165: Wait to Create Your Coaching Website Until You’ve Done 3 Things

This episode shares steps you should take BEFORE you create your coaching website. I’m talking before you pay a designer, before you decide to buy a Wix or Squarespace template and do it yourself ...or before you ask your well-meaning friend who has a bit of skill to do it for you.Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/165. I am not a web designer. But as an international business mentor for coaches with 20+ years experience in solopreneur business development, I know how websites work for coaches if done right and what doesn’t work to attract paying clients.I'm the TEACHER Archetype. If you don’t yet know your archetype, listen to Episode 12.I tend to learn from my mistakes by studying solutions then creating step-by-step guides for others. It’s the way I roll. So, after I launched a couple of dud coaching website when I started as a coach a couple of decades ago, I decided to study to understand what makes a coaching website client-winning. Learn more about that at prosperouscoach.com/42.One thing became crystal clear in my study. Most coaches put up a website too fast and end up having to do them again.I’m lucky that coaches— my target audience — find my website either because they’ve found my podcast, were referred by another coach or coach training organization, or they’ve Googled "coaching niche."It’s satisfying to realize that I have done a good job driving traffic to my website because a steady stream of coaches who already know they want to hire me are showing up there. That’s what I want for you too.On my website the coaches fill out the application on my Work with Rhonda. That’s called a conversion process.Does your website have a conversion process that inspires your audience to have a Discovery Call with you?In that application, most coaches share that they are feeling lost without a clear coaching niche or target audience. But then they say they are working on their website, creating ads, social posts and coaching programs.And I think ... bummer, because the coach has done things out of order and if they want to be successful they will be starting from scratch not very far down the road from now. It's an honest mistake. When you finish coach training there's this emotional rush to get a website up, to start doing all the conventional things most coaches think are the way to attract coaching clients fast.Here’s the truth, if you create your website before you know who you're serving and the problem you help them solve its like building a house on land you don't own or buying a car before you can see over the steering wheel.Developmentally, it's better to wait to create your website until your business model has a solid foundation.I made this mistake myself. In my first year as a coach I threw away a lot of money and effort creating a pretty website with a lot of philosophical copy about the power of coaching. I worked so hard on it. But it sat there collecting cyber dust.Your website can be command central for yo Rhonda Hess helps new coaches leverage their zone of genius into a profitable coaching niche and launch with confidence. For VIP step-by-step support apply for Rhonda's VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough Program here and she'll be in touch to invite you a discovery call. Or if you're stuck on your coaching niche, grab a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with Rhonda here.