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Is there any value to developing a coaching presence online?

 in Guest Post  tagged Beverley Ireland-Symonds / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / confidence / executive coach / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / nlp coach / online / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / profile / revenue / sales / selling / Tags: business coach / website

Beverley Ireland-Symond shares her experience and knowledge in today’s guest post as she asks:

"Is there any value to developing a coaching presence online?" A guest post by Beverley Ireland-Symonds

Is there any value to developing a coaching presence online?

By Beverley Ireland-Symonds

One of the dilemmas for all coaches new or experienced is how they should market themselves and their coaching business.

Most coaches have business cards, some have leaflets or posters and some have a mixture of a website, a facebook page, a twitter account and/or a google plus account. It can be a challenge to know what is right for you and your coaching business.

I was recently asked whether it was essential as a coach to have a presence online, but it’s not one of those questions which I could give a simple yes or no to. There are a number of different issues that if you’re thinking about setting up some sort of presence or want to expand or improve on what you’re currently doing online that you should be thinking about.

What are some of the online options?

Having an online presence doesn’t mean you have to have a website. I’ve already mentioned facebook, twitter, a google plus account and I would add to that list Pinterest or LinkedIn. These are all places where you can promote yourself as an expert coach.

You can also write articles and post to article directories , write guest blogs and you can join relevant forums in your niche, post comments and ask and answer questions. None of these require you to have a website.

But if you do choose to go the website route there are different options for what you have. You can choose a very simple site that really acts as an information page about you and your coaching services encouraging visitors to the site to get in touch with you, or you can choose to do something a lot more comprehensive and build what’s known as an authority site – showcasing yours and others expertise.

So what are some of the advantages of having an online presence?

Increased reach

Having your own website is a great opportunity not only to showcase your own knowledge, experience and expertise but also those of your fellow coaches as Jen does on this site. This means you’re increasing your profile not only with potential customers but also with other professionals.

It’s easy to underestimate the power of potential online relationships. I’ve never met Jen, but I value the opportunity that she’s given me over the last three years to be a guest blogger and I guest blog for other people. I have a fellow hypnotherapist who regularly refers clients to me for confidence coaching that I met online, firstly through my website and then through Twitter.

In my case developing an online presence has also allowed me to extend my customer base and I’ve coached a number of clients in the United States who I would never have come across otherwise.

I have built my online presence by writing a lot of articles and posting to article directories, developing my own coaching site which is regularly updated and in the past I have been vocal on twitter.

Opportunities to share, educate and sell

Developing your own website or guest blogging allows you to share your experiences and what you’ve learnt. You can also take the opportunity to educate others through holding webinars, creating podcasts and creating resources. You can also build your own email list and send out regular newsletters.

And let’s not forget, it’s also an opportunity to sell. It may be that you only want to promote your services as a coach. I advertise an introductory coaching session and visitors can book a slot directly online. But you can also diversify and look at other opportunities to create income streams . Examples include writing your own coaching blog and earning money through advertising, writing your own coaching book related to your niche or developing an online coaching programme.

Of course it’s not for everyone. Some coaches want only to focus on their core business of coaching face to face or over the telephone and rely on word of mouth advertising. If that’s what works for you – great but if you want to try your hand at something different or you just want to extend the profile of your coaching services, why not explore further.

Pitfalls to look out for

Well of course there are pitfalls and I’ve experience many of them over the last three years. I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing when I started out building a website, having a twitter account etc so I had to learn everything as I went along. This means I didn’t plan and my website took on a life of its own and I found myself spending far too much time on it.

I built my own site but I didn’t have the skills initially and I often did silly things such as turning off the comments on my website so no one could discuss my articles. This means although I do actually have a lot of traffic (about 5000 visitors a month) – I don’t appear to have anyone engaging with my content.

