A website for an author or coach should give each kind of visitor one clear next step: readers buy the book or join the email list, clients book a call or a session, program buyers see the price and enroll, and event planners or journalists find a media page they can forward. Under that, it needs a page for each book with links to several retailers and a sample chapter, a page for each coaching offer with a price signal and a booking button, honest testimonials, and an about page that tells Google and AI assistants exactly who you are. The most common failure is a home page that tries to sell all of it at once, so nobody does anything.

If speaking is your main business, our guide to a speaker website that gets booked goes deeper on reels and planner needs.

Who is the site for, and what should each visitor do?

Most personal-brand sites serve three or four audiences who want different things. Give each one a single offer, a single button and its own page. Jane Friedman, who advises authors on their websites, says to decide what you most want visitors to do and build one clear call to action around it, because new visitors rarely look at more than a couple of pages (Jane Friedman).

The home page becomes a short set of doors: one line on who you help, then one block per audience. "I help first-time managers run their first team. Read the book, take the 6-week program, or book a 1:1 session" is clear. "Inspiring transformation" is not. Put the offer that pays the bills first. If coaching is most of your income, the book is proof, not the headline.

What should a book page include?

Give every book its own page, so you can link to it from interviews and podcast notes. Each page needs:

• The cover, title, subtitle and a two-sentence description that says who the book is for and what changes after reading it.
• Retailer links for every format. Friedman's advice is to always include links to where your books can be bought in both print and digital form (Jane Friedman). Link more than one store: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and an independent option. Bookshop.org says 10% of a purchase goes into a pool shared among independent bookstores (Bookshop.org), which matters to some readers.
• A sample chapter. Put the first chapter or a strong excerpt on the page, or offer it in exchange for an email address. BookBub lists a free chapter or sample among the main types of reader magnet and notes it suits authors with one book or a book still being written (BookBub).
• An email signup for news of the next book, events and bonus material.
• A link to the matching offer: "Want help putting this into practice? See the program." Without it, many authors lose their best clients.

What should a coaching or program page show?

Answer, on the page, what a client would ask on a first call:

1. Who it is for, and who it is not for. "Women in their first director role" is useful. "Ambitious leaders" is not.
2. What happens. Number of sessions, length, format, how long it runs.
3. The result, in plain words. What the client can do at the end that they could not do before.
4. A price signal. An exact price, a "from" price, or a range. Nielsen Norman Group found that business buyers rank pricing as the information they most need, and that they go to competitors' sites when a site hides it (Nielsen Norman Group). If you price every engagement differently, "Most private coaching clients invest $X to $Y" is enough to stop wasted calls.
5. How to start. A booking button for a first call or a paid session, and what happens next.
6. Two or three client stories: the situation before, what you did, what changed.

Programs need the same page, plus start dates, what is included and a waitlist when enrollment is closed. A closed program with no waitlist loses every buyer who arrives between launches.

What should you give away for an email address?

Most visitors are not ready to buy on the first visit. An email list lets you reach them later; as BookBub puts it, it is "an audience of readers that you control" (BookBub). Give people a specific reason to join:

• For authors: a sample chapter, a bonus chapter, or a reading guide for book clubs.
• For coaches and experts: a checklist, worksheet, short quiz or template that solves one small problem from your work. BookBub notes that free tools like these work best for nonfiction (BookBub).

Put the signup on every book page and at the end of articles. Ask only for an email and a first name, and send something useful within a day.

How do you use testimonials honestly?

Testimonials matter a great deal for coaches, and they are where personal brands most often get into trouble.

• Only real people, quoted accurately. The FTC's endorsement guidance says "an endorsement must reflect the honest opinion of the endorser" (FTC). In August 2024 the FTC announced a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, including ones attributed to people who do not exist, such as AI-generated reviews, and allowing civil penalties against knowing violators (FTC).
• Be careful with results. If a testimonial says "I doubled my income" and that is not what clients generally achieve, the FTC's guidance says you must disclose what people can generally expect (FTC). Quoting what changed in how someone works is simpler and more believable.
• Disclose connections. The 2024 rule requires insider reviews to clearly disclose their connection to the business (FTC).
• Get written permission for names and photos. A first name, role and industry is fine when someone wants privacy.

Which booking tool should you use?

For coaches, the questions that matter are whether a tool takes payment at booking and whether it sells packages of sessions. Prices below are from each vendor's own pricing page, as of October 2026.

For a free discovery call, any free tier is enough. For paid sessions, take payment at booking. For packages, Acuity saves you tracking credits by hand. Embed the booking page on your own site so people stay next to your proof.

Do you need a media and speaking page?

Yes, if you want podcast invitations, interviews or paid talks. Hosts, journalists and planners need, without emailing you first: a bio in two lengths, high-resolution photos, the topics you can talk about, past interviews and appearances with links, a one-page PDF, and a contact or booking form. Friedman's guidance for authors is a bio of 250 words or less with a photo, and ideally a downloadable media kit for each book (Jane Friedman).

For a working example of a personal-brand site built around speaking, see the speaker website we built for Olia Stasiuk.

What schema should an author or coach site use?

