As a coach – whether it’s an executive coach, business coach, etc. – your job is to help people be a better manager, and achieve their overall goals. However, if your website is a hopeless mess, you don’t have to worry about helping anyone because you won’t have clients.
You might be asking yourself, “But why does my website have anything to do with WHAT I do?” Long gone are the days of successful billboards, newspaper ads, and even word of mouth. No, today people find what they’re looking for by using the internet. What’s the best restaurant in the area? Where’s the nearest hotel? How many people live in Frederick, Maryland? These are all questions people do searches for on Google and other search engines.
When someone needs any type of business coach, they’re going to search online. They’ll find you, then click on the link to your website. If your website isn’t attractive, on message, and easily accessible, you’ll lose that potential client in less than three seconds. When it comes to web design for executive coaches, you need to make sure you avoid these major mistakes.
1. “Create a Free Website, Powered By XYZ”
Let’s get this one out of the way quickly. Despite what commercials might tell you, if you design your own, free website and use it as your professional business website, your potential clients are going to click off your website very quickly.
People who are looking for executive coaches are looking for people who are first and foremost professional. If you can’t take the time to hire professionals who are experts in web design for executive coaches – and pay for an actual website – then your chances of landing more clients is next to zero.
It also helps that, if you do hire professionals who are master craftsmen in web design for executive coaches, you won’t have to worry about having an ugly website. If your site is cluttered, poorly designed, or looks like it was designed in 2005, it’s another red flag for potential clients. Websites should be updated every few years to stay fresh and relevant. It might sound silly, but put yourself in your prospective clients’ shoes – would you want to hire someone whose website looked really bad?
2. Not Understanding How SEO Fits in Web Design for Executive Coaches
As mentioned earlier, prospective clients look for executive coaches online using Google and other search engines. They’re going to look at the first page and possibly the second page, but that’s usually it. Search engine optimization (SEO) is what pushes your website to the front page.
Website design for executive coaches needs to focus on specific keywords, page titles, alt-tags, etc., in order for it to rank highly in Google. Google’s algorithm searches over your website’s pages, sees how relevant it is for the words that were typed in for the search, and then displays its results.
No one knows Google’s proprietary algorithm, but the more professional your website, the more likely it is to land on the first page. Remember, when it comes to SEO, that’s the goal. But just because you have SEO filtered throughout your website, that doesn’t mean that’s ALL it takes to get on the front page of Google. That leads to the next mistake.
3. Underestimating the Power of Social Media
Believe it or not, social media can help contribute to your website’s SEO.
Remember, Google scours pretty much all of the internet looking for information based on someone’s search. It all goes back to web design for executive coaches. If you have your social media links on your website, and then use social media often – hopefully linking back to your website’s pages, services, and blog posts – Google will pick up on that, which helps boost your overall ranking.
It’s important to remember, however, that you need to be consistent with posting. The more you post, the more followers you attract. It’s good to let people know you are the expert in your field, and by showing what you have on your website, you’ll be able to do just that.
4. “Why Should I Hire You?”
This might not seem like a trivial point, but it’s vital, nevertheless. You can have tremendous content on your website, the experts you paid for web design for executive coaches could give you a pristine, gorgeous site, but if you don’t have a clear call to action, the purpose of your site is lost.
It’s good to keep this quote in mind when you’re coming up with content for your website: “Why Should I Hire You?” That should be the question you answer in everything you write, create, and have designed for your site.
You are THE expert in your field. You have years of experience and you’ve helped more people than you can count. Why should they hire you? Because you can help them. Don’t forget this simple call to action on your website.
Meet Those Professionals in Web Design for Executive Coaches
Throughout the article, you read about how the professionals, the experts, can help you build your website. Here at New North, we are those experts.
We’ve heard stories from executive coaches just like you and we understand your struggles. You’re busy, you don’t have time to work on a website, and you definitely don’t have the finances to hire a full-time marketing staff.
With New North, you can breathe a sigh of relief. We figure out what you want, what you need, and how to incorporate all of that in an SEO-friendly, potential client-focused website.
Let us help you so you can continue helping other people. Contact us today for a free, no-hassle consultation. Are you ready to grow your business? If so, we’re here to help you with that.
