5 Best Coach Websites: What To Look For And Why It Matters
Number 5 is my absolute favorite!
Prior to writing this article, I’ve come across great coach websites. Got confused along the way as to which ones to pick.
Then I thought I’ll just write a quick list and keep adding more coach websites in the future. These sites will inspire you, especially if you’re a life coach and you’ve been thinking about having a coaching website to display your services.
Having a website gives you a leg up in a competitive market.
But, you need more than just have a website; you need a professionally designed one that stops your ideal customers dead in their tracks when they land on your site.
The best coach websites are the ones that incorporate these elements:
- Great headlines and crossheads throughout your site
- Inviting Photos of you smiling and exuding friendliness
- An awesome about page to show your personality while keeping your customers top of mind
- Great visuals to maintain your visitors on the site
- Testimonials that serve as social proof
- Freebies everywhere your visitors go to build your mail list
- And a nice Call-to-action button (contact form, free consultation, book a call, etc)
You’ll of course also need more pages — services, blog, speaking engagements, books — depending on your offers and growth.
Now, let’s look at a few of the best coach websites I’ve found.
Coach Website #1: Mel Noakes
Why this is a great coach website:
- Brilliant colors and standout design
- Beautiful and inviting images
- Specialized messaging targeted at an ideal customer: women who need self-care
Mel’s smile invites her visitors to WANT to work with her. She looks like someone who would be a pleasure to work with.
People judge in 0.1 seconds. It’s hard to evade this. Good personal photos give a sneak peek of what it’s like to do business with you.
From a visual perspective, it’s a great website, and so are the color choices and the copywriting.
You can immediately identify who Mel helps with her services. She targets a specific coaching niche.
Here’s how she does it:
- Great headline and sub-headline that immediately displays her expertise and target audience
- Quiz button to filter out her clients and determine if they’re a good fit (this probably saves everyone a lot of time)
- Her book to show leadership authority in her niche
How this website could be improved:
- Add social proof or testimonials: These will always back you up, regardless of what you offer
- Breakdown the services and their benefits on the homepage
- Consider having a blog with SEO-optimized articles to get Google on your side: The site deserves more eyeballs. What’s the point of creating a beautiful site if no one sees it?
- Too many CTA buttons on the homepage: There are about 5 different CTAs. It’ll distract or confuse your visitors. As a general rule, it’s better to stick to the most important ACTION you want them to take and strategically place it all over your homepage
Coach website #2: Susie Moore
The first thing that stood out to me are the colors. Great branding. Yellow is obviously Susie’s favorite color — and it fits her nicely (check the about section). From the yellow outfit, earrings, CTA buttons, hair, design, book, to even the cute puppy — altogether match her brand perfectly.
Why this is an amazing coach website:
- Great freebies: She has 2 different opt-ins: one at the beginning of the homepage, and one at the end. Great way to test which converts more.
- Brilliant images of Susie: Coaching means working with the same person face-to-face (or online) for a long time. For that reason, showing a heartwarming personality that shines through the page can translate into conversions and sales
- Great display of big brands Susie has worked with: It directly establishes her expertise
- Testimonials are AHH-mazing: I particularly love the ones next to the book. They compel the reader to get it
How this website could be further improved:
- Avoid selling the book the moment visitors land on the site: Not sure if it’s a good idea to sell anything the moment visitors open your website. Here’s why: they have to be in a high stage of awareness of your products and services to buy. Instead, I would replace it with an enticing freebie, and I’ll sell whatever product I have through my nurture email sequences
- Replace the text/photo testimonials with video/text testimonials: Not to say that the testimonials are bad, but for better conversions, videos prove to be 90% more effective than written recommendations
- Replace “Here are a few ways I can help” with a captivating headline: Such headlines have become old-school because everyone overuses them. I would instead replace that headline with actual results people could accomplish with those free workshops mentioned in that section
- The link to Susie’s courses seems out of place: I would segment her courses and put them in full view to the visitors so they know what they’re getting. The testimonials would, therefore, be placed in a different section
Coach website #3: ShineBright
Aesthetically, the website looks wonderful. The choice of nature as the main background image brings a feeling of safety. The colors show positivity and security. I think this website has a lot going for it. However, as a copywriter, I can’t help but spot room for improvement.
But let me first tell you what I loved the most.
Why this is an amazing coach website:
- Great value proposition: Very clear who the coaching service is for
- Great slides: Perfectly segments the services
- Love the “schedule a free consultation” buttons: It shows up twice on the homepage and multiple times on other pages, entailing that it’s the most important action they want their clients to take
- Great testimonials: I would, however, just like for the previous coach website, add video testimonials to increase authenticity in the eyes of clients
- Great display of the ShineBright process: It breaks down the steps clients will follow when working with one of their coaches
How this website could be further improved
- Add a face to represent the brand: It’s only after I navigated the site that I realized that 2 women co-founded the website. Yet, you can’t find any photos of coaches on the homepage. You’d have to go to the about section to know. In the coaching industry, it’s much easier to associate a brand with a face
- Bolster headlines: The primary headlines need improvement. Every single one should compel visitors to read more and raise curiosity, as opposed to summarizing what’s coming. Take a look below. Now I don’t know about you but, the second headline makes for a better headline — minus the crappy space lining and design, of course — than the first one.
- Add a lead magnet on the top of the page: There is an opt-in at the end. People will probably miss it, which is another downside, and it doesn’t give away a freebie. It should at least be somewhere at the beginning of the website
- Add a pop-up lead magnet: Very crucial for building an email list
- Remove the last section: Not sure what it’s for. Looks purely decorative. If it doesn’t drive prospects to take action — read an article, subscribe — then what’s the point?
Coach website #4: Matthew Kimberley
One of the best coach websites, though not perfect, as you’ll see.
