Are you a new coach looking for the right way to build your coaching website?
Are you an existing coach wanting more leads from your current website?
WordPress for Coaches
Many coaching programs don’t teach coaches how to properly market their businesses. A successful marketing plan for any coach includes a well-built website. As someone who is passionate about helping coaches succeed and knows what a good coaching website consists of, I offer a brief website class to coaching programs around the country. I love teaching coaches the unique steps to build a successful coaching website.
When you build a house, laying a proper foundation is unarguably the most important first step. Similarly, when building a coaching website, it’s paramount to lay a proper foundation and choose the right framework. There are many options for building a website but they are not all created equal. Some of the biggest considerations are cost, ease of use, search engine optimization, design aesthetic, building out a bigger site in the future, and security. In my opinion, WordPress for coaches is the best option. Read on to find out three key places where WordPress excels against the competition.
Cost
WordPress is open source and completely free (cost-free and free to take and expand on). WordPress is owned by the non-profit WordPress Foundation and updated by professional developers around the country who volunteer their time. As a framework to build your coaching website, WordPress is both awesome and affordable. Other software such as GoDaddy builder, Squarespace, Showit, and Wix all charge monthly fees to use their software. The costs that are related to building a WordPress website come from the following:
1. Premium Themes. There are many decent free WordPress themes but for under $100 you can get an amazing premium WordPress theme built by a professional developer. A developer spends hundreds of hours making a theme and then hopes that enough people buy a license to use it that they will get enough sales to cover their time. With so many bells and whistles for these themes, it’s crazy not to consider them.
2. Premium Plugins. Plugins are a bit of a different story. Many great plugins are free. Only if you need something particular that’s “out of the box” will you need to pay for a premium plugin. Premium plugins are quite affordable – $50 or less depending on what they are designed to do.
3. Domain and Hosting. Self-hosted WordPress websites require you to have a domain name and web hosting. Depending on the domain name, the average cost for a domain per year is $10-30 and most discounts occur in the first year of sign-ups and get more expensive after that time. Web hosting costs vary but most reputable hosts charge between $10-$30 a month for shared WordPress hosting.
Search Engine Results
You may have come across some very pretty-looking Showit or Squarespace website templates when searching for a coaching website solution. Ever notice how some sellers of these templates include a WordPress blog in their packages? The reason behind this is simple. WordPress for coaches is best for search engine results. But offering two different websites cobbled together from different platforms doesn’t make a lot of sense. Also, because only part of the website is on WordPress only the blog is getting the search engine power it deserves and not the rest of the website. Bottom line – if potential clients can’t find you online, your online marketing has failed.
Building out an existing website
Many of my coaching website clients are concerned about whether their website can handle bigger tasks as their practice grows. Another great thing about WordPress is that it’s quite scalable. Ecommerce, learning platforms, event calendars, sign-ups, landing pages, fillable forms, video integration, scheduling integration and much more can be easily added. WordPress uses plugins to extend functionality, and as I mentioned before, most are very affordable.
Want to talk to a WordPress website coaching expert about how to build your website and attract new clients? Contact us and let’s get started!
