Blogging can be tough because there’s quite a bit of friction in the process. From getting ideas, to writing, to polishing, to getting past fears of sending your pieces out, to staying accountable, etc … many coaches struggle to blog consistently.

In this article, let me share with you how to use Google Docs’s sharing and commenting mechanism and how I use it with my priceless accountability partner, Pattie.

First, what Pattie and I do – the accountability thing.

It’s pretty simple. What we both do is write a blog article at the start of the week and then send it to each other for a quick read and some tips to improve it.  It could be spelling, grammar, or clarification of meaning that needs to be tweaked for a better blog article..

Keeping our respective reviews of each other’s article to a manageable time limit of 10-15 minutes ensures the process stays simple and fast (a key to ensuring less resistance). Also, catching points of fuzziness in my writing as well as and grammar issues helps take me from 80% perfect to 96% perfect – more than perfect enough.

Another pair of eyes does LOADS for enhancing your writing. Ideally, you will want to find someone who enjoys writing, has an eye for good writing, and if possible, works in your target market. Please don’t let the need to find the perfect person stop you from doing this. Someone eager and happy to exchange blog proofing is a great start.

Next, the sharing mechanism via Google Docs – here’s how it looks via video.

I didn’t realize how amazing commenting could be until I started using it.

I’m sure you’re already familiar with creating a Word doc on your computer, emailing it to someone as an attachment, and getting their feedback returned by email. Getting others to give you feedback is a brilliant beginning for improving your articles.  As you will soon see, Google Docs finishes the process with lightning speed and simplicity.

Video: How to use Google Docs to share and comment.

(If it doesn’t show below, here’s a link: http://screenr.com/asBH)

Key points …

Things that completely sucks about that “old” method of editing are the following:

• You end up with multiple file versions and it gets confusing.
• You both edit the same document at the same time and end up overwriting each other’s edits.
• Files don’t arrive in the other person’s email for various reasons.
• Software versions you each use may not be compatible.
• Formatting between incompatible software can easily tumble into a mess.
• Files get corrupted.
• Your reviewer doesn’t have Word for viewing your document.
• You forget to click save and your computer crashes, so you lose your work.

Enter Google Docs and you get this:

•  Easy sharing
• No versions needed
• No special software needed
• No saving needed
• You can edit at the same time safely
• Files don’t get corrupted

Great huh?

In summary, getting an accountability partner for blogging can help you boost your writing without sucking up time.  Combined with the speed and ease of Google Docs, you have a fabulous combination.  Give it a whirl!

Let me ask you …

What’s causing your writing to be a hassle? What are the top friction points? Have you any special processes or tools that get your blogs done fast, easy? I’d love to hear from you! Comment below.

In the last two years, I’ve been having clients use Google Docs for creating website content. We use it to draft and polish up various pieces of content, including their free giveaway, their blogs and their website pages. It is fantastic!

Here are my top 9 reasons Google Docs is such an amazing tool for content creation:

1. It’s easy to share.

Documents on Google are easy to share with other people. This is great for getting feedback on your writing as well as copy editing. You simply click the share button and add the person’s email address – the other person gets an email alert and can instantly start editing and making comments. This makes it easier than having to email documents back and forth.

2. It runs fast.

Google runs fast. It can run without an Internet connect as well (it’s called “offline”). When I had both Word and Google Docs at the same time, I was surprised that Google Docs (which is a web-based program that requires Internet access) ran faster than Word which was based on my computer. Go figure.

3. It has a simple interface.

Google is great at keeping things minimal and usable. There are no extra formulas or unnecessary tools. The interface is simple. The basics beautifully cover 95% or more of what you’ll be doing. Google learns from its users and then aims to make things more intuitive.

4. It’s FREE.

5. Slick commenting.

My most favorite feature is the commenting – or rather “how” commenting works. It’s simple. Select some text, right click and choose “comment”. Then your comment appears to the right and anything you comment upon is automatically shared with the person who created the document. In combination with sharing, this feature makes it fast to discuss and edit documents – without creating versions, without having to save or email.

