Sneak Peek Series - Website Copy Week - Your Online Presence as a Coach

Welcome to the business of executive coaching. I'm Ellie Scarfe, an ex lawyer turned executive coach. Over the last 17 years I've coached in house, I've been an associate coach and I've run executive coaching businesses with teams of coaches around the world. My clients have ranged from global brand names to boutiques, startups and organizations doing good in the world. I now run the Impact Coach Collective, a community of executive coaches who want to level up their business skills and take action in a community of like minded peers. I'm a traveller, a reader, a mum, wife and dog parent and I know firsthand that our stories have a huge impact on our businesses. The executive coaching business is tough and I've learnt all the lessons through plenty of mistakes and also with some great mentors. This podcast is all about growing a thriving executive coaching business. You can build a coaching business that is profitable, sustainable and that supports your personal goals, whatever they are. I'll be sharing tips and ideas translated for your context as well as stories from the field with brilliant coaches and mentors. If you want to level up your executive coaching business skills, then this is the place for you. So before we dive in, I just wanted to check in and see how you are all doing as we head into the third week of January in 2025. So this is my first week back from our summer holidays, recording the podcast after having a little break because I had three podcasts prepared prior to taking two and a half weeks off. So I started back last week and it was a bit of a shock to the system. But you know, I really, I was really excited to, to come back and I've done quite a lot of thinking over my break and you know, rather than just rolling on to the next big thing, I've actually decided I'm going to take a bit of a pause this week to review my strategy. So of course I'm still going to be working with my accelerator members, but I just feel like something's missing in my strategy for 2025, so I'm going to spend days taking some time to review it, which feels super luxurious to be honest, because strategizing and delivery are my favorite parts of business and that's what I'm going to do this week, so I'm going to lean into that. It might not feel like a break for my accelerator members though, because this week we have not just one, but two whole new courses launching for them. One is the 90 day quick start challenge. This course is a group challenge where our members get a chance to develop or review all, all of their key assets and key foundations over the course of 90 days, so about 12 weeks. And the course includes three key things. There are weekly videos guiding them through the writing and updating of their core assets and those, those big foundational principles. So it includes defining your ideal clients, building their offer suite, rewriting a coaching bio or setting coaching bio up, LinkedIn profile, website copy, website build. So it's perfect for people who are starting out, but it's also really good for people who are going through a bit of a review process where they, they feel like something's not quite working. They might not have done everything as intentionally as they'd liked, or they're heading into a new iteration of their business and they want all of their assets to reflect that. So they have weekly videos for all of that. They also submit all of their assets to me along the way and I send video feedback on, on anything that they submit to me. And we have a really hands on personal support. So they're getting feedback and questions answered on their own questions. And that is through our weekly coaching calls in our Facebook group and also in a WhatsApp channel that will be established just for this challenge. It is very exciting. I, I'm, I really can't wait to launch it. And it'll be coming out as this podcast comes out. That's when the courses are being released to accelerator members. So the other course being released this week to my accelerator members is the Business Development Accelerator Framework. And so this is a guide to the marketing activities that you need to do to be able to grow your business, to build a sustainable business in less than five hours a week. So in this course we do all the setup that is required. So we go step by step through what is involved in establishing your sales pipeline. We build the quarterly content plan, you get the tools and the processes to follow, the metrics to report on so that you can get traction with your business development now and you can maintain growth over time. And that includes building the foundations and the implementation strategy for five hours of business development activity per week that works around your preferences, personality and your flexibility needs as well. So it's very, it's, it's both, you know, here's best practice and we apply it to you and, and your needs. So I am really proud of these courses. I really love them. And, and mostly I think that's thinking has really evolved and these courses are built based on the reality of running an executive coaching business. So the courses factor in the most common challenges, both practical and mindset and Implementation challenges that I see in coaches. Right. That I see you face. And the courses are extremely practical around that. So this is not about, you know, some theory in isolation. This is about how do we take the theory and how do we get results. So I'm, I' super excited about the courses. So over the next four weeks on the podcast, I'm going to do something a little bit different. I'm going to share a series of snippets from within both of these courses. And by snippets I mean I'm going to take