The Makings of a Successful Fitness Website

What exactly makes a successful fitness website? Is it beautiful photography? A clean, modern layout? A clear call-to-action? Yes, yes and yes. But, that’s just the beginning.

A great website is well planned and carefully executed. And contrary to what you might be thinking—you don’t need a massive budget to accomplish it. Arming yourself with research, some planning and a lot of careful consideration can take you a long way towards making your website successful!

Understand your audience

How do your current clients use your website? Are there ways you can make their experience easier? What are your business goals and how can your website help you achieve them? Are you looking to attract new clients? What services or offers will you make? Do you want your clients to be able to schedule classes and sessions and purchasing memberships? Truly consider what your clients need and what they expect from your website. After all, your website is for them!

Go with the flow

Your website should be easy to navigate and understand. Creating clear call-to-actions will help lead your customers through their journey.   

• Consider the end result you’d like out of your client’s visit. If you want them to book a session or purchase a class, make it easy on them with a minimal number of clicks to get what they’re after.
• Your most important information should be near the top of the page. Make call-to-actions (an instruction to your audience to do something) items stand out and easy to access. Running a new special this week? Place it where every visitor to the site can see it!
• Keep your page content concise, relevant and informative. The main purpose of each page should be obvious with a clear page title at the top of the page. Then follow up with relevant information that sticks to the purpose. The longer the page, the less likely users are to scroll to the bottom.

Esthetics matter

Your website has got to look good and be appealing to your users! A professional looking site says a lot about your business and yourself as a business owner.

• Choose color schemes and photos that compliment your business’s industry and values.  For example, if you run a yoga studio, you may want to go with an earthy color palette of browns, greens, and oranges to promote a peaceful mood. If you own a high-energy fitness studio, you may choose bright, vibrant colors that are exciting and energizing.
• When choosing fonts, consider their legibility—not just style. If a font is hard to read, then it’s not serving its purpose of informing your site visitors. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than 3 fonts on your website and choose a complimenting combination of fonts.
• Give your users some breathing room!  Avoid cluttering your pages with too many images, clip art or text. Overwhelming your user with content can create a negative emotional response. According to Crazy Egg, utilizing white space around page titles can increase your audience's attention by 20%.

Use images wisely

You know what they say—a picture is worth a thousand words—and this is absolutely true for your fitness website. Images speak volumes and can evoke emotions from just about anybody! When choosing images for your website, there are a few important points you should take into consideration.

• Use images that are relevant to your business! We just said that images are worth a thousand words… so send the right message to your clients with images that match your brand, business ideas, and values.
• Utilize images of real people that your customers can relate to.

Don’t have any images to use? No problem! There are literally tons of photo resources available!  Check out sites like Unsplash for access to large libraries of free-to-use images. Paid stock photography sites may have a better selection of more specific images available through paid subscriptions. Or, you could even hire a photographer to take images of you at your business to give potential clients a first-hand look at what you have to offer!

These are just a few things to think about as you’re building a new website or working to improve an existing one. A knowledge of your client base and some thoughtful organization can serve you well in setting up a successful website! 

Ready to build a successful website for your business? LiveEdit can help you learn about our website options with built-in Mindbody integration.