Your website is one of your most important marketing assets. It’s the first place people go to find out more about you. And if it’s done right, your website will do a lot of the heavy lifting to bring you new clients.
But did you know that most health and wellness coaches’ websites may be doing their business more harm than good?
It’s true.
After reviewing hundreds of health coach websites, I can tell you that most of them may actually lose potential clients. The reason why is they make it hard for the website visitor to see the health or wellness coach as the best person to work with.
How can this be?
When a Website Can Cost You Clients
For the most part, the person coming to your website is there to find out more about you. They want information.
But the way the information is presented will either make the site visitor more interested in working with the health coach, or it will leave them with more questions. Even worse … it can make them confused.
Here are the most common problems I see:
- The site is hard for the site visitor to read and understand. This usually happens with sites that try to say too much. They look visually “noisy.” There’s a lot to weed through.
- The site leaves the visitor more confused than when they arrived. They may say a lot, but the site visitor has to dig around for the answers they’re looking for, or piece things together on their own.
- The site doesn’t tap into buyer psychology. A well-executed website is designed with buyer psychology in mind. Everything from the information that’s presented, to the type of copywriting, and even the pictures. It all leads the website visitor to see the health coach as the best person for them to work with.
Unfortunately, I see these mistakes over and over again. That’s because most website designers and website “themes” focus on visual appeal. That’s it. They leave the content up to the site owner.
And sometimes a health or wellness coach will tell me they modeled their site after someone else’s. So it’s often a case of the blind leading the blind.
The good news is, it’s not hard to create a website that will help you build your health coaching business. The first step is to decide which kind of website is right for you.
How to Decide Which Kind of Health Coach Website is Best for Growing Your Business
Health coach websites typically fall into two categories. The best one for you depends on the type of business you want to create.
The first category is what I call the “online brochure.”
The online brochure website looks like the digital version of a beautiful company brochure. It usually features the health coach, either in the copy, the pictures, or both. It often talks about the coach’s qualifications, their story, and perhaps their philosophy or “mission.”
Some of them look like beautiful magazine spreads. They may have gorgeous photos of things like smoothies, fruits and vegetables, or natural environments.
I’ve even seen health coaches completely “brand” their site. They may spend $10,000 or more on a beautiful logo and graphics, a color pallet, and photos of the coach and props (with the brand colors) shot by a professional photographer.
Yes, they are gorgeous. But what these sites have in beauty they often lack in substance.
The fact is, the online brochure type of site doesn’t proactively help the coach build their business. “They are a place to send prospects whom you meet in person to learn more about your services.” That’s the way Elizabeth Harr of Hinge Marketing describes this kind of site. (Hinge is a marketing agency that works with professional services companies.)
The online brochure site can be a beautiful showpiece. And it can work great under certain circumstances. For example, it may be perfect if the coach:
- Prefers to rely on referrals and networking to get new clients
- Wants to be a “generalist”
- Isn’t interested in scaling their business
- Has income flexibility. In other words, health coaching may be more of a passion project versus their bread and butter to pay the bills
Now if you want your website to do more heavy lifting for you … to actually market you and help you get clients … you need a different kind of website. I call it a Wellness Business Optimized Website™.
A Wellness Business Optimized Website helps the coach attract people who are a good match for them. It gets the site visitor excited about working with the coach.
A Wellness Business Optimized Website is the best choice if:
- You don’t like the idea of “selling”
- You want your website to attract people who want to work with you
- You want to build a profitable health coaching business that can be your primary (or only) source of income
- You want to be known for creating a powerful transformation for the people you coach
- You want to scale all or part of your business (instead of only trading dollars for hours)
So before you build or refresh your website, decide what kind of health coaching business you ultimately want. That way you won’t waste time and money building the wrong kind of website.
Now you may be wondering what you should do if you want to create a Wellness Business Optimized Website. I’m going to take you through that in upcoming articles. Next time, we’ll go through the key elements of the most important real estate on your website – the homepage.
In the meantime, if you’d like to know more about what makes a Wellness Business Optimized Website, you can download a free resource I created called, The 4 Questions Every Health Coach’s Website Homepage Must Answer. This will help you to know what information your homepage needs to convey.