6. Autosave (no more saving).

Your documents are saved as you work, instantly. You can also revert back to previous versions if needed, but I’ve never needed to do that in two years. No more losing work due to forgetting to save or your computer crashing. That’s real peace of mind!

7. Free PDFs.

You can save your document to a pdf, for free. Then you can easily share your document in other ways such as offering downloads or emailing them to a friend to print.

8. It’s web based.

Since it runs on the Web, you don’t need to download software and install it – which can fail for many reasons. You also don’t have to run or buy updates, ever. You also don’t get more drain on your computer’s resources which slow it down over time. The future = Less hassle.

9. Google’s behind it.

Finally, since Google is behind the software, you know that it will only get better. You’ve got one of the top software companies in the world supporting you – again, for free.

As you can see, I’m a big fan of Google. They do great things and for us small business types, they do a world of good.

Have you used Google Docs? Love it? What do you like most about it? Got any good tricks to share? I’d love to hear from you. Comment below!

The most important element for making a website effective is a powerful message. Immediately after that comes usability – that is, your website CANNOT be confusing or else people won’t use it.

Let me go into the seven signs that your site is confusing and then I’ll give you a few tips on how to improve it.

Sign 1. You are wondering IF your site is confusing.

If you’ve been wondering whether or not your site is confusing, chances are it is.

Consider the opposite – if you are confident that your website is NOT confusing, it’s because you know what to put on it, what to make prominent, and what you want people to do there. You know what results you want from your site.  When you know these things, you’ll be confident your site isn’t confusing.

You should be confident, clear, and intentional about your site. You should not be wondering or confused about it yourself.

Sign 2. The text is so small you can’t read it.

There shouldn’t be anything too small to read. This is an even bigger concern if you are marketing to an older group (boomers) or groups with low attention span (ADD).

Common causes of too-small text:

• You’ve had graphics shrunk down to fit.
• You’ve added disclaimers in the footer.
• You’ve tweaked fonts in one place of the site and messed them up elsewhere.
• You’ve copied and pasted from other places into your site, like MS Word.
• Your site is getting old – today’s browsers have more resolution.
• You haven’t payed attention to smaller, mobile devices.

Sign 3. You feel the need to write instructions on using your website.

Instructions must die. Instructions are dead.

If the message of your site and how to navigate your site isn’t instantly obvious (or figure-out-able within seconds), it’s too hard. Do not ever consider a “How to use this site” or “Instructions” page for your website. No one will read them.

If you think your site needs explaining on it’s use or organization, it’s too confusing.

Sign 4. You have more than a handful of links.

Your menu should not contain more than a handful of links for getting around your site.  Too many links makes things confusing.

Also, remember that people glance over menus to get a grasp of a site. If menu options are too long with too many drop downs, etc, they become a chore and people will resist using them. You don’t want people to feel resistance when they enter your website.

Along with fewer links, just have one menu. Multiple menus means multiple confusion. For coaches, you don’t have that much stuff to organize. Keep it simple.

Sign 5. You have never watched someone else use your site.

It’s an eye opener, even to a web designer like me, to watch someone else take over your laptop and ‘have a go’ at your site. It humbles and reminds me, big time, that things need to be easier on websites.

If you’ve never seen anyone work their way around your site. Do it. After watching them for a few minutes, try asking them to complete any task like filling out your contact form.

Sign 6. Your site has more than a few styles of text.

By “styles of text”, I mean varying sizes, shapes, colors of fonts.

On your website, all you need is one style for headlines and one style for body content. Maybe a second headline style for subheadings, but even that may be overkill.

The Exception: Many marketers love to use odd text, stand out text, etc to take the eye on a selling whirlwind. That can work if you have specific intentions and are advised to do so. However, if you’re a marketing novice and are simply trying to create an easy to read and use website, keep it simpler and minimal at first.

Sign 7. You think “everything” on your site is important.
If you think “everything” on your site is important and you want visitors to know about it all, and you try to get some sort of mention or link to it on the homepage, then your site is probably confusing.

Trying to get it all on the home page usually makes a mess – everything vies for attention, and nothing gets it. Worse, your true one desired action, having someone call and talk with you, gets lost in the shuffle.

Three things to do to remove confusion.

