There are some very basic things that can be done by every fitness business to begin to optimize their websites in the search engines. They revolve around three basic factors; time, content and link population.

Many personal trainers think that they will get results overnight – they could take months, or longer, to come to fruition. For this reason, to get listed in the search engines immediately the best place to start would be to initiate a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program immediately. Google and Yahoo have the two most popular PPC services. For more information and tutorials go to their websites:

Google AdWords
http://adwords.google.com

Yahoo Search Marketing
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/index.php

As a geo-targeted niche business, such as PT, the benefits of PPC are great and the costs can be very low. This being said, getting listed organically in the search engines is still important especially considering the big picture. In addition to time and patience, getting ranked in the search engines takes some effort. The two main factors to consider when ranking a site are content and link population.

The content on your site is the one thing that you can easily control. The search engines approve of content-rich sites and even more importantly, content that is relevant to the keywords you are targeting. Let's look at it from the search engine's perspective – when one of their customers (a researcher) does a search, they want their customer to land on a page that is highly relevant to their search. The search engines, wanting to also deliver more than what was asked for, want the customer to receive as much relevant information as possible in order to stay in favor with the searcher. Having said that, adding content into your website with keyword(s) is imperative for your business and it is also important that you include your keyword(s) in your meta-tags and in the headline text as much as possible.

Each page on your website should have content specific to the focus on that page. For example, if you have a web page called 'Kettle Bell Training', the content on that page should reflect the topic and the keywords in both the text and the meta-tags should be based on the topic. It is also important to submit each individual web page or URL to the search engines.

Many trainers don't like to overload their websites with content as to not overwhelm the visitor with information, this somewhat conflicts with the process of adding content to a site in order to appeal to the search engines. A good way to keep the content simple on the main pages and to continue to add content on your website is to incorporate educational (content-rich) pages into your site. Some ideas would be: Articles, Tips, FAQ's, Newsletters and Resources. If you add educational pages to your website, make an effort to continually update and add new content to these pages.

Link population is the most important factor in getting ranked on the search engines. The more sites that link back to you, the greater your popularity and the more the search engines will like you. Getting other websites to link back to your site is somewhat out of your control and can make it tricky to succeed in gaining traction with the search engines. This doesn't mean that it's not worth doing and here are some ideas as to how to get links back to your site:

11. If your site is loaded with continually updated and relevant content, there is a good chance that other websites will want to link back to your site as a resource. It can be very helpful to send an on-going email newsletter with links back to your educational web pages in order to promote these pages.
12. Writing regular educational articles and submitting them to article directories is a great way to promote your site. When writing these articles, be sure to include links back to your website and each time you post an article on a directory site it is considered a link back to your site. In addition, if your article is interesting to someone they may post it on their website.
13. You could initiate a link exchange program and cross-link with other websites. This was a popular technique for link building for many years but recently the search engines have disqualified cross-links since the technique was being abused. But, if your website is linked up with other websites it could be a great way to drive traffic back to your site which is the ultimate goal.
14. You could hire a search engine optimization consultant to optimize your website. SEO consultants usually spend most of their time building links back to your website. SEO consultants are typically expensive but if you are in a competitive market and are contending for competitive keywords; it is critical that you are listed high up in the search engines, hiring an SEO consultant may be your best option.
15. List your website in all of the PT directories. Not only is this a great way to drive traffic back to your website but each listing could count as a link back to your website.

The links that are posted on other websites will gain you the greatest favor on other search engines that have similar content to yours. These links are referred to as relevant links. You get even more kudos from the search engines when other sites that link to you have several other links that are relevant as well. In other words, if you are linked with popular sites, you are more popular with the search engines. This is not much different than high school.

One of the most important elements in any equation related to web marketing is the quality of your website. A simple, attractive, easy-to-navigate website is very important since your website is the first thing many of your prospective clients will see when forming their opinions about your business. Mikel Bruce with WebFlexor PT Websites (www.websitesforpt.com) recommends taking the time to both create quality content and to find a company that will offer a quality and affordable PT website designs.





