Your website is the first thing your prospective clients will encounter - so, it's vital they leave with only the best impressions. Most consumers will conduct their own independent research before making a purchase, evaluating information, pricing and reviews as they do so. To use this to your advantage and seal that deal, your site must demonstrate the utmost of professionalism and knowledge.
You must ask yourself the following questions;
- How can potential clients discover more about my business?
- Am I providing good initial impressions?
- Does my website have the ability to convert them into paying customers?
Before you dive in headfirst, we'd recommend you have a set plan. Think about what it is you want to achieve through your website, and how you'll do this.
In this article, we'll run through some key steps to help you on your journey. Let's get started.
STEP 1: Personalised Domains
A personalised domain is a website whose address is unique and custom-made. By making this name more relevant to your company, customers will be able to access it with ease. Keep it simple, though, and steer well clear of using hyphens and numbers. This'll only make it more complicated to source. Using a '.com' or '.co.uk' domain is recommended, as they're the most recognisable. You should also consider featuring abbreviations if your company name is a little wordy - for example, use 'myptwebsite.com' as opposed to 'mypersonaltrainingwebsite.com'. There are many resources and tools that'll help you set up a personalised domain, such as godaddy.co.uk or 123-reg.co.uk.
STEP 2: Explore Your Hosting Options
The internet will never be short of those 'drag and drop' website builders that make it easy for practically anyone to pull together a professional-looking website without needing to have years of expertise under their belts. However, there are catches and stipulations with many of these providers, so it's important to explore your options before you immediately sign up to one. Make sure it's offering exactly what you need. Your website needs to be as close to perfect as possible!
STEP 3: Add Your PT Logo
Your logo is arguably one of the most important and recognisable features of your brand. It'll capture your viewers' attention, and in order for it to imprint firmly in their minds, keep it consistent. Use this same logo on all of your social media profiles and personal trainer uniforms, and they'll most definitely gravitate towards you.
STEP 4: Only Use High-Quality Photos
The design and editing of your website truly has the ability to make or break its purpose. Images with poor quality contribute to a lazy, unprofessional-looking site, and you want to avoid this at all costs. Ensure your pictures have a high enough resolution to display clearly on all screen sizes. You can use stock images if you must, but personal photos of you and your clients will look much better.
STEP 5: Use the Essential Pages
Most websites you see will feature the following pages, and yours should too.
- Home Page
This is where you'll hook your potential clients and reel them in. Is your home page eye-catching? Does it include fantastic images or even a video? Have you included a call-to-action? If the answer is no, you're missing a trick.
-About
This is where you introduce yourself to your clients, giving an essence of personality. What's your niche, and why are you suited to your clients? Make this clear.
-Services
Clients will move to this section immediately. So, what can they expect? How will they benefit and what will it cost them? You need to answer all their potential questions, and you MUST include a call-to-action at this point, otherwise you can expect to have no responses.
-Testimonials
They're arguably the most important thing to feature. Be proud of positive reviews, and plaster them all over your site! Using images and quotation marks to support these comments will add sleekness and professionalism.
-Contact
Make sure you've got a simple contact page including your details. Otherwise, creating a website is practically useless, let's be honest.
STEP 6: Get Connected
Link your website to all of your media profiles. Add sharing buttons and encourage people to make use of them!
As you can see, there's lots of thought that goes into making a website. Therefore, it's important you devote your time and effort towards making it as perfect as possible - your company will reap the benefits.