whole lessons out and I'm going to share them with you and it's going to be sharing really practical advice and it's also going to give you an insider's view of what we do inside the accelerator. So if you are wanting to build or grow your executive coaching business, and particularly if you want to get your next 10 hyper paying corporate clients, you want to do less than five hours marketing a week, you want to do it in community, then do book a strategy call with me so we can discuss whether the accelerator would be a good call, a good fit for you and you know your next steps in business. And there are two ways that you can do this. You can head to the Show Notes where you'll find a link to book a call with me. The link is elliscarf.com bookacall or you can send me a DM on LinkedIn with the word call and I will just send you my booking link so that you can book in at a time that works for you. I do also have a sneaky bonus. If you decide to join the accelerator and you let me know that you joined after listening to this podcast series, you'll receive an extra month on your membership for free. Meaning that if you join for 12 months, which is part of, which is what our standard membership is, you'll receive access to the accelerator for 13 months. So one extra month for free. Okay, without further delay, let me talk about this week's episode. So in the episode today, I'm sharing the lesson from the 90 day quick start Challenge, which is all about writing your website copy. And it's a bit more than that, it's almost about how to structure your website. So what pages do you need? What needs to be on those pages? How should you write it? And so there is a lot of insight into, into the how of building a coaching website aimed at corporate clients. So accelerated members, alongside this, this, this module, they also get a comprehensive step by step guide to help them write every single page that we go through. And I'm just in love with this resource. It's almost a paragraph by paragraph guide. I wanted to make this as simple as possible for people who are building their website. So you might hear reference to that guide. I cover a lot of what's in it in this, in this lesson, but there is, there is much more inside the guide as well. You'll also hear reference to group coaching calls. We have group coaching calls every week at three different times. So no matter where you are in the world, there is a time that will be suitable. And I think it's really important because no matter how good a guide or a course is, you are going to need individual feedback, you are going to have personal questions and you are going to want to talk about what you are working on in your context. So. So that is a big part of the accelerator as well. You'll hear reference to that in the lesson, but I think it will still be very helpful as a standalone. So please enjoy, enjoy this lesson. Do book a call if you would like to talk about next steps for your coaching business. Hello and welcome back to your 90 day Kickstarter. So we are in week six and week six is website copy week. So your job this week is to write your website copy so that you can translate it really easily into your website, either yourself or by handing it over to the person who is building it. I'm going to give you a framework for a fairly simple but very effective website. But you are going to need to adapt it to your needs. Now if you already have a website, this is an opportunity to review it. You can have a read through the tips and a read through the structure and see what you think might need to be updated in your website copy. If you are changing your focus, you might want to consider starting from scratch and rebuilding it, but using the copy that you already have to inform the new direction that you're going to write to. So that is up to you how you want to do that. Now this is also something that can absolutely be outsourced, the copywriting, in which case this process will help you be prepared to have something to hand over to, to brief someone. Now bear in mind that website copywriting can be quite expensive because it is sort of optimized in certain ways, but it is certainly something. There are many experts out there who can help you with it. Now your website is another example of an asset you have that works as a proxy for you. So just like your coaching bio is a proxy for you, when it is submitted into AN organization and LinkedIn is a proxy for you in that network. So is your website for anyone who either searches for you or comes across you in search, you know when they're searching for their need. So it's a pretty exciting opportunity to capture your credibility and to convey that and to convey how you help your ideal clients. So the things that you need to think about at a very high level include making sure that you are looking at things and writing about things from the perspective of your ideal clients. Everything you write, ask yourself why do they care about this? Does it help them to figure out how to solve their problem? Does it build their confidence that I'm the one who can help them with issue with this issue or challenge that they have? Or does it lead them to my offers in a way that feels feels natural and almost inevitable? So think about it from their perspective. And one of the signs is how often you're writing we or I versus you. So do a bit of a sense check periodically to make sure that it is more focused on the client need. Simple is better. That's another tip. And I also would suggest writing your homepage last. So you're going to gain a lot of perspective by writing writing your your about page and your services page first. And that's going to make writing your homepage even easier. So I would do it in that order. I have prepared a very