COACHING WEBSITE 

CHECKLIST 
16 vital features for a professional coaching website that gets 
visitors excited about hiring you as their coach.  
 

 
 
by Kenn Schroder 
CoachingSitesThatWork.com 

 
 

Hello! 
 
In my experience, if you’ve ever helped ANYONE by coaching them 
(and what coach hasn’t?), whether paid or not, then you can 
certainly fill your practice with a steady supply of clients.  
 
What I’ve found to work best is to make sure that whatever 
messages, wording, content or other “communications” you put 
out there, speaks to the client’s interests powerfully.  
 
And you DON’T have to be salesy to do it. Things don’t have to be 
clumsy and awkward. I’ve found sales and marketing can be 
normal, natural, and feel good. Just like coaching. 
 
Websites can be such great tools for accomplishing this. 
Remember, we’re in a technology and information age where 
people WILL check you out online. So make your site stellar. 
 
In this pdf, we’ll go into the 16 things I’ve used for myself and 
clients to help them get all the clients they want using their 
website. Soak it up! 
 
Kenn Schroder 

 
 
CoachingSitesThatWork.com 
 
 
 

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1. An ideal client in mind  

 
Websites are much more engaging and exciting if they speak to a 
specific group of people and their situation. 
 
Just think about it. When you end up at websites don’t speak 
strongly to what you’re interested in, aren’t you outta there quick 
fast in a hurry? 
 
Get clear on key traits like the age, sex, career, and especially the 
challenges and goals of an ideal client. Write down the details and 
refer to it often to keep your site on track.  

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2. A powerful core message 

 
Your core message is a short 1 to 2 sentence summary of what your 
coaching business does for your ideal client. 
 
This foundational piece of your website will help you write content 

 
 
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that’s all about the client. 

 
Be sure to highlight benefits, give hope for pain riddance, position 
yourself as a rare gem, and motivate people to want to know more. 
 
 
 

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3. A great domain name 

 
A great domain name is simple, easy to spell, memorable and hints 
at what you do. Don’t make it complicated or you’ll make it hard for 
people to reach you.  
 
Two of my favorite approaches are to (1) mix your name into it like 
MikeJonesCoaching.com or LifeSuccessWithJane.com and (2) use a 
benefit like FindMrRight.com or OvercomeDiabetesWithFood.com. 
 
 
 
 
   

 
 
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4. A rockstar photo 
 
Remember, it’s the client who is making the decision to hire you or 
not. And they will base their opinion heavily on your website (if 
they’ve never met you). All of the content is important - especially 
your mug shot. 
 
A great photo that clearly shows your face with a warm trusting 
smile will do the trick. Avoid blurry, greyish, photos with odd 
shadows or weird objects in the background. 
 
Remember, it’s all about the client, and they are drawn to 
professional, trusted experts.  
 
 
 

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5. A captivating headline 
 
When people land on your website, they need to be pulled right in, 
right away. You need to engage people within seconds or they’ll just 

 
 
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leave.  
 
A prominent, benefit rich, grabby headline will do the trick well. 
Remember, your website needs to be all about the client to win and 
hold their attention.  
 
Too many coaching websites are boring with weak content. Such 
sites have high bounce rates - which is a measure of how fast 
people leave your website without spending any time there. 
 
 
 

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6. Client-rich hangouts 
 
You will need to set up pathways FROM places where your ideal 
clients hangout TO your website.  
 
These hangouts don’t have to be just online like discussion groups, 
blogs, social sites, email lists, ads or search engines, BUT they can 
be offline as well like in magazines or networking groups.  
 
But a pathway, channel or other means to get their attention so 
they can be invited to click to your website must be established. 
 

 
 
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For example, if you’re a relationship coach for women in their 30s, 

you could easily find Meetup.com groups for singles for online and 
(if you attend events) offline as well to create a pathway.  
 
 
 

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7. A must-have freebie  
 
A free download (pdf, video, infographic, audio, any) is used to 
bring traffic to your website, build your professional image, and 
grow the relationship with your potential clients. 
 