Mikel Bruce, WebFlexor PT Websites, www.websitesforpt.com, 888.282.7818

If you have a product or service, you definitely want to make the purchasing of that product or service as easy as possible. If someone needs to contact you, write a check, or disrupt purchase process in any way; the chances of losing the sale is greater. This concept may not seem applicable to personal training, but in today's market people shop for everything over the web. Once they have decided that they are interested in a product or service, they are often times ready to make a financial transaction. Imagine if a potential clients finds your business on the Internet and calls you for information. After speaking for a few minutes, they may decide to sign up for your services. If you have an e-commerce page on your website - which could even be a simple PayPal link – you could direct them to your site and they could pay right there and then.

Adding a Pay On-line service to your website will also make it much easier and more convenient for your existing clients to pay for sessions as well. As you know, many people already have enough resistance to initiating a workout program and if you can make it easier for them to commit you will be doing them a favor. You could also implement on On-Line Scheduling program onto your website which will allow your clients to register and pay for sessions at the same time.

Once you decide to make your website an e-commerce website, it opens doors to opportunities to sell additional services and products. Even if you are not selling material, you have intellectual property that could be very valuable to your clients. With the advent of new technology, producing CD's and DVD's are easier and cheaper than ever before. You could also consider putting together an educational e-book on any topic to sell to your clients. All of these products (CD's, DVD's, E-Books) could be added to your website and sold through a virtual product component of a shopping cart which would allow your clients to download the item without any effort on your part.

Shopping carts are less expensive and easier to install than ever before. There are plenty of off-the-shelf shopping carts that are loaded with features that can be installed onto your website for a minimal investment. In addition, On-Line payment services such as PayPal can be easily integrated into your website making it easier and cheaper to get started. PayPal doesn't have any set-up fees and is extremely easy to link to a website.

Once you have decided you want to add another revenue stream to your business you can now consider Affiliate Marketing. If you become an affiliate of another company you can be compensated to promote their products simply by directing traffic to their site. They would need to have an established affiliate marketing program but many companies already have such programs in place. Affiliate marketing can be as easy as finding a product/service you really feel positive about and that allows you to sign up as an affiliate partner. When prospects click on your affiliate partner's website from yours and make a purchase, you get credit for that sale. Two sites to find

great affiliate partners are www.clickbank.com and www.commissionjunction.com. You can also search Google for affiliate opportunities – they are abundant!

Having a quality PT website is the first step to opening doors for many opportunities for your business. WebFlexor PT Websites (www.websitesforpt.com) has designed its service with e-commerce in mind by offering self-editable PayPal pages, as well as very affordable full-featured, self-managed shopping cart.

Did you ever think it would be possible to be in the top position, on the first page in Google or Yahoo, in a single day? It's not only possible, it's do-able and affordable, especially if you are a small niche business (like PT) doing business in a geographically located area.

Ask yourself how many direct competitors you have in your town/community/city and then take 5 -10% of that number, that is approximately how many competitors you will have in the search engines in the sponsored link or Pay-Per-Click area of a search page. If you are not doing it, you may be missing out since many of your competitors may not be doing it either. Yet, over 80% of people are searching for services on the Internet. PPC could be your opportunity to capture a large percentage of your market.

A good friend of mine works for a company and over the past few years they shifted their marketing focus to PPC. Here is what he has to say about it: "PPC allows the marketer to target efforts to very specific customers and market segments. This method is unique in the level of control and targeting over your campaigns while strictly controlling your budget. The results are immediate and feedback is instantaneous, so you can refine your efforts daily instead of after every marketing push. We now dedicate almost our entire marketing budget to PPC with results of over 2000% ROI." Brent Curry, Marketing Manager, Productivity Associates

Getting started is very easy! Setting up an account with Google and Yahoo is simple by going to www.adwords.google.com or www.searchmarketing.yahoo.com and following the setup processes. Each site has tutorials on how to effectively use their systems. You can manage your own accounts, control your spending, target as many keywords as you care to, track results readily, and make adjustments as often as necessary.

