The online fitness industry has grown exponentially in recent years, especially after the pandemic. But the good thing is that there are still market gaps to be filled. So, if you want to learn how to start a fitness website, itโs a great decision on your part.Fortunately, we’ve got the lowdown on how to start a fitness website in 2024. This article will guide you through the process from choosing a killer domain and UX design to marketing and SEO.
Benefits of Starting a Fitness Business Website?
According to Statista, the Digital fitness market will surpass the $94 billion mark this year. However, whatโs more intriguing is the user penetration in 2024, which will be nearly 15%. The average revenue per user value of $82 makes the online fitness market even more lucrative.
Statistaโs market insights show that fitness websites contribute a major share of the global eServices market revenue. The fitness app industry will touch the 5,274 million revenue mark, whereas the website segment is expected to reach $17,854 million.
But thereโs more to a fitness business website than meets the eye. Itโs the associated benefits of having an online fitness business that pushes entrepreneurs to build a website.
A good fitness business website:
- Increases business credibility
- Established you as a brand
- Helps you reach a wider audience
- Generate traffic and leads online
Learn How to Start a Fitness Website in 9 Steps
A fitness website may have different or more than one purpose. You can create a website to support your physical business, sell products, or offer online courses and training. But the real aim is not to start a fitness website but to build one that can generate revenue.
Discover our guidelines on how to start a fitness website to bring leads and make money.
Step 1: Identify your niche audience
The first and foremost factor to consider before starting a fitness website is the audience. If you already have an established business, the process will be less hectic. But if you are starting fresh, without any physical presence, you will have to pick the niche as well.
The sole purpose of this whole practice is to find a relevant audience that is easy to convince. So, do some research about the group of people you are planning to reach through your website. You should find out their interests and dislikes, which type of content they like, and their pain points.
By defining your audience, you will be able to create audience personas to better market your product or services.
Step 2: Choose your brand name and domain
Domain or brand name acts as your business identity in the digital world. It creates customer recognition towards your fitness website and also builds brand trust. We recommend you pick a domain name thatโs identical to your physical store. In case you are starting a business with the website, pick a domain name that resonates with what you are offering.For example, if you are selling fitness equipment, include the word โfitnessโ or product for audience understanding. This way, the target audience will know what your business is about when your website appears on Google.
So, pay attention and put serious thought into it while buying a domain name. You should choose a name thatโs easy to pronounce and memorable for the audience. If you are looking for a good domain registrar, Namecheap and GoDaddy are some good options.
Step 3: Select the Right Platform
After picking a suitable name, youโll have to choose the right platform for website building. The ideal choice is WordPress, as itโs easy to use, customize, and maintain. Also, the user-friendly dashboard makes it easy for non-technical persons to create pages and publish posts.
If you are running a fitness center or health club, we recommend you select a fitness studio software with a listing platform. Such software not only helps you manage clients and schedule bookings but also provides space to sell products. The good thing is that you wonโt have to hire a marketing team to manage it. You can manage everything on your own with little customer assistance.
But if you are only selling products, there are top eCommerce platforms that you should consider. Shopify, BigCommerce, and Squarespace are a few to name.
Step 4: Work on web designย
Selecting your website design is the make-or-break decision that can impact your web traffic. An intuitive and responsive design urges visitors to stay on the website and explore what the business has to offer. On the other hand, a poorly designed website or layout fails to attract potential customers.
The good thing is that there are free WordPress or Shopify themes that you can deploy. However, we recommend you hire professional designers to do the job unless you are short on budget.
Your website homepage makes the first impression on visitors, so pay more attention to it. The trick is to provide relevant information creatively in a way that entices your audience. So, introduce your fitness business and give visitors an idea of how your services or products can help them.
Step 5: Create service or product pages
The most important part, without any doubt, of your fitness website is the services or product pages. This is where the conversion happens, and visitors turn into customers. The key is to avoid offering too little or too much information, which can disappoint potential prospects.
