How to Create a Great Fitness Website

The best health and fitness websites all share a few core components that help generate interest and bring in new clients. For starters, your fitness website should be a place for you to not only introduce who you are and what you can provide for potential customers and first-time visitors but also where you can highlight your credentials and specialty areas. Are you a certified personal trainer? Are you leaning into nutrition coaching? Are you simply new to the fitness industry and want to help website visitors lose weight and meet their fitness goals? Whatever you've got under your belt, you need to share it.

If you've got it, flaunt it

Another crucial aspect of an excellent fitness website is showing off your space if you've got one. If you own a gym or fitness club, send a clear message to your target audience by including high-quality photos and videos of your place. Website visitors won't be fooled by stock photos and fancy equipment, they want to see the real you and the fitness services you can provide them.

The social proof is in the low-fat pudding

Outside of being authentically you, website visitors want to hear success stories. Testimonials can go a long way to build trust and respect and can attract customers looking to start their fitness journey and live a healthier lifestyle. Good success stories aren't just a marketing strategy, they are a way to tell your story and how you can help other people reach their fitness goals.

Don't just be active, be interactive

Another key component shared by the best fitness websites is a way to engage. An engaging call to action, an online store, fitness tips, personalized nutrition plans, or even pages containing healthy recipes can go a long way on your fitness website. Additionally, if you're really staying virtual with your approach to fitness enthusiasts and the fitness community in general, you may want to consider online coaching. If your target audience needs or wants to stay remote, use this as an opportunity to meet their fitness needs from a distance. You may even attract customers who find your fitness website internationally.

Great language leads to a great website

This is where our next major component plays a role: effective SEO. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a way for a web designer to pull your fitness website to the top of search results, and garner more interest from the fitness community, fitness professionals, and potential customers. Hiring a website builder is just as important as hiring a personal trainer. They both serve a specific purpose and can take you further than simply doing this all on your own. SEO isn't just about the behind-the-scenes content that helps a search engine pull you to the top of search results, it's about what content is on your page.

One fitness page to rule them all

Keeping with the same theme from the last section, we're going to touch more on the importance of language and good writing. The home page or landing page of the best fitness websites is your bread and butter-- unless your meal plans advise against it. Many fitness websites are poorly designed and poorly written. If you can't generate interest in your fitness business through your website, we'd bet something is amiss on your home page. For instance, a website's header (the first gripping headline website visitors see) is crucial.

A good fitness website will tell you the "what", but a great fitness website will ensure potential customers know the "what" AND "how" of your fitness products and services, and use industry-specific keywords and phrases to do so. A great example of ill-advised language for a website's header could be saying something like, "personal trainers who offer personal training". Instead of telling us the "what" and "how" in a compelling way, this header tells us almost nothing. On the flip side, something like, "build muscle mass, improve mental health, and live a healthy lifestyle with targeted personal training" is already a far more compelling headline. Send a clear message and find new clients with good writing.

So much information lives on your home page, and that can drive interest or turn people away. In addition to good headlines, you'll need to ensure the structure and design of your website are strong. For example, having a consistent, well-placed, and thoughtful call to action in specific sections of your fitness website can go a long way. A call to action is, essentially, a button or link that prompts website visitors to take a desired action. For instance, after a catchy headline and descriptor sentence or paragraph, you could have a call to action that says "take a free fitness assessment". Clicking this will take the user to a page or form they can fill out in order to gauge where they're at and where they hope to go with your personal training.

Other strong call-to-action examples would be to encourage users to read your fitness tips, receive free fitness articles, subscribe to various fitness magazines, or even link to other personal trainer websites.

The bottom line with fitness websites

Creating a fitness website? No matter how you slice it, the best fitness websites have several things in common. Demonstrating to your target audience that you are qualified to help them along in their fitness journey-- whether that's to lose weight, exercise more often, build muscle mass, or anything they see as fitness goals-- is the hallmark of your fitness site. Building on top of that foundation with a cool design that includes photos or even a video background can also do wonders.

Lastly, including all the bells and whistles like social proof, meaningful calls to action, good SEO, and strong writing can make all the difference between a good fitness website, a great fitness website, and the best fitness website. To do this, and to do this well, try not to build your own website, go with the pros at Farewell Media.

Be sure to check out a personal trainer website Farewell Media built recently: Haugen Fitness. It checks all the boxes and then some. Plus, if you're looking for a new personal trainer for weight loss, building muscle, or even learning fitness tips for great posture, our man, Gus, has you covered. If you're interested, we'd love to create a fitness website for you.