I also don’t have testimonials on my site like many other coaches do and this is down to my niche. A lot of people want to keep quiet that they have used the services of a ‘Confidence Coach’. I just have to accept that this is the case and compare myself to others. It’s not a reflection on my ability as a coach.

Should you have a presence online?

I think this entirely depends on you, your particular niche, your marketing and business plan. No one should be compelled to have their own online presence – but if you decide it’s something that you want to do and it would be advantageous to you and your business then make sure you research how you might do it and avoid the mistakes I made and do some initial planning before you plunge in.

Summarised below are some of the key points of having an online presence

Pros

  • Opportunity to promote your services as a coach
  • Opportunity to generate discussions
  • Can help you to reach a wider audience
  • Can raise your personal profile an expert in a particular niche
  • Opportunity to create different revenue streams

Cons

  • Can be a challenge to identify and take advantage of the benefits
  • Can be time consuming
  • Can get out of hand if you’re not organised
  • Can act as a distraction if it’s not part of a proper marketing plan
  • Can be expensive if you don’t have the skills to run your own website

About the Author/Further Resources

Beverley Ireland-Symonds is an NLP Practitioner and NLP Coach, specialising in Confidence Coaching, working with clients both in the UK and America. She writes extensively on a range of issues including self esteem, confidence and personal development and having developed he own online coaching programme is currently editing her first book.

 

Websites: It’s not just about content – it’s about users. 1

 in Guest Post  tagged business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / content / executive coach / focus / Hubworking / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / Mei Qi Tan / mobile / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / related content / relevant content / seo / user / website

A coaching website is on many new coaches to do list, in today’s guest post Mei Qi Tan shares her expertise and knowledge about what to focus upon.

Websites: It’s not just about content – it’s about users.

By Mei Qi Tan from Hubworking

When it comes to websites, it seems like all everyone’s talking about these days, is content. SEO is a great tool for enhancing the findability of your website online, through making sure your individual pieces of website content like pages, and posts contain key words, phrases and concepts. This is what many SEO professionals call ‘optimised content’. ‘Content’ is the diesel that runs the proverbial search engine, but it’s ‘optimised content’ that makes it purr like a well-fed tabby cat.

However, we should try to distinguish the concept of content, from information. Information is vibrant, the creation and exchange of it, interactive. There is a human element to information – obtaining it helps us achieve our goals, whatever they may be. I don’t know what it is, but the idea of information online as a body of ‘optimised content’ just feels, well, rather dead.

Focus first on knowing what your clients want when they visit your website, not on what they think they might want. If I can find the information I want, and do the thing I wanted to do with little distraction and no fuss, then your website works (Hallelujah!) and I will return to use it again.

People visit websites to achieve specific goals. If their goal is to read articles and stories, then by all means, keep writing and keep linking. But if their goal is to buy a product, then you’re better off making sure your shopping cart is up-to-scratch, or that the information on where your business is located is easily findable and instructions clear as crystal. Websites are an extension of your business online – make sure they are purposeful, and designed to help your clients achieve their goals online, whatever that might be.

Don’t let the content storm distract you from designing your website specifically around the information needs and goals of their clients.

Here are the questions you need to answer before trying to design your website:

What do my clients want to achieve when they engage with my website? And how can I help them achieve those goals in as smooth and efficient manner as possible?

You will need to do some basic research into your website users. Don’t just find out why they use it, but how they use it. You could try setting someone a task to complete on your website and observing their actions while completing the task (i.e. Locate the address and store the telephone number in your phone)

It’s time to stop thinking about clients as visitors, and rather, as users.

When it comes to creating, or updating your website, here are some tips to get you thinking about it from a user’s point of view:

  • Be careful not to mistake relevant content for related content.

