EP 4: (12) Things Every Coaching, Consulting, and Professional Service-Based Business Website Needs

Imagine having a website that…

• Is Professional
• Looks Beautiful
• And That You Are Proud to Share

But, most of all….

One that WORKS!

What does it mean to have a website that works? I’m glad you asked! 

Your website should:

• Be the virtual storefront to your business
• Bring new prospects to your site
• Capture the contact information of your visitors and automatically add them to your email marketing list
• Build trust and authority
• And convert prospects into customers

In this episode of Shop Talk, you’ll learn the 12 Things Every Coaching, Consulting, and Professional Service-Based Business Website Needs to capture leads and convert prospects into buyers.

Let’s dive in…

[AD SPOT]

Hey there! I have so much to share with you today. But, before I dive in, I wanted to let you know if you:

• Currently, have a website that you are embarrassed to share because you haven’t touched it in years.
• Or maybe you have a website that’s “pretty” but doesn’t work (meaning it doesn’t capture leads or convert prospects into buyers).
• Or, you don’t have a website at all!

You are in luck, my friend! 

My team and I at Your Marketing Coach have a unique service (and program) that is NOTHING like you’ve ever experienced before. 

It was created to help coaches, consultants, and professional service-based businesses get a beautifully designed, professional website that they are proud to share.

I won’t go into all the details here, but trust me - our approach to building websites is nothing like you’ve seen from most web developers. That’s because we don’t consider ourselves web developers - we are marketing professionals who design websites that work.

Go to www.yourmarketingcoachonline.com/websitesthatwork (all one word) to see for yourself.

[PODCAST START]

When it comes to your coaching, consulting, or professional service-based business - a website is a must!

Your website is your virtual storefront to your business. It’s the foundation to all of your marketing efforts and (probably) one of the first impressions that you’ll make with prospects.

Now, before I dive in with my (12) pro tips I want to share with you I think it’s important that you know my team and I at Your Marketing Coach have built hundreds of websites for clients.  When we design sites, we design them with marketing and sales in mind.

In our opinion, every page on your site should be viewed as if it were a sales page. When we design a page we are thinking about how a one-on-one (in-person) conversation might unfold - and then we make sure that everything that may be discussed is included on that page.

Let me give you an example…

Several years ago, my husband and I were visiting Sedona, Arizona. We were looking to rent off-road ATVs to spend the day exploring the beautiful landscape and ruins are tucked away on the back roads throughout the city.

Here I am in the car trying to pull up local ATV rental sites on my mobile device. Every site that I visited looked something like this…

They had a homepage that had a lot of pictures of people driving ATVs.

They had a FAQ page that had a few generic questions about renting from them.

They had another page that showed the type of ATVs they rented (but, they didn’t include pricing - of course).

And then they had one more page that was titled “rentals”. I thought to myself, surely they’ll have a way I can click to rent from them - nope. There was just a standard “contact us” form that they wanted me to fill out so they could get back to me.

Their site was absolutely useless to me, a complete waste of my time, and I ended up having to call them to speak to someone to get my questions answered and book the rental.

What was even more frustrating is that they didn’t have a phone number that was clickable on their mobile site either. So, I had to copy the number and paste it in my dialer to call them.

What a mess.

So, I call…no answer! UGH!

I go back to the website, I fill out their generic form in hopes that they’ll get back to me soon.

My hubby and I go grab breakfast and figure that’ll give them time to get back with me. 

Nope.

So, we drive to their business location. It was off-season so their lot was filled with ATV’s and I finally got the opportunity to rent an ATV.

Here’s the deal…

I should not have had to work that hard to become a customer! Honestly, I was ready to just find something else to do for the day but I knew my husband was excited about exploring off-road.

Here’s what they could have done to make our experience sooooo much better - and easier for them!

For this kind of business, a simple (1) page website would have been perfect. They don’t have a complex business. People what to know:

• Do you offer ATV rentals?
• What kind?
• What’s the price?
• What do I need to know before I rent?
• What’s your address?
• A button that takes me to an order form where I can place my order.
• And if I need to talk to someone,  provide me with a clickable link to call you on my mobile.

That’s it! Super simple.

My goal in this episode is to provide you with the information and guidance you need so that you can:

• Drive visitors to your website
• Help you stand out from your competition
• Impress your visitors
• Capture prospects that are not ready to buy yet (so that you can follow up with them later)
• And, make it easy for your perfect ideal customer to sign up for your services
• Essentially, help you crush it in your industry!

Are you ready to dive in? Let’s start with pro tip #1.

#1 - Messaging That Connects

When a visitor lands on your site, there are (3) questions they want answered. They are:

• What do you do/offer?
• How will it make my life (or business) better?
• And how do I get started?

When it comes to marketing we know that a confused mind does not take action. If a visitor lands on your website and they don’t see within the first 8 seconds that you can help them - they will leave and check out your competition.