Structured data tells search engines, in code, the facts your pages already say in words. Three pieces matter most:

1. ProfilePage with a Person on your about page. Google's documentation says ProfilePage markup is for pages focused on one person, such as an author page or an "About Me" page. The Person needs a name; Google recommends adding a description, an image and sameAs links to your other profiles (Google Search Central). Use sameAs for your publisher author page, LinkedIn and podcast.
2. Author markup on every article. Google's article guidance is to use the Person type for people, put only the name in author.name (no titles or credentials), and link the author to a page that uniquely identifies them with url or sameAs (Google Search Central). Point that link at your about page.
3. Markup that matches the page. Google says structured data should match what is visible on the page (Google Search Central). Do not mark up a credential, award or review count that is not on the page itself.

Google is also clear that markup does not guarantee any special display in results (Google Search Central), and that there is no special schema needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode (Google Search Central). It helps machines connect your name, books and profiles into one person.

How do you get named by ChatGPT and Google's AI?

People now ask assistants "Who is a good career coach for new managers?" Being named depends mostly on whether your site says, in plain words, what you do and for whom.

In our own research across 7 AI assistants, 41 buyer questions and 276 answers, a brand was named in 47% of answers when the question used its category, and in 7% when it did not (what decides who AI names). Your category is a phrase like "executive coach for first-time managers". Use it the same way on your home, about, coaching and book pages.

• Let the crawlers in. Google says pages only need to be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear in its AI features (Google Search Central). OpenAI says sites that block its OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, and recommends allowing it in robots.txt (OpenAI).
• Keep key facts in text, not only in images or video: name, category, books, programs, where you work.
• Write answer pages: one per real client question, answered in the first paragraph.
• Be consistent elsewhere. Your publisher bio, podcast pages and LinkedIn should use the same name and category.

Our guides to whether your website is ready for ChatGPT and the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO cover the technical side.

What a website can't do

A website will not sell a book nobody has heard of, or fill a coaching practice on its own. Most clients still come from your work, podcasts and referrals. The site turns that attention into a purchase, a booking or an email address, and gives search engines and AI assistants clear facts. Nobody can promise a number of sales, clients or AI mentions, and we don't.

How Project 66 Studio can help

We build personal-brand websites with a clear path for each audience, book and program pages, booking and email signup, and the markup and pages that help Google and AI assistants name you. A new website or rebuild starts from $799, and setting up SEO, AEO and GEO together is $990 once; we confirm the final price before any work begins. See what we do and our prices, or start here.

Get your exact price Start a project

Questions people ask

Should an author website and a coaching website be separate sites?

Usually not. One site under your own name builds one reputation in search and with AI assistants, and a reader of your book is often your best future client. Give each offer its own page and its own button, and keep the home page short so each visitor can find their door.

Should a coach put prices on their website?

A price signal helps, even if it is not an exact figure. Nielsen Norman Group found that business buyers rank pricing as the information they most need and go to competitors when a site hides it. A "from" price or a typical range filters out calls with people who cannot afford you.

Is it legal to use client results in coaching testimonials?

Yes, if the testimonial is real, accurate and reflects the client's honest opinion. Under the FTC's endorsement guidance, if a featured result is not what clients generally achieve, you need to disclose what people can generally expect. Fake or AI-generated testimonials are banned under the FTC rule announced in August 2024.

Should I put a sample chapter on my author website?

Yes, for most books. A first chapter or strong excerpt lets readers judge your writing before they buy, and BookBub lists a free chapter or sample as one of the main ways authors grow an email list. You can post it openly on the book page or offer it in exchange for an email address.

What booking tool is best for coaches?

It depends on what you sell. As of October 2026, Calendly, Acuity Scheduling and Cal.com all offer free or low-cost plans that can take payment at booking. Acuity also sells packages of sessions from its Standard plan, which helps if clients buy blocks of sessions.

Do I need schema markup to show up in Google's AI Overviews?

No. Google says there is no special schema needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode; a page needs to be indexed and eligible for a snippet. Person and author markup still helps Google connect your name, books and profiles, as long as it matches what the page shows.

Read next

• What a keynote speaker reel needs (and how long it should be)
• What event planners check before they book a speaker
• A speaker or author website that gets booking enquiries

Sources

1. Build a More Effective Author Website, Jane Friedman (read 29 Oct 2026).
2. 6 Types of Reader Magnets to Attract New Email Subscribers, BookBub Partners Blog (read 29 Oct 2026).
3. Bookshop.org Affiliate Program, Bookshop.org / IndieBound (read 29 Oct 2026).
4. Show Price, Nielsen Norman Group (read 29 Oct 2026).
5. FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, Federal Trade Commission (read 29 Oct 2026).
6. Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials, Federal Trade Commission (read 29 Oct 2026).
7. Pricing, Calendly (read 29 Oct 2026).
8. Choose the right Calendly plan, Calendly (read 29 Oct 2026).
9. Acuity Scheduling plans and pricing, Acuity Scheduling (read 29 Oct 2026).
10. Pricing, Cal.com (read 29 Oct 2026).
11. Profile page (ProfilePage) structured data, Google Search Central (read 29 Oct 2026).
12. Article (Article, NewsArticle, BlogPosting) structured data, Google Search Central (read 29 Oct 2026).
13. AI features and your website, Google Search Central (read 29 Oct 2026).
14. Overview of OpenAI Crawlers, OpenAI (read 29 Oct 2026).