Jennie Lakenan

When I need design inspiration for a coaching website, these are the 5 sites I go to most.

1/ sitesee.co
A curated gallery of real websites. Good for seeing how a whole site comes together.

2/ dribbble.com
Quick UI ideas. I go here for color and typography.

3/ behance.net
Full case studies from other designers. Helpful when I want the thinking behind a design.

4/ siteinspire.com
A tightly curated gallery of clean, well-built sites. Great for layout and type references.

5/ land-book.com
Landing pages built to convert. Perfect for coaching sites, where the homepage has hefty work to do.

One thing to always keep in mind:

Visual inspo helps you design something beautiful.
But your message is what books the clients.

Any sites you'd add to this list?

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2 days ago | [YT] | 5

Jennie Lakenan

After building over 150 coaching websites, a handful of things still make me wince the moment a page loads.

None of them are THAT dramatic. But they add up and cost you in lost clients.

I pulled together the 6 I run into most.

→ Swipe through and see how many your site is guilty of 😅

Any make you think "Oops, that's me"?

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4 days ago | [YT] | 3

Jennie Lakenan

I almost never use pure black on a website.

Interestingly, when a client shows me design inspiration they DON'T like, it's usually because the background is true black (#000000).

That level of darkness is really heavy and weighty.

Similar story to why we almost never use brown. Color psychology-wise, brown is the least favorite color of all genders!

So instead of pure black, I'll usually use some kind of off-black instead.

Might seem subtle, but it really helps make the site easier on the eye.

Which makes it more likely visitors will hang around for longer :)

→ Swipe through to see the off-blacks I use instead.

What color would you never use?

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1 week ago | [YT] | 10

Jennie Lakenan

I've always found it strange how hard we can be on ourselves.

But when we think of what our kid selves would say to our adult selves, I’m sure they’d have so much grace and gratitude.

When I actually stop and look at my life, there's so much to be grateful for.

I get to work from home, my husband James gets to be home with our three kids, and we live comfortably in a city we love.

The people I work with are inspiring coaches who genuinely change people's lives.

"Travelling for work" means hanging out with wonderful business owners at conferences like StoryBrand.

Little me had no idea any of this was coming. But I know she'd be so giddy if she could see how it all turned out.

Of course not every day is easy.

But when I catch myself being hard on myself, I try to picture kid-me looking at my life right now.

And I’d tell her how that feeling of restless discontent is actually a calling to fullfill her potential.

And she’d be incredibly grateful for that one day.

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 8

Jennie Lakenan

Ask any marketer what lead magnets are for, and 90% will say “to grow your email list.”

But actually, a good lead magnet does a LOT more.

It solves a specific problem in a way that opens up the next, bigger problem.

And that next problem is the one your main offer is designed to solve.

Getting more email subscribers is nice.

But unless your lead magnet sets people up to eventually buy from you, it’s just a vanity metric.

→ Swipe to see how this works.

🔴 Want the lead magnet I mention in the carousel?

My free Coach Website Blueprint walks you through exactly what to write on your coaching website, line by line.

Head here to get it:
jennielakenan.com/blueprint/

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 5

Jennie Lakenan

One of the best decisions I made for my business is separating the web design and development phases.

I used to design and build at the same time. So when a client would give feedback, and I'd be reworking page setups while also rethinking layouts.

It was kind of a nightmare! So messy and slow.

Now, every project starts in Figma before we touch WordPress.

Here's why this works so much better:

1/ Editing a design is fast

Moving a section, swapping a photo, changing a headline takes seconds.

Doing the same thing in a built site takes longer, even with a drag-and-drop builder.

2/ We see the full picture before committing.

Clients can scroll through the entire site and give feedback while it's still easy to change.

No surprises when we go live.

3/ We make better design decisions.

When you're not thinking about the build, you're free to focus on what actually looks good and works for the user.

And when it's time to develop, the job is simple:
Build what we already agreed on.

It takes a little more time upfront, but it saves hours of back-and-forth later.

And the end result is always better.

🔴 Ready to get your coaching website built by me and my team?

Head here to tell me about your website project:
jennielakenan.com/inquire/

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 4

Jennie Lakenan

On most website projects, the slowest part is everything that happens AROUND the design itself:

- Copywriting
- Photo shoots
- Brand basics decided
- Etc etc

That's how a 4-week build can easily balloon into a 4-month one.

