Are You Spending Too Much Time
On Your Website?

I often speak to (and work with) clients who’ve spent months trying to finally complete their website. In some cases, they’ve hired a web designer to build it
for them, and in other cases they’re doing it themselves.

Either way, the coaches I work with often find that they’ve invested so much time working on and thinking about their website, that it’s holding them back from focusing on OTHER areas of their business that desperately need their attention.

Don’t misunderstand me, your website *is* important.

Having a website that clearly conveys who you are and what you do can open
up big opportunities for your business. (Think speaking opportunities and referral partners.)

And when your website is designed strategically, you’ll find that your audience becomes convinced they want to work with you before you ever make them an offer.

Your website offers clients and prospective clients a window into your work. It’s
a personal way to connect with you.

Having no website or an inferior one impacts the way you view yourself. It also affects the way your potential clients feel about your business.

When I ask, “Is your website taking up too much of your time?” You’re probably thinking – “How is that even possible? My website is ESSENTIAL to my success!”

You’re right. Your website is critical to your success.

With a well-designed website you can grow your list and enroll more clients. Your website is your cyber business card. In fact, people often wonder how legitimate a business is when they don’t have a website – or if their website doesn’t look professional.

While I do think it’s important to have a carefully crafted website, here’s the question I really want you to ask yourself….

“Am I concentrating more of my time on building my business or on
building my website?”

Is Your Website a Major Time Suck?

Website design is an art and science – one that people (myself included) have spent years and thousands of dollars to learn.

In order to do a good job building your own website (or instructing a web designer on what you need), you’ve probably already found that you need to spend a great deal of time learning about every aspect – copy, design, and technology.

It’s enough to make your head spin!

All of that time is time you could be spending on other areas of your business. Why spend 4 hours working on your website when you could use those are hours networking, speaking, writing blog posts, connecting with potential referral partners, and meeting with potential clients?

Your website might be your biggest marketing tool, but if you’re spending 50% of your time on it, it’s probably not helping you generate the clients and revenue that you’re aiming for.

Here’s why…

Your website will definitely help you grow your business, but only when used in conjunction with other marketing strategies. (We have to get people to our website after all, don’t we?)

Should You Build Your Own Website?

If you’re just ramping up your business, trying the DIY approach sounds like the perfect fit. After all, you’re only spending time. Most new coaches have an abundance of time but not much money.

There’s nothing essentially wrong creating your own website. However, the time commitment might be more than you bargained for.

I have a client who ran into this issue. We’ll call her “Jill”. Jill is an amazing coach with a wealth of information and some pretty impressive credentials to back her up. While she’s been doing personal training for many years, she is just transitioning into focusing more on nutrition coaching.

Jill could only go so far networking through personal and professional connections and she knew that her website would be the key to bringing everything together. It would give her a more confidence and credibility.

She could include a free opt-in gift to grow her list, a blog featuring tips and advice that would build trust with her audience, and a clear message (and clean design) that would resonate with her ideal clients.

So she started going about doing it herself. After all, how hard could it be?

As it turns out, it’s harder than it looks.

Jill knew what she wanted, but couldn’t figure out how to use the template the way it appeared in the demo. Then there were all these “code” issues that she kept running into and it literally took her two hours to figure out how to change the font.

It got to the point where Jill physically cringed every time she sat down to work on her site. It seemed like she’d just put out one fire and then there was a new glitch.
Does Jill’s story sound familiar? I certainly hope not, but it’s something a lot of coaches I work with experience and, to be honest, some of the most user friendly platforms don’t seem so chummy when tech isn’t your forte.

Quiz: Are You Spending too Much Time on Your Website?

Wondering whether you’re spending too much time designing, formatting, and writing your website copy?

Here’s a short quiz. If you answer, “yes” to more than a few of these questions, the odds are that a DIY approach is costing you more than hiring someone would.

• Have you been in limbo working on your site for more than 2 months?
• Have you spent a week trying to fix one formatting or technical issue (and you’re still banging your head against the wall)?
• Have you re-worked your home page 3 times in the last 3 months?
• Do you find yourself spending more than 40% of your work time working on your website?
• Have you put off any tasks that are directly related to your own profession in order to work on your website?

While there’s nothing wrong with a DIY website, you need to be aware that it’s A LOT of work.

Even if you’re comfortable with technology – there’s a pretty big learning curve. You want to determine whether your time would be better spent on revenue generating tasks (ones that only you can complete).

 
Now I’d love to hear from you!
If you don’t yet have a website, what’s holding you back? If you’ve been working on your website, how did you rate on the quiz? Share your comments and questions below so I can support you.