9 Secrets How to Grow a Successful Coaching Blog

99% of coaches do this WRONG!

They don't know how to grow a successful coaching blog.

There are around 200,000,000 active websites on the internet, yet 99% of them are not actively working to get into the TOP 1%.

Do these people hate the sound of money? Of course not!

They just have no idea how to grow a successful blog that ranks among the TOP 1%.

I was one of these people who believed in the "Publish and Pray" strategy...

Now, our website Life Coach Code is among the TOP 1% according to Alexa and Google. We are one of the leading coaching websites on the planet.

But it was 10 years of struggle, trial, and error, trying to find the path myself...

For years I was hitting my head on the wall (creating content that nobody read)...

Until I learned these 9 secrets that I am going to share with you here.

9 secrets how to grow a successful coaching blog?

1. Find The Core of your Business.

What do you sell?

"Oh, I just want to help people, I don't sell anything..."

That was my answer for years.

The truth is, you always sell something... otherwise, this is not your business but a hobby.

If you are serious about coaching and making your blog part of your business, YOU SELL.

On a more surface level, you sell your services, ebooks, retreats, adspace...

On a deeper level, you sell some type of transformation...

It's not just about getting as many visitors on your blog, it's about getting as many RIGHT visitors.

That's why the 2 crucial questions you should ask yourself, before anything else, are:

1. What Do You Sell?

2. Who Do You Sell to?

When you know the answers to these questions you will know the seed of your business.

And then, it's much easier to develop your strategy...

2. Blog about what YOUR people want to read.

Most coaches do the mistake of creating content about EVERYTHING and anything that they feel talking about.

But that content leads nowhere. In other words, they get nothing back for the time and energy they invested in creating that content.

When you know what you sell, you can create a strategy to develop the type of content that speaks about topics related to your main product or service.

If you are a mindset coach and you sell an ebook about "How to Reframe Your Thinking for Success" why would you waste time creating REELs about "5 best foods to eat in the morning"?

Yes, you can relate the foods with health, and then health with having better thoughts, and in the end pitching your book...

But that's too far-fetched!

Do you think people interested in morning nutrition are REALLY that interested in buying a book on reframing their thinking?

Not as interested as people who actively search for improving their mindset.

And these people do not search for "what to eat in the morning" they search for "how to improve your mindset".

If you want the right people to find your content, create content that's actually solving YOUR people's problems.

How to do this?

You know who you help and what you sell. You know what you can help them with.

Make a list of all the topics that are directly related to your people's needs PLUS your product or service.

And then...

3. Become a "Detective".

After you have the list of topics, it's time for the one thing that EVERYONE forgets to do: Market Research!

You need to answer these 3 main questions:

1. What is your competition writing on these topics?

2. What is your audience's intent when they search for these topics?

3. Are these topics hard or easy to compete with?

1. Start by "spying" on your competition.

Write on Google your topics and see what it shows you for the first 10 results, on each.

This is your competition.

Look at what they are creating around your topics...

What is the format of the content? Articles or videos? In-depth or short form?

This will show you what's the best format for each of your topics.

As you can see...

For "how to improve your mindset" all top-ranking content are lists and "5 steps" type of articles. So, you know what style of content people love to read about that subject.

2. Now put yourself in your readers' shoes...

What are they actually looking for when they are searching on Google for that "particular" topic? Do they look for a quick help or more in-depth explanation? Do they want to purchase something, a book, a product? Are they looking for a service?

This will show you the type of content you should create.

In the previous example, it's most likely these people look for a quick fix for their mindset, hence, the lists.

So, a better type of content to create for this topic is a skimmable article with an easy, step-by-step process that people can implement immediately. At the end of the article you can pitch your book and add a link for people to get it.

3. Then, go to Ubersuggest or some other Keyword Research Tool and search your topics...

How many monthly searches these topics get? What are the top 10 websites that rank for those topics? What is their Domain Authority? How many backlinks do they have? (these are links that other websites have leading to them, this is what Google uses to rank you, the more quality backlinks you have the better you rank)

This will show you the difficulty of ranking for those topics?

To make things easier, look for topics that have above 1000 searches per month, the competition is with low count of backlinks (maximum 30) and low Domain Authority (1 to 20).

This is considered as an Easy Topic.

As you can see...

This keyword "how to improve your mindset" has 110 monthly searches in the US alone, the competition has on average 66 backlinks and a domain authority of 61. This is a quite difficult keyword to rank for organically.

So, should you give up on your topic?