Pay-per-click advertising's biggest advantage is the speed in which you can get results. Setting up your website for search engine optimization is really important – but getting listed in the organic section of a search page is close to impossible, especially at the beginning. Pay-per-click advertising on the other hand can be an immensely useful strategy to drive highly targeted traffic your way until your website gets ranked in a decent position in the organic section.

In order to maximize your pay-per-click campaigns, set up a separate "landing" page (web page) for each keyword that you target. This allows you to create content for the page that is highly relevant to that keyword. Google and Yahoo will take this into serious consideration when deciding where you will be placed. WebFlexor PT Websites (www.websitesforpt.com) has implemented an easy-to-use content editing system into their PT website program. This gives the user the control to update all of the content on every web page – including the keywords - in order to set up effective landing pages.

The big advantage of PPC is that you only pay for results, unlike just about every other form of advertising. With PPC you only pay when someone actually clicks onto your ad and if you are contending for non-competitive keywords, it can be extremely cost effective.





Mikel Bruce, WebFlexor PT Websites, 888-282-7818, www.websitesforpt.com

Keeping your PT website content current is one of the most important things that you can do to make it an on-going resource for your clients and to keep it in favor with the search engines. Beyond the schedule, many PT websites have static content that never changes. This doesn't give a visitor much of a reason to return to the site other than to check the schedule. In addition, your business is probably growing, changing and evolving regularly and your website should evolve along with the business this should somehow be reflected in the website.

There are a few reasons that some trainers don't update the site regularly. The main one is that it can be expensive to pay a webmaster to make content changes and updates. An average web designer will charge $50-$75 or more to make any changes to a website, and if changes need to be made on a regular basis, this can get very expensive very fast. In addition to the costs involved, some webmasters are not very responsive so getting updates made regularly can be difficult when one set of changes has not been made when another is ready. Another reason for infrequent updates is that many trainers don't have the time to work on updating their website. This is unfortunate since a website should/could be the most powerful marketing tool for any business. Currently over 80% of the searches for any product or service is done via the Internet and search engines. If a business is not tapping into that potential, they are missing out on the vast majority of potential new clients. Tapping into that potential in a big way involves adding fresh, new and relevant content to a website.

Some trainers do have systems or programs in which they can update the content on their own. These are referred to as Content Management Systems (CMS). A CMS allows the website owner to become their own webmasters which is incredibly convenient and cost effective. Unfortunately, many of the CMS are fairly complicated to use and since most trainers are not technically advanced this can pose problems. WebFlexor PT Websites (www.websitesforpt.com) does have a simple, featured-rich CMS called the Flex-Edit System, which is currently being used by hundreds of PT businesses. This system easily allows them to: update text, add pictures, upload video, update schedule, upload files, add links and manage e-commerce pages. A system like the Flex-Edit system puts the website owner in control of their own website.

Here are some ideas to consider when using a CMS to keep your website updated:

13. Post articles and newsletters regularly on your website in order to give your clients and potential clients an educational resource. This is one of the best ways to continue to drive traffic to your site. These resources can be referenced in your newsletter and if you do create a viable educational resource section on your website, other websites will link to it and will have a huge impact on both driving traffic to your site and improving your search engine ranking.

14. Add fun and interesting sections/pages to your website that get updated regularly. Some ideas could be: FAQ's, tip of the week, etc…

15. If your CMS does give you the ability to upload video, add short video demos educating your clients on different aspects of your business. With the advent and popularity of YouTube many people are very interested in watching short videos.

16. Add a Links page to your website and add regular links to relevant websites in exchange for links back to your website; this will drive traffic back to your website.

