What Makes A Great Business Coach Website?
Been thinking about levelling up your website design?
If you’ve been around the block as a business coach, you’ve probably wised up to the fact that your goal shouldn’t be to look or sound like Marie Forleo or [insert other celebrity coach here].
Our hot take: Your business coach website needs its own distinct feel.
In our opinion as design experts, your website has three goals:
Reflect your authentic personality and your unique philosophy
Boost your credibility and position you as the go-to expert in your industry with a distinct body of work
Sell your 1:1 coaching services and/or programs, and open the door to lucrative speaking opportunities
Want our hot takes on designing a business coach website that actually sells by elevating your authority YOUR way, not someone else’s? Come right this way.
Let's jump into the practical goodness.
What makes a good irresistible business coach website?
1. Non-Cookie Cutter Branding
First things first: You DO NOT need to mimic the business coaches you follow. Chances are, if they’re reached a high level of success, what got them there MIGHT NOT be what gets YOU there.
Your path is unique. Your audience is unique. And to attract the perfect-fit clients, your branding needs to be distinctly you, not a carbon copy of someone else.
Not sure how to define a brand that feels authentic to you and actually grabs (and holds) the attention of the right people? Here’s where to start.
Define your specific audience
Start by asking yourself:
Who is your target audience? And also, who is not? When you have multiple audiences, your message can get muddy super quickly. So it’s essential to prioritise ideally one, two audiences at most. Remember, your messaging’s job is to repel the WRONG people as much as it attracts the right people.
What journey did your people take to get to this page? And what will their journey be through the website? So many business coach websites overlook this. But it’s a must. Think about how you can meet your audience where they are so you can deliver exactly what they need at the right time.
What do each of your target audiences want? And how can you give them that?
Think diagonally about your brand and value prop - you’re not the same as anyone else!
Your brand experience will not (and should not) be exactly the same as the people in your space that you admire.
How can you translate unique parts of your personality into your brand personality? This is how you truly stand out.
From there, it’s about linking your unique brand DNA to your audience’s needs:
Is your brand’s personality all buttoned-up or casual? Do your audience seek you out because you’re a confident expert, strategist and leader, or do they trust you because you’re a friend that’s one step ahead of them and helpfully sharing what you learn?
Ask yourself: Why do you appeal to your ideal clients? Why would they choose you over your competitors? What’s different and memorable about the way you work with your clients and/or students?
Share your brand story
To craft a compelling brand story can be a challenge. After all, what do you do with all the bits and bobs that don’t fit a streamlined, linear narrative? You’re a multifaceted human and there are many different threads to your story.
Your brand story is not like anyone else’s - guaranteed. Don’t be tempted to hide it.
What unique perspectives do you bring to your work, based on your personal history and experiences? What events or people have influenced you to do what you do and become who you are?
These are the raw materials you’ll bring to your brand story.
At the same, don’t overcomplicate it. Stick to just one or two key messages or themes that both feel authentic to you and resonate with your audience.
Develop your brand’s tone of voice
Depending on your personality, your brand’s voice might be high-energy, empowering and motivational or it might be more gentle and encouraging.
Being inhuman, tone-deaf or robotic is never good, so turn the dial up on empathy and bring your real human self into your messaging.
Not sure what your brand voice actually is? A good rule of thumb is to stay true to the vibe your clients feel when they interact with you on a call.
How do you show up in real life? Bring that energy online.
2. An Irresistible, Cred-Building Homepage
It doesn't matter if you like your website. It matters that your ideal clients do.
As a branding and design agency, we sometimes have to gently remind our clients about this.
Your website isn’t for you. It’s for your clients.
You might like all the bells and whistles and the fancy navigation. But does your ideal customer?
Your homepage’s job is twofold: 1) To present your value proposition in a way that’s instantly irresistible to your ideal client. And 2) to build credibility and trust right from the get-go.
You can’t do this if you don’t consider the audience’s perspective first.
This means that, throughout the copy and design process, we need to keep the focus on your audience: what they need and desire. This will strengthen the impact of your homepage and make it way more likely they’ll click through to explore other pages of your website.
3. A Conversion-Optimised Sales Page
As a coach, you probably already know that having your sales page dialled in for conversions is super important.
Our twist on this sage advice? The best sales pages are clear, cleanly designed and precise - without compromising your unique flair.
