to take the next step in working with you. If your next step is to contact you, book a call, or purchase, make those actions very easy to find throughout the website.
The top right corner is prime real estate so this is where I usually will place your main action you want them to take (typically contact). You also want to sprinkle in action buttons throughout longer sales pages so someone doesn’t have to endlessly scroll to say YES IM IN!
If you have multiple offers (maybe a private coaching program, a group program, and then courses) think about the hierarchy of actions. What the #1 most important action, then 2nd most important, etc etc. That will determine the hierarchy of content and how you present the different facets of your coaching business.
#3 Effective Offer Organization
As your coaching business evolves and grows most likely your offers will as well. It should be clear and easy to navigate through your different offers on your website.
It should also be clear what the difference is between your different offers. Someone shouldn’t be sitting there confused about that the difference is or what’s relevant to them, because confused people rarely buy!
#4 You Need a Way to Grow Your Email List
This typically comes in the form of a free opt-in on your website, and you can have more than one! I highly recommend having more than just a simple “sign up for my email list” type opt-in. Because honestly… people don’t really care that much about your email list! They will be much more likely to offer up their email address when you are giving them something of value that can help them.
Your freebie is a great way to show them you know what you’re talking about, and to start building a relationship with them and growing your “know, like, trust” factor. Sometimes people aren’t quite ready to jump in an invest right when they come to your website, so getting them onto your email list through a freebie allows you to further nurture that relationship overtime. I have definitely had people become clients after being on my email list for some time.
#5 Make it About THEM, not You
This is especially easy to fall into if you have a coaching business named after you. You might think, well it’s a personal brand so they should be learning about me, right? And yes, a little. But mostly your website is all about your ideal client’s journey – not yours. Your website is there to connect with where THEY are currently at, their struggles, their desires, goals and dreams.
Your story has it’s place on the About page, but even then you want to keep the story relevant to their journey. They don’t need a whole life timeline or every step of your business journey. Use the parts of your story that relate to how you help your clients, and leave the rest.
#6 It Must Look/Work Great on Mobile
This is a given, but it can still be easy to forget about the mobile view of your website. Pretty much all websites are “mobile responsive” these days (unless you haven’t touched your website in 10+ years!) – but what is the experience like on mobile? Half the people coming to your website will be coming from their phone, so it’s worth paying attention to.
You want to consider these design elements for the phone view in particular:
- Font Size – the text shouldn’t be too big where it creates too much scrolling, or be too small where it’s hard to read. Find your sweet spot
- Less Blank Space – while some nice open, breathing room is lovely on a desktop view, on the phone too much blank space just creates more and more scrolling. Try to keep things a but more condensed design wise.
- Everything is Working Correctly – Remember to do a check through and make sure everything is working properly on the phone.
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