Personal Trainer Website Templates
Personal training website templates that produce tons of qualified leads
In this article you’re going to discover the secret to having your website produce a ton of qualified leads in just 3-5 days. Here’s what we’ll cover:
- What a personal training website template is and why you should use one
- 7 essentials elements of an effective, lead generating personal training website template
- 6 unbreakable design rules for an effective personal training website
- The secret to having your personal training website produce a ton of qualified leads in just 3-5 days
- Why most personal training websites don’t work and how to avoid the common mistakes
What is a personal training website?
Think of a personal trainer website as a ‘short cut’ to promoting your PT business online. A ‘short cut’ that’s:
- Preformatted
- Done-for-you
- Customisable
- Proven to work
- Cost effective
- Easy to use
Personal training website templates are especially powerful when they contain the 7 essential elements combined with well written copy that “speaks” to your target market.
Why you should use a personal training website
Using a proven personal trainer website template delivers a steady stream of people to your PT business that have put up their hand and said “yes, I’m interested in what you have to offer, tell me more” – also known as qualified leads. More qualified leads ultimately means more regular paying clients in your personal training business so it makes sense to have this effective lead generating strategy in place.
Are all personal training website templates created equal? Not at all… in fact, a large number of personal training websites out there do nothing more than take up space on the internet and cost their owner money, simply by lacking one or more of the 7 essential elements.
7 essential elements of an effective, lead generating personal trainer website.
1. Attention grabbing benefit rich headline
Want visitors to your personal training website to stick around for more than a few seconds and not bounce off to your competitors? Then you better have an attention grabbing, benefit rich headline that “speaks” specifically to your target market.
When a potential client lands on your website home page they are really asking “do you have a solution to my problem”? Your home page (or landing page) must answer with a resounding “yes” within the first couple of seconds of their eyes scanning it otherwise they’re gone.
Let's say I'm working with professional women from the city who want to lose weight now but in a fun and female only environment:
The first headline is a simply a generic welcome, is only slightly targeted and fails to capture the attention of my target market. The second headline "speaks" specifically to my target market by identifying their gender, motive and geographic location and is benefit rich prompting visitors who fit my target market to read on.
2. Subheading
Now that you’ve got your potential client’s attention you need to identify their problem, show that you understand their problem and then promise to solve it. You do this with subheadings. Here's an example of a typical ineffective subheading followed by a subheading that speaks specifically to my target market and further qualifies them as potential leads:
The first subheading woefully fails to show that I know their problems, understand their needs and have a solution that fits as it's "all about me" (remember personal training is about the client, not the trainer) The second subheading shows that I do know their problems, understand their needs and have a solution that fits. The visitor can now identify themselves as "qualified" and stick around to find out more.
3. Social proof
At this point your potential personal training client is thinking “ok, you’ve got my attention, you understand my problem and have promised to solve it – but how do I know you’re for real?” This is where you pull out one the most powerful (if not the single-most powerful) personal training marketing tactics in the universe: social proof.
Social proof is when your potential clients see other people who are the same as them, getting the results you're promising. Social proof is a very strong vote of confidence.
Testimonials from your happy, satisfied clients are absolute gold when it comes to proving to your potential clients that you’re the best solution to their problem and persuading them to take action. They get to hear from people who were once “just like them” and are now reaping the benefits and rewards from personal training with you.
Video Testimonial Photo Testimonial
Worried about not having any social proof yet?
No need to worry, here are 4 proven techniques of implying social proof without your client's fronting the camera:
- Name dropping: If you happen to have a local celebrity or household name on your client list then best you mention it. Ideally you’d have a photo or video testimonial from a client of this nature but simply stating that you’re the “trainer of” implies credibility and social proof.
- Popularity statement: A statement that implies that you’re in high demand and that your website visitor may have the opportunity and privilege of training with you by taking action right now. “If you don’t hear from me immediately, hang in there… my inbox is overflowing with professional Sydney city women wanting to start on the Fit Girls Fat Blasting Programme. I’ll be in touch real soon to reserve your place.
- Scarcity statement: Similar to the popularity statement, the scarcity statement implies social proof by stating that you’re in high demand and that your website visitor may miss out if they don’t take action right now. **Update** 7 spaces have just become available for professional Sydney city women wanting to start on the Fit Girls Fat Blasting Programme, but seriously, these spaces will fill fast!
- Statement of outcome linked to a strategically placed image: This is where you place a photo image on your website; maybe it’s a 35 year old woman smiling and enjoying her workout (not necessarily of your client) near a benefit rich outcome statement like “fast, effective fat loss that’s fun”.
Showing that you’re certified and registered by a credible, reputable education provider and registration body also helps with initial trust building. Subtlety displaying your certification and registration logos on page is all that’s required however this tactic is largely ineffective when used in isolation so be sure to combine it with one or more of the social proof tactics mentioned above.
