Choosing a Great Website for Personal Trainer Marketing
By Brad Bennett
If you’re a personal trainer or fitness professional working independently you may be looking for ways to build up your clientele and promote your training services. Bar none, the best way for any small business to gain needed exposure is on the Internet. When today’s consumers are looking for a product or service, rather than going for the phonebook, they will hop online and search for what they need. In fact over 80% of the people searching for any service are now using the Internet vs. phone book. A good personal trainer website can give prospective clients the information and motivation they need to pick up the phone and call you.
What elements should be included in personal trainer websites? Images that best reflect your business and your services. If you can’t get quality images of you with your clients there are some great stock photo websites out there which sell professional quality, royalty fee images for just a few dollars each. It is still in your best interest to have at least a few pictures of you to instill a sense of trust. Other things to include on your site are contact information (including email), your rates, hours, and even some basic fitness information to help get readers excited about taking on a new challenge. You may want to consider adding video to your fitness website. People love watching short video demos and this will keep people on your website and give them a reason to come back.
If you want to get a custom personal trainer website designed for your business, you may be shocked to find out how expensive it is. A professional web developer can charge thousands for a custom website, and that doesn’t even include the hosting fees! On the other hand, you also don’t want to end up with an unprofessional site that looks like it was put together by an amateur. That being said try to avoid the build-your-own website programs which are very inexpensive but typically produce a very low quality website.
But there is another alternative: fitness website templates. A personal trainer website template is a fully designed website that is sold without any content. Once you choose a template option, a web designer will take that design and customize it for your business at a fraction of what a custom design will cost. They will add your logo and set up all of the pages. Some companies such as www.websitesforpt.com will then give you the option of adding your own content once the site is done. The best way to describe this type of service is They build the house and you decorate it’. Templates like these can cost far less than custom sites, but they are still beautifully designed and will represent you well to new clients.
Investing in a fitness website template is probably the best option for a professional training business on a tight budget. Your website is the first thing that your prospective clients will see so it is a very important place to put your best foot forward. Your website serves so many important functions. It is the most important fitness marketing tool. Marketing your business without a professional website is like sailing a boat without a rudder. In addition, fitness websites are a very important educational tool. Your website can be a powerful resource to educate your clients and prospects about your service. You can upload articles, archive newsletters, add links to other websites and much more. Personal training websites are also an important credibility tool. In today’s competitive market your clients will expect you to be professional and to have a professional web presence. Another very important benefit that fitness websites serve is to help you to capture contact information for marketing purposes. Email marketing and sending out email newsletters is a great fitness marketing strategy. It is cheap and very effective. It is very simple to start up a fitness newsletter program and you can use your personal training website as a tool to capture email addresses through an email opt-in form.
Why not take the step toward establishing a web presence and building a fitness website for your training business? You will be instantly accessible to thousands of potential clients, and you’ll have a way to keep your clients up to date on news and promotions. You may even consider adding a blog to your site so that you can give readers a daily dose of encouragement, fitness and nutrition tips, and a chance to get to know you better. Now is not the time to sit back and wait for clients to come to you. Being proactive in your on-line and off-line marketing strategies is what will set you apart from your competition.
Brad Bennett is owner of Fitness Marketing and he specializes in Personal Trainer Marketing.