17. Add a nice photo gallery to your site and update it regularly with relevant pictures.

18. Link a blog to your website and post articles and newsletters on it as well. This could have a huge impact on your search engine ranking.

The bottom line is that if you have a website and it is not getting updated regularly, it is almost not worth having. It can make a very bad impression if you have old and outdated content on your website.








Mikel Bruce, WebFlexor PT Websites, www.websitesforpt.com, 888.282.7818

Most massage professionals either ignore or abhor the sales process and the idea of closing a sale would be even less appealing. Unfortunately, sales and marketing are the foundational functions that keep every business alive and growing and every successful business owner is selling and closing, whether they know it or like it. Selling is much more about educating and telling, then pushing and listening. A truly good sales person, whether they are selling massage or widgets, is a master at determining their clients needs and finding solutions for them.

Since 80% of searches for ANY product or service is done via the Internet, a website is a critical marketing tool for any personal training business. Prospective clients used to ask: "Do you have a web site?" This is no longer the case. The question that is more commonly posed is "What is your website address?" There is currently an assumption amongst PT clients that a professional fitness business will have a website.

Some of the major benefits of a website are:

* In many cases, a website can replace the need for printed brochures and it is a marketing tool that is working for you 24/7.

* If you have a content management system (CMS) built into your website, as most fitness websites should, you can update your information, pictures, etc in “real time, without having to reprint and mail informational pieces.

* Once you are live you can add an e-commerce section to sell and charge your clients for products, services, workshops and e-books. Some services allow your clients to pay and sign up for sessions on-line.

* A website with an effective email opt-in will allow you to build your email marketing list effortlessly. The larger your email marketing list, the greater your chance of converting prospective clients into paying clients.

* Once you have a website you can tap into a wide range of very effective web marketing strategies such as Pay-Per-Click advertising, Article Marketing/Submission, Video Marketing, etc

* If you are interested in creating a virtual community amongst complimentary service providers in your area, you can add a links/resources page to your website.

* In order to have success with the PT directories it is very important to have a website address in your listing. Getting listed on directories is another great way to drive traffic to your site without having to spend a lot of money in advertising.

* You can make your website an educational resource for your clients by adding educational sections such as FAQ’s, article and newsletter archive pages and pages with video.

* Consider adding a membership section to your website and granted access to your existing clients. This is a great way to add value to the services that you already offer and specifically for those clients that purchase a series of sessions. You could set it up with a username and password that changes each month and is sent to existing clients in an email newsletter. In this section you could add features such as special educational articles, videos or e-books.

There are several options in terms of getting your website designed or re-designed. Here are a few:

9. You can hire a web designer to build a custom website. This may be the best option for those of you who have many different components that you want included in your site. Make sure that they are easy to track down when you want to make changes to your site on a monthly basis. A custom-made website will typically start at $1500-$2000 and can get much more expensive depending on features and design.

10. Web design software programs such as Microsoft FrontPage (which is now no longer available) or Dreamweaver can be acquired which will allow you to build and publish your website on your own. Home-based programs such as FrontPage is moderately technical but can be self-taught and will give you the ability manage and build your website for just the investment in the software. The main disadvantage is that it does take time to learn and typically the results are low quality designs. Dreamweaver is used primarily for web designers and is fairly technical but can produce high quality designs. In many cases the learning curve for this program would be too large for the average user that is designing one website.

11. Build-your-own website programs are web-based programs that are tied into hosting plans and are offered by Yahoo and Go Daddy as well as other hosting companies. These may cost a bit more but are probably a better option than FrontPage. The user-friendliness in these programs can range significantly and the design quality is still limited since a professional designer is not involved in the design process.

12. There are a few companies that offer a mix of having a design team who develops your site so you have a very professional look, feel, and functionality, but with the added benefit of being able to update the site on your own through a Content Management System (CMS). The costs are higher than the build-your-own website programs but are typically lower than straight custom websites. WebFlexor PT Websites (www.websitesforpt.com) offers such a service with designer-built websites starting as low as $199.00.