It hurts us to see ugly and poorly written sales pages out in the wild - because poor copy or design is almost definitely hurting your conversions.
Make sure your message hierarchy is super clear to amp up the persuasion.
Less is more. Instead of bombarding your website visitors with heaps of information, clarify the most concise messages that will make the most impact.
Basically, your prospects need to know 3 things from your sales page:
1) Why do they need your coaching? (What will they gain? What struggles will it help them overcome?)
2) Why should they trust you?
3) Why should they act now?
A clean and visually appealing layout with plenty of white space will make your most important persuasive messages shine through - without bogging your audience down.
4. Intuitive User Experience
It might not be the sexiest part of designing a website, but…
Getting your website’s user experience right is a must. (Sorry, not sorry).
After all, all it takes is one awkward experience with a pop up or confusion about how to get from A to B to make your website users hit the back button.
Your website - from the copy to the design - needs to be helpful, clear, and human-centred with a lively touch of your brand personality. Opt for clear over clever, especially when it comes to helping people navigate your site and complete core tasks. Especially purchasing. You don’t want to nurture and build rapport, only for them to bail from your website or funnel because confusion.
You can make the whole experience much more effortless for users by placing simple menus in strategic locations, creating an effective visual hierarchy, and providing concise guidance on next steps.
5. Social Proof
Most business coaches don’t use social proof to its full potential.
If you have glowing client testimonials, showcase them strategically across your site - on your sales page, your homepage, your About page, and your Contact page.
You can (and probably should) go beyond words - think videos, screenshots of text messages (shared with permission, of course), success stories, and stats with little blurbs that actually contextualise the wins your clients are experiencing.
Don’t leave your best testimonials as one big solid text-heavy chunk. There’s lots you can do to make the testimonials more compelling.
For starters, pluck a persuasive stand-out headline for the testimonial from the jumble of words. Remix the order to prioritise the most impactful messages. Highlight and bold words in the testimonial to grab attention.
To amp up the persuasive impact of your social proof, always choose the most relevant testimonials that:
Match the ultimate goal your prospect has
Help them overcome a key hesitation
Highlight a client win that makes taking action a no-brainer
6. A Tempting Invite to Join your Email List
Lead magnets like PDFs and ebooks (followed by mass email blasts) are a little tired in 2024. Yep, we said it.
Do you want to build a stronger connection with your audience? Turn one-time website visitors into devotees and potential clients with a lively email list.
And then serve them up personalised content based on what they’re ACTUALLY interested in through smart segmentation.
Your goal? To start conversations. Don’t just broadcast messages.
This means creating a two-way dialogue, listening to and responding to feedback.
If you want to go the low-maintenance way, you can set up your tech to automatically send an email to your list every time you publish a new blog post.
But if you want to give your people a more VIP experience with a personal, thoughtful touch, don’t underestimate the power of a welcome email sequence that makes them excited about joining your little community.
If you have a particular offer you want to sell, you’ll want to invest in a custom email campaign designed to nurture trust and make the case why they should buy from you.
But remember: it’s not enough to email your list once in a blue moon and only when you want to sell something. Always mix up your sales emails with non-salesy emails to prevent your email list from burning out.
7. A Connection-Rich About Page
We’re a bit over boring About pages, tbh.
Ditto for lukewarm mission statements that don’t have a clear audience or intention.
Your About page doesn’t need to be a Great Russian novel. It doesn’t need to be filled with accolades or facts like a resume.
But it DOES need to share a story your audience cares about, both with words and visually.
Your About page should showcase your personality and make a strong case for why your people should choose you.
Although this page is technically ‘about you’, it’s always a good idea to keep your audience’s needs front-and-centre with the copy and design.
Ask yourself:
What would your audience want to know about you?
How can you share your authentic personality?
How can you let them into your world?
Is your brand story both compelling and consistent with your bigger brand?
“You’ve convinced me I need to uplevel my business coaching website. What next?”
Revamping your website can be overwhelming. But the good news is that you don’t have to struggle with DIY stress when we’ve got plenty of options to get your uplevelled website up and running - from website templates to custom website design.
As website design and copywriting experts, we’ll help you uncover your authentic brand and design a stunning, strategic website that boosts your credibility as a business coach.
Take our quiz now to discover your brand archetype so you can build the right strategic foundation for your online presence.