Think about your own browsing habits. How many times have you landed on a website? Their messaging is confusing. It’s not clear what they do, or who they serve, so you leave and move on to the next site.

So, you want to make sure that your messaging connects and captures their attention right away.

Clarity in your messaging always trumps creative jargon.

You know the site that looks like a high school student wrote it and had to meet a minimum number of words for their book report so they stuff a bunch of words that have no real meaning or clarity to them.

Here’s an example of a client we worked with…

Their messaging before we designed their new site was, “We aim to provide premium world-class business support services to underserved and underrepresented small and micro-business infrastructure. Through the cultivation of a new small and micro business ecosystem, we will strengthen our urban communities and create new opportunities.”

It’s crystal clear what they do - right!?! HA!

Wowzers! That’s a whole lotta jargon that I have no idea what it means. Here’s what they actually do…

We provide black-owned businesses with the business advice and capital they need to launch their startup.

Now, do you know what they do? And who they serve?

Ok, let’s get back to the (3) questions every visitor wants answered then they land on your site. They want to know:

• What do you do/offer?
• How will it make my life (or business) better?
• And how do I get started?

How do you answer those questions? I’m glad you asked!

There are (3) components that need to be visible on the home page (above-the-fold).

The section of your page that visitors see first when they land on your site (before they scroll) is considered “above-the-fold.

In that section, you need:

• An Impact Statement
• Statement of Benefit
• And a Call-to-Action Button

An Impact Statement is (1) crystal clear message that explains exactly what you do or offer. Many people refer to the Impact Statement as the headline of your page. I prefer to call it an Impact Statement because the focus of that message is to show your visitor how you impact their business (or life) - depending on what you do.

A Statement of Benefit is the short paragraph that’s listed immediately under the Impact Statement. This paragraph should be 1 - 3 sentences long and point out the top (3) ways that your customers benefit from working with you.

And then, you should have a Call-to-Action Button. This button should guide your visitor on what they should do next. That could be:

• That you guide them over to your product or services page.
• Maybe you want them to take a survey.
• You can have them schedule a discovery call.
• Or simply, “buy now”.

Where you guide your visitor is up to you. Just be sure that you make it clear as to what their next step should be.

#2 - Automated Scheduling Links

Pro-tip #2 is that you should make it really easy for visitors to schedule a discovery call with you.

The best way to do that is to have an automated scheduling link available on your site.

An automated scheduling link allows your visitor to access your calendar to see your availability and schedule a time that works in their calendar as well.

But, let's drill down on this a little more…

A discovery call is essentially a sales call. This call is designed for you to learn more about your prospect, their business, and their goals so that you can identify if they are a good fit for your products or services.

A discovery call can be free - or paid.

Offering A Free Discovery Call

If you offer your discovery calls for free, it’s really important that you control the conversation on this call. This is not a free coaching call! This is an opportunity for you to present your solutions.

If you are worried that too many people will schedule with you (because it’s free) I can assure you that’s not the case. When someone schedules a call like this, it’s because they have an interest in using your services. They likely have questions and just want to talk to someone before they move forward. This call is your chance to see if your products and services are a good fit.

Now, if you prefer to qualify your prospects before you give them access to your calendar, you can do that as well. 

Instead of sending them directly to your calendar, you would have them answer a series of questions that allows you to pre-qualify them before they get to schedule with you.

Here’s how it works…

They fill out the form. Based on their answers you are able to segment them into qualified or not-qualified. If they are qualified you make your calendar available so they can schedule a call with you.

If they are not qualified, you send them to a thank you page explaining to them that it doesn’t appear that they are a good fit for you at this time but that you have additional (free) resources that they might find helpful.

This is a fantastic way to ensure that your prospects are pre-qualified so that you (or your salesperson) isn’t wasting time meeting with people who are not a good fit.

And, you are giving them a chance to get some free support from you instead of just saying “sorry, I can’t help”.

When they subscribe to your free resource you are able to capture them on your email marketing list so that you can follow up, nurture, and coach them on what they can do to qualify to work with you.

I’ve had many people share that they’ve been following me and my free information for years. And because of the information I freely share, they have grown their business and are now able to invest in our services. It’s quite an honor to hear that we’ve made an impact in their business in that way.

Offering A Paid Discovery Call

Now, if you want to offer a paid discovery call you can do that as well!

My suggestion is that if you are going to take this route let the person know what outcome they can expect from the call so that they don’t expect to show up and be in control of what the call is about. This is best for you and them.

I would also suggest that you give this call a different name. Don’t call it a “discovery call”. Here are a few examples that we’ve used in my agency (Your Marketing Coach). We offered:

• A Marketing Breakthrough Session
• A Jump-Start Your Business Strategy Call
• A Complete Website Audit
• A One-Page Startup Blueprint Call

Essentially, you name the call after the outcome that you intend to deliver.