Of course not!

You can search for alternative kewords like "improve my mindset", "how to have a successful mindset", etc.

Check few variations that the Ubersuggest tool will give you and find the easy one to rank for.

After sneaking around for a while, we discovered that "how to build a success mindset after 30" is the easiest keyword to rank for about this topic.

Now you know the format, the type, and the easy topics you should create content for.

That's all great!

But...

How to rank higher than the top searches?

Create better content!

4. Build "skyscrapers".

Look again at your competitors' content and see how you can make it better.

What else can you include? Can you make it more in depth? Can you explain better? Maybe you can add better visuals?

For your keyword "how to build a success mindset after 30" you can create a massive list of things people can do starting from behavior, lifestyle, habits, skills they can learn, techniques they can try, meditation, to food they should eat, music they can listen to, movies they can watch...

This technique is called a "Skyscraper Technique" because you are building on your competitor's content.

As an example, let's say you want to rank for the topic of "How to get rid of anxiety" and you see that the TOP 10 searches on Google look something like: 10 steps how to get rid of anxiety, get help for anxiety, natural remedies for anxiety, get rid of anxiety...

The article you create should satisfy all of these needs and provide greater value than each.

How you can do that?

Create an in depth article that explains what is anxiety, possible causes of anxiety, approach anxiety from all angles, scientific, spiritual, mental, emotional...

Then, start by listing natural remedies, why each works, where can they get it... foods, habits, activities, exercises, coaching techniques and practices... videos for each technique or practice and explain the "How To's" as clearly as possible.

Then, talk about books that might help these people, give them few options about professionals they can consult with... (here you can promote yourself and your products or services)

The article you create should include EVERYTHING that can help people who search with the intent of "How to get rid of anxiety".

It should be like a coaching tool in itself.

Think of it like this, the article should be the one and only resource they will ever need to find to solve their problem.

So focus on providing GREAT value in your content!

It's better to write one Skyscraper per month than post 3 new articles every week.

Why is this good for growing a successful coaching blog?

Whenever we stumble upon GREAT value that's offered to us for free, we want to reciprocate.

This is called the law of reciprocity.

When people find your content and it provides them with exactly what they were looking for (and more) they will be satisfied. They will stay longer on the page and even return.

Google measures all of that.

They might even want to directly contact the coach behind the article and ask for your services. It's far more likely that they would want to buy your book or schedule a session.

It is often this type of content that gathers natural backlinks over time because it is superior to the others. When other websites want to link to high quality content, it is more likely they will link to you.

But you don't need to wait for backlinks...

5. Write for others.

How to get backlinks to your content?

As we said, Google ranks pages depending on how much quality backlinks they have from other quality websites that lead to their content.

But should you just wait for backlinks? Is it out of your control?

Of course not!

Here is where most people leave everything to chance and they get drowned by the competition.

As you know you need to give in order to receive. It's The Universal law.

So what can you give?

To gather quality backlinks you can offer to Write for Others.

Go to Google and search for websites that are in your coaching niche and that allow Guest Posting.

(Guest posting is the act of creating a blog post for other quality websites as a guest author and inside the content to include one or two backlinks that lead back to your content that you want to rank.)

To do this, type on Google "Write for Us" + your niche.

So something like: "Write for us Mindset Coach".

The results will show you all the websites that explicitly allow you to write for them (for free or for a fee).

The problem with this approach is that the website choices are limited and not everyone will accept your articles.

There is another strategy:

Find websites you would like to write for and be published on. Use Hunter.io to find their representatives' emails and write to them.

Tell them that you would like to submit a guest post for a particular topic, tell them that you are a professional in your industry and you speak from experience.

They would love an expert opinion for a particular topic, it makes them look more credible and trustworthy in front of their audience.

Another thing you can do is go on LinkedIn, find your desired website's CEO, or content manager, and send them a message directly.

If all of this seems like too much work, you don't have to search further...

You can write for Life Coach Code!

We allow Guest Authors!

We can publish your article and share it with our audience of over 30,000 monthly readers. We will also allow you to include backlinks to your blog.

Our website is highly respected by Google and any backlink you get from us will bring you quality SEO juice to help you rank higher in search results.

But it's not all about backlinks...

6. Make sure Google likes your website.

Another part of the equation is whether or not your website and content are optimized for Google.

How to do that?