The good news is, much of this is pretty easily fixable.
Which can save you both time and money :)

Here are my top 6 tips for smooth sailing on a website build:

1/ Get your copy done before design starts

You can't design a blank page!

2/ Have real photos and video ready

Stock photos are good for fill gaps, but people want to see YOU.

Plan for photos of you and your work, even if they're just from your phone.

3/ Decide your brand basics

Logo, fonts, and a core color palette need to exist before design starts.

Wireframes can begin without them, but design can't.

4/ Plan a realistic timeline

Don't expect a 1 to 2 week build.
And DEFINITELY don't wait until your website is urgent before you reach out to a designer!

5/ Give specific feedback

- What specifically do you like?
- What looks not-quite-right?
- Should anything merge or be removed?
- Does this match how your business runs day-to-day?

6/ Identify anything else you might need

Ask AI to look at your business and tell you what a coach in your space usually has on their site that you might be missing.

You might be surprised how much you didn’t think of!

🔴 Want help getting your website copy ready before design starts?

My free Coach Website Blueprint walks you through exactly what to write, line by line.

Head here to get it:
jennielakenan.com/blueprint/

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 6

Jennie Lakenan

I've helped dozens of coaches set up their email marketing tech (alongside their website builds). These are the 3 tools I always come back to.

But first, the most important thing to know:

The best email marketing tool is the one you'll actually use.

Some of us like rigid structure.
Some of us like freeform drag-and-drop.

That brain-interface compatibility matters because it determines whether you actually execute on your marketing or not.

The second question to ask: what features do you actually need?

Most coaches aren't building complex funnels with multiple workflows.
So the complex features won't matter much.
Best to keep it simple!

Here's my take on each tool:

1/ MailerLite

- My personal favorite.
- Affordable, easy to use, top-ranked deliverability.
- Free tier gives you up to 500 subscribers (automations included).

Best for coaches who want something straightforward that scales well cost-wise.

2/ Flodesk

- Beautiful email templates (though that may matter less for coaches)
- Some people really love the interface.
- Worth the $28/month if it clicks for you.

Best for coaches who find other platforms overwhelming.

3/ Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

- Most robust of the three.
- Most integrations, best deliverability, serious monetization features.
- Scales more expensively than the others.

Best for coaches who plan to actively use advanced features and can justify the cost.

→ Swipe through the carousel for a quick comparison.

Email marketing is one of 5 pieces of tech you need to run a coaching business.

I created a free Tech Roadmap that breaks down all 5.

Here's the link to get it:
jennielakenan.com/roadmap/

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 4

Jennie Lakenan

Abeyta Nelson Injury Law came to us wanting:
- Better leads
- Stronger SEO
- Full control of their site

So here's what we did:

1/ Success Planning

3 workshops to get clear on
- their goals and ideal client
- design direction and tech requirements
- the moodboard (they loved version 1!)

2/ Imagery showing where clients want to be

Warm, hopeful photos of the life people are trying to rebuild.
(No mangled car accident scenes.)

3/ Naming the specific, painful problem

Calling out the chaos clients are dealing with:
- insurance companies
- medical bills
- navigating treatment

And positioning Abeyta Nelson as the obvious solution.

4/ Site architecture built for SEO

- 16 practice area pages organized in a mega menu
- FAQ section before the final CTA to give Google more to crawl
- Cost transparency built in for trust (and local SEO)

5/ A fully bilingual site

Spanish version built with the same level of care as the English one.
Critical for the community Abeyta Nelson serves.

Terry and David are a father-son attorney duo.
A really fun project to be part of!

🔴 Ready to get your coaching website built by me and my team?
Head here to tell me about your project:
jennielakenan.com/inquire/

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 3

Jennie Lakenan

Every first Thursday of the month, I go to this breakfast club with other women business owners in Kansas City.

This last meeting, we did something different.

Everyone went around the room and shared their number one piece of business advice.

And I realized, these women are sitting on wisdom most people pay masterminds $5k to access!

So of course I thought their advice would make for a great piece of content :)

(Posted with permission, of course.)

→ Swipe through to see my favorites.

What would you add?

P.S. If you’re a woman business owner in KC and want to join us for the breakfasts, DM me about the Northland Business Women's Breakfast Club :)

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1 month ago | [YT] | 3