It’s important to note that if they are paying for the call you need to make sure they walk away with coaching/advice that they can implement in their life or business - even if they don’t purchase your products or services.

Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t leave room to present your products or services. You absolutely can!

The reality is you (most likely) can’t solve all of their problems on that call. You can give them guidance on what they need, maybe even provide a blueprint. Your products and services are going to be part of that solution.

Ok. I might have gone down a little rabbit hole here - but, I hope you are finding this helpful!

Bottom line, if you are a coach, consultant, or professional service-based business you need automated scheduling links on your site so that prospects can meet with you easily.

#3 - The Basic Website Pages

Pro-tip #3. There are (11) core pages that you need on your website.

Now, before you freak out - let me walk you through them and explain why they are important.

The (11) pages that you need are:

1) Home Page - is designed to talk about your company.

2) About Page - is designed to introduce them to you the coach/consultant. 

Now, if you are the company you might not need an About page. The Home page would essentially be your About page.

3) Work With Me Page - lists your products, services, or programs (if you have any).

4) Thank You Page - will be used to send visitors to when they subscribe to your free resources. I’ll drill down on this more in our next pro tip.

5) Contact Us Page

6) Privacy Policy Page - a privacy policy is a legal document that informs your site’s users how you collect and handle their personal information. This page is designed to protect you and your business.

7) Terms and Conditions Page - outlines the agreement between your website and its users. This page is designed to protect you and your business as well. If there is a legal dispute between you, your users, or your customers, an arbitrator will look to this agreement to determine which party acted with their rights.

8) Affiliate Disclaimer Page - this page is optional. But, if you provide your website visitors with links that you receive compensation for you have to have an Affiliate Disclaimer to disclose that information.

9) Cancellation Policy Page - cancellations are something that every coach, consultant, or professional services business will experience. It’s good practice to have a cancellation policy and page in place to disclose your policy to your clients. At Your Marketing Coach, we link to our cancellation policy page in the footer of our appointment confirmation emails so that our clients are reminded of our policy.  

10) Refund Policy Page - outlines how, when, and under what conditions your customers can return purchased goods and services.

Not only do customers expect to find this policy on your site, but it’s required by various US laws.

BTW, coaching/consulting/online training programs/ etc. all fall under this regulation.

11) Blog - A blog is one of the most valuable tools you can leverage to bring visitors to your website and build instant trust and authority with those visitors.

This leads me to pro-tip #4.

#4 - Bring Visitors To Your Site, And Build Trust And Authority

It’s shocking to me to see how many coaches, consultants, and professional service-based businesses either don’t have a blog or they don’t consistently use it.

If there is one thing that you take away from this episode I hope it’s that you understand the importance of having a blog and using it to publish articles to build trust and authority in your industry.

In Episode 3 of Shop Talk, titled “How to Turn Your Website Into a Lead Generating Machine” I have an entire section where I share how SEO (Search Engine Optimization) works.

You should definitely check it out as I go into great detail there! To do that you can go to www.yourmarketingcoachonline.com/3 

The gist of what you need to know is that your blog is one of the most valuable tools you can leverage to:

• Bring visitors to your website
• Build instant trust and authority with your visitors
• Leverage it to capture leads
• And also help you to convert more prospects into customers

Think about it. Every time you write and publish a blog, you are giving search engines a piece of content that they can share with their users. The more articles you publish, the more likely you are to show up in search results which will bring visitors to your website.

And, if you don’t have a blog you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to share your knowledge, experience, and expertise with visitors to build trust and authority.

Bottom line, coaching sites that regularly publish articles get more traffic, capture more leads, and convert more customers.

#5 - Leverage The Power Of Social Sharing To Gain Awareness

Alrighty…

Pro-tip #5 - utilize social share buttons to gain more awareness.

I’m sure you’ve seen them. The buttons that are located on many blogs where visitors can click and share the article on their favorite social media platform.

If you decide to leverage the power that a blog brings to your business then you should have these buttons on every blog so that your readers can share articles that they find helpful or interesting with their peers on social media.

One thing that I want to point out that you do not want to include on your site are social follow buttons.

This leads me to pro-tip #6.

#6 - Grow Your Social Following

How to grow your social following right on your blog - without asking your visitors to leave your site.

Let me explain…

Social share buttons are designed to let readers share articles on your site with two clicks.

Social follow buttons are the icons that you see on almost every website. They are the little circles that when you click them, it takes the person off your site and onto the social platform that they choose.

So, here you are working hard spending a bunch of time, money, and energy to get visitors to your website only to ask them to leave!

It just simply doesn’t make sense!

Instead of adding social follow buttons on your site, add “like boxes”.

Like boxes allow your website visitor to follow you and/or your business while still staying on your website.

