How to Start a Life Coach Business In The Online Space

Helping people to achieve long term success is an evergreen niche that brings positive impact and increases productivity of the society. That trend is growing rapidly nowadays and more so in the online space. So if you want to learn how to start a life coach business, then now is the best time to venture into this career opportunity.

The Advantage of Going Online

Let me ask this – between calling a coach for assistance and going online to search for a solution, which do you think people would do FIRST when they are faced with relationships, jobs or financial problems? I am guessing it’s the latter because that’s what we do nowadays.

Phone calls aren’t cumbersome, but the convenience of obtaining information at the palm of our hands has become a habit, whether it’s shopping online or seeking professional help. Plus, this information stems from private matters that people are not comfortable speaking to strangers. So Google seems like a ‘safer’ place.

And that’s how all these queries are pouring in anonymously.

This proves that many people who are in need of help are out there and they just need to be pointed towards the right direction. Once they make that connection, they can receive the appropriate assistance.

From a business standpoint, going online means that your presence is constantly available to this group of audience 24/7. If you are a consulting agency, a company website will allow people from the same locality to find you. If you are still in training or just started out in the industry, a blog can help to establish a portfolio, build your social network or even run some part-time online business to supplement your training fee.

By reducing the communication barrier and cutting down start-up cost, you can get your service up and running in no time. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

So, How Do You Get Started

Well, first thing first, it’s important that you get the right training if you haven’t already done so. Simply because many people approach you for advice, doesn’t mean that you’re qualified to become a life coach.

Proper certification can fine-tune your coaching skills and prepare you for real-life situations. Most importantly, it distinguishes you from all the bogus and shoddy services that are out there. Delivering a genuine and ethical service is something that shouldn’t be compromised in any type of industry.

Most trainings come from universities or institutes that offer online and/or workshop modules over 3 to 5 years. Within this period, you’ll find many segments that are related to this popular niche and these are just some of them;

• Weight Loss
• Stress and Anxiety
• Health and Wellness
• Sports Performance
• Relationship and Marriages
• Parenting
• Time and Money Management
• Business and Wealth Investment
• Spirituality
• Career and Leadership
• Sales and Marketing

While it seems interesting to become the Jack-of-all-trade, it’s better to focus on one sub-niche when you are building an online presence. It helps you to specialize and acquire the targeted audience suited for your skills so that you don’t have to go all over the place, trying to do everything.

Once a sub-niche has been identified, you can then create a website and with today’s technology, this process is very easy. You just need to find a domain name, connect to a WordPress platform and your site will be up within minutes. Try using the plugin below and you’ll know what I mean.

Once the site is equipped with the right theme and plugins, we are ready to roll.

A Company Website

This is primarily for businesses that want to build an online presence in a certain location. That means, if you are based in Long Beach, California, you want your company to show up in the online results whenever someone searches for ‘Life Coach Service in Long Beach California’ or any other terms related to that.

As a service provider, your website should have (but not limited to) some of these elements;

• A business logo that displays on the homepage as well as the favicon.
• An introduction to your team and services.
• The breakdown of the coaching programs and fee structures (if you are transparent about that)  
• Customer reviews (something that you’ll accumulate over time)
• Contact information
• Free consultation (if you provide them)
• A business blog to update clients about your business activities.

A WordPress website can accommodate most of this customization so you should be able to get a lot of basic stuff set up from the very beginning.

Meanwhile, to be found on Google, you need to identify the keywords for the business and optimize the site with those terms. You also need to synchronize the business information across all online listings so that you can get better rankings.

If you want to learn more, the details of this process can be found at ‘How to optimize your business for Google’  here. 

A Life Coaching Blog

A blog can be incorporated into a local website, but when there’s no physical location involved, it is a good investment tool for those who are still in training or want to establish their own life coaching business away from the 9-5 work settings. For beginners, you can do affiliate marketing by promoting products or services that benefit a specific audience.

For example, by becoming an Amazon Associate, you can promote motivational books and earn 4.5% sales commissions whenever someone makes a purchase through your links. I am sure you’ve browsed through their wide range of titles, Kindle store as well as audiobooks (Audible) when picking up your own book.

Apart from that, you can also recommend coaching programs that are widely available online nowadays. Most of them are well integrated with mobile apps so it’s more convenient for users. Plus, they pay higher commissions too. For example, MindValley, a growing company that focuses on personal growth development offer 30% in referral commissions. Most of their programs are worth about $500 (more or less) so if you do the math, the earnings can be quite lucrative.

If you like to know more about this program, you can sign up for a publisher account with the AWIN network to get the information.

For the more experienced, you may be interested in creating and promoting your own books or online courses and these can be achieved through blogging as well. Just keep in mind that coming up with your own products will involve a lot of planning and technical work so more time is certainly needed to achieve your goals.

Create Content For Your Niche

Regardless of a company website or a blog, you need to have content otherwise, it’s impossible to attract visitors. Remember those queries that people search online about their life problems? That’s the entry point – also known as keywords – that can be used to establish your content.

The more relevant the keywords, the better the content and the higher you would rank on the search engines for those terms. And the good news is, these keywords are everywhere and you can find them through these methods;

• Google Suggest – Every time you enter a search phrase, Google will suggest other relevant terms that are also trending among users.   
• YouTube Search – Likewise, any queries that you enter on YouTube can offer many keyword suggestions through their videos.
• News – Sign up for Google alert to get updated news within the industry and lookout for new and potentially targeted keywords.
• Life coaching blogs – Chances are, you’ve read a lot of blogs and within, lies many untapped keywords from their articles as well as users comments that can be leveraged for your own content.  
• Forums – Join online forums and Facebook groups to gain insights on how you can help the audience achieve their goals through specific keywords that you may not be aware of.
• SEO keyword tool – Identify a seed keyword (an original keyword) and run it through a keyword tool to expand content ideas. The purpose is to find something with high search volume and low competition so that your website/blog can rank better on the search engine.

Almost all of these methods are free and if you can brainstorm a handful of highly targeted keywords, you can generate traffic to your site for many months to come.

Creating Positive Influence in The Online Space

Some may think that the coaching industry is a saturated business, but I like to think that it’s healthy for competition and that the demand for this market will only grow with modern innovation. Whether you want to join a team of an organization or go solo, the benefits of going online are unquestionable as you leverage from the ever-increasing opportunities within this niche.

I hope this article has helped you to understand better how to start a life coach business from scratch. Please check out my recommended training platform if you need any help with website building or coming up with content. Or if you have any questions regarding the subject matter, I would be more than happy to answer them in the comment section below.