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12 Patterns Coaching Websites Use to Build Trust

Instead of twelve screenshots that will be out of date in six months, here are twelve patterns that working coaching websites have in common. You can check each one against your own site right away.

4 min read

Most articles about coaching websites show twelve pretty screenshots. That helps very little. Those sites will be rebuilt within a year, and beautiful is not the same as effective.

So here is the other version. Twelve patterns that working coaching websites share, each one something you can check against your own site in a minute.

The first screen

1. The first line names the audience, not your name. “For managers leading a team for the first time” works. “Welcome to Miller Coaching” does not. Visitors decide within a few seconds whether this page is meant for them.

2. The second line names the change, not the method. People are looking for a result. Whether you work systemically, solution-focused or integratively matters much later, if at all.

3. The first route to a call sits above the fold. Someone who is already convinced should not have to scroll. A surprising number of coaching websites hide the contact option at the very bottom.

Trust

4. A real portrait, not a stock photo. Coaching is a people business. A phone photo in good light beats any purchased image of smiling strangers in a meeting room.

5. Testimonials with a starting point. “Highly recommended” says nothing. “I came in with a team that had not spoken to each other in months” says everything, because someone recognizes themselves in it.

6. Names on testimonials wherever possible. Anonymous quotes look made up. If confidentiality stands in the way, the role helps, for example “Head of division, mechanical engineering, 140 employees”.

7. Your background is told from the client’s point of view. Not the résumé, but why you of all people understand this situation. Career stages are only interesting when they prove that.

The offer

8. One page per format. One-to-one coaching and a group program speak to different people and belong on separate pages. The same holds for visibility, since Google can only rank what has its own address.

9. The process is spelled out. What happens in the first call, how many sessions, at what rhythm. That removes the uncertainty that always comes with coaching.

10. Prices or a range. Missing prices are one of the most common reasons visitors leave. If you do not work with fixed prices, give a range and what it depends on.

Language

11. Second person instead of third. “You want to lead your team without losing yourself” lands differently from “My clients are managers in times of transition”.

12. Only words that could not stand on any other site. “Holistic”, “on equal footing” and “tailored” say nothing, because everyone says them. Strike them as a test and see what is left of your message. What remains is your actual message.

The patterns in the marketplace

Some templates are built around exactly one of these patterns. The consulting templates show how to sort solutions by company size so every visitor immediately sees which part is meant for them. Vahlbrink shows the process in four steps on every program page, on a line that grows as you scroll. Sorvend gives the book and the podcast a page each. And for how a page sounds once the interchangeable words are gone, look at Hellwach, a mindset coaching site that is allergic to clichés, and Almstedt for coaches who sell substance rather than slogans. If you sell a single program or a course, the online course templates have layouts with a curriculum and a pricing card. And Steinbach shows what an editorial presence for an executive coach looks like, the kind board members trust.

The self-test

Go through your site on your phone and keep count. Most coaching websites reach six to eight out of twelve. The gaps are almost always in the same three places. The first line talks about the coach instead of the client, prices are missing, and the testimonials describe no starting point.

Closing those three gaps does more than any rebuild.

If you are starting from scratch

The complete setup is in the guide how to build a coaching website. The list of the best coaching templates compares specific templates, and every one of the coaching website templates already comes with these patterns.

Frequently asked questions

Because a screenshot is out of date within six months and says nothing about why something works. A pattern you can check against your own site keeps helping you for years.

The first line above the fold. If it says who you are for and what changes, the page forgives almost any other mistake. If it shows your name and "Welcome", the rest of the page can do little to make up for it.

If you can, yes. Missing prices are one of the most common reasons visitors leave. If you work with individual offers, give a range and one sentence on what it depends on. That is enough.

Three good ones are enough. What counts is whether they describe a starting point, not how many there are. "Highly recommended" convinces nobody, "I came in with a team that had stopped talking to each other" does.

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