As soon as you land on Matthew’s site, you know exactly who it’s for. He helps coaches grow their businesses — a master of coaches. Love how professional he looks while appearing amiable. The website looks amazing. I’m very impressed by what he has accomplished, and you can tell he’s in another league of coaches.
The lead magnet draws even more attention because it touches on a major pain point coaches have: getting coaching clients. An excellent lesson to take here is to find a single problem your clients have and then show you have the solution for it throughout your page.
There is a lot to unpack, so let’s do it.
Why this is an amazing coach website:
- The best testimonials I’ve seen so far: Seriously, go take a look. He may rely on them too much because they pop up like gophers. Is that necessarily bad? Maybe, but you can’t deny how impressive they are. You know more about his accomplishments and the lives he’s impacted. Great for people to see. One way to make it even better is to add an exact number of the lives impacted by his coaching and services (or even detailing how their lives changed)
- Strong social proof: among all the websites you’ve seen here, Matthew has the best social proof. For example, the images of famous coaches and successful figures establish his expertise, building trust and setting him apart from other coaches.
How this website could be further improved:
- Add a photo of Matthew’s book on the homepage: And mention how it improved his clients’ coaching careers
- Display the podcast on the homepage: Since there is no blog or book displayed on the homepage, would it not be a good idea to let visitors know about the podcast?
- Add a blog and optimize it for SEO: It’s no wonder the website doesn’t rank for any keywords. Matthew has a powerful brand, but he probably works purely through referrals since he is associated with big names in his industry. Plus, the website could use SEO optimization. It remains a reliable avenue of marketing to generate leads or, at the very least, build an email list. SEO will never die. Neglect it at your own peril
- Improve the presentation of services: On the “services and products” page, the presentation looks so… plain. For a powerful brand, I expected it to be more attractive
- Rewrite the “Single Mat Mastermind” sales page: I went down the rabbit hole here because I loved the website. This part of it was, 1. insecure (no SSL to secure it which scares anyone away), and 2. it’s 80% testimonials and 20% copy. I’ve written longer sales pages for courses and products that cost less than $100. It just isn’t long enough at all — even though at one point Matthew asks readers, “is it too long?”. Since the mastermind costs a whopping $997, using a top-tier, long sales page is the typical route
Coach website #5: Luisa Zhou
Left the best for last. Luisa has one of the best coach websites I’ve ever seen.
You can tell a lot of work and sweat was put into this website. Unlike the previous websites, this one has one thing going well for it:
SEO.
Google is on Luisa’s side because she put in the work to create a magnificent blog that’s optimized for people AND for Google.
The moment you open her blog, you’ll know what I mean. Luisa provides her visitors with an enjoyable experience while reading her material. As a result, Google rewards her for that. I’ve read many of her articles; they’re usually long, practical, and extremely well-written.
Obviously, Luisa knows her way around on-page SEO. She ranks on Google for long-tail and mid-tail keywords like “coaching brand”, “marketing for coaches”, “online business coach”, among others. And these, I might say, are hard keyword phrases to rank for.
Put it this way: the traffic Luisa generates equals, if not exceeds, the combined traffic of all the previously mentioned coaching websites. She’s nailing the SEO game.
Okay, enough love for the website. Let’s get to the nitty-gritty.
Why this is my favorite coach website:
- Simple homepage: As far as I’m concreted, the homepage looks absolutely incredible, mainly thanks to its simplicity
- Bold headline with a powerful message
- Beautiful photos and clean theme: designed to make you focus on what’s important: the copy and value proposition
- Effective exit pop-ups: the image and the copy tempt you to give away your email in exchange for the PDF
- Great and compelling copywriting: It does a great job at keeping you reading. Look at the about page. Whoever wrote it — maybe it’s Luisa, but I suspect it’s the work of an experienced copywriter — knows what they’re doing
- 1 CTA with 1 lead Magnet: The homepage feels more like a landing page because it only has 1 Call-to-action button
- A free lead magnet that follows you as you’re scrolling
- Impressive featured brands
- Great testimonials on the coaching page: They include detailed descriptions of her students’ accomplishments
How this website could be further improved:
Since Luisa has one of the best coach websites, it was hard for me to find anything to critique. These are but minor issues I don’t believe affect her business.
Big fan of these, as you’ve probably noticed. There are lots of cool testimonials. The only downside is they can be a stretch to read, especially for the average skimmer. I would include video testimonials next to the text to enhance that experience. That way, if people don’t enjoy reading text, they have the option to watch a video
The only other minor issue I found with the website is the identity of her clients. It wasn’t clear from the homepage who she was helping: Coaches? Online business owners of any kind? Entrepreneurs?
The more I browsed, the more I realized she’s more oriented towards helping other coaches. However, that’s not what she says on the about page. She says, “My mission is to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with inspiration and actionable advice so you can build your own hugely profitable and meaningful business.”
Broad, don’t you think? If I’m a copywriter with an online business, does this mean she can help me grow my business? I’m confident that isn’t her niche.
Can she help an entrepreneur grow an online e-commerce brand?
Doubt it.
Like Matthew, she helps coaches grow. I’m familiar with her YouTube channel and Instagram account, so I know that’s what she does. But for someone who’s never heard of her and who’s just landed on her site, the confusion might set in and that could impact her conversion rate.
But hey, maybe there is something I’m missing, so I could be wrong.
Wrapping up
Well, there you have it. These are, in my opinion, the best coach websites. I’ll probably be adding a few more (especially if people like this post, a.k.a show me some love).
If you’d like to get some feedback on your own website, comment below with your website URL and say one thing you think you are doing well and one thing you think you need to improve (comments with just a URL will be removed).
Originally published at https://www.rebel-writing.com on January 3, 2022.
