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We want to help you make the most of your website. Your online presence is your most important marketing tool.
If you do it wrong you’ll confuse, and ultimately, lose people. The goal is to make it be a warm and inviting place where people enjoy their visit so that they want to come back again and again.
There are a number of technical things – like faster load time, backend optimization, A/B testing, unique title tags and meta descriptions, h2 tags, etc. – that would dramatically improve user experience and your website’s effectiveness, but those aren’t our focus for this post.
We want to focus on the exterior of the house and the interior decorations, so to speak. Here are a few tips that can help skyrocket the level of engagement of curious searchers.
Replace your current expert athlete website images with “normal” smiling faces.
Visitors who come to your site want to see that they can be successful in achieving their goals by seeing people who look like them. They need that emotional pull. They’ll connect with fun, not grimacing and pain. The average Joe or Jane looking for a new place to work out probably wouldn’t to be able to visualize themselves doing the majority of things most business owners have displayed on their websites.
Change your About Us page.
Most of the fitness websites I’ve visited have pictures of coaches hitting their PR’s. That’s great that your coaches are strong and are hitting records, but it does little to nothing for your visitors. And THAT’s who your website is for. If these are the types of images you have on display, replace them with one of two things: 1) a happy, fun picture of you/your coaches doing something you love outside of the gym, or 2) a 1-2 minute video that captures your personality. This will make a visitor feel like they “know” you before ever stepping foot in your business.
Make the words on your site fun.
Your business has a personality. It most likely stems from your personality, but it also comes to life with your coaches and members. Choose your words carefully and make sure they evoke the kinds of emotion you want to capture.
Simplify your message.
Your understanding of your business is most likely a 9 or 10 (out of 10). You get it. You know the lingo, the terms, the product, all of it, like the back of your hand. Quite the opposite, the understanding of those visiting your website is most likely a 1 or 2. In order to get them to stick around, speak their language.
Treat visitors like a first date.
You wouldn’t tell everything about yourself on a first date (hopefully). That’d be overwhelming. Some things are saved for the 2nd, 5th, and 200th date. So goes with your website. Tell them the important things, and then let them ask for more information.
Capture the email addresses of those who want more.
Sticking with the theme above, if you liked the person on your first date, you want to know more. So, you find ways to engage with them to learn more about them. Have places on your website where they can download things to give you their email address so that you can take it to the next date.
In this day and age, having a good website is critical. But having people really connect with your brand when they visit your website is what separates the exceptional businesses from the others down the street.
Don Miller, founder of StoryBrand, has a 3-pronged “Grunt test” for a website:
- What do you offer?
- How is it going to make my life better?
- What do I need to do to buy it?
Take a minute now to check out your website… are the three things above super clear? If not, we’d love to help. We’d be happy to jump on a 15-20 minute call with you talk through your site and give you pointers on how you can make it better – just click here to schedule![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]