4. Pain
Also known as twisting the knife, this is where you remind your potential personal training client of the “pain” that brought them to your personal training website in the first place and how the pain will only get worse by not taking action today.
People are driven by the motivating forces of both pleasure AND pain. Most people take action out of their need to avoid pain (or further pain) rather than their desire to gain pleasure. So digging up your potential personal training client’s “pain” and making them hurt a little may seem uncool or unpleasant but is absolutely necessary if you want them to take action and contact you.
The first example is generic and asks my website visitor to “think”. It elicits very little pain specific to my target market therefore is easily swept under the carpet – ineffective.
The second example speaks very specifically to my target market. It elicits pain or “twists the knife” by dredging to the surface common painful emotions that drive people of my target market to take action.
5. Risk reversal
A risk reversal is a marketing tactic that helps to lower or eliminate the perceived risk or the 'barriers' that often prevent people from taking action, whether it’s contacting you, taking up a free trial or buying. The question you need to ask over and over here is “why wouldn't they take the action that I want them to?”
Would you purchase a car without having first taken if for a test drive? Have you ever been worried that you might change your mind or experience buyer’s remorse shortly after purchasing an item? Have you ever chosen not to enquire about a product or service just to avoid the pushy, hard-sell tactics of the sales reps? Well, here’s the news: your potential personal training clients are no different when it comes to enquiring about personal training UNLESS you clearly and specifically lower their perceived risk with a risk reversal. Three most effective risk reversals we've found include:
- Offering a free trial
- Stating “no obligation”, “no hassle”, “no hard-sell” in your copy
- A money back guarantee
6. Compelling call to action
A call to action is the part on your website’s home or landing page where you ask the visitor to do something or “take action”. The incentive for that action is usually comes in the form of an irresistible offer.
If your personal training website contains the five elements described above:
- A benefit rich head line that grabs your potential personal training clients attention
- A sub-heading that shows the you understand their problem and that you promise to solve it
- Testimonials from happy, satisfied customers who were once “just like them”
- A “pain if they don’t take action” segment – also known as twisting the knife
- Risk reversal that lowers you potential personal training client’s perceived risk of taking action
but your visitor or potential personal training client leaves your website without sub
A compelling call to action hand-in-hand with an irresistible offer is what ultimately seals the deal and gets your potential personal training client to submit their contact details and become qualified lead. Privacy, security and anti-spam assurance icons are important features to have near any call to action that involves your potential personal training client submitting their email.
The call to action must be the most prominent feature on your personal training website. When the first five elements above have done their job your potential client will now be thinking “ok, so what do you want me to do now?”
A clear and unmistakable call to action answers this question; your website visitor completes the action and becomes a personal training lead for you to follow up.
7. Navigation to supplementary pages
Elements 1-6 described above should all be contained within your home page or landing page (a landing page is the first page a visitor to your personal training website “lands” on when they type your website address in their browser or click on your website in their search results) however your home page also requires navigation to three other pages that are considered as best practice to have on your personal trainer website:
Contact – a page that contains a simple form for your visitor to fill in and submit. Required fields usually include:
- First name
- Last name
- Email address
- Phone
- Comments or questions
About – a bit about who you are, what you do and why. This page may contain your qualifications and experience but remember to keep it client focused – personal training is about the client, not the trainer.
Privacy – a statement assuring the visitor that any contact details submitted through your personal training website are stored securely and never under any circumstances shared in any way. It’s also good practice to assure your visitor that they will not be spammed as a result of submitting their contact details.
We suggest placing the navigation links to these pages in the “footer” area at the very bottom of your page where they’re least likely to distract your visitor away from the call to action.
Example:
6 unbreakable design rules for an effective personal training website
Do looks really matter? To cut a long story short – absolutely! Today’s online consumers are very unforgiving of poor web design, so if you want visitors to your website to stick around for more than a few seconds and ultimately take up the call to action, your website must adhere to these basic guidelines:
- Clean, simple design
- Clutter free layout
- Easy to navigate
- High quality images that your target market identify with
- A colour palette (also known as a “skin”) matches your target market
- Easy to read, web friendly font – we recommend fonts within the sans-serif category.
An effective, lead generating website is one that contains the 7 essential elements AND follows these “looks do matter” guidelines.
Do personal training websites really work for club-based personal trainers?
WARNING… author rant ahead.
Here’s common scenario that get under my skin. Andy, a club-based personal trainer spends $2000.00 on a shiny new personal training website pt-andy.com. Launch day arrives, he flicks the switch and pt-andy.com goes live for the entire world to see. Out of curiosity Andy runs a Google search for pt-andy.com – and low and behold, it appears in the search results… on page 86!!
Andy spends another $500 on SEO (search engine optimisation) however pt-andy.com still barely makes the top 50 search results for his target keywords. Andy struggles to generate enough leads for his personal training business as Google takes several weeks to index and rank pt-andy.com. Finally after living on the bones of his backside for 3 months pt-andy.com starts generating some personal training leads. The trouble is many of the leads are people who:
- Live and/or work in other areas of the city
- Are not members of the fitness club that Andy runs his PT business from
Andy then realises that the few leads that happen to live/work in his part of town will have to commit to a gym membership and then personal training on top of that in order to become a regular paying PT client… a tough ask.
5 months after taking his website live Andy has barely managed to generate any qualified leads with pt-andy.com and has converted even to less gym memberships and regular paying PT clients. He’s out of pocket, disgruntled and telling every trainer he knows how difficult and expensive it is to generate leads with a personal trainer website.
The secret to having your personal training website producing a ton qualified leads in just 3-5 days
It can take months for Google to index and rank your personal training website so that people can start to find it, yet the most untapped and overlooked source of personal training leads is right in front of you.
You see, Andy and countless other club-based personal trainers consider personal training websites to be an “external” lead generating tactic ie marketing to people who are not members of the fitness club they run their business from. As mentioned earlier converting the very few qualified leads you may generate is often difficult as you have to sell to them twice.
The good news that there is a goldmine of qualified leads sitting right in fr
Existing fitness club members are often "personal training clients in waiting".
Typically only around 10% of members use a personal trainer and up to 50% may be inactive at any given time (ie they have dropped out and are no longer attending) so that leaves around 90% (40% active and 50% inactive) for you to market to.
Now, not every member of this 90% will fit the profile of your ideal personal training client but a carefully planned, well executed, in-club personal training marketing campaign aimed at your target market can and will bring a flood of interested people to your personal training website.
The two most effective methods of driving existing club members your personal training website are:
- Strategically placed, in-club print media (personal trainer business cards, profile cards, posters, etc) aimed at active, attending members who fit your ideal personal training client profile.
- A carefully planned email campaign aimed at inactive, non-attending members who fit your ideal personal training client profile.
When these “personal training clients in waiting” come to your website via in-club print media or an email campaign, the 7 essential elements work their magic and “hey presto” – you’ve got qualified personal training leads to follow up.
These leads are qualified and easy to convert in to regular paying PT clients because:
- They have already taken action by becoming a fitness club member
- You’ll have access to their database profile, goals and reasons for joining
- You only have to convert (or sell) personal training – not a membership as well
No waiting Google to index and rank your website. No wasting time sifting through unqualified, non-club member leads.
Common website mistakes that cost personal trainers thousands in missed leads generating opportunities:
| Common Mistake | Implications |
|---|---|
| Missing one more of the 7 essential elements | Lost leads due to failing to show that you understand the visitors problem and that you’re the best solution to their problem, failure to build rapport and credibility (know-like-trust) and simply failing to call them to action. |
| One or more of the "looks really do matter" guidelines are broken | Lost leads. The visitor simply bounces out of your website within the first few seconds to one of your competitors for a better “web experience” |
| Feature rich, benefit poor copy | Lost leads. The visitor finds information about your programmes, equipment, qualifications, specialties etc. (all features) but says to you: “So what?” “What’s in it for me?” and bounces out of your website within the first few seconds. |
| Technical boffin language | Alienated visitors, lost leads. Potential personal training clients visiting your website are not personal trainers or exercise scientists nor are they interested or impressed with you talking to them as if they are. Feature rich, benefit poor, jargon laden copy is a sure fire way to scare your visitors off your website for good |
| Hard-ass, hard-core language | Intimidated visitors, lost leads. Cliché fitness industry sayings like "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", "pain is just weakness leaving the body", "pressure makes diamonds" may appeal to personal trainers and elite athletes but they only create further barriers to most potential personal training clients taking action (and they're incredibly outdated - very 80's) Want to scare your website visitors away for good? Then throw some hard-ass, hard-core 80's fitness industry clichés on to your website. |
| Design doesn't match target market | Visitors are unable to identify themselves as your niche, lost leads. Example: If your ideal clients are "stay at home mums" aiming to "trim and tone" post pregnancy and your website's design elements (colours, images etc) don't appeal specifically to that niche then you're missing out on valuable leads. Your visitor simply says "hmm, this isn't me" and within seconds they've bounced off to your competitors website. |
Summary
Personal training websites can be an incredibly effective tool for generating qualified leads in to your personal training business when done correctly. They can also be a time consuming, expensive and virtually useless marketing tactic when the guidelines in this article are overlooked or disregarded. Web designers and developers are great at exactly that: building and designing websites. However they are not particularly great at marketing personal training and without clear and specific direction most will build you a flash, shiny and cool looking website that does nothing but take up space on the internet and cost you money.
So, when marketing your business with a personal training website, be sure to stick with a template that includes the 7 essential elements and the 6 “looks do matter” guidelines. When your website is teamed up with an effective in-club marketing campaign it will pay you back fast for your time, energy and money invested and continue to bring a steady stream of qualified leads to your personal training business.
