Practical steps to shift your coaching website into action

Information capture is a must when it comes to creating a website that gets clients. To capture visitor information the absolute basic requirement, in terms of what you present on your website, is a sign-up box with a call to action.

* The sign-up box and call to action

Strange though it may seem, if you don't make it crystal clear what you want your website visitors to do, even the interested ones will drift away again anonymously without doing anything. So you need a sign-up box in a prominent position on every page of your website, and a call to action which is clear, direct and offers something relevant in return for your visitors' contact details. Here are a couple of call to action examples:

'Enter your first name and email address below and receive a free copy of my newsletter'

'To receive your free top ten tips simply enter your name and email address in the boxes below'

Don't be tempted to collect any more information than name and email address unless you absolutely have to. Have you ever been interested in applying for something online, only to be faced with an enormous application form, demanding large amounts of personal information? It's off-putting isn't it? I've balked many a time at those kinds of forms. So pare it back to the minimum. Name and email address is enough.

* Clarity is the key

Make it very clear what is required. It's not enough to have a call to action that says: 'Fill your name and email address in the boxes below', followed by two unmarked boxes. You must label the first box 'Name' and the second box 'Email'. You don't want to treat your website visitors as though they are idiots throughout all of the text on your website, but in this instance, don't leave any room for doubt!

Then there's the 'Submit' button. Make sure that's clearly labelled too. You can change the wording of it to 'Send' or 'Register' or whatever you choose, but don't put more than 5 words on there, or its purpose becomes less obvious. And ultimately, that's the one most important button you want your website visitors to click on.

Okay... so now you know how to use a call to action and sign-up box on your website, but how do you get them on there and get them to work?

* Mailing list management services

In order to for you to automate the delivery of your follow-up messages and to manage your mailing list effectively, you need to subscribe to an integrated mailing list management and autoresponder service. The top two such services are 1ShoppingCart and AWeber. I use 1ShoppingCart because, as the name suggests, you can add shopping cart elements to your package as your business develops.

The 1ShoppingCart basic level autoresponder and mailing list service subscription will cost you $29 per month, and whilst it may be tempting to manage the process manually to begin with, this is a false economy. If you're serious about growing your coaching practice by using your website and building a mailing list, then you need to do it in a businesslike way right from the start.

* Linking your sign-up box to your mailing list

When you are subscribed to your mailing list management service, you can enter the automatic response message you would like your interested website visitors to receive when they give you their contact details. And once you've got that autoresponder message set up, the system will provide you with a snippet of code for you to pass to your website designer so they can link it to your sign-up box.

With your sign-up box linked to your autoresponder message, you'll find yourself in the powerful position of being in contact with potential new clients whether you're at your computer or not. They can send you their contact details and receive an immediate message from you even if you're in bed or on holiday. You can login to your account and see who's joined your mailing list each day. You can send them further messages when you're ready. Your website's in business!

* Just do it!

I realise that parts of this may appear technically daunting to begin with. But without it, your website is doomed to be passively ineffective. It really is worth the stretch. So take a deep breath, get some support if you need it and go for it!