ICF 2007 recap: You’ve got to have a blog
A hot topic at the 2007 ICF conference was blogging and coaching. Life coaches from across North Amercia gathered and were told that a blog is their most powerful marketing tool.
For some conference attendees, this was news. But for other coaching professionals, they’ve known the power of blogging for several years.
Coaches should look to industry leaders who have already embraced blogs as marketing tools. the Coach Training Alliance uses their blog to create articles such as "Believing you Can!"
However, it’s not just those who train coaching professionals who are blogging. Coach Alvin Soon posts to his blog powerful personal posts such as his post on 7 Power Wounds while Laura Young uses her blog posts to illustrate how far she’s come over the past few years in "Life Coaching: Part of the cure or disease." Meanwhile, Patricia Eslava Vessey writes about "Walking it Out". Three different coaches… three entirely different approaches. After all, there’s a reason Baskin Robbins offers 31 different flavors of Ice Cream!
Posts like these allow potential clients to dip their toe in the water and discover whether they want to make the big leap of scheduling an introductory appointment. Potential clients can learn how you work and your guiding philosophy behind coaching from a "safe" distance.
However, your coaching blog can do more than just showcase your coaching style. Dr. Pat Williams uses his blog to promote his book. Heck, you can even TURN your blog’s content into a book! Book publishing coach Diane Eble claims that in order to Develop “Deep, Meaningful Relationships” with People Who Want Your Information, you had better get VERY comfortable with the internet.
If the thought of blogging overwhelms you, then relax. Carol Solomon offers Easy Coaching Websites for coaching professionals who know they NEED a blog but don’t know where to start. In addition to offering Easy Coaching Websites, Carol also offers a series of classes to help you successfully market your coaching practice.
HTML Web Site vs Blog
I’ve been building HTML web sites for more than a decade now. I’ve literally done HUNDREDS, many for coaching professionals. Here’s what typically happens with a small (under 100 page) web site:
We usually spend 12 -16 weeks building an HTML web site. Most of this time is spent nailing down content issues.
The first task in creating an HTML web site is to choose a look.
We can either create a template OR select one from a service like Template Monster. (If you want a ball park figure on what to expect on design fees, check out the "exclusive" option. Remember, this is the price for a design that you’ve had NO input into. Expect that fee to double when you add in your revisions or changes to the design along the way.)
Then, once we’ve selected a look for the site, we then have to create each and every page that will appear on the web site.
Gathering content is the most time consuming part of the process. See, the site has to be laid out in advance. We have to create a structure and then plug in the elements. If you’re planning on adding a "section" later… well, we have to build that in up front, otherwise it’s a nightmare to add and update. (Ever see those sites with the "under construction" pages… that’s why those are there.)
After we construct this very "rigid" structure, we then go through and create the content. We try to focus on what keywords visitors will use to find our site. We write articles and create HTML pages. Those pages MUST be coded correctly so the search engines will be able to read them and index the content. (Remember, we had to plan all of this in advance: the keywords, the articles, the site structure.) That means making changes in the actual HTML code… which is something easy to use HTML Editors like Microsoft Front Page do not do well at all.
Finally, we go over everything with a fine toothed comb to find typos and other minor mistakes and then we launch the site.
Then, we sit and wait.
Now, if you’re wanting your web site to function as a virtual brochure, you don’t have to worry. You’re going to launch your marketing campaign where your goal is to drive interested parties to your virtual brochure. Just as you don’t expect a paper brochure to run down the street and chase down potential customers, your virtual brochure won’t do that either.
So you begin promoting your business.
- You purchase advertising time in the newspaper, on the radio, on television, in the movie theaters.
- You write articles and get interviewed by anyone and everyone you can.
- You get booked to speak where ever/when ever you can.
- You join networking groups and pass out your card.
- You talk to people EVERY WHERE about what you do.
Every time you promote your business, you want to be sure to list the URL (domain name) of your web site. If you’ve created your web site "correctly", there will be a newsletter sign up with a legal bribe so once people arrive at your virtual brochure, you will collect their contact info so you can stay in touch.
However, most coaching professionals want their web site to do MORE for their business than just act as a virtual brochure. They want their web site to act as an ATTRACTION TOOL…. attracting interested parties in their practice. So, as they engage in the activities above to launch their practice, they must begin playing the waiting game as they wait for their web site to "grow" into something more.
THE WAITING GAME:
- We wait for the search engines… depending upon the focus of your site, you may wait for 12 months or more for the search engines to even RECOGNIZE your site exists.
- We wait for visitors to come.
- We wait for other web sites to link to ours. Some people go out and try to negotiate reciprocal links… others will actually purchase links from other sites.
