Adjust Your Website to Better Connect With and Capture the Attention of Your Ideal Clients
On the most basic level, your website must meet a short list of essential requirements in order for it to successfully represent your brand. This list includes:
A clear depiction of the product(s) or service(s) that you offer
An explanation of why your product is unique and better suited for your target customer
Your niche client’s opinions about their use of your products and services
One of my marketing mentors Donald Miller also includes these two items on his list of essentials:
A powerful depiction of how you will improve your customers’ lives
A clear action item detailing how to purchase your product
As I mentioned, these are the basic essentials for your website. So if you currently feel like you are not successfully covering any of these items, then they are the first action item(s) on your upgrade list.
Now, let’s walk through four steps that will assist you with catapulting your site ‘above + beyond’ the basics in order to develop a standout digital presence that will capture the attention of your ideal customers.
1. ASSESS YOUR CURRENT WEBSITE
As we all know far too well in the fitness industry, the best work always begins with a thorough assessment. So let’s perform a short self assessment of your business and website.
EXERCISE:
I. In considering your current business and brand, answer the following three questions:
What are the leading products and/or services that you offer?
Who is your ideal target customer?
How is your business unique and differentiated from the competition?
II. Being completely honest in your unbiased self assessment, take a look at your current website homepage and answer the following three questions as if you knew nothing about your brand and business:
What are the obvious products and/or services that you offer by simply looking at your homepage?
What details would a potential customer use to describe the typical customer(s) that you work with?
How is your product better suited for your target customer and/or unique in comparison with all of the other options in your market?
III. Now compare your answers to get a good starting point about the current effectiveness of your homepage.
2. IMMEDIATELY BUILD A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
As potential customers arrive on your website, you have less than six seconds to form a trusted connection with them where they feel like you understand their needs and have valuable products or services to offer which will improve their life!
Just as Dr Kevin Fong did in his PT website here, the immediate connection with clients starts immediately with the photos + videos on your site. Stock photos will NEVER do the job here. You must show real clients experiencing a ‘day in the life’ of using your products and services. Potential customers need to truly see themselves in these images and feel inspired and driven to find out how they can purchase your brand. Lastly, especially throughout the events of 2020 and 2021, all photos and videos should have a current look and feel of your exact customer experience in the current moment. If folks are masked during their workouts, then your website should have photos of clients working out in masks.
Another excellent way to connect is to share some of your most valuable advice that matches your target clients most important goals and pain points. That is right! GIVE AWAY your most valuable information in order to gain their trust that you can improve their lives. Then, they will feel inspired to hire you.
Lastly, on average, 95% of customers read reviews before making a purchase, so the power of other people’s opinions is your most valuable way to gain trust and drive new business. So make sure you use properly formatted social proof throughout your website to better connect with your target customers.
3. SHAKE IT UP + STANDOUT AS UNIQUE
With the COUNTLESS fitness options available to our customers, your website MUST JUMP OUT to folks in a unique and innovative way! Ryan Reynolds has mastered this idea in his long line of viral marketing hits that rattle our expectations a bit and entertain the heck out of us. So how can you be a PIONEER as well with your website?
Positioning expert April Dunford explains that you have to ‘break the script’ of what folks expect to find in order to guarantee that you are getting noticed among the millions of fitness choices. On the Amplifly Cycle + Strength website homepage here, the trailer video at the top of the page shows what looks more like an amazing ROCK CONCERT style class than your typical spin class, so new students are immediately excited to join a class. Adjust the voice in your text as well as your photos and videos in order to be a bit more unexpected and innovative!
4. OPTIMIZE YOUR DESIGN FOR SEARCH ENGINE TRAFFIC
Lastly, and most importantly, make sure you have taken the time to optimize your website for better indexing and hopefully more inclusion in your ideal search engine results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a technically exhausting task, so do not hesitate to reach out to us for assistance and advice at any time.
Here is a a brief starter checklist for optimizing your website for search engine traffic:
KEYWORDS - Have a clear list of keywords for which you would like to show up in the search engine results. For example, ‘New York Kettlebell Trainer’ or ‘Body fat reduction for women’.
PLACEMENT - Once you have your leading list of keywords, use the unique keywords which correspond with each specific page in the following areas on your website:
Headers lines of text
URLs, keeping each of these to a maximum of five to six unique words
Photo and graphic file names, again keeping these to a maximum of five to six unique words
OVERALL DIGITAL PRESENCE - Take advantage of using all links in and out of your website including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business, Yelp, press coverage, etc.
WEBMASTER TOOLS - Set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics to help in monitoring queries and page reports
FUNCTIONALITY - Create as many new and return visits to your site as possible. Clients should be using your site to complete all forms, purchases, scheduling, etc.
CONSISTENT UPDATES - Search engines value fresh websites over stagnant ones, so consistent updates through blogs, newsletters, event listings and new testimonials are excellent ways to stay noticed.
We realize that this is the short version of the MUCH larger subject of website design. So, if you have additional questions or would like to dig deeper into any of these topics, consider the two options below for furthering your website upgrades and education.
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