It’s not easy getting inbound traffic to your website, so the worst thing you can do is waste what you do get by having a site that won’t convert.
I would say at least 9 out of 10 coaches’ websites that I see aren’t set up correctly, and that is really concerning.
Some of the problems are overall design issues that are tricky to rectify without rebuilding the entire site, but the majority are little things that can be resolved relatively easily.
Not having a strong call to action (CTA) that tells your potential clients what you want them to do (usually this will be to sign up for your newsletter) is usually a straightforward fix.
The same goes with your ‘what’s in it for me?’ (wiifm). It should be blindingly obvious what the person on your website stands to gain by signing up for your list or contacting you.
If somebody lands on your site and doesn’t immediately know what it is you do and who it is you help, then you have a problem.
If you meet somebody in an elevator you may get 30-seconds or even a minute to explain what it is you do and the value you can bring.
The Internet is less amenable however, and you have about as long as it would take the elevator doors to close to make your point.
As I say, those two critical elements are relatively easy to correct as they only require some copy changes or maybe the installation of a pop-up and offering a bribe/lead magnet.
But, there is something even easier to correct than those two items, and that’s your telephone number, or lack thereof.
The Internet is now accessed more from mobile devices than from desktop computers. A great many of the people online using a smartphone have less patience than a 6-year-old with ADHD on Christmas Eve.
Your website should be configured to make it as easy as possible for people to contact you and hire you.
Every step you place in someone’s way, such as nigh on impossible-to-read captcha forms, off site schedulers requiring 8 clicks to book an appointment (and yes I saw one of these only this week) and asking them to fill all sorts of irrelevant information is an opportunity for them to get frustrated and bail out.
Shortly after I moved to the US in 2006 I was about to start a round of golf when my phone rang. I looked at it and because I didn’t know the number just muted the phone and tossed it into my bag.
After I’d played I noticed that there was a voicemail and it was from a lady looking to hire a coach.
I called her back only to be told she’d found and hired somebody else in the 4 hours it took me to play 18 holes.
That round of golf may very well have cost me $1,000 or more.
Some people will spend weeks researching coaches, reading life coach websites, following them on Social Media and asking what friends think.
Then others think, ‘I need a Life Coach, and I need one now’ and within an hour have hopped online and hired a coach who was easy to contact and looked vaguely competent.
I often get pushback from new coaches who are worried that if they put their phone number on their website they will get bothered by people at all hours of the day.
That never happens to me and my phone number is all over the Internet.
At LEAST half the inquiries I receive are via a phone call.
Now I’m sure that some of those people will have emailed me if my number wasn’t on my site, but equally I’m sure some wouldn’t have bothered.
Can you afford to walk away from so many potential clients?
I understand if you’re a single woman that you may be leery about putting your number out there, but there are options these days for screening calls that I’m not sure it’s a legitimate objection anymore.
Your phone number should ideally be on every page, not just your contact page and it needs to be clickable.
Having it as an image in a header is probably worse than not having it at all because it will just frustrate people who are feverishly hitting it to call and nothing is happening.
It’s hard getting clients, so get your phone number up there and don’t make it any harder than it already is!