- And we wait.
We wait because the whole visitors/linking thing is a catch 22…. in order for visitors to find your web site in the search engines, you have to have a lot of sites linking IN to the content on your site. If you’re a coach, that’s usually hard to accomplish because most coaches don’t DO HTML. In order for them to link to a page on YOUR web site, they have to hire their web developer to create a link…. or even a whole page. Did I mention that the sites linking IN to your site also need to be coaching sites? Yeah….in order to return your web site in popular searches, you need to have lots of other sites linking in. This "shows" the search engines how great your web site is and they respond by offering it as a resource when people do searches.
Like I said…. getting other coaches to link their web site to yours is a real chore because usually you have to PAY someone to do this for you. The other "catch 22" is your site must be CODED CORRECTLY for ANY of this to work. (I’ve done VERY well for myself going in and fixing other people’s coding mistakes.)
This is the way we USED to do the whole web thing. I still will do it for you now, but I REALLY don’t recommend it.
Instead, I recommend a self hosted WordPress blog!
With the self hosted WordPress blog, you don’t have to have a rigid plan for your content. WordPress allows you to ORGANIZE your content as you create it. (SWEET!)
Find yourself heading in a new direction in your coaching practice? If you’re using an HTML web site, it could mean an entire site redesign. (I just got a request for one of those yesterday…. guess what I’m suggesting? <grin>) With a WordPress blog you can just create a new category and begin posting. Need to change the "look" of the site? Pick a new theme, I’ll install it and you’re off and running.
Best of all, the WordPress blog is easy to use. You don’t HAVE to hire me to make changes to your site. Want to link to another site? EASY! Want to insert a YouTube video in a post? Also easy! Want to create a new page on your web site? EASY! No prior planning required!
Sounds good, right? It gets even better!!!
What makes it even better is THE SEARCH ENGINES LOVE BLOGS!
- They love the structure
- They love the fresh content
- They love the fact that bloggers link to each other… creating more inbound links which means the search engines ASSUME your blog is GREAT! (Obviously it will be, but it’s nice when the search engines agree!)
Remember earlier when I talked about "correctly coding your site"… well, if you’re using an Easy Coaching Website WordPress self hosted blog, your site will be set up with everything the search engines love and more.
Now, there are other reasons coaching professionals should use blogs to market their business, but I’ll save that for another post.
Using Blogs as Marketing Tools
If you’re a coaching professional, then marketing your practice is a top priority. Many coaches are seeking an easy AND effective way to attract clients and build their business. Blogs are a great way for coaching professionals to communicate effectively with potential clients.
Carol Solomon is a marketing STAR! Not only does Carol do a GREAT job of marketing her own coaching practice, but she also teaches other coaches to do so. In her "Tech Tips for Coaches" blog, Carol writes:
I get asked pretty often about the difference between a blog and a traditional website. Should I have a blog or a website or both? Blogs have made it easy to have a blog that looks like a traditional website, with it’s own pages and "blog" section . . . it can be hard to tell the difference.
Of course, a blog IS a website. And your visitors won’t care which "platform" you use. So the difference is in the functionality.
There are 3 BIG advantages of using a blog and scrapping traditional websites. OK, OK, you don’t have to scrap it — you can let it sit there and look pretty if you want. But DO add a blog if you want people to find you.
Many, many coaches have been following Carol’s advice and scrapping their traditional web sites for blogs.
One of those coaching professionals is Kathy Jordan. Kathy’s blog, "Achieve Your Goal Weight" is a shining example of a coach who is using her blog to communicate with potential clients effectively and easily.
Another coaching professional who is taking the blog route is Chris Coward. Chris does an excellent job of connecting her every day activities to her mission as a coach. Meanwhile, Melissa McCutcheon is making connections with women who are in transition with her blog "Make Change Great".
Judy Smith is using her blog to launch her divorce coaching practice. Her blog includes heart felt posts which connect with readers. In just a few short months, Judy’s blog is already getting traffic from the search engines.
And speaking of search engines, Sara Healy was thrilled to see her new blog ranked #1 in the search for her name only three short months after launch!
Many coaching professionals are disappointed to discover that their traditional web site doesn’t "deliver" on that front. A poorly designed web site can lock out the search engines and prevent potential clients who are looking for you from finding you. If you’re a coaching professional with a web site, do a Google search on your name and see what comes up. If your name isn’t on the front page, then maybe it’s time for you to sign up for your own blog.
A self hosted blog is truly the most powerful marketing tool a coach can add to his/her marketing arsenal. Check out Acumen Web Services where you can get your own self hosted Word Press blog for less than you’d pay for a traditional 10 page HTML web site.
