Personal Fitness Trainers need to be able to be found. With a website, you guide potential clients through an introduction to you, your education and your happy clients. Without a website, are you are limiting yourself to only those you encounter in person.
What Is Your Long-Term Goal as a Trainer?
Picture in your head where you want to be in 20 years.
You may want to be a well-established fitness trainer in your city of choice, training the clients you want to train, working in a studio you like (or own), and having a support staff underneath you to handle the simple tasks.
That’s not a bad goal for any trainer. But every part of the above involves having a website.
Trainers could get by without a website for the last 40 years. But things are different now. The way people find things isn’t by walking into a gym and looking. They reach into their pockets and let the internet guide them.
So you have to start guiding the internet.
Examples of Personal Fitness Trainer Websites
Website#1: https://www.athleticbodydesigns.com/
The first one is a website of a personal trainer in Los Angeles, named Benjamin Stone.
His design goes very well for the areas he serves and the gym. It isn’t too “busy” but it does have some nice elements, like how the text is animated to slide in from the side as you scroll. He’s featured with his shirt of working out – all completely acceptable for Los Angeles.
At the very beginning it says “Los Angeles Top Rated Personal Trainer” but I can’t find any ratings. Only after clicking around did I see at the top, he’s got a link called “Clients” which takes you to the review page. This is also in the footer under a link called “Testimonials.” I would just make them both say “Reviews.”
I’m not sure why he has the icons for Netflix, Marvel, HBO, etc. Maybe he’s trained people who were featured on those networks? That could be a bit more clear.
But overall, he’s got three areas where people can contact him: they can schedule a phone call, text him, or fill out a contact form. This is great for collecting leads.
Website #2: https://www.marjoriejaffe.com/
This next one is a total change of pace. We’re now in the NYC/Manhattan area with a woman who trains senior clients.
You won’t see her here flexing her muscles. In fact, I had to search around to see what she looks like at all. I finally went to her YouTube channel and saw her being thanked by a client. She’s not featured anywhere.
In my (educated) opinion, you should be pictured on your website. And you should be pictured helping someone.
There are all sorts of action shots with fitness trainers. Do your research, take the time to set up good lighting and shoot, shoot, shoot. If you’re not drop-dead impressed with the shots, then set up another shoot in a different place with a different photographer. But get the photos!
My assumption is that this woman is camera-shy and didn’t want to have her face right at the top of the page. Look, this is a face-to-face kind of job. There are ways to show yourself (helping someone) in a non-flashy way. It doesn’t have to be a closeup, either.
I do actually like the trainer and I come off with a great picture of her. This was most influenced by a YouTube video (where I finally found her) and she was filming some of her client successes. It was very informal, but TOTALLY cool. That should go up on the homepage of her website.
Real senior people, with real wins. That’s what I would title that video.
The design could use an update, but she has a website and is able to be found. She could absolutely benefit from a Google Business Profile and a prominent link to it from the homepage.
This isn’t meant to be a critique of websites, just some examples to get your brain turning. Marjorie is doing an excellent job.
Website #3: https://hansonfitness.com/
They have a video! I love it.
It’s the first thing I stopped on. It has Hanson himself talking and narrating throughout, it has shots of trainers helping clients in different areas of the gym, AND it has happy clients telling their successes.
It’s everything I could have asked for.
There are, however, no reviews in sight. Not even after clicking around for a while. I went to the bottom where the addresses are displayed prominently (very good), then I clicked on them and nothing happened (no so good).
Overall the design is cool and it answered my question of “Is this the right gym for me?” Harry Hanson is a reputable individual, he’s able to communicate clearly and he and his trainers can handle a wide variety of clients.
I could pick it apart detail by detail but I won’t. The money they spent on the video outweighs all other points that need work.
The Benefits of Having an Aged Website
Websites gain value with age. They are like wine.
If you have been around a while, Google trusts you more and is more likely to rank you higher in search results. Being able to be found in a Google search is what gives you more reach to potential clients.
Even if you don’t need it now, start a website and build it up slowly. Don’t put a lot of attention on it. Just get built out one part at a time. Get some good reviews, get some written testimonials and before and after photos. In a couple of years you’ll have something that you can really work with.
Showcase Before and After Photos
You should absolutely have before and after photos with great results on the homepage.
But you need to know how to take them. Here’s a quick video with some tips:
In addition to that, get a camera that you know how to use. Make that your dedicated gym before and after camera as it is best not to mix up cameras. Treat it as you would any other confidential information and don’t let them randomly be posted places without express written consent from the client.
A simple display of before and after photos shows that you are doing your job.
Showcase Successes of People You’ve Helped
A “success” can be a written success, a before and after photo or both. It is usually both. These are also listed under testimonials.
The best testimonials have a before and after photo to go with it. That way your reader knows who is talking.
This doesn’t necessarily need to be on your first page. You could have a small module with a short success with photos, and then link out to another page where you have a massive collection of them.
Video Testimonials
These are priceless.
Shoot a video of you with a client talking about when you first started with them and how they progressed. The purpose is to demonstrate how you communicate. Don’t be fake, just be you. Don’t be some other version of you that you think people will like better. Just be you!
It may take some time before you are comfortable and are actually yourself, so shoot several and get the feel for it. Drill it with other trainers in the place of your clients so you don’t waste the client’s time.
Here’s a cute and simple one:
What I like about this is that she is just talking and being honest. The music is kind of goofy, distracting and unnecessary. The picture is blurry. But it doesn’t matter.
I would rather you have several videos up like this than nothing at all.
Your Own Personal Introduction Video
In creating an introduction video, my advice would be to find one you like and then make your own version of it. Use it as a general template to give to whoever is videoing you so that the lighting, angles, sound, etc. can be followed.
Keep it simple. Most people are just looking at it from a “Can I work with this guy?” point of view.
You’re not going to win any awards with this video, so don’t try. You can film it, edit it and post it without anyone’s opinion. Or you can survey your clients, family, friends and coworkers to see what they like.
The biggest thing I’m preaching here is to have one.
Marketing in General
A personal fitness trainer has to know A LOT of different things to be successful.
You’ve got to learn how to work microphones and stereos, you have to be able to calm down old ladies and rile up teenage kids who don’t want to be there, you have to learn how to sell, you need to be proficient at just about every single exercise, you have got to master the anatomy of the human body and… you have to know how to build and maintain a website.
Don’t do what most trainers do. They look at it and say, “Oh, I don’t know how to do that.” And they never try.
The simple fact is that you need to have a steady flow of clients to make up for ones that drop off. Your goal is to have so many coming to you that you don’t have any downtime.
If you build a website that does all of that initial meet and greet for you, then you’ve done over 80% of the work with each potential client.
I don’t expect you to be masters of the world of marketing, but there is one book that I would recommend.
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Building a Story Brand
If you only read one book on marketing, this should be it.
I rarely come along and find a book that has so much truth in it, so many immediately applicable pieces of information, AND that is an easy read for anyone.
This book will save you hundreds of hours of work. After reading it, you’ll know why you shouldn’t post a half-naked picture of yourself on the top of the homepage. Instead, you’ll put up a picture of you helping a client.
You’ll understand that the client is the hero in their story and you are the person who helps them. Your whole website needs to be built that way, your fitness center should be laid out that way, and every single training session should go that way.
Conclusion
If you want to reach a high level of survival as a personal fitness trainer, you’ll have to have some sort of machine in place that sends you new clients.
This does not have to be built in one night. You can slowly, but surely, build it out over the course of several months. The easiest way is to find someone who has already done it and ask them to help you. Mentors are awesome.
Man, I wish I knew this back in the early 2000s.