Few short tips I can give you that will make Google like your coaching website AND, that do not require programming knowledge, are:

1. Keep your Wordpress updated,

2. Add a sitemap (pluggins like Yoast SEO can help you with that),

3. Make your articles readable (one sentence paragraphs) and grammatically correct,

4. Keep your site speed fast by adding a caching plugin and compressing your images,

5. Make the article look SEO friendly.

6. Make sure you include the keywords you want to rank for in your title, headlines, subheadings, meta description and url...

(If you decide to write for Life Coach Code you don't have to worry about any of that as we have trained editing team responsible to bring the best results)

Follow these and you are good as far as it comes for your on-page SEO.

But there are other things you can do after publishing your content to make sure it ranks high...

7. Knock on the important doors and bring a pie.

Most people focus all of their time and energy on creating content, and after they click that "publish" or "upload" button they think their work is done.

The truth is, content creation should be 20% of your work. The other 80% is all about what you do AFTER you publish your article or video.

This determines whether you will be successful or not!

Each piece of content is your virtual asset and you should use it to grow your business further.

It's much better to publish one piece of quality content per month and focus all your energy for the rest of that month on promoting that content, rather than creating every day.

This was one of the hardest things for me to understand as I am a natural creator, I love to create. I love to blog about coaching. If I can, I would write 5 articles per day, create reels, YouTube videos...

But just because I love to do something does not mean it's smart for the business.

What if I create content and nobody reads it? What good do I actually do? Nothing! It's just selfish, I am doing something to satisfy myself, not the needs of others.

If you want others to find your content you should actively promote it!

Here are few ways how to do that:

1. Send it to your email list, push notifications and social media.

2. Send it to syndication blogs.

3. If you mention researches, other coaches, books, products, services or brands inside your article, make sure you send an email to each of them letting them know that you were inspired by their work and you mentioned them inside your latest article. (you have no idea how many of them will actually share your content with their audience just out of the goodness of their heart)

4. Find Facebook and LinkedIn groups about the same topic your article or video is about and ask the admins if they want to share it with their audience. Tell them it can enrich their group and increase its engagement.

5. Reach to articles that link to your competitors or similar content. Tell them you've just created a killer of an article that goes far more in depth and offers a lot more value than the ones they link toward, so if they want they can add a link to your article to improve the quality of the content they link to. Remember, "when you knock on their door bring a pie" If you have an ebook you can offer it them for free. (Just don't be desperate, don't beg for backlinks and don't make conditional statements, these push people away)

Here is a short template you can use:

Hello <name of person or website>!
I just created a killer article about <your topic> that explains everything more in depth that anything I found online.
We see that you link to <your competitors they link to> and I see that our article is far greater resource for your readers.
It would be an honor if you link to us and in return you will get SEO points for the greater quality of content that you link to.
WIN for both of us!
Thank you for being an inspiration and keep up the great work!
Much Love!        

6. As we said, you can write Guest Posts that link to your article. Publish on Life Coach Code add a link, and use our audience as yours.

7. You can repurpose the article into a podcast, video, couple of REELs and photos for social media. One Skyscraper can provide you with a full month of content for your social media.

8. You can pay to be shared on big Facebook pages. (If you join Life Coach Code we will share your articles on our 10 year old network of pages that we collaborate with on Facebook, all totaling to over 1 million followers, so it's kind of a BIG boost)

9. Make sure to link it with your previous content. So when people read your previous articles they can discover this one.

But all of this is useless if you don't...

8. Learn how to grab people's attention like a grand Puppet Master.

The biggest war in today's society is the war for attention.

Every single company, brand, person... EVERYONE is trying to capture your attention!

Why is that?

Because attention, in most cases, equals money.

The more eyeballs are turned toward your content, the more people you can sell to.

And what did we say in the beginning, YOU ALWAYS SELL.

In the most fundamental level, you sell the attention of all the people who consume your content.

You sell this attention to advertisement companies (like Google), or to your own business (selling courses, ebooks, services).

To play this game of attention like a master, you need to learn how to grab attention like a master.

And no, this is not a vicious manipulation or get rich quick scheme. Your intent is not to manipulate people so you can earn more money...

Your intent is to capture as much attention of the people you can help, so you can help more people.

Because if you don't, someone else will. And their intention might not be so pure.

How to do this?

You need to learn the art of going viral.

And I can teach you.

I wrote a whole book for coaches and creators targeting the exact type of content that we as coaches need to create. It's 10 years of fermented knowledge from ALL the lessons and shortcuts that I have discovered condensed in few pages and formulas.

