First thing I want you to remember from here on is: You Are a Coach With a Blog, Not a Blogger Who Sometimes Coaches!

Obviously, blogging is essential for growing your coaching business; that’s why you are here. But don’t let blogging distract you far too long from your coaching goals.

If you blog too often, then this will make your audience comfortable with that style of content—as a blogger, not as a coach. Over time you risk your readers forgetting all about coaching and your coaching services, and you will become yet another pinned tab they save in their browser ‘’for later’’.

Whenever your blog, always remind your audience about the services you offer.

You need to consistently remind your readers that you can work one-on-one with them for extra support. So your blog acts as a path to take your readers to the target: one-on-one coaching session. 

Often people assume that blogging is dead. I assure you that is not the case!

There are so many ways your readers can engage with you through your blog: They can read posts from your co-writers (if you choose to do a collaboration session), and connect with other followers of the blog. They can comment on posts to show their opinion, share their own experiences, or ask the writer questions. Request topics to be covered that are of interest to them. 

A coaching blog is a must for your coaching business as it is the perfect way to give your prospective clients an inside look at your expertise. But there are some differences to pay attention to compared to other blogging purposes that are not necessarily connected to coaching. Your blog has to show them exactly what they can expect with helpful advice and insightful tips on self-growth.
So let’s dive into the Do’s and Don’ts of blogging as a coach.

The DO’s

Speed writing

Start off by writing your blog post in 10 to 20 minutes without stopping to edit anything. Just keep the momentum going (you’ll edit it later).

Once your fast, ugly draft is ready, go over it and improve it.

And finally, read it out loud (ideally to a friend). This step is very crucial because reading it out loud will help you make sure it sounds like something you would actually say. Edit the parts that sound unnatural to you.

Eventually, your writing will need less and less editing—until it will be barely necessary at all and will come as second nature.

Build Credibility

Your coaching blog is the prime tool that will build your authority. When people read your blog, they should realise that you have a strong command and inside-out understanding of your niche. Your blog must convince your readers that you understand their problems and have a clear roadmap to overcome them. 

Nothing works without email marketing

What I have learned from the “big” bloggers is that you definitely should not start your blog without a newsletter.

Every visitor who has no opportunity to do anything on your blog—even if it is “just” to subscribe to your newsletter—is a lost visitor.

Search engine optimization for findability

Once you have visitors on your blog, then, of course, you want to keep them. Here are 5 simple things anyone can do to rank their blog high in search engines:

1. Organise your content
   

   Organising your content logically so that search engines can understand what you do and who you do it for is very important. It’s also easy when you’re a coach because you’re not dealing with thousands of e-commerce products, and your topics are going to be pretty consistent.

2. Share on social media
   

   You’ve probably heard about backlinks. Backlinks help your blog get found and gain authority. The simplest type of backlink you can get is a link back to your site from your social media platforms.

3. Write evergreen content
   

   Evergreen content is content that never goes out of context or ‘fashion’. Meaning writing a blog that contains information that will stay relevant and keep helping people in the long term. Some examples of evergreen content:

   – Beginner’s guide…
   – How to…
   – Top tips to…
   – Questions and answers…
   – Best practices…

4.  Quality Content EAT algorithm
   

   Writing quality content is key. Google released an algorithm update called EAT in 2021. Thanks to this update, Google has shifted to preferring high-quality content and the customer experience above all.
   To create content preferred by the EAT updates, provide content that can be actioned, that shows a step-by-step system, that has its sources clearly quoted and is easy to read and navigate.

5. Add visual media
   

   Adding imagery to your blogs might sound basic, however, it is very important both for your readers and for Google. Adding visual elements gives you an opportunity to add tags to your content and also helps you break up the text visually for your users. You can also use it to add ‘mood’ to your content. For instance, using serious imagery will make you come across as a serious coach, whereas lighter, metaphorical, or comical imagery will lighten up the mood. Animated gifs will also entertain your readers. Just keep true to your style.

Use paragraph subtitles

Subtitles are great because people can skim or scan your article before reading it (most people will) if you don’t incorporate subtitles, people will find it hard to skim your content and might give up reading before even starting. On the other hand, if your sub-titles promise what they were looking for when they clicked your post, then they will go ahead and read it all.

