6 Questions Every Coach’s Website Should Answer

Updated Jan 3rd, 2024.

When a potential client is at your website, there are questions they have in mind before they engage with it and contact you for help.

Answering these questions helps them immerse upon arrival, and stick around to get to know you as a coach.

Sadly, most of the coach websites (I’ve seen thousands in over 20 years), don’t do a good job at answering them.

The content of their websites is weak with wording around:

• What coaching is — the approaches or techniques
• Coaching packages with hours, fees, and assessments
• Collections of pretty pictures and confucious-like quotations

While nice-to-have, these items aren’t top of mind to clients.

By answering these 6 big questions below, you’ll be able to show the value of coaching and connecting with your visitors — winning their trust and getting them eager to talk to you.

Let’s dive in …

Question #1: What is this?

When people arrive at your website, the first thing they want to know is, What is this?

Oddly, in reviewing thousands of websites over the last 20 years, there were plenty that left me with no clue that it was a coaching website.

There was no picture of the coach. No words saying that a coach was available for hire. You’d wonder how that happened.

When visitors have no idea what the website is about, they bounce — a technical term for leaving immediately. They never return.

I’ve posted lots of 10-minute video reviews on my YouTube channel. I often don’t get past the homepage because there’s so much to fix.

Try a TAGLINE and CORE MESSAGE to fix a confusing homepage.

One great way to instantly tell people what your website is about is to create a tagline (see my Tagline Tips Video).

It can be as simple as business mentor, career advisor, or health coach.

The other thing to do is craft a Core Message. It’s a sentence or two to say what you do powerfully.

For example,

I’m Janet Powers, a money coach who gets people out of low-paying, dead-end jobs and into new, exciting, and lucrative careers.

KENN VISUAL CHALLENGE

Here’s another example for a client of mine, Susan Hughes, an ADHD coach over in Australia. How many hints tell you what the website is? Take a moment …

Answer: There are 6.

1. Her name in the logo indicates this is a professional’s website
2. The tagline (under the logo) says ADHD Parent Coach
3. The core message (big wording) has her name and title
4. The menu item “ADHD Coaching” indicates there’s a coach here
5. The “Meet Susan” is in the menu
6. The “Get My Top 10 Tips,” sign-up box is from an expert

Clearly, this website is offering a service from a talented individual.

So, make sure the top of your homepage clearly tells what kind of website this is.

Question #2: Is this for me?

There’s no reason for a prospect to stick around if your website isn’t for them.

This can be done with content that talks about:

• the characteristics/traits of your ideal clients
• what their life is like, a typical day
• the challenges they face
• thoughts, their pains, and their joys.
• their values, world views, beliefs

If you show a prospect you know well, it encourages them to go deeper into your website.

Whether you have a well-defined niche or not, I’ve always seen room to get clearer about who your best kind of clients is.

By the way, I wrote a book about how to engage visitors at your website — a content and structure strategy guide — so they reach out to you for coaching support. It’s called The Coaching Website Guide.

Question #3: How does coaching work?

Once visitors know what it is and that it’s for them, they’ll naturally want to know, How does coaching work?

They don’t need a long-winded, high-def answer. They want just enough to get the idea so they can say “Ahh, ok. That makes sense. I like it.”

Heavy concepts and TMI (too much info) is a buzz kill. Keep it simple.

For example:

My coaching approach has three steps for success. They are:

1 – Define Your Deepest Goals
Deep goals come from the heart. They energize, excite and make you feel alive – thus, making success more likely.

2 – Remove Hidden Blockers
There are stoppers to your success that you are not aware of. We need to dig them out and remove them. It’s like greasing the slide to success.

3 – Take Simple, Doable Action Steps
With blocks removed and a higher level of clarity, we get you started on simple steps you can take right away. You’ll feel great seeing things happen right away. 

It’s good to own your approach. Give it a name. Explain it in your words. Having your “proprietary” process says you know what you’re doing. Clients love that.

As another example, here’s a diagram I created for a life coach Lisa.

It’s a circular image showing that Lisa to focuses on the whole life of a client. Again, the aim is to help visitors “get it.”

Finally, another nifty way to explain how coaching works is with a Venn Diagram. It’s the 2 or 3 circles that overlap and the middle area is where the magic happens.

Remember, satisfy the logical mind.

Question #4: Will coaching work for me?

A natural question people have about any product or service is, Will it work for me Answering this motivates the visitor to contact you.

A fabulous way to do this is with client stories. “If you’ve helped them, maybe you can help me” is what you want people to think.

I recommend telling short stories, and avoiding the typical, generic, empty ho-hum testimonials like “Coach John is the best!” or “My life really changed with Jane!”

A good success story will tell about the pains of life/health/business/etc before coaching with you, some of the important work you did together, and the results and benefits gained.

I got more into this Before-During-After model for success stories as well as practical tips for getting clients to actually write them, in my book, The Coaching Website Guide.

Well-written accounts of people you’ve worked with, especially with detail, bring a level of realism to your coaching that people can feel.

Another way to show folks that coaching could work for them is to help them to start solving their problems right away.

For example, if you had an article, video, or worksheet that got them to start getting clearer about their goals, they will feel momentum towards those goals — that something is working.

Educate, teach, inspire, and motivate people with your content. This is the second way I love to get people to think, “This will work for me!”

Question #5: Why should I work with YOU specificaly, and not someone else?

Your prospect has many options. They can find other coaches, get a book, or take a course.

This is why you need to share something “unique to you” — something valuable.

Some examples:

• You work with a select group, like owners of diners in New York City.
• You survived cancer (or other challenge), just like your clients.
• You’ve been a business coach for 30 years.

When you explain your point of differentiation, highlight the value of it.

Expanding on the previous list, you could say …

• You work with owners of diners in New York City, so you know how to create loyal, regular customers.
• You survived cancer, so you have practical ways to navigate the various challenges that come with a terminal diagnosis.
• You’ve been a business coach for 30 years, and have seen the most common challenges your clients are likely to face.

Point out your uniqueness and explain why it’s valuable. The more they see you as amazing help, the less they need to go looking elsewhere. 😉

Question #6: What do I do next?

At this point, if you’ve answered the previous questions, your visitor will …

• know what your site is about
• why they should be there
• how coaching works
• feel like you can help them, and
• why they should hire you and not someone else.

All we need to do is tell them what to do next.

For most coaches seeking new clients, this will to contact the coach for that intro session (free session, strategy session, discovery session, call it what you want).

Make this step easy, obvious, and enticing.

For example, if you offer a free coaching session, let them know:

• when you will get back to them
• how to request the appointment – fill out a form, book into your calendar?
• how the session will be conducted – phone, in person, video?
• the duration of the session
• the benefits of the call

And dedicate an entire page to it.

There are examples and writing formuals about this speciall call-to-action in my book, The Coaching Website Guide. Check it out.

How great would it be if …

How great would it be if visitors felt, “I just HAVE TO work with this coach!” when they were at your website? By answering these big questions, you’ll do a lot to get them excited.

At the free consultation call, it’ll be sooo much easier to sign them up because they are pre-sold on you.

;D