The Context
One of the main struggles a life coach faces when starting his/her consulting business is attracting clients. Before the digital age, it was hard for a life coach to expand locally, let alone nationally. They would have had to rely on word of mouth. Now with people being connected around the globe, it is easier to reach people nationally and internationally for your coaching business. Although there are other methods to becoming successful without a website such as using local listing services, owning one can give you a great competitive advantage and can even the playing field between you and the large companies. To successfully pull it off, though, you have to know various components including the layout, what features you want to include and the usability of the website. It can add even more work to your already busy schedule, and puts off many from attempting to create their own life coaching site. We will go over the pros and cons of creating a website, and give a final analysis on whether you should create one.
Cons of creating a life coaching website
The concept of creating a website can be exciting, though there are some challenges ahead. Here are a few of them:
1.) Spending money on contractors
Creating a website involves a lot of learning, and oftentimes creating a website yourself without much knowledge can have bad results. Hiring contractors to do the work that requires extensive knowledge is often the solution for life coaches who do not have much experience. Spending money on contractors though can be off putting, especially for sole-proprietorships that are getting off the ground, and setting up a contract for independent work can be tricky. Another viable solution is to use technologies that can handle the work for you. You ideally want to have a system set up that can also handle appointments and collect payments, which is what our platform, coach.today provides. It also handles the layouts and contains suggestions and instructions to create your website effortlessly. Best of all, we do it all for you! Schedule a consultation with us to find out more!
2.) Bugs and crashes
A website can be prone to crashes and bugs which can have disastrous results. If your website crashes, you can miss out on potential sales and your brand can develop a bad reputation. Details such as coding errors, using the wrong plugins and having expired domains can contribute to a bad experience for your visitors. Furthemore, there are problems that can go beyond your control, such as a server host having technical issues, which in turn can bring your website down. It is therefore important to pick a hosting provider that has a stellar reputation as well as picking the right professionals to make sure that your programming and plugins are executed correctly. coach.today offers a stellar web hosting service complete with it’s own built in plugins, and simplifies website creation so you can have a seamless experience.
3.) "A life coaching website is just a brochure"
Another criticism of creating a website is that it can be not as effective in driving goals as you think. There are companies such as Clickfunnels that claim that a website is a glorified digital resume that clients can get lost in, and the real results come from driving potential clients into a marketing funnel to convert. There are some who choose to skip out entirely on websites and rely solely on other means of attracting leads such as Facebook pages or by other social media channels.
4.) Running Costs
Creating a website is half the battle. You also have to invest money into maintaining the site. For example, your domain name can have a yearly cost. Website hosting comes with a price tag which can set you back hundreds of dollars or more per year. Of course, paying for a hosting service can be cheaper than the alternative of hosting your own physical server, but it can still be costly. You may also have to pay for third party apps if you want to add widgets and pay licensing fees to insert photos. Our platform, coach.today includes all the features you need so you can know the full cost upfront. We also include direct access to the entire Pixabay repository full of free-to-use photos.
5.) No technical support for website errors
When your site bugs out or crashes, you will not be able to ask for support unless you hire the contractor who built the site for you. That is why you need a contractor, or hire a service that has a great service to help your needs. This is one of the reasons we created coach.today: to ensure there are no bugs in the first place and give our clients all the support they need, whenever they need it.
6.) Competition
You may initially have a hard time competing with other, more well-established businesses. A lot of them pay money to advertise their services on social media, search engines and youtube among other video-hosting sites. Starting out can seem intimidating for first time life-coaching business owners. You would have to rely on expert help to stand out and reach more clients.
In short, while there are many obstacles for creating a website, most of them can be solved by hiring the right professionals. You do, however, have to incur costs including their pay, site maintenance costs and licensing fees, and the charges can really add up. But, is it worth it in the end? We’ll explore that in the next section.
Pros of owning a life coaching website
While there are many initial struggles to creating a website, there are many advantages as well. Here are a few of them:
1.) Cutting costs in other places
Wait a minute, didn’t you say you have to incur more costs? While you do have to incur costs such as website maintenance and hiring professionals, creating a website can save you money in the long run. For example, you can save on the costs of setting up a brick and mortar location and hiring staff to maintain the place. Using social media to promote your website is significantly cheaper and more advantageous compared to traditional advertising such as radio, television and billboards as well. With a website, you have a place to which you can direct traffic from all of your social media profiles and your pay per click online advertising campaigns. A well-designed website will convert traffic into leads, saving you money on ads with only a phone number to call, which would convert less and cost more.
2.) You have greater reach
Another benefit is that having a website lets you reach many people, even when they are away from home. About 3 billion people around the world own smartphone. That is one out of every 3 people! The potential market for services online is astronomically large, and more businesses are taking advantage of the online market. If you create a website, especially one that is mobile optimized, you have an almost endless supply of potential leads: people that you can make an impact on from all over the globe.
3.) You attract the right clients
One of the most common problems that life coaches face is getting clients. It is harder to get potential clients interested in your services if you don’t adequately explain what problems your services solve and why you should consult with them. With a website, you build an online presence and communicate your brand, your mission and the pain points that you are trying to solve. You make it easier for people to read your message and hire your services. A website also makes it easier to get clients into your marketing funnel and create loyalty.
A website can help you attract the right clients
4.) Easier access to information
When people want to find out more about a company, they checkout the website. Without a website, it can be difficult to redirect someone to a place where they can find out your location, contact information, business hours, etc. A website is perfect for not only showcasing your services and signing up people to your email list, but also to display important information as well and gather feedback. You can also promote social media channels and connect even more with your prospects.
5.) Meeting your clients is easier
Another issue is that it can often become tiresome to explain the details of your services each and every time you meet with a new client. The work you would have to put in to convert just one client can be daunting. Creating a website alleviates a lot of the stress and does much of the work of following up with clients for you. You can set up systems to automatically follow up with clients when they sign up to your email list for example and can also set up tutorial videos to walk a potential client on how to use your services and what benefits will they get out of it. You can also set up a chat box to address any problems they might have and increase the relationship they have with your brand.
6.) Your business has more legitimacy
Additionally, when consumers search up a company name through search engines like Google, they usually want to verify if the company is legitimate by examining their reviews and website. Not having a life coaching website might raise some red flags among potential clients. In the digital age, it is just as shady as not having a phone number. If you create an easy-to-navigate website, that can speak highly of who you are as a business and communicate to your prospects that you put the needs of your clients first.
Final Word
While the prospect of creating your website can be costly and intimidating, the long term effects more than make up for the initial costs. Some life coaches may be hesitant at first to create their website, and may seek alternative routes. Yet, creating a website lets you show your brand and your mission to a lot more people and increases your reach. It does much of the relationship building for you, so you can focus on the truly exciting aspect of your business: coaching people! It doesn’t have to be a grueling experience to create one either. At coach.today, we provide life coaches with the tools they need to create a website from scratch and reach out to more people, and also develop their business strategy. We do it all for you, and provide mentorship along the way. A client of ours, Karl Lashkari who is a Men’s Leadership coach said that the coach.today platform has been easy to use and was a seamless experience in launching his brand. Recently, Karl just closed $14,000 in coaching programs and is working on launching an online course through our platform. We wish you luck in creating your first website and making an impact on others’ lives. Make sure to schedule a consultation with us, and read some of our other life coaching articles!
