This episode shares steps you should take BEFORE you create your coaching website. I’m talking before you pay a designer, before you decide to buy a Wix or Squarespace template and do it yourself …or before you ask your well-meaning friend who has a bit of skill to do it for you.

I am not a web designer. But as an international business mentor for coaches with 20+ years experience in solopreneur business development, I know how websites work for coaches if done right and what doesn’t work to attract paying clients.

I’m the TEACHER Archetype. If you don’t yet know your archetype, listen to Episode 12.

I tend to learn from my mistakes by studying solutions then creating step-by-step guides for others. It’s the way I roll. So, after I launched a couple of dud coaching website when I started as a coach a couple of decades ago, I decided to study to understand what makes a coaching website client-winning.

One thing became crystal clear in my study. Most coaches put up a website too fast and end up having to do them again.

I’m lucky that coaches— my target audience — find my website either because they’ve found my podcast, were referred by another coach or coach training organization, or they’ve Googled “coaching niche.”

It’s satisfying to realize that I have done a good job driving traffic to my website because a steady stream of coaches who already know they want to hire me are showing up there. That’s what I want for you too.

On my website the coaches fill out the application on my Work with Rhonda. That’s called a conversion process. Does your website have a conversion process that inspires your audience to have a Discovery Call with you?

In that application, most coaches share that they are feeling lost without a clear coaching niche or target audience. But then they say they are working on their website, creating ads, social posts and coaching programs.

And I think … bummer, because the coach has done things out of order and if they want to be successful they will be starting from scratch not very far down the road from now.

It’s an honest mistake. When you finish coach training there’s this emotional rush to get a website up, to start doing all the conventional things most coaches think are the way to attract coaching clients fast.

Here’s the truth, if you create your website before you know who you’re serving and the problem you help them solve its like building a house on land you don’t own or buying a car before you can see over the steering wheel.

Developmentally, it’s better to wait to create your website until your business model has a solid foundation.

I made this mistake myself. In my first year as a coach I threw away a lot of money and effort creating a pretty website with a lot of philosophical copy about the power of coaching. I worked so hard on it. But it sat there collecting cyber dust.

Your website can be command central for your coaching business. If it’s created correctly it will definitely help you earn well and serve more clients. But an online brochure about coaching will not create those results.

3 Critical Decisions Before You Start Your Coaching Website

So, before you do anything related to your website make 3 critical decisions about your coaching business and your future as a professional coach.

What are those decisions and why are they important?

#1 Choose a viable target audience to serve. Viable, in this case, means an audience full of seekers — people who do invest in their own personal and professional growth. They are easy to find and connect with, eager to evolve and it’s a narrow enough group that you’ll stand out in a crowd.

It’s only by standing out that it will be possible to attract clients online. Think about it, if you’re just another voice in the crowd, no one ever listens.

#2 Conduct Market research. And it’s not what you think.

It’s not asking a bunch of people if they’ll pay for your coaching. It’s more subtle and scientific than that. It’s how you’ll learn exactly what your audience wants so much they’ll invest in your help to get it.

Knowing that is how you develop a smart coaching niche. After you have all of that certainty supporting your niche idea …

#3 Then you can create a brand, get a matching domain and craft attention getting messaging and offers.

And only then are you ready to write web copy that’s streamlined and resonates with your target audience. That’s when you can create a successful website for your business.

Hire Your Designer 4 Months Before You Launch Your Coaching Business

About 3 – 4 months before you want to launch your coaching business get on the wait list with a savvy web designer who knows how to code and how to make a customized website designed to convert visitors into fans and fans into clients.

Very few designers have all those skills. Most just know how to make a website look pretty. And pretty alone won’t help you.

So to review, think differently about your website. Shift from online brochure to a home for your target audience.

The people you’re going to serve should be at the center of your coaching business. Their problems and goals are where YOU come in. Transformative coaching can’t happen without attracting the people you’ll serve with your coaching. Attraction is about relevance.

Your coaching website might be your new client’s first connection with you. So why would you build a coaching website before you’ve fully understood your target audience?

Look, I get it. The target audience and coaching niche decisions are hard. That’s why I get so many hits on my website from ideal clients. And that decision is just the beginning of the decisions and strategic actions you want to take to set yourself up for success.

That’s how you’ll know what to do next and next. And that feels good!