For example, you could direct people to your website by saying, 
visit my website to “Watch the video, Three Steps to Double Your 
Restaurant Profits.” 
 
Do you see how reading this Coaching Website Checklist (my 
freebie) is helping develop our relationship? This checklist is one of 
my freebies. 
 
 

 
 
CoachingSitesThatWork.com 
 
 
 

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8. An email list 
 
Selling coaching, commonly a high-priced and very personal 
service requires trust.  
 
And a great way to earn that trust is to grow the relationship with 
people by sending good information by email to them.  
 
Getting people onto your email list is a solid move because it puts 
both of you in direct and continued contact which you have a high 
degree of control over (unless other methods like social media).  
 
The key is develop trust with helpful info from a real person (you). 
If done well, people will ripen up like fruit for the picking ;) 
 
 

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9. Great follow-up emails  

 
Follow-up emails or autoresponders are excellent for sending to 
your list because you can deliver value and build trust 

 
 
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automagically! Automating things, speeds up success. 

 
As you have probably heard, it takes many positive interactions to 
land a sale. And so, some well-written emails work great. 
 
When I work with new client, I often hear that they’ve been 
following me for months - and sometimes years. It’s great to work 
with someone who knows (and hopefully loves) me. 
 
 

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10. An irresistible call-to-action 

 
If you want paying clients, you’ll need to get people on the phone. 
Coaching is a high-priced and very personal service. Buyers will 
want to talk to you before committing.  
 
But to get them on the phone you have to MOTIVATE them to 
agree to set a time with you. Offering “free consults” doesn’t work 
well for new coaches. Instead, make this call-to-action incredibly 
valuable, special, a no-brainer.  
 
 

 
 
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11. A strategy session 

 
This phone call is no any ordinary coaching session, but one 
designed to get clients to commit and pay for your services.  
 
Hopefully, your website has pre-sold you big time to make closing 
easier. Regardless, the strategy session must be conducted to get 
them seeing their grim reality and dreaming of a bright future. 
Why else would they hire you? 

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12. A juicy coaching offer 

 
At the end of the strategy session from #11, you must outline a 
sweet offer that is an easy YES for the prospective client. It should 
be so great that it’s silly - they’d be foolish not to jump on board. 
 
The secret to doing this is to load up the value so that it’s 10x 
worth the cost. Things clients pay big for (which doesn’t require 
you to add much time) are: accountability, structure, access to you 
(phone, email), your secret tools and videos, group help (online 
group, live group, group call). Load up the value! 

 
 
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13. Raving success stories  

 
Success stories are proof that you’re good at what you do. They are 
priceless. If I had to make a website with only one kind of content, 
I’d just put success stories - well written ones. 
 
To make them really excite visitors, you want these stories to dig 
into the challenges and pains the client had BEFORE you showed 
up in their lives, add a little about the work you DID, and then load 
up with high detail on RESULTS obtained - real, specific, 
numerical, emotional benefits they’ve realized.  
 
 

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14. Numbers that show 

that it’s working 
 
You’ll want to track the numbers involved in all of the steps of your 
client-attraction website system, so that you can make sure things 

 
 
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are (a) working properly and (b) optimized to get you clients - while 
not taking a lot of time. 
 
Dig up your stats and make sure you’re tracking (1) the number of 
visitors to your site, (2) the number of people who get on your list, 
(3) the number of people who SEE your call-to-action, and (4) the 
number of people who RESPOND to your call-to-action. 
 
 

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15. Thorough testing 

 
In order to know if your website systems and marketing are 
working, you need to test them out as if you were the website 
visitor.  
 
To do this right, both (1) act like the visitor and go through your 
website and (2) sit with a friend or two and watch them do it.  
 
 

   
 
 
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16. A way to take payment 

 
Of course, you’ll need clients to send you cash. Don’t make a big 
stink of this get all crazy with shopping carts or buttons on your 
website.  
 