1. Know your single most important call to action. Make sure it’s prominent and in multiple places. Even give it it’s own link in the menu. Keep directing people back to that action, often.

2. Watch three people use your site. Keep your mouth shut and let them do whatever they want. After a few minutes, get their feedback.  Ask, “Well, what is it?”. Here’s where you’ll learn to appreciate the need for simplicity and find gems for where to start de-confusing your site.

3. Cut everything in half. Reduce text per page, calls to action, and menu sizes. Add more white space, shorten widths of text, use simpler words. You can have more pages, but on each page, put less.

In summary …

Don’t you appreciate it when a website (or any technology, app, device, etc), has figured out how to become easier for you? Make your site less confusing and you’ll find more people taking action like contacting you for a free coaching session.

Let me ask you …

What’s the biggest thing you’ve garnered from this article? What are you doing now that confuses people? What are some areas you can improve upon? Will you be commuting, at a networking event, or a coffee shop soon where you could simply slide your laptop over to someone and ask, “Hey, can you tell me what you think this website is about?”

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below.

When you title your blog articles, crafting a good title is huge. A bad title will turn people away from reading it and a good one will engage them right from the outset.

I don’t have to tell you that the more people read your articles, the more they become familiar with you, trust you, and see you as an expert coach. And clients love hiring experts!

So, if you’re actively blogging or putting out articles to draw attention to your business, here’s one thing to watch out for that reduces the number of people who read your writing – spilling the beans!

Spilling the beans means giving away the secret.

That is, in your article titles, you don’t want to give away the good stuff in the headline. This will cause you to lose the reader as he/she will either think she gets the article or will discount the article as “common advice”.

An example will help …

Let’s say you saw the following article out on the web, Lose Weight with Exercise.

This article title is problematic because it gives away the advice – to exercise. This title is a bland statement, and there’s nothing about it that says there’s good stuff to be read inside.

So, when someone comes across your article, they will see that you’re suggesting they exercise more.  Since they already know this, there’s no need to read your article. Skip.

You’ve just lost a reader.

Now, your article may be amazing as it talks about how to find fun, easy ways to exercise that don’t take time. You may have some super tricks for motivating people to exercise more, perhaps by getting friends involved. Who knows. The point is that your title has spilled the beans and given the reader a reason to NOT dive into your content.

More not-so-hot titles that spill the beans (they are simply statements of advice):

• Set Goals to Succeed
• How to Destress – Take a Vacation
• Become More Enlightened with Meditation

Again, these titles, while they may have some unique, special or amazing content, cause the reader to lose interest.

So, remember to NOT give away the secret.  Don’t include the beans in the title.

With our first example, Lose Weight with Exercise, we can hide the secret of the article by simply removing it and adding HOW TO.

Thus, our title will become How to Quickly Lose Weight.

We got rid of the beans (with exercise) and added “How to”.

This is a better title.

Even though it is a better title, unfortunately the subject of “losing weight” has been beaten to death. So, let me give you another move to make for additional enticement.

We can do this by making the beans into mystery beans – that is instead of giving away the secret, we can come up with a new phrase to describe the secret uniquely, like this …

How to Quickly Lose Weight with Ladies Night.

As you can see, instead of “with exercise” we now have “with Ladies Night” – a new, unique, interesting phrase that’s sure to get attention.

In your article, you need to explain this concept – Ladies Night. You can talk about your unique trick for getting exercise (I’m making this one up) which is about getting your female friends together for a long healthy walk with nuts and berries and fun chatting instead of the usual feasting at the diner.

What we have done is replaced the common “with exercise” with something mysterious and unique – Ladies Night.

In summary …

My main piece of advice is to avoid putting the “lesson to be learned” (the beans) into the title, so the reader can’t say, “Oh, I already know what’s in that article.” Instead, take out the beans and add in mystery.

Qs for U

Are you writing articles that spill the beans? Do your titles seem flat or uninteresting? Are your titles sounding like advice or cliches? Have you written a recent article that could use a tweak? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just post your comments.

For many coaches, the second most visited page (second to the homepage) is the About Me page. I just looked at my own website stats and my About Me page is #15 of hundreds (I have loads of articles), so it’s up there in the top 5%.

