How to Start a Blog for a Life Success Coaching Business in 7 Easy Steps
If you've already launched your life coaching business, you know just how difficult it is to attract clients. Most internet marketers and business consultants will tell you that one of the easiest ways to attract leads is to have a blog. Your prospective clients will often search online for a local coach. If your blog is found first and it looks great, they'll be calling you.
However, unless you're already a blogging wizard, you'll need some guidance. In this article, you'll learn how to start a blog for a life success coaching business (or any business, for that matter). If you've done the initial technical setup, which you can get help for, there are just 7 easy steps to getting the blog running smoothly.
Things You'll Need
If you are not very technologically savvy, it will save you a lot of time to have these few basics set up by an expert. It won't take them very long at all, so don't expect to pay much. But what you spend in money will be time saved that you can use to market your new business.
- Domain:
Your domain name is the name that someone types into their browser to find your site. Preferably this should be the name of your business. You'll have to search on one of the major domain name registries to see if it's available, otherwise pick something similar. GoDaddy and Namecheap are two of the most popular.
- Hosting account:
You'll need a place for your blog to reside. Hosting companies provide the space on the service for a small monthly fee. Hostgator is one of the most popular. Once you sign up for the service, you'll be given some numbers called "nameservers". You'll need to go back to your domain registry and follow the steps for transferring your domain to your hosting account.
- WordPress installed:
WordPress.org is the most popular software for blogging. It's easy to use, once you learn the basics, and extremely flexible in design. You'll need to have it installed on your hosting account so that you can actually start the nuts and bolts of blogging. Most hosting accounts have a tool called Fantastico that will walk your through the installation.
- Blog design installed:
In WordPress, your blog design is called your "theme". You can select one of the free themes available. But if you are planning build a true brand for your business, you can hire a graphic designer to create a header that reflects your image. This should not be expensive and you can find people online through places like Fiverr.com or elance.com.
- Basic knowledge of WordPress.
The main things you need to know in WordPress is how to set up categories, pages and posts. All of these are very straightforward. For basic WordPress tutorials, you can go directly to codex.WordPress.org.
Once you have these 4 things set up, here's what you'll need to do to get your blog up and running for your business.
Steps to starting a blog for a life success coaching business
Step 1: Select your keywords.
Keywords are the words and phrases that describe what your site and content are all about. Google uses them to rank websites while people use them to search for what they need. You'll need to pick keywords for both the categories on your site and your initial content.
You can get more information on how to select keywords from Wordtracker.com or Market Samurai. Wordtracker has a free keyword tool, while Market Samurai is a software that is a one-time fee with many more features.
Step 2: Create your About page.
Your About page is the place on your blog that explains who you are and what your business is all about. Make sure you include a photo of yourself along with the reasons your coaching business will change people's lives for the better.
Step 3: Write your first post.
Your very first post should use the main keyword for your site in the title, first paragraph and last paragraph. Otherwise, it should be an introduction to your life success coaching business. Explain what people will get out of your coaching and what to expect.
Keep your posts to around 400 to 600 words so that your readers don't have to digest too much information. This article is actually too long!
Step 4: Add a contact form.
If you've had someone set up your blog for you, this might already be done. Otherwise, install a plugin called Contact Form (or something similar) and put in your email address.
Step 5: Create your legal pages.
In a business like life coaching, it's probably best to have a lawyer create some legal disclaimer pages for you. Otherwise, one of the accredited life coaching institutes may have standard ones you can use.
Step 6: Write a post for each category.
Write and publish a post for each of the categories you selected through your keyword research. This sets up the basic outline of your site, so that you have at least a little content in each section.
Step 7: Plan a publishing schedule.
Now that you have the minimum amount of content needed for your blog, you can set up a schedule for posting regular content. Use the keywords you already selected along with any other topical news about life coaching and your business. You can use existing, customizable articles for quick content that will make your blog look like it's been around for a while. However, you should intersperse these articles with your own unique content.