It’s important to remember that all content on a website needs to serve a function. If you’ve determined one of the primary goals of your users is to find your contact details, then a piece of relevant content that should be promoted on your site is a map of your office’s location, not a page on the history of your business – that would be related content. Save that for your company blog (if you have one)

  • Know who will be using your website, and what for

Let’s say Sarah, 25, is a big fan of your retail products and avid online shopper. Make sure your shopping cart can store her credit card details so she doesn’t have to enter it in every time she wants to buy something. Rather than using a generic ‘target audience’ to build a website for, why don’t you do some research into the people who most use your website, and create some personas for who you can specifically design an ‘experience’ for? You will pick up on situational and contextual details that influence how a person might use your website – details that you would otherwise have never discovered on your own.

  • Design for mobile

Ever noticed that mobile versions of websites seemingly scale back to the most basic of website versions? The future of the web is mobile: Businesses or organisations will never, ever, have control over what kind of device clients will be using (or what situation they may be in) trying to access your website. So once you’ve figured out what it is your clients really want from you online, invest in good web design that makes information findable, readable and accessible to your audiences – whether they’re on top of Mount Kinabalu at sunrise, relaxing at a desk, or crammed up against someone on the Tube during peak hour.

About the Author/Further Resources

Mei has recently arrived in London from Sydney and is embarking on a Masters Degree in Electronic Publishing. She is also working part time for Hubworking, contributing to their social media activity.

Note from Jen; the owner of Coaching Confidence, this coaching blog: For those who don’t already know Hubworking provides Ad hoc, pay as you go meeting space for businesses in central London. If you are looking for a coaching or meeting room in this area it’s a great resource.

Does Your Coaching Business Reflect the YOU of Today?

 in Guest Post  tagged business coach / business coaching / charging / Cindy Hillsey / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching business / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / environment / executive coach / ideal client profile / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / refer / skillset / Virtual Partnering / website / welcome pack

In today’s guest post Cindy Hillsey shares her expertise and asks about your coaching business.

Does Your Coaching Business Reflect the YOU of Today?

By Cindy Hillsey

There seems to be a common thread among all my coaching clients right now, and that thread is that their business no longer reflects who they are today! I thought this would be a good topic to discuss today. My question to you is this: Does your business reflect who you are today or does it reflect who you were?

Recognizing how hard it is to keep current in a changing environment my hat is off to you if you said your business reflects who you are as of today! If you are like the majority, however, your business more than likely still reflects the you of the past. How do you know if your business still reflects the old you?

Here are some signs:

1. You have skills that are not listed on your website and your current clients don’t know about these skills.

2. You are being asked by your client to do things that are beyond your skillset and you cringe thinking about doing them.

3. You no longer like/want your current clients (or a majority of them)!

4. You have a static website rather than a dynamic one.

5. Your Welcome Packet hasn’t been updated since you opened your doors for business.

6. Your work seems like work – the thrill is gone!

7. Your clients no longer refer you.

8. You’ve entertained the idea of getting a J-O-B.

If you found yourself nodding your head yes to any or all of the above questions, it’s time for you to spend some quality time working ON your business and giving it a new lift! Put some business bounce back into your business!

Here are some things you can do:

1. Take an honest look at your skillset. See what still works and what you still enjoy doing. Purge the rest.

2. Make a list of new skills you would like to acquire. (Hint: If you find yourself putting the word ‘should’ in front of a new skill, ask yourself this question: Is it because *I* want to learn more information about this particular skill OR is it because I think I *should* know how to do this because everyone is doing/needs this?)

3. Update your Ideal Client profile! (This is also a good exercise as it helps you to determine what skills to keep, what skills to acquire, and what skills to purge.)

4. If you can’t create a new website yourself, put on your CEO hat and find someone who can capture the new you in your new website.

5. Do you still need a Welcome Packet? If so, update it and keep is short, sweet, and simple! Only collect the information you need.

6. You may want to consider hiring a business coach to refresh, refocus, and re-energize both you and your business.

7. If your client no longer refer you, see the above 6 items and begin to work on them now!

8. You really need to hire a business coach to figure out if this is really where you need to be or if you are just feeling dead-ended in your current incarnation.