I know you’d agree. I’m sure you’ve checked out your coaching friends online, and as soon as you get to their sites, I bet you click on their About Me page first. Everyone wants to see who is hiding behind the red curtains.

The great thing about your About Me page is not that you can talk about yourself, but if you do it right, you can talk about yourself AND move visitors closer to becoming your client.

Let me give you three things to help you do that.

1. Tell your story.

People care more about WHY you coach rather than HOW you coach or even WHAT you do as a coach. People love the WHY.

Thus, in your About Me page, tell about why you became a coach. What motivated you to be a coach? What keeps you going? What’s so amazing about coaching? What in your life got you to discover coaching? How did you transition into coaching? What hard decisions did you make? Did you have a coach? What do you love most about coaching?

Tell them your story filled with WHY.

2. Talk about your beliefs and life lessons.

People want to follow those with strong, positive beliefs. People connect with those who share similar beliefs. People love to know what makes you tick, and your beliefs are a big part of that.

Life lessons are very similar but are tied to stories – and people love stories! It’s like telling beliefs in the form of a story.

Why coaching works, what you believe about people, what’s true deep down in this world, what’s true about success, what’s true about failure, etc. – all of these things show what you believe.

Also, don’t worry about choosing the right beliefs to share. Simply being willing to share your beliefs shows you’re confident about yourself. Clients like that. If you don’t share some deep stuff about yourself, you miss out on the chance to deepen your connection with clients.

3. The general rule: Highlight value everywhere.

In other aspects of the page, take a moment and point out value.

For example, if you’ve attended a specialty training course, like a walking meditation, and you’re into coaching people around health, you can point out the benefits of how this training brings value to your coaching.  Maybe you do a light form of walking with clients in nature and help them find amazing solutions to tough challenges. That’s valuable.

A friend of mine, copy editor, has very poor vision at a distance. She can only see close-up. As such she has become very strong at reading and especially copy editing. Her limitation, far seeing, resulted in a strength, reading lots and getting good at proofing.

In summary …

Use your About Me page to show value. Tell your story, share your beliefs, and point out value. The deeper clients can get to your WHYs, the stronger they will bond to you – a must for getting clients.

Let me ask you …

What do clients like about your About Me page? What beliefs do you share? Do you have your story on your page? If you had to write your story in 1 minute, what three things would you point out? Feel free to post your thoughts below. I’d love to hear them!

You’re not a company. Are you trying to look like a big company on your coaching website? Does your copy sound impersonal? Force-feeding your logo on visitors? Burying your photo deep into your site? Using big words?

You’re human. You’re a person people (clients) want to be around. To follow. To be inspired and motivated by. To be shown the way – which does constitute developing their ability to find their own way. The imperfect but caring person who they want to hear from.

You’re also not teaching people what “coaching is.” Are you trying to explain why coaching works? How it works? How your assessments work? Maybe in part it helps them, but they care less about how it works than what it will do for them in the bigger picture.

You’re the catalyst. You’re helping them find their big dreams (goal setting), stay the course (support, accountability), and find great answers (questions, reflection).

One thing you’re not is a company. You’re a coach.

So, here are some major website differences between a company’s website and a coach’s website.

Companies bury their founders’ names deep on some “about our company page”. You’re a coach, the person people will work 1-1 with.  Or, in some way, they have access to your coaching prowess that helps them be it groups, self-study programs, talks, workshops, you name it.

Instead of hiding on your site, be the voice and be visible.

Companies place their logo and slogan everywhere so they are recognized and remembered as household names. You’re a coach. Your face, your name, your big promise, and your inner WHYS are what makes people remember you.

Instead of branding a logo, brand your big promise, your stand.

Companies use “corporate speak” to sound big. You, the coach, use a conversational one-on-one voice so that you connect with people and sound “human”. Think of it like writing an email to a good friend.

Don’t try to sound perfect or right or big. Instead be helpful, care and challenge people to act.

Companies typically want to get their name in front of you as often as possible. Coaches, instead, do better by going deep with each communicative interaction, inviting people to connect, communicate, and move towards their own dreams.