comprehensive document for you and that includes a lot of tips for copy, style and structure. And I've included exactly what to include on every page that you need in a basic website. So we have this document available for you in word format so that you can write your copy straight onto the page. It's really easy, it's editable and you can use that document as a brief if you want it to send it to someone who is going to build your website for you or as your own blueprint for the website you are going to build. I also want to take a moment to remind you that this is a big one where the trap of perfectionism is probably going to kick in. So as you are writing it, I want you to continue to remind yourself that it's okay. And in fact I'm instructing you to aim for 75%. Right? It's not going to be perfect. That's impossible. Aim for 75 and then you'll get some feedback and then you can iterate so it gets better and better. But you do have to stop at a point as well. So I'm going to show you the document now and this is a really simple plain word document. I will make this more beautifully formatted. But for now I just want to show you the structure and what's included because it is all written down. I'm not just going to go through and read this document out to you, I'm going to go through it it very quickly and high level so that you can go through it in your own time. Okay, let me share the document. Let's go over there. Here we go. Okay, so. So this guide is designed to help you structure and write content for your website. As it says, the intention of the resources is to assist you to create a professional and engaging online presence that clearly communicates your value. I do have a note on AI which is that I think you should absolutely use it and you should use it to help you with your first draft. I've got some instructions on how I think you should do that, which is giving it the instructions and then giving it some of your existing text things like your bio, your LinkedIn profile, any other resources you have and let it create from there and then that's just your, your bones that will already be there and you can then work from it. You can also take a bit of time to inform the GPT of what you want to get across, what your purpose is, what work you do. I think that in really plain language, I think that can also help. So I start with tips for copy, style and design. The first one is to be authentic, to make it sound like you avoid over formality. I think that's clear. Showing empathy and really that means looking at it from your ideal clients perspectives and understanding their challenges specifically and acknowledging those in a way that means they understand you get it Using storytelling, making the clients the hero of the story. I sort of, I'll repeat that message in a few different ways. Highlighting your passions so letting them see what you care about and why you care about it. Being consistent in your brand tone but not falling into the trap of being overly unnecessarily descriptive in your language. The next is engaging your audience and that's like using inclusive language, adding visual elements. So when you design it, have a graphic theme that you repeat through the website, making a decision about whether you want to speak as I or we. And I've included a little bit of a guide to help you think. And yes, you can sort of mix and match in some ways. So have a think about that. Use your expertise, make sure you if you are talking to a particular ideal client and it makes sense, use that language specifically. It does mean that your website will Be less generic. But I think that that is a good thing when we're talking to a particular client group. And it can always be updated if you end up working with different people. Some tips for the visual design and then look a reminder. A lot of the feedback I will give you on your website, if you don't already include it, is that we need to pictures of you, right? So we need to have, you know, ideally a banner image on the front page that is you with some sort of like a blank, blank or less, less complicated part of the image where you can put some text over the top. You can always put it into a box if you need. And then I want to see, you know, other shots of you throughout the website. If you can get some of you in action or you pretending to be in action, that is also fantastic. So you know, some posed photos at a whiteboard if you're a facilitator, or some photos of you with someone, the back of someone's head looking like you're coaching. One easy workaround for that is have a photo of you side on with someone on a zoom screen. I've got an image like that on my website and what I did is I just, I took a screenshot of my husband on zoom and then I just pulled that image up when I was having my photo taken. So it was me and a photo of my husband on zoom and you know, extra points. If you ever find that on my website, then just have a think about formatting. Make sure you use headings, subheadings and bullet points. Keep things short and concise and make sure things are mobile optimized. That is really important. And then look for inspiration. So when you find what you like, just use, do that, replicate it, use more of it. Okay, so then we dive into the pages and the specific structures. So you have your homepage first of all here, have a think about its purpose. Look through the structure and content which is you've got headline, sub headline, value proposition and a call to action. Call to action is something you'll see repeated and is something a lot of people tend to forget. And then make sure there are visuals in there. Now you might choose to put a few more things in your homepage that's okay, like a summary or you know, like a block that leads you to