Do you know that I reached over 1 million views on only 1 article in just few weeks just because I used these tricks? You can read about it here.

The toolkit is called "33 Dangerous Secrets How to Create Viral Articles". You can get it on Amazon for far less than one cup of coffee.

But here I will share few quick tips...

1. I include numbers 7 or 9 at the beginning of the Title, or, I put the word ONE if the article is not a bulletin.

Example: "7 Greatest Tricks How to Overcome Anxiety In 12 Weeks"

Much better than,

"How to Overcome Anxiety"

Why?

Numbers, especially 7 and 9 give a subtle message that the reader is not even aware of.

It basically says “since it’s not rounded to 5 or 10, it means that these are really ALL the items they could find to fit in this list”

Our minds love completion!

And just 9 bites to achieve completion is something that doesn’t cost a lot of energy for the mind.

It also implies to our mind that there are Subheadings in the article and it can just quickly skim through getting the core value without much effort.

(Just look at the title of this article, you’ll find 9 there for a reason, look at any online program that sells like crazy, why do they cost 197, or 497, or 997, what do you think?)

7 and 9 are most VIRAL numbers!

I use "ONE" for non bulletin articles, just like it is written here.

When you specify that there is ONE solution, ONE activity, ONE way to do something and improve your life, ONE formula to be more viral.. the reader would want to "just peak" at what this ONE thing is.

It’s low energy cost, high value, and it sparks curiosity!

2. I add ridiculous featured image, and a powerword in the title.

Example: If the title is "7 Greatest Tricks How to Overcome Anxiety in 12 Weeks" I will include a featured image of something seemingly ridiculous, like water with ice in it!

Much better than just an image of an anxious person...

Why?

Because it promotes curiosity!

What does water with ice has to do with "Overcoming Anxiety"? Just let me see...

HOWEVER, make sure that it makes sense.

In this example, taking cold showers does wonders for decreasing Anxiety!

Then, I include powerwords in the title. (Powerwords are special words that are proven to capture more attention like "shocking", "mindblowing", "greatest"...)

Just look at the example of the article where I got over 1 million views, can you find the powerword?

3. I put captions on social media that make a BIG claim and promote mystery.

Example: For the article "7 Greatest Tricks How to Overcome Anxiety in 12 Weeks" with featured image of water with ice, I will write something like this as a caption:

"This makes so much sense..."

It merges everything!

The title, the image, people wondering what water with ice has to do with Overcoming Anxiety...

And this caption just adds to the mystery!

What makes so much sense? Let me just see quick...

Our minds hate unanswered questions, especially if the answer is just one click away!

It's hardly possible to not open that article.

And inside...

Well inside it's a different game!

But I will reveal the inside secrets in another article, don’t worry.

Or, you can find them now in my book.

Here I will tell you to do the most important thing...

9. Capture Emails.

When people read your content, you should do everything in your power to retain them and make them returning readers.

People will read your content, but no matter if it's an average content or the ultimately best article they ever read, they will leave and forget your coaching blog. It's just our nature.

If you don't invite them to come back in some way, your readers will not return to read your future content when you publish, simply because they don't know.

Best way to do this is through building your email list.

If you want to grow a successful coaching blog you must collect emails.

Social media is not truly yours, you are building an empire on a borrowed land.

Your email list is truly yours. No one can delete it if you don't comply with their rules. I learned this lesson THE HARD WAY, it costed me 100,000$.

On top of that, every time you launch a new course, program, any time you publish a new book or want to promote a special discount for your services.. it's one "send email" away.

So, build your email list.

Add a simple form at the end of your articles so your readers can subscribe to get more awesome content from you. You can use MailChimp as a service.

And if you followed all the steps here, people would LOVE to receive more content from you because you provide GREAT value for free.

Keep this in mind:

Creating and growing a successful coaching blog is not hard, but you have to know the RIGHT steps that you should take.

And when you finally grow to be in the TOP 1% of the blogs out there, clients will be piling up automatically on your website's doorstep.

Everything that takes hours from you today, creating content, editing, outreach, network.. will become automatic!

You will be free to invest 100% of your focus and time to do on what you actually love, HELP PEOPLE.

If you want a serious kickstart for your coaching blog, we highly suggest to fill out this form and see if you can get your article published on Life Coach Code!

This will give you promotional boost and a powerful SEO juice for your coaching blog to be more successful in searches.

The time for you to start using the power of blogging was 10 years ago. The next best time is now.

One more thing, all the information in the world is useless if you don't take action on it!

Much Love!