Instead of selling to people, interact and grow with people.

Are you behaving like a big company? Are you hiding on your site? Are you trying to sound perfect, smart, or authoritative? How can you be more human and connect with people? How can you invite people to continue a conversation? Explore and grow with you?

Please share your thoughts below.

Hiring web design help overseas is a great move for saving dollars, but it doesn’t come without a few hitches. Here are five things to bear in mind (and plan for) as you consider how you’re gonna get low-cost help.

1. You’ve got a GOOD handle on your content.

Web designers overseas will not be able to do much to help you create great content. Content is what they are expecting you to give them.

You’ll need to know what pages you want and what will go on those pages. You’ll also need to know what to put in your email autoresponders if you’re going to have them. And, of course, you’ll need to create (or get) that content.

This is actually an issue whether you’re hiring overseas or locally. However, a local web designer will be better able to communicate with you about content needs since he/she will speak your language and know a bit about your culture.

2. You’ve got a good handle on your website strategy.

This too is an issue whether you’re hiring overseas or locally, just like #1.

Your web designer will not know what you’ll want in your site. They’ll be waiting for you to tell them what pages, functionality, and organizational structure you want.

And, all of this will be based on the strategy you’re going to use for your website. What strategies will you use to reach your goals (got those figured out too)?

Possible strategies:

* To just have a professional image if someone checks me out as I’m mainly networking in person and getting potential clients offline.
* To grow my list to 1000 in the next six months and build my image on my list
* To network the heck out of social media and drive people to my blog where I will grow my readership and invite people to contact me for a consultation.

3. You’re ready to manage someone (usually with poor English).

Web designers overseas are “for hire” and as such they want you to direct them on the project. You are the project manager and you will need to given them very clear instructions, follow up often and give deadlines.

Most have poor English. You’ll need to hunt down good English speakers or have lots of patience with the language barrier.

Also, being overseas, setting phone appointments are a bit tough, especially if they are in Asia, about 12 hours away.

4. You’re ready to sift through a lot of profiles.

There’s an endless supply of web designers who operate overseas. You can find them on sites like Guru.com, Odesk.com and Elance.com to name a few. Odesk.com being a personal favorite.

If you do look online, here are four things to look for in good help.

(1) They’ve been very busy for at least a year. You don’t want to waste time with non-committed, non-hard working, inexperienced freelancers.

(2) They’ve got other happy clients. Check out their profile and contact past clients, especially recent ones. The main thing you want is someone who makes sure clients are happy.

(3) They respond quickly. Be sure to ask questions and do a little back and forth to see if they respond in a timely manner.

(4) They have good English. See how much they wrote in their profile. GO back and forth with a few emails to gauge their comfort and fluency.

5. You’ve got an idea of the technology you’ll need.

This is also an issue whether hiring in your home country or outside. It’s best to know the technical requirements you need before hiring overseas.

You’ll need to know the software you intend to use or take the big risk of letting the web designer decide this. Often times they’ll use clunky, not-well-supported, and feature-overkill programs that don’t work well and are confusing.

Ideally, you should use technology that’s well supported and popular for what you’re trying to accomplish.

One good overseas freelance provider I like is Odesk.

I like using Odesk. They take care of billing for you – automatically. They are constantly improving their interface and they’re really getting there.  I’ve found great help there when needed.

If your budgets are low and you want to seek help overseas, bear in mind it doesn’t come without the “other costs” – which are mainly the extra time in knowing what you want in your site, time to hunt through profiles, and time to manage the freelancer.

Ever hire overseas help? How’d it go? Good? Bad? What specifically happened with you? Any other fears you have about hiring help? I’d love to know. Share your comments.

Backing up is a wise move. But it hasn’t become as easy as 1-click yet. Sadly. Given all the great tech advances on the Web, this is something that should already be available as a plugin.

However, in the last few months, I’ve researched, tinkered and toyed with a few tools out there to arrive at a super slick setup that works amazingly.

Here are the benefits:

1. Backups are automated.

Backups run weekly but can run as often as daily if you wish. You schedule them, and they run on their own.  You can even end the backup wherever you want it to go.  You also get a message when the backups are done or if there are any issues.

