Before I tell you how to create your own kick-ass website, let me take you on a quick journey through time and the websites I have created. The good, the bad and the ugly…
My first ever website was trulyrich.org. It was 2006, I’d just left the world of education to become a professional coach and I had no idea what I was doing!
I’d recently been fired and I was following a dream to become something called a “life coach”. I was on an existential journey, literally traveling the world, searching for new meaning in my life. And I liked this line from the Tao Te Ching, I realize that I have enough, this is why I am truly rich…
I purchased the URL from GoDaddy and wrote the text for a one page website. I was too scared to even add a photo.
Here’s a screenshot of that very first website. Notice the “embedded commands” (I’d been studying NLP at the time and thought I was being clever!) And notice the testimonial. It was genuine. But it was also written by my brother. He was one of the few people I had coached, at that point!
Within a year, my new URL was thatconfidenceguy.com. You see, for most of my life, I had lacked confidence. I’d learned how to fake it but I’d always felt insecure, underneath. I was constantly trying to prove myself. And now that I was a coach, I felt like I finally had permission to admit it. So, I spent two years traveling the world researching what I called Natural Confidence. My premise was that some people were born with it and I could learn from them.
And I did. But I discovered that confidence is actually a result not a requirement. And that the simplest definition of confidence is that you feel comfortable in your own skin.
By this time, people had begun asking me what I’d learned, so I began to share. Below is a screenshot of the second website I ever created.
And that testimonial from Shane? He was one of my first ever paid clients. He’s now the CTO of an award-winning company.
It took me 5 years to create my 3rd website. Which meant that I’d been online for five full years before I was brave enough to put my own name on my site! By then, I’d begun to gather the stories of some of my extraordinary clients. My fees had increased, too. Although I can’t recall whether that fee on the website of $55K was something I’d been paid at that time, or whether it was still aspirational!
Fast forward, 2 more years and I had just published The Prosperous Coach. Here’s version 4 of my website. This one was completely focused on my passion project, at the time – my book…
Below is my current site. I like it. But when I look at it, the truth is that I have the same feeling I have had since 2006.
- I still feel like an imposter!
- I still feel like the site doesn’t represent me in the best way possible!
So what can I teach you about creating a kick-ass website?
1. Start! Don’t hold back. Remember, I still feel like an imposter, 14 years after I launched my first site.
2. You should always feel like you want to throw up – at least a little – when you look at your site!
a. Because you’ve bragged about your accomplishments. (Although, remember, it’s not bragging if you’ve done it!).
b. You’ve been more vulnerable than you feel comfortable to be. (When faced with the option of vulnerability vs vanilla, take vulnerability every time).
c. Your website feels out of date and no longer represents the impact you make in the world. (I have had a constant feeling that my website is 5 years out of date).
3. Keep reinventing. Don’t try to be perfect. Put yourself out there. And tweak as you go.
4. Less is more. All you need to begin is a single page website.
5. Don’t talk about your coaching process. Nobody cares. Talk, instead, about the dreams and the fears of your dream clients. If I look at your site and you describe what keeps me up at 3am, or the secret dreams I’ve never shared with another living soul, I’m going to contact you…
6. Don’t talk about the letters after your name, the coaching schools you’ve attended. or the thought leaders whose books you read. Your clients aren’t checking out your website to learn about Brené Brown. They want to know about you…
7. Share your story. Share your dreams. Share your fears. You were a coach for years before you became a professional coach. Tell your story.
8. Make your clients your superheroes. Share stories of your clients. What was life/business like before working with you? What’s life/business like after working with you?
9. Put humility to one side. Make sure you answer these 4 questions:
a. What are your 3 biggest gifts?
b. What are your top 3 professional successes? (What were you known for in a previous career?)
c. What holds you back the most – and always has?
d. What is the dark side of each of your gifts?
Love. Rich