And, please DON’T put a big paypal button on your site hoping a 
passerby will click and buy. You’re NOT selling shoes!  
 
Instead, aim to get them to contact you and get on the phone and 
then to committing to work with you first.  
 
Then it’s fine to simply send a paypal link or take their credit card 
details on the phone if you don’t already have a merchant account.  
 
The faster, easier, and simpler it is to get them to send you cash 
without any back and forth emailing or additional calls, the better.  
 
 
 

 
   

 
 
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So what’s next? 
 
How great would it be to have a great website in place that 
convinces visitors that you’re they coach they should work with?  
A website that essentially pre-sells people on you? Making the 
whole sign-up process smooth, effective, and even enjoyable? 
 
The coaches I work with tend to zero to a few clients, and find it a 
struggle to explain coaching and get people excited to sign up for 
it. They can often get a few clients, but the ones they get don’t 
often stick around for long and many don’t pay the full rate. And 
finding new ones is a lot of work and seems inefficient. 
 
They want to be able to bring in clients regularly and earn a good 
income which varies by coach. It can be supplemental income at 
25k, 50k, 100k, or more.  
 
They want to prove they can succeed as a coaching. They want to 
feel they’ve succeeded. That they’ve done it. And want to get paid 
working with good clients, doing work they deeply enjoy and take 
advantage of the lifestyle benefits like control over time.  
 
In work with one of my business coaching clients, we got him 
from a handful of clients to 16 high-paying clients, which lead him 
to reduce to fortnightly and monthly clients, increase his rates, 
and hire an assistant coach. His website is truly a client-attracting 
machine. 
 

 
 
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You’ll hear more about his story and his website in the days to 
come, if you’re on my email list.  
 
What are some of the things you want to realize in your 
business? Perhaps is simply getting that first paying client, or 5 
steady ones so you can leave work you dislike. Or perhaps a full 10 
that pays a full rate and gives you more flexibility ? 
 
What lifestyle benefits would that bring? Perhaps you’ll move 
somewhere more desireable? Travel about the planet? Spend more 
quality time family and friends? Perhaps there are some hobbies or 
pursuits you’ve had to put on hold? 
 
Three things you’ll get over the coming days. Since you’ve read 
through this checklist, you should be on my email list. This week 
you’ll get: 
 
1. The Big Aha that came to me in Paris 2008 - which reveals the 
key to a website (and business) that brings in clients.  
 
2. We’ll do a short but vital exercise to help you create content 
that engages visitors and leads them to contact you. 
 
3. We’ll go into a fun case study of Graeme’s website and how it 
brings him lots of people who are eager to work with him.  
 
If you’re not on my email list, just hop on over here: 
http://www.coachingsitesthatwork.com  
 

 
 
CoachingSitesThatWork.com 
 
 
 

 
Also, a few other things to help you along ... 
 
The Coaching Site Guide 
A dense manual of my best techniques and strategies to use as you 
build your website - if you want to make it a selling machine. 
 
Learn more about the guide here: 
http://www.coachingsitesthatwork.com/guide/ 
  
The course: Client-Attracting Websites 
This is a step by step course, with videos, downloads, technical 
support and more to keep you from getting overwhelmed and 
launch your website timely.  
 
Learn more about the course here: 
http://www.coachingsitesthatwork.com/websitecourse 
 
One-on-one help from Kenn 
If you want to hire a seasoned web designer to work with you and 
make big things happen, it’s best to start that conversation with a 
simple personal email. 
 
Just message me over here: 
kenn@coachingsitesthatowork.com  
 
Who am I? I left my actuary job back in 2001 to pursue my passion 
of creating on computers and start my own business as a web 
designer. I’ve had my a fair share of bumps and bruises before 

 
 
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learning how to use my website to bring me plenty of read-to-go 

clients. I also like grass-fed burgers on salads. 
 
A longer tale about me is here: My Story: 
http://coachingsitesthatwork.com/kenn/ 
 
Kenn Schroder 

 
 

 
 
CoachingSitesThatWork.com