2. Backups are sent off-site.

This means the backup file (which has everything) is sent away from the hosting company to a different location. Therefore, if your host company fails, you won’t lose your website. It’s like sending a copy of your birth certificate to a safe deposit box at the bank (off site from your house in case your house is destroyed).

3. Everything is backed up.

This setup backs up the database (the data — like written content and various settings) AND your website files (the code, the images, the themes, plugins, etc). It puts them all into ONE single file.

4. Recovery is easy.

If you lose your site, get hacked, or have to move to a new host, you can simply use the short recovery process to restore your site from the backup file. It’s done in a few simple steps.

So what are the tools I’ve used? And, can YOU do this?

Here are four pieces that I’m using that are worth noting:

1. I’m using GoDaddy Hosting.

This isn’t a requirement, but I want you to know this works on GoDaddy. It will work with other hosts like HostGator and Bluehost (other popular hosting companies that many WordPress web designers like to use).

2. I’m using the Backup Buddy plugin from iThemes.

This is a great plugin. This backs up both the database and website files into one file – all at once. It also has a quick way to restore your site from a backup.

3. I’m using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon provides various services on the Web in addition to selling books (well, they sell everything). One service is data storage at dirt cheap prices. So, I’ve set up my backups to go there. Amazon provides me the off-site location for my backups.

4. I had to tweak a few things to ensure backups are complete.

If you venture into this, you could face files size limits as well as timing out issues, which simply mean that your hosting company is limiting the amount of computer resources your site can use. You may need to tweak these and it’s pretty simple for a web designer to do (you could do it yourself if you were told how).

So, can you easily do this as the everyday casual web user?

If you’re the type who is not afraid to venture into tech stuff, they I’d say go ahead. It’s all a matter of setting things up, reading instructions, and then testing it out. Also, being willing and patient to ask questions to your host or other online support groups (one possible is the WordPress Web Designer in LinkedIn).

If you get easily frustrated or have low patience for tech stuff, skip it and give it to your VA or web designer who will be more than capable of doing it for you.

I tested it out. Yes, you should test yours out as well.

I had my VAs test out running a backup and restoring my website, CoachingSitesThatWork.com, on a new host company. And they were able to do it. They aren’t super techies, but they are daily computer users.

Once you are able to create a backup, you should try to “restore”. Restoring means that you take your backup file and try to install your website from the backup file and do this in a different location such as your web designer’s test server.

So to be clearer, you want to (1) set up the backup to run and complete without any errors and (2) try to restore your website from a backup somewhere else. This is proof your backup system is working.

In conclusion …

Backing up is something you should be doing for your website and, to date, from my recent research, the slickest way I’ve found is using the Backup Buddy Plugin and Amazon Web Services.

Let me ask you …

Are you backing up? Not backing up? Get caught without a backup? Got a great backup process that works? Still confused by this article and want to ask a question?

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below.

Have you ever wondered why a number of website niches seem to have certain color themes?

Let’s try an experiment. First, try checking out your favorite food blog sites. Now, try visiting your favorite hobby sites. Notice the similar colors they used.

Maybe you’ll see a few orangey and greenish colors on those food websites and then you’ll notice similar recurring colors in those hobby sites. See the pattern where similar themed sites use similar colors?

The reason why certain website niches use similar color schemes is this: particular colors can evoke certain feelings.

Ever heard of color psychology? It basically means the study of color as a determinant of human behavior.

It has been proven that colors can make us excited, sad or feel a number of multitudes of emotions.

As coaches, it is important to take into consideration the colors you will be using on your website. Don’t just go ahead and give your web developer the freedom to “color” your site.

When building your website keep in mind that not only your articles and pictures have the ability to stir up the emotions of your visitors. The colors you use on your website background and layout can stir up particular emotions of your visitors too.

Below are eight different colors, their representations and the feelings they normally evoke:

1. Orange

Orange represents and evoke the following feelings: happiness, optimism, energy, appetite, fastfood, hungry, eat quickly, tropics, enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation, sensation of heat, vitality, balanced, inviting, friendly, invigorating effect, mental activity, young people, healthy food, fall, harvest, strength, endurance, food products, toys, reduces fatigue.