Optimise Your Articles with: Calls To Action (CTA’s)

The last step in creating your coaching articles focuses on how to get conversions—which is the key part to creating an effective coaching blog strategy that helps you get new clients.

Without a clear direction for your readers to follow to keep working down the path towards resolution and growth, they end your article sitting there, thinking, “Okay, what do I do next?”

Show them the next step to take.

The most common calls to action at the end of a coaching article include:

• Signing up for a resource download
• Signing up for a consultation or discovery call
• Sharing on social media
• Following on social media
• Signing up for blog updates
• Leaving a comment
• Clicking a link to read another article

The best call-to-action and conversion is using a resource download that has the potential to convert readers into clients. If your resource aligns well with the reason why someone reads your post, you’ll grow your email list and get potential clients in your email funnel.

Optimising your coaching blog posts for conversions comes down to matching your content to your download or sign-up, so you’ll want to not only keep that in mind when deciding which topics to write about but also when you’re creating your resource.

Repurpose and Promote Your Coaching Articles

For each blog post, try following these actions to get the most value from your articles:

• Create multiple graphics for your post and add them to your scheduler;
• Create 10-12 social media posts about your blog articles and reshare the posts after 6-8 months;
• Use the blog post as content in your email marketing funnel;
• Record an audio version for a solo podcast episode;
• Record a video version;
• Do an IG or Facebook Live version;
• Do IG or Facebook Stories version and add it to your highlights;
• Combine a series of blog posts into an ebook;
• Pull quotes from your blog posts to make shareable quote graphics;
• Turn the content into a webinar;
• Find places to share your blog post to answer questions, like Expert Circle, Quora or message boards;
• Share your blog content in interviews and ask for links on episode pages;
• Link to your content in guest posts.

There are other ways to repurpose content that isn’t included here—but these are the ones that have proven to work well.

If you focus on creating 1-2 blog posts a week, you’ll have finished content creation for your coaching blog in a short time and may not have to create new content again in the future. By using the above repurposing actions, you’ll have plenty of ways to get the full value out of your posts, boost your visibility, and gain clients in less time.

The Don’ts of Blogging

Don’t ramble with run-on sentences that just keep on dragging or lengthy texts.

Keep your blogs short. You can incorporate images, lists, graphics, or quotes into your blog to break things up. It is best to have your paragraphs short. Your paragraphs should stay under 3 or 4 sentences. Also, make sure you have white space for your readers. This will give their eyes a short break.

Don’t try to cover too many topics at once. 

Also, break up content into multiple entries if needed. Write with your audience in mind but always write for yourself! Who is your target audience? Find out what types of topics your audience likes to read.

Don’t use profanities or unprofessional language.

While showing your personality and creating openness with your readers is important, remember to never criticise, judge others, or use profanity in your blog. This also applies when you comment or reply to others on your blog posts.

Don’t combine too many style effects

like bold, italic, or underline. Things become hard to read. Keep the layout simple and well-organised so that it instead focuses on the content and does not distract readers. You don’t want to make your blog difficult to read, so consider fonts and colours that are legible.

Don’t write purely for search engines.

Too many keywords and a passive tone in your blog posts are not good. Try to use words and a tone that is more persuasive and descriptive.
Write for the reader, and your SEO will do just fine.

Don’t use your blog for third-party advertising content

career events, internships, job adverts, surveys (thesis related), surveys (asking for student preferences/opinions), etc. Keep your blog conversational and friendly as if you were having a face-to-face meeting. You can, however, give your readers the option to share something if they want.

Don’t Give up!

Building a blog takes time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. If you can’t post daily, make a goal to post once a week. The more consistent you are with posting, the more likely you will build followers for your blog. Your audience will come to expect posts by a certain time.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to experiment with your blog.

Blogging takes time to build an audience and traffic. You shouldn’t be discouraged when you don’t gain a following overnight. Remember to find your voice and have fun.

A good place to start is Expert Circle. In our professional, knowledgeable and friendly community, you can acquire the exposure you seek and research information on topics you struggle with or are interested in. Ask questions, give advice, gain leads, and so much more! Sign up: https://www.expertcircle.uk/join/ and get a head start at building connections and credibility in your coaching journey Today! We will be there with you at every step along the way.