It is important to continually adjust and tweak your business as the environment changes. If you don’t, you risk becoming out-of-date and obsolete. You’ll be like the food item in the pantry that has an expiration date stamped on the bottom – Best if used by xx-xx date!

About the Author/Further Resources

As a Business Coach, I work with Service-Based Entrepreneurs, and I specialize in working with Virtual Assistants and Coaches. Visit http://virtualpartnering.com for my FREE mini e-course on, The Six Basic Keys Every Business Should Have, along with other free resources.

Connect with me:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VirtualPartnering

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cindyhillsey

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyhillsey

Biographies for coaches

 in Guest Post  tagged biographies / business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / executive coach / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / Terri Carey / TLC Services / virtual assistant / website

In this weeks Friday guest post Terri Carey, Virtual Assistant to the World’s Finest Coaches, shares her views on creating your own biography.

Biographies for coaches

by Terri Carey

(excerpted from Start your site right)

Let’s face it…business is all about relationships. How you write your bio for your website will tell the customer a lot about you and ultimately may decide whether or not they connect with you. I believe it’s important to include some personal details. I can’t tell you how many times a potential client has told me that they felt a kinship because of my personal information or photographs on my website.

The style of a biography can be as different as the individual they are about. However, there are a few things that can really make it stand out. First, be conscious of how it is written. You can write it in the first person, which is a much more personal way to connect with your customer. If you are looking for a more corporate image, your bio can be written in the third person, as if you were writing about an honored peer. Either way, your biography should convey your credentials, accomplishments and highlights of your background.

If you’re completely at a loss for how to write your bio, you can find templates for a variety of industries and professions at www.howtowritebio.com. Here’s a sample from that site:

Consider what is being written. Include any past accomplishments that highlight your relevant abilities. Much like your resume, your bio should be tailored to your business. Education should be acknowledged, but not exhaustively. People want to know that you’re qualified for the job, not whether you took Calculus III. Sharing volunteer work, the fact that you donate regularly to specific charities and what organizations you belong to, show potential clients that you are socially aware and have an honorable work ethic. Don’t be long-winded. Keep it to just a few paragraphs or a maximum of one page in length.

How much personal information you include in your bio is up to you. This is where people will begin to find the real you – whether you are open and personable or straightforward and down-to-business. You might want to include personal insights about the business or your struggles and successes in coming so far. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. You want your bio to reflect both your personal and professional sides.

Remember why you are writing it. Customers who visit your site want to know the owner behind the website façade. They want to be assured that this is the product/service that will best fit their needs. Mention why the product or service you offer is so important to you personally and why you can do it better. Tell them why you think it will be great for them too.

A biography can be a powerful tool. For a business that provides service, keep in mind that you are basically selling yourself. Potential clients not only need to feel confident in your abilities, but also a personal connection with you. Including relevant life experiences provides a wonderful foundation in the minds of the reader, as if they already know you. When that client finally meets you or talks to you in person, it will be a continuation of that relationship. They will be expecting to meet the person in the bio, so be yourself!

About the Author/Further Resources

President of TLC Services in Canandaigua, NY, Terri Carey has been servicing customers and businesses for over 20 years. Terri started TLC Services, when she saw a prevalence of stay at home parents, and other homebound workers who desired meaningful employment and contact with other professionals. She discovered that there were many other types of professionals who wanted to work from home for many other reasons including, convenience, cost, environmental concerns, disabilities, long commutes, and personal values. Here was a collection of people with skills just waiting to use them! Small Businesses have always had a special appeal to her. After having worked for a small business for over 10 years as an Office Manager, she wanted to do more. She entered the world of Virtual Assistants. She has provided services for Messenger Post Newspapers, St Mary’s Church, St Felix and St Francis Churches, SolutionBox, Donna Steinhorn, Michael Neill, Rich Litvin, and RCM Associates – among many others.