Orange color variations and the feelings they evoke:

• Dark orange: deceit, distrust
• Red-orange: desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action
• Gold: prestige, illumination, wisdom, and wealth, high quality

2. Yellow

Yellow represents and evoke the following feelings: laughter, hope, sunshine, energy, optimistic, cheerful, overwhelming, memory stimulator. blood pressure and pulse rate sunshine, joy, happiness, intellect, and energy, warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy, food, attention getter babies cry, warning (when placed with black), honor and loyalty, cowardice. evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings, children’s products, leisure, attracting attention, lighthearted, ‘childish’ color, unstable and spontaneous.

Yellow color variations and the feelings they evoke:

• Dull (dingy) yellow: caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy
• Light yellow: intellect, freshness, and joy

3. Green

Green represents and evokes the following feelings: health, new beginnings, and wealth, easiest on the eyes, relax, create balance, growth, security, possibility, spring, new beginnings, calm, anticipation, hope, soothing, relax mind, diet, control anxiety, discipline, control yourself, impulsive, over-eating, avocado, nature. growth, harmony, freshness, fertility, safety, healing power, restful eye, improve vision, stability, endurance, lack of experience, growth and hope, drugs, medical products, ‘green’ products.

Green color variations and the feelings they evoke:

• Dark green: ambition, greed, jealousy, money
• Dull, darker green: money, financial world, banking, Wall Street
• Yellow-green: sickness, cowardice, discord, jealousy
• Aqua: emotional healing, protection
• Olive green: peace

4. Blue

Blue represents and evokes the following feelings: calmness, spirituality, security, trust, calming, corporate, professional, cold, disengaged feeling. pleasant dreams, bedroom, lowers blood pressure, tranquility, piety, sincerity, cleanliness, water purification filters, heart rate, respiration, cooling effect, hot, humid weather, sky, sea. depth, stability, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, heaven, mind, body, metabolism, calming effect, cleaning liquids, vodka, air, airlines, airports, air conditioners, water, sea voyages, mineral water, consciousness, intellect, high-tech products, masculine, males, suppresses appetite, high-impact

Blue color variations and the feelings they evoke:

• Blue-yellow-red combination: superhero
• Light blue: health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness
• Dark blue: knowledge, power, integrity, seriousness, depth, expertise, and stability, corporate America
• Light blues: relaxing, friendly, Facebook, Twitter

5. Purple

Purple represents and evokes the following feelings: creativity, royalty, wealth, soothe, calm a viewer, beauty products, luxurious, wealthy, power, nobility, luxury, ambition, extravagance, wisdom, dignity, independence, mystery, and magic, pre-adolescent, children, artificial.

Purple color variations and the feelings they evoke:

• Light purple: romantic and nostalgic feelings, feminine, romance, mystery
• Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration
• Bright purple: children’s products

6. White

White represents and evokes the following feelings: background, light, goodness, innocence, purity, virginity, perfection, safety, purity, cleanliness, positive, successful faith, purity, coolness, cleanliness, snow, simplicity, high-tech products, charitable organizations, angels imagined, hospitals, doctors, sterility, medical low weight, low-fat food, and dairy products.

7. Black

Black represents and evokes the following feelings: power, elegance, formality, death, evil, mystery. mysterious, fear, unknown, black holes, negative, blacklist, black humor, black death, strength, authority; very formal, elegant, prestigious, black tie, black Mercedes, grief, perspective, depth, diminishes readability, black suit, thinner art, photography, stand out, contrasts, aggressive.

8. Red

Red represents and evokes the following feelings: fire, blood, energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire, and love, emotionally intense, metabolism, increases respiration rate, raises blood pressure, high visibility, stop signs, stoplights, fire equipment, courage, flags, accent, erotic feelings, red lips, red nails, red-light districts, ‘Lady in Red’, danger, high voltage signs, traffic lights, energy drinks, games, cars, sports, physical activity, warmest, dynamic, opposing emotions, passion, love, anger, danger, draw attention, overwhelming, stimulate body.