your about page, for example, or your services page. It's really common to have those on the homepage as well. So there's a space to write your copy, then your about page. Looking at the purpose of building trust and credibility and Connection and highlighting your unique expertise and approach. And you know your, your about page should be a website optimized version of your coach bio. So your coach bio should give you a lot of input for this. And here, here are some examples of the pieces that you might put in there. But that you know these, it's. It's possible that these sort of midd sections are going to, are going to look a little bit different depending on your particular background. Just remember no big paragraphs. Keep it broken up and keep it high level. So share. You know if you can use bullet points, do that. Yeah, that's fantastic. Include professional photos of you in action if possible. Yes, please do. So that's about the next is the services page and this is one to keep has. It has the potential to get a little unwieldy. So the way I've proposed is that you break down your offerings. You know you have a headline, break it down into three key services. You can also make it an about page with a dropdown or with on the page you would have links that take you to a separate page for each. If you want to write a little bit more you can do that. But it is good to have it in a quite simple way as well. There is the opportunity here to start including social proof which is things like testimonials or success stories or even logos of people who have consented to being featured. I personally am not a big fan of including logos of clients that you've worked with if you haven't specifically asked them if you can and I see that all the time, that's obviously up to you but I think it is best practice would be asking if that's, if that's appropriate. I mean I've seen people use them in, in where they're really stretching like they might have, they might have worked with someone 20 years ago in a completely different, different, different way. And they are listed as a client. So I don't know, I think they're on the side of ethical in this scenario. And then you know, use clear, clear language, benefit driven language and focus on outcomes, not just the features of the service. Very important. So you can write that and then we have the blog or the articles or resources page. You can choose what you want to call that page which is really about building your thought leadership. There's also an SEO component here, here. And what I'm suggesting is that when you go through, I'm going to suggest you write three articles to mean to show that when you get your website up or when you Review it. There are three blogs already loaded in there at least. So my tips for those are keep it short, doesn't have to be over 500 words. And just repurpose your best LinkedIn posts. Right. Find the ones that you've written. You could put them through a chatgpt and ask it to expand them if needed, or summarize them or optimize them for a blog. You could do that because it's already your work and then just distribute it. Ideally, don't put your blog dates on, on your website, so we don't want it to necessarily show people when it was posted because that means it can easily get outdated. And if you have a, you know, have a gap when you're not posting consistently, it won't be as obvious. But having three up there will build credibility for sure. Sure. And then finally the contact page. And the big thing about the contact page is make sure that you have a process so that when people do submit a query, you respond promptly. I think that's the most important thing, but also great place to have a photo of you. You want to look approachable and professional. So I think that's very important. Okay, so let me stop sharing that you have that. That's the document. I hope it all makes sense. Now as you work through and write your, write your copy, you are probably going to have some questions along. So make sure that you bring them to your group coaching calls as well as the Facebook group or the WhatsApp group and we can answer them. And you'll get lots of, lots of perspectives from others in the group. So be, be sure to respond to other people's queries as well so that we're getting a lot of different perspectives on what people are bringing. And once you have this completed, you are all ready to build that website. So I can't wait to see you next week with your copy already done. And sorry, I should say also don't forget to submit it for me to review. I will do it as fast as I can because I know you're going to into the build. But give me, give me the three to five business days to get it done to make sure I do a thorough job of helping. Okay, See ya. Thanks for tuning in today. I hope that it's been really helpful for you. And please don't forget to head to elliscarf.com bookacall or jump over to LinkedIn and send me a DM saying call and I'll send you a link so that you can book a time that works for you if you would like to discuss your corporate coaching business, what the next steps looks like for you, what your strategy is going to be in 2025 for your business. I think this will be a great discussion and I'd really like to to learn a bit more about your business. So thanks again and I'll be back next week with the second episode in this series. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Business of Executive Coaching. If you found it helpful, please share it with a colleague or friend on LinkedIn. And don't forget to tag me so I can say thanks. I would be tremendously grateful also if you would leave a review on Apple Podcasts. More reviews means more people can find us. Have a brilliant week and I look forward to talking to you again soon.