Do your research and decide on the option that best suites your budget and needs and the bottom line is that not having a website could be costing you business.

Any PT business, regardless of how many years it has been in existence, should almost always be in a growth mode. In order for a training business to grow, there needs to be a continual and major emphasis on marketing functions and processes. Most businesses owners, especially Personal Trainers, are usually not trained in marketing and since it such a changing and evolving industry (especially with the Internet) there is too much to know and to do, especially since the success and implementation of a marketing plan makes all of the difference between thriving and surviving.

The art of delegation, especially when it comes to marketing, is very important. Here are a few ideas to consider using the delegating marketing functions:

* The Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) has a wide variety of services and seminars devoted to helping new and existing small business owners in every area of business. The retired executive consulting division SCORE (www.score.org) can help with everything from creating a marketing plan to devising marketing strategies specific to your business. Most of the services offered through the SBA are either free or very inexpensive.

* Copywriting is an area of marketing that most fitness professionals end up doing on their own whether they are writers or not. All of the text that goes on any printed material should be at least reviewed by a copywriter. This could apply to website text, email and printed newsletters, brochures, articles posted on a website, etc… Copywriting is usually an easy and affordable task to delegate.

* Hiring a marketing coach or consultant to help implement your marketing plan would be a wise investment for any business owner. A Good marketing coach will also help to create marketing goals and objectives and keep you accountable to reaching those goals. Many people are concerned about spending money in this area, which is unfortunate, since having outside help (pertaining to the bigger picture in regards to marketing) is one of the few things that can help us overcome both the internal and external resistance to keep us from growing our businesses.

* There are several technical functions specific to marketing that can be outsourced for those of us that are too busy and/or are not technically inclined. You can find resources that can help you to manage such marketing processes as: email newsletter marketing, article submission, search engine and adword marketing. Mikel Bruce with WebFlexor PT Websites (www.websitesforpt.com) highly recommends implementing a newsletter marketing process in order to build your client base by staying in contact with them and educating them on your business at least on a monthly basis.

* Your PT website itself is probably one of the most important marketing tools available to you. Since your website is one of the first things that many prospective clients will see first, it is one of the most important places to put your best foot forward. Be sure to have a website that is professionally created from the design prospective and updated regularly from the content perspective to keep it fresh and evolving with your business. Ideally you will have control over the content with a Content Management System (CMS) so you can update the content on your own.

For PT businesses that are operating on a tight budget, delegating and paying for tasks and resources can be difficult to justify. But, there are certain things that need to get done that either exceed your skill levels or are more than you have time for. A good place to start would be to create a list of what needs to be done and then consider delegating those items for a minimal investment or if they are way beyond what you can do. You may find that many functions don’t cost as much as you anticipate and the return on the investment could well exceed the costs. WebFlexor PT Websites specializes in affordable and quality websites for Personal Trainers and has many technical resources available for trainers to help them succeed in growing their businesses.

There are four primary reasons to have a website for your fitness business: Educating and informing your clients, gathering data, e-commerce and act as a marketing tool. A website may have only one of these functions or encompass all of them at the same time.

Almost 75% of all households in the United States have internet access and it is rising at a steady rate. Until recently a PT business could get exposure to potential clients by simply advertising in the phone book, but with the growth of the Internet, the majority of business-searches are conducted via the web. What does this mean for your Massage business? Unquestionably, if you don’t have a Web presence, you are not tapping into one of the most consistent and cost-effective source of business leads.

Pay-Per-Click advertising (or PPC as it is more commonly known) can give a small PT Businesses with a limited budget a chance to level the playing field with their larger competitors. On Google and Yahoo, PPC allows a business to take a small to moderate investment and target their most desired customers with laser-like accuracy. Simply put, it’s like getting an advertisement in front of the very same people who are searching what your business has to offer...at the exact moment they are looking for it!