While the technical side of how to start a blog for a life success coaching business can be tricky, the actual maintenance is quite simple. In fact, filling it with valuable content is as easy as purchased some high quality ready-to-print articles. These will position you as an expert in your field, while giving you credibility and attracting new customers.
However, unless you're already a blogging wizard, you'll need some guidance. In this article, you'll learn how to start a blog for a life success coaching business (or any business, for that matter). If you've done the initial technical setup, which you can get help for, there are just 7 easy steps to getting the blog running smoothly.
Things You'll Need
If you are not very technologically savvy, it will save you a lot of time to have these few basics set up by an expert. It won't take them very long at all, so don't expect to pay much. But what you spend in money will be time saved that you can use to market your new business.
- Domain:
Your domain name is the name that someone types into their browser to find your site. Preferably this should be the name of your business. You'll have to search on one of the major domain name registries to see if it's available, otherwise pick something similar. GoDaddy and Namecheap are two of the most popular.
- Hosting account:
You'll need a place for your blog to reside. Hosting companies provide the space on the service for a small monthly fee. Hostgator is one of the most popular. Once you sign up for the service, you'll be given some numbers called "nameservers". You'll need to go back to your domain registry and follow the steps for transferring your domain to your hosting account.
- WordPress installed:
WordPress.org is the most popular software for blogging. It's easy to use, once you learn the basics, and extremely flexible in design. You'll need to have it installed on your hosting account so that you can actually start the nuts and bolts of blogging. Most hosting accounts have a tool called Fantastico that will walk your through the installation.
- Blog design installed:
In WordPress, your blog design is called your "theme". You can select one of the free themes available. But if you are planning build a true brand for your business, you can hire a graphic designer to create a header that reflects your image. This should not be expensive and you can find people online through places like Fiverr.com or elance.com.
- Basic knowledge of WordPress.
The main things you need to know in WordPress is how to set up categories, pages and posts. All of these are very straightforward. For basic WordPress tutorials, you can go directly to codex.WordPress.org.
Once you have these 4 things set up, here's what you'll need to do to get your blog up and running for your business.
Steps to starting a blog for a life success coaching business
Step 1: Select your keywords.
Keywords are the words and phrases that describe what your site and content are all about. Google uses them to rank websites while people use them to search for what they need. You'll need to pick keywords for both the categories on your site and your initial content.
You can get more information on how to select keywords from Wordtracker.com or Market Samurai. Wordtracker has a free keyword tool, while Market Samurai is a software that is a one-time fee with many more features.
Step 2: Create your About page.
Your About page is the place on your blog that explains who you are and what your business is all about. Make sure you include a photo of yourself along with the reasons your coaching business will change people's lives for the better.
Step 3: Write your first post.
Your very first post should use the main keyword for your site in the title, first paragraph and last paragraph. Otherwise, it should be an introduction to your life success coaching business. Explain what people will get out of your coaching and what to expect.
Keep your posts to around 400 to 600 words so that your readers don't have to digest too much information. This article is actually too long!
Step 4: Add a contact form.
If you've had someone set up your blog for you, this might already be done. Otherwise, install a plugin called Contact Form (or something similar) and put in your email address.
Step 5: Create your legal pages.
In a business like life coaching, it's probably best to have a lawyer create some legal disclaimer pages for you. Otherwise, one of the accredited life coaching institutes may have standard ones you can use.
Step 6: Write a post for each category.
Write and publish a post for each of the categories you selected through your keyword research. This sets up the basic outline of your site, so that you have at least a little content in each section.
Step 7: Plan a publishing schedule.
Now that you have the minimum amount of content needed for your blog, you can set up a schedule for posting regular content. Use the keywords you already selected along with any other topical news about life coaching and your business. You can use existing, customizable articles for quick content that will make your blog look like it's been around for a while. However, you should intersperse these articles with your own unique content.
While the technical side of how to start a blog for a life success coaching business can be tricky, the actual maintenance is quite simple. In fact, filling it with valuable content is as easy as purchased some high quality ready-to-print articles. These will position you as an expert in your field, while giving you credibility and attracting new customers.
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