So, you can grow your social following without asking them to leave your site.

The thing I love about the “like boxes” is that you can have it display how many people are following your business, images of their friends that are following you as well (which helps with building social trust), and they can see recent posts that you’ve shared so that they can see the quality of your content - all inside that little “like box”.

Pretty cool right!

#7 - Capture Leads

Ok, we are making some headway! Onward to pro-tip #7.

You must have a way to capture leads on your website!

If you don’t have a way to capture leads you are missing out on 92% of people who will visit your site that aren’t ready to buy (yet) but that you could have had a chance to follow up with, to nurture, and eventually convert them into a customer.

Did you know that only 8% of visitors that land on your site is ready to make a buying decision?

It’s true! That’s why implementing strategies to capture leads is essential!

Now, I don’t have time to deep dive into this topic. If you check out Episode 3 of Shop Talk, you’ll learn “How to Turn Your Website Into a Lead Generating Machine” Go to www.yourmarketingcoachonline.com/3

#8 - Convert Prospects into Customers

Pro-tip #8. You must optimize your website to convert prospects into customers.

This might seem obvious but I have a few things I’d like to share that I think will surprise you.

First of all, to convert prospects into customers you have to have your products, services, and/or programs listed on your website - with pricing!

Think about it, would you buy something if you don’t know the price first? Absolutely not!

I know there’s a lot of controversy around this subject, but in my opinion (and experience) you should include all of the information your visitor would need to make a buying decision if you want them to buy from you on your website. And that includes pricing.

If you prefer that your visitors schedule a discovery call so that you can qualify them you can certainly do that as well.

Before you design your sales pages just be clear on what your sales process is, and design the pages on your website to seamlessly support your process. 

#9 - Mobile Ready

Pro-tip #9. Make sure your website is mobile-ready. 

On average, businesses see 70%+ of their traffic coming from mobile devices. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you will lose that visitor.

Also, search engines like Google won’t typically rank your site in search results if it isn’t mobile-ready.

#10 - Why Speed Matters

Pro-tip #10 is in conjunction with the previous tip in that your website must load quickly. 

Here are some stats to put this into perspective:

• 1 in 4 visitors will abandon a website if it takes more than 4 seconds to load.
• 46% of users don’t revisit sites that are slow.
• And every second it takes for your site to load reduces customer satisfaction by 16%. 

I’ll go ahead and link to the source of this information in the show notes.

#11 - SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

We are almost there! Congrats on sticking with me this far. I know it’s been a ton of information - but, I couldn't leave anything out.

Pro-tip #11. You need to have on-page Search Engine Optimization.

We talked about how important it is to have a blog so that search engines can find your content and share it with their users.

SEO is how search engines (like Google) can understand what the pages on your website are about.

You can write the most amazing blog and post it to your site, and search engines may never deliver them in their search results for their users if you don’t do some basic on-page optimization.

On-Page SEO is essential to helping search engines better understand your website, improve your rankings, which leads to more organic traffic.

Basically, a website without SEO on the internet is like trying to find a speck of sand on Daytona's Beach - without it, most people will never find it organically.

#12 - Google Analytics

And here we are, finally at pro-tip #12!

You must add Google Analytics to your website.

Google Analytics gives you insight as to how well your website is performing. It allows you to:

• View how many people are visiting your website each month.
• Determine the source of your website’s traffic.
• Keeps track of your visitor's behavior when they browse your site.
• And provides information on your user's overall experience.
• Plus, so much more!

Without Google Analytics, you won’t have access to important information that you need to make good business decisions regarding your website and the impact that it has on the growth of your business.

[AD SPOT]

I see so many entrepreneurs taking on the gigantic task of designing their own websites. Listen, I get it. They are trying to save money - but, at what cost?

Not only are they taking on a project that requires a skill set that they (probably) don’t have - which can lead to confusion and overwhelm.

But, they are pulling themselves away from the things that they should be focused on in their business - serving their clients.

And, on top of that. If they manage to pull together a website, it won’t typically be optimized to convert.

As you can see from today’s Episode of Shop Talk, there’s more to building a website that works than meets the eye.

The good news is we can help!

We will build you a beautiful, professionally designed website, that you are proud to share - and most importantly is optimized to get you results.

I won’t go into all the details here, but trust me - our approach to building websites is nothing like you’ve seen from most web developers. That’s because we don’t consider ourselves web developers - we are marketing professionals who design websites that work.

Go to www.yourmarketingcoachonline.com/websitesthatwork (all one word) to see for yourself. 

Closing Remarks

Ok, my friend. This concludes this episode of Shop Talk.

Could you do me a favor? If you liked what you heard today, can you help spread the word and share this with others?

This is my fourth Episode of Shop Talk and I could use your help in reaching more amazing entrepreneurs like you!

I appreciate you.