Something tells me having the WOD blog on your homepage is not doing you any favors.
Let’s look at an example that probably plays out almost every day:
Betty keeps hearing the words “box programs” pop up in her community. She’s standing in a check out line and over hears two ladies talking about the box. She picks up her kids from school and hears a teacher talking about it with another mom. She sees a commercial on a Sunday afternoon NFL football game:) Okay, so she has heard about a box gym three times now. She decides to look online to see if there’s a box gym in her town. (We are assuming she is able to find you. If not, you should read this post) Great, she found you online and visits your website. What’s the first thing she sees on the home page? Hmmm. What is this? A picture of some guy lifting heavy weight and something about a WOD, AMRAP, and other words she has no idea what they mean.
This affiliate owner potentially lost a member who may have visited another local affiliate website in her area which was easier to understand, had clear explanations of what she could expect her first visit, and also a call to action to let her know her first intro, session, or one-on-one was free. Maybe there were even large before/after photos or even a graphic with an invite to an upcoming open house. Studies prove over and over you have about 3-5 sec. to capture someone’s interest when they visit your website. Maybe a couple years ago, you could get away with having a less than stellar website because you were the only box in town, but my guess is times have changed and now you have some competition.
Here are some steps you can take right now to help your site become more of a call to action, then just an area to post your WOD’s
- Make sure on your homepage you have a clear call to action for a visitor and your phone number is as big as possible. Believe me, it builds trust.
- Try and setup a post that always remains at the top of your blog that has a welcoming photo along with a summary of what you are about and how they can easily contact you for more info.
- Get rid of any firebreather photos you have on your homepage. It does nothing to dull the fear any newbie has when they first visit your site.
- Take a look at all of your local competition online. You don’t have to look the best, but you also don’t want to be the worst. The goal is to encourage newbies to come to your box for that first visit. From there hopefully your passion will shine through and they will become members for life:)
We started 321Go Project to help affiliates build successful boxes in their communities. If you do feel like your box’s website needs an overhaul, give us a call: 435.901.2173 or contact us as we would love to help turn your website into a lead generation machine.