With so many Personal Training websites out there, it can be tough to get yours to stand out from the crowd. Maybe your website does nothing more for your business than work as an online brochure. But wouldn’t it be great if it could do more?
Here’s how it can…
#1 Add an integrated blog
When you’re running a personal training business (or any other service business for that matter), always remember: People buy from people they know, like and trust.
Unless a prospective client comes from a referral, it is fairly unlikely that they will decide to hire you with just a cursory read of your website. A blog with useful, relevant content is a great way to share your expertise and demonstrate your credibility while that prospect gets to know, like and trust you. When they are ready to pick up the phone and actually consider hiring a personal trainer, who will be at the forefront of their minds?
Google also loves a site with regularly updated, fresh content, so with regular, on topic blog posts you’ll find yourself achieving higher placings in the search engine rankings than if you were to just rely on your static site alone. But remember, there is nothing worse than visiting a blog and seeing that it hasn’t been updated for months – only undertake a blog for your personal training business if you can commit to a regular posting schedule.
#2 Include an online workout section (for free or fee)
How many of you have clients that struggle to remember what you have shown them during your personal training sessions when they work out on their own? A great way to help those clients is to have a library of exercise diagrams/graphics on your fitness website which they can refer to as a reminder. You can provide this as an added benefit or charge a small fee as part of their package.
The exercise section could also provide you with a stream of passive income. Why not set up a membership section of your personal training website for clients/non clients to pay a nominal fee each month for access to the exercise library and custom online workouts?
#3 Use your personal training website as a sales platform/online shop for e-books, books or other products
In this time of economic uncertainty, creating multiple revenue streams for your personal training business is a great way to diversify your income and manage the risk of quiet periods.
Take some time out to unlock the knowledge & experience in your head and put it all together in an e-book or even a self-published paperback/hardback (the more specialised the better). E-books don’t have to be long, they just have to be useful and if you have a specific niche you can write about, it will be a lot easier to market the book to your chosen target market. Once you’ve created a book, it can become an ongoing passive stream of income for your business.
If writing isn’t your thing, no problem – get someone else to write it for you (known as ghost writing). Spending a little time and money to create your e-book could lead to a lifetime of passive income. Do the work once and keep getting paid over and over.
If you aren’t able to create an e-book or passive income product, search for other personal trainers that have e-books and offer an affiliate scheme for their product. Then, simply add a link from your site to the product and earn through the affiliate scheme. This doesn’t just apply to e-books either, all sorts of companies offer affiliate schemes for their personal training equipment or supplements. Just make sure you only source products/e-books that you believe in; recommending poor quality products can harm your credibility.
#4 Turn your website into an automated marketing machine and lead generator
How much time have you spent on the phone with prospective clients explaining your services and how you can help, only to get to the nitty gritty of cost and be told you’re out of their budget? – ultimately wasting both your and their time. Use your website to automate your sales process as much as possible by doing some or all of the following:
- include prices on your site (if not specifics, then at least ball park figures)
- add a sign-up box that lets people join your mailing list, giving you permission to contact them again in the future
- use the mailing list to turn cold and warm prospects into converted clients by sharing useful information, relevant news and demonstrating your expertise and credibility on an ongoing basis
#5 Use your fitness website as an online hub for all your social media & online marketing activities
As a personal trainer, you probably already understand the importance of networking as a way to attract new clients. These days there are 2 types of networking – online and offline. Using online social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc. can be a time- and cost-effective way to network – enabling you to expand your reach and target markets.
Utilising these online tools can give prospects a wide range of channels to connect with you in the way that is most suitable and convenient to them but it is always ideal if you can bring it all together in one place – an online hub, if you like. Your website/blog can be that hub – and help ensure that your online activities are consistent and integrated.
Your website can and should do so much more for your personal training business – if you need any help with the above, why not get in touch and see how we can help?