Your website is often part of your initial impression. It is one of the most important marketing pieces that you will create when you are opening your barre studio or fitness business.
The positive is that a website is a living, breathing piece. You can spend thousands of dollars on your website, and then just a month later need to make updates to content, photos, staff, class offerings and more!
So, one of the most important staff people on your team will be your web designer. But before you hire a designer, it is important that you have a great vision of your website and how you want it to look. Today we’re going to talk about the key ELEMENTS of your website. One of your upcoming lessons will be the necessary pages and the content of the site.
Critical elements of a fabulous website;
Great Design
Easy Navigation
Story Telling Photos
Short Snippets of Information
Statistics show today that the average attention span for a person is 8 seconds. That means that you have 8 seconds to get someone’s attention and get them interested in what you are saying about your barre studio.
Your website needs to hook them quickly and make them excited to know more. Think of your home page as your first date with a prospective partner!
Will you make a good enough impression that they will want a second date?
What should you include on your home page?
A studio home page is your first impression. It tells a potential client about you before the client ever arrives!
Use a photo of your studio, and not a stock photo.
Show them your location, your personality, your clients actually working out.
Show some of your studio in the background.
Capture your studio energy!
What are the goals for your website?
Are you trying to get clients to schedule a class?
Do you want them to call the studio?
Once you know what your objectives are, you can design the home page.
For example, my Fit in 60 home page is designed for three things:
To invite someone to be a barre instructor,
To invite someone to open a studio
And to invite someone to schedule a class.
This is why when you go to my website, you IMMEDIATELY see those three things at the top.
If your goal is to have them join your email list, you want your opt-in near the top. If your goal is to have them schedule a class, you want your class schedule to be up top and prominent.
Whether you know this or not, one of the primary goals of your website is to get people onto your mailing list. Many fitness businesses are driving their clients to social media pages, etc. When I opened my first studio, I did a TON on Facebook and spent quite a bit of money advertising for likes. The problem with this is as Facebook changes their system, your followers may be unable to see your posts – making that a less beneficial mode of communication.
If you have their email address though, you can send them email offers, invite them to events and more!
In order to entice them to give you their email address, you may want to give them a freebie (a free video, a free pair of socks when they come to their first class that week, whatever you want to offer to get their email opt-in (and ideally entice them to come take their first class.
On your home page, consider having at least one testimonial. You can also have a testimonials page of your site, but at least have one testimonial on your homepage that directs clients to your other testimonials (or that they can see if they never go to another page on your site). You want one really great and powerful quote that shows clients how awesome you are!
Create a button for new clients on your homepage that takes them to your frequently asked questions, or a special page just for new clients that tells them what to expect, what to bring, etc. This way YOU control their experience on your website. If you don’t control their experience, they may go all over the place and never get where you really wanted them to go.
If you are interested in opening your own barre studio or fitness business without the rules or fees of a barre franchise, contact Amy Mewborn to schedule a complimentary consultation.
