FACT: The internet is a beautiful thing and a crazy tool that can do amazing things for your business while you sleep, play golf, train clients, go surfing or just hang out on Facebook if that is your “thing.”

We all know that we need on online presence to capture the massive segment of potential clients who hang out on Google and social media sites – that now goes without saying. So it is really important that you place a tick in the online box when it comes to creating business from the net. Like all good things in life, making your personal training business website sing like bird is not something that is genetically ingrained. You either learn how to do from the people who know or you get someone else to do it for you.Having a crack yourself is commendable, but if the local basket-weaving website is getting more action than your PT site then it may be time to re-assess your online presence.

In my experience of putting sites together there are 5 crucial steps that must all be followed in order to make your website sing and turn your prospects into long-term clients.

Check it…

Step 1: Make A Good First Impression

I don’t know about you, but when I go to a new site I have made a decision about that site within the first 5-10 seconds of visiting. Professional, boring, interesting, sleazy, amateurish, unique – whatever the first impression is, it definitely counts s0 think about what message you are putting out when you site first opens.

As part of this, you may also want to sit with a few different people as they open your page and ask them where there attention is drawn on your page. If this is not in the places that you want it (eg: header, headline or opt-in) then you may want to adjust your fonts sizes and/or colors.

Check out the very cool FitPro WordPress website templates which can get you set up with a professional custom site for under $300 (yes, that is not a typo – check it out). These guys take all the hassle out giving you a professional looking site without the hefty price tag.

Step 2: HAVE A HEADLINE THAT CAPTURES ATTENTION