Red color variations and the feelings they evoke:

• Light red: joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love
• Pink: romance, love, friendship, feminine qualities and passiveness
• Dark red: vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath
• Brown: masculine qualities
• Reddish-brown: harvest, fall

The colors, their representations and emotions stated above serve as a guide in “stirring” up emotions for your website visitors. Keep in mind though that there are no perfect color combinations that will stir those feelings you are aiming for so don’t be afraid to mix it up.

Have you ever experimented with color themes for your website? What were the results? What colors are you most drawn to and what feelings do they stir up?

I’d love to hear your comments.

In a survey I sent to subscribers of my email list, I invited them to ask me their most burning question (by the way, surveying your list is a great marketing move): The Burning Question Trick.

And here is one question a respondent asked me:

What is the one thing on a website that makes people sign up for coaching or buy packages and products?”

You probably already can guess that my answer is going to be that there is NO one thing that gets people to buy – as selling isn’t that simple.

However, let me go into three things that will help you get a sense what’s needed on your website to get people to buy coaching.

Thing 1: A question.

Let me ask you, think back to when you bought coaching online (a webinar, program, product or even 1on1 coaching if you ever have). What compelled you? What got you to buy?

If you’ve never bought any form of coaching online, why not? What stopped you? What would it have took to have made you buy? Less resistant to buying?

What thing or things caused you to stop from buying online? What would get you to buy coaching online?

Thing 2. There are price points to consider.

When buying anything in coaching, be it 1-on-1 coaching, a group program, workshop or 1-year master class, the cost is a factor in the purchase. Higher priced items require a stronger case to click ‘buy’.

Coaching books you’ll consume like oreos, but a 10k full-year program will have to have more compelling reasons to buy, because you will be spending more time, money, and energy on it.

How do you create that desire?  That is the question you need to ask. ONE thing often won’t do it (maybe if you survived a heart attack and have just met a health coach who works with the seriously ill, but you can’t bank on that regularly).

Higher price point coaching products require more effort to get them sold. Maybe your coaching is best delivered (and paid for) in a group format at a lower monthly ongoing fee. Maybe that’ll get an online sale.

Thing 3. Disposable income.

What customers have to spend is a huge factor in what they’ll buy. One can’t spend $$ one doesn’t have.

If the need for your coaching is high, people will make the effort to get the money by borrowing from friends, using their credit cards, etc. But still, the more income they have to spend, the more easily they can say yes to your coaching.

So, when it comes to your website, are you selling to people who have wallets thick enough to cover the cost of your coaching services or products? Maybe you should consider a new market?

However, if I had to answer with ONE THING that it would take to get people to buy online …

I would say it would be to have a “super-rich offer”. An offer with great benefits to an audience that needs it at a price they can afford.

Such an offer would have to be equipped with juicy testimonials, loaded with features, have a strong guarantee, and provide a low-risk way to take action on the spot (easily back out and get a refund). Bonus gifts (outside of the core offer) will also help you get the sale.

Bear in mind, you’ll still need to get people to the site to see this offer. You’ll need to spend time getting great testimonials. You’ll need the savviness to craft the wording of such an offer too.

If you have a lot of credibility outside of your site or an email list that thinks you’re the cats meow, then, when it comes to your site, you’ll fare better.

In reality …

For many newer coaches with little credibility and limited marketing experience, you’d be smart to focus on things like the following:

1. Narrow your coaching focus. Niche marketing, targeting, branding, can all help you do that. These words can get fuzzy to you … in essence, I’d say find a niche coach or program and go through it. You don’t have time to coach the world one on one.  All you really need is 10 good clients to shift out of a job and into coaching full time – a great goal for many.

2. Build your expert image online. With articles, well-written content, speaking, an email list, social networking … you can pick a few that fit “you” to showcase you’re a pro at what you do.

3. Learn about running a business and marketing. Sometimes this is not obvious but yes, you are going to be a coach who must also step up as a business person. Otherwise, just coach for free and have a ball.

4. Learning how to “talk” to people about coaching so that when they do come knocking, you can make a strong impression and lead them to signing up as your client.

Anything here hitting home? Other ideas on this topic? Wuddya think? I’d love to hear your comments.