This blog post has been authored by Natalie Hayes, Developmental Edge
Welcome to our new series, Launchpad Qs! We answer the most common questions we get asked by students in our Launchpad program, to help you build your business and become a highly successful coach.
Today’s Question – What’s the best website builder for my coaching business?
When you’re starting a coaching business, a website can be one of the biggest things you invest in for your business. So, often there’s a lot of questions, overwhelm and anxiety about getting it right.
How do I create my website?
What website builder should I choose?
Do I DIY? Or pay someone?
How much should I spend?!
Luckily, building a website doesn’t have to be complicated.
Having worked with many students now and building over 11 websites myself for Developmental Edge and my various other businesses – I breakdown the 3 questions you need to answer when it comes to picking your website, as well as narrow down the best options for website builders.
QUESTION 1 – Are you just starting out or do you have a steady influx of clients?
When you’re just starting out, the point of your website should be to find out as quickly as possible, if what you want to sell, is what people want to buy.
One of the biggest mistakes new coaches make is thinking they have a great idea for a new program. They decide they want to sell program ABC to client XYZ. They get super excited, spend thousands of dollars on a fancy website, business cards, logo. They spend 6-12 months creating all of this, before speaking to a single potential client.
Then when they finally release these beautifully created business assets – all they hear are crickets.
What went wrong?
Well it’s a bit like building a first class plane to Uzbekistan.
It’s a wonderful product, first class seats and all the trimmings – but you build it all only to realise, no one wants to buy flights to Uzbekistan.
So what to do instead?
One of the key principles we teach in our Launchpad program is to follow the MVP principle. Aka the Minimal Viable Product principle; this teaches you to get out there and get going as soon as possible.
Instead, what would have been a MVP and smarter approach, would be to create the bare minimum you need to start speaking to clients to see if they want what you’re selling.
So what does that look like?
Rather than spending all that time and money on fancy business stuff – you create the bare minimum you need to show your offer to clients.
This might not even be a website. It could be as simple as having a conversation with a potential client and asking – hey I’m thinking of creating this coaching program – it would give you X, Y, Z is this something you’d want?
No website, no logo, not a single cent spent.
The point here is to get as much information as quickly as possible, to see if what you want to sell, is what people actually want to buy.
It’s more important to get your offer and message right, than having all the fancy frills.
Once you know your offer – then you decide what’s the best vehicle to present this offer to get you as much accurate information as possible.
Which leads me to point 2.
QUESTION 2 – Who are you talking to?
Once you figure out your offer, then you need to look at who you’re talking to?
If you have access to a familiar network, you might not need a fancy website to start getting feedback and clients. As I just mentioned, it could be as simple as having a conversation with your potential clients.
People who know you will be far more likely to buy without the frills.
In fact, we got our first half dozen clients without a fancy website!
I know a successful 6 figure coach who’s been operating for years without a website or even any social media profiles!
Of course, if you don’t have a network – no problems. Then it would be useful for you to create a page or website – as new, cold leads will be more likely to want to see you have a “storefront”.
If that’s the case – then a website would be useful. But again you don’t need to spend $1000s. You can get up and running for as little as $9 a year. All depending on your expertise and skills.
QUESTION 3 – What are your skills?
Depending on your level of skills and expertise – there are a number of options out there when it comes to selecting a website builder.
If you have some tech skills – you can use DIY website builders such as Carrd.Co, Wix or Squarespace to build the website yourself.
These website builders require no special coding skills, you can just drag and drop and add items on screen.
However, if opening a computer and website browser – sounds like a total nightmare – no fret.
You can hire someone on Upwork or Freelancer to build it for you.
If you choose this route, I DO NOT recommend spending more than $1,000 MAX for someone to build it.
Because remember – use the MVP principle here as well.
You don’t need anything fancy, just a few simple pages and a way for clients to contact you. Forget trying to pay for SEO, CMS or any other acronyms. Go with good enough to go.
This is because early on, when you’re still fine tuning your coaching offer – your offer might change multiple times.
You don’t know yet what your potential clients want. Unless you’ve talked to at least 50 of them – any information you get from 1 or 2 clients isn’t proof that your offer is a solid business idea.
When we started off, we changed our website builder 3 times – and changed our offer 5+ times. We used the MVP principle, figured out an offer – got out there – talked to clients, tested and kept refining.
Doing this ensures that before you invest a tonne of money, you’re actually creating something people want.
The biggest reason coaches fail is not because they aren’t skilled coaches, it’s because they spend 12-18 months trying to build something only to find out no one wants it. They spend all that time building something, whilst not talking to or not signing any clients, and therefore not earning a single cent. They end up running out of time, money or get emotionally deflated and give up.
So don’t do that. Be smart – you can build AND earn at the same time by getting out there quickly, getting paid clients and refining as you go.
ONLY when you start having a steady influx of clients, and therefore a proven business offer do I then recommend you invest in all that jazz.
So now that you have the 3 key principles – which website builder should you choose?
Let’s break down some options with some pros and cons.
PROS AND CONS OF WEBSITE BUILDERS
Carrd.co
Carrd.co was designed to build simple, one page websites real quick. If you have some tech expertise though, you can actually build multiple pages with their website builder as well.
Pros
Very low cost – at the time of this article, their basic plan starts at $9 USD per year
Quick to get going
Beautiful ready to go templates
No coding required – you can drag and drop elements to create website pages
Cons
Basic functionality only
Website pages are not fully customisable
No integrated blog or checkout options
Creating multiple pages is slightly complicated
Wix and Squarespace
Wix and Squarespace are website builders that offer more functionality than Carrd.co including checkout and blog options.
Pros
Low cost – at the time of this article, basic plans start from $10 USD per month
Quick to get going
Beautiful ready to go templates
No coding required – you can drag and drop elements to create website pages
Cons
Slightly more complicated to set up than Carrd.co
Website pages are not fully customisable
Kajabi
Kajabi is an all in one platform. Not only does it include a website builder, blog and checkout pages – you can also create automated marketing pipelines, set up webinars and host your course or membership site.
Pros
Combine everything in one place (website, blog, email marketing, webinars, your course etc), rather than using multiple providers
Beautiful ready to go templates
No coding required – you can drag and drop elements to create website pages
Cons
Expensive – at the time of this article, basic plans start from $149 USD per month
Complicated to set up
Website pages are not fully customisable
WordPress.org
WordPress.org (not to be confused with WordPress.com) is an open source system that allows you to build your website from scratch. What that means is, instead of using pre-built templates like the other website builders above use – you can design and build your website to look the way you want and include any features you want.
Pros
Very customisable – any look, design or feature can be included
Very popular system, so it’s easy to find someone to help you build or make edits
Cons
Can be expensive – there is no cap on how much you could spend on building your website
Coding required – you’ll need technology expertise or to hire someone
Time consuming and complicated to set up
CONCLUSION
The world of website building can be complicated and expensive, but if you ask yourself the above 3 key questions before you build, it’ll save you a tonne of time and money. Not only will it ensure you are building your business AND earning at the same time, it’ll also ensure you’re creating offers that clients actually want, which will help you create a successful, long lasting and sustainable business.
Which website builder will you choose? Let us know in the comments below.
Developmental Edge provides coaching, training and mentoring for development, executive and life coaches. Founded by the husband and wife team, Natalie Hayes and James Hayes, we’ve had thousands of hours of experience from helping brand new coaches start their business to working with companies like billion dollar tech giant, Canva. If you’re looking to get more clients, start your business and upgrade your coaching skills, our community and programs are designed specifically for you.