The goal should be to educate and entice customers to take the next step in the sales funnel. You should mention pricing or membership packages to give them an idea. Donโt forget to mention the key features and benefits of your services or products.
Step 6: Donโt ignore the checkout page
The checkout or cart page is a crucial part of not only your fitness website but also the sales funnel. This is the point where online customers often turn back or get cold feet.
Since your customers will be providing personal information here, ensure strong security measures. Also, make sure that your customers can view the total price and taxes (if there are any). If you are offering fitness coupons, add a promo code section on the checkout page. The page should also display the order number, service schedule, or product delivery date.
Step 7: Integrate additional tools
An effective website is incomplete with the right tools, such as plugins, extensions, or forms. These are additional tools that make running websites easy, improve productivity, and provide detailed insights.
Plugins
We arenโt wrong to say that plugins have gradually become integral parts of a website. These tools help webmasters keep an eye on key metrics, integrate additional software, and ensure site security. Anti-spam plugins make certain that your websiteโs comment section remains free from spammy content.
Similarly, Yoast and All in One SEO plugins help you make your website content search engine-friendly. But thatโs not it; plugins also help businesses uplift their sales, number of leads, and revenue.
Can you easily convert a WordPress website into an eCommerce store using plugins?
Many fitness bloggers add the WooCommerce plugin to sell their merchandise once theyโve enough visitors. Fitness service providers can double their revenue this way by selling supplements and customized diet plans.
Extensions
Extensions are ideal for fitness businesses that want to improve the features or functionality of their websites. Whether you are using Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce, there are plenty of extensions for each platform. For example, You can do WooCommerce Amazon integration by following simple guidelines to sell products on both sales channels.
Chatbot
Businesses are digitizing their operations, and the advancements in AI have made things easier. One key example is the chatbot, which websites integrate to collect information from potential clients. Now, you can integrate AI chatbots that can answer business-related queries throughout the week.
Forms
Another must-have integration is the attachment of forms to your fitness business website. A shining example is the WPForms that you can use to create contact forms. Such forms help businesses collect necessary information from potential clients to understand their needs.
Another crucial thing is the signup form that you can use to collect email for your newsletter. You can display it in the footer section or as a pop-up to gather emails from potential customers.
Payment Gateway
Adding a payment gateway is a necessity to start a fitness website, especially for an eCommerce store. Payment gateways allow businesses to let their customers use multiple methods, from debit or credit cards to digital payments. They can use cards, PayPal, Google Pay, or Apply Pay to pay for services subscriptions or fitness equipment pieces.
Step 8: Add a blog to your website
This is a no-brainer, but weโve to mention the blog section for the sake of its importance. For most fitness business websites, this is the main source of organic traffic as they try to reach their target audience. Another reason why you should focus on blogging is that itโs a crucial part of content marketing and SEO.
The biggest benefit of having a blog section is that it allows you to establish yourself as an authority. By publishing informational blog posts, fitness guides, and case studies, you can address their needs. You can address their pain points and provide solutions to lure them into trying your fitness services or products.
Step 9: Optimize your sales funnel
No online business can succeed without optimizing its sales funnel and marketing channels. So, if you want to learn how to start a fitness website, pay close attention to optimizing your sales funnel. The idea is to find or create a business model to get peopleโs attention and bring in leads.
The process becomes easy if you already have defined your ideal audience and their pain points. All you need to do is optimize services or product pages without making the process look difficult. With the best SEO practices and quality content, you can get traffic from search engines like Google.
To improve conversions, you can do copywriting and add compelling CTAs to engage the visitors. Also, utilize social proofs and reviews of previous clients to improve the trust factor.
The Bottom Line
Learning how to start a fitness website is easy, but to create one, you need a comprehensive strategy. It can be a bumpy road, but by following the best practices, you can get quick results. The key to success is selecting the right niche, suitable platform, and web design relevant to your business idea. You can boost traffic and sales by focusing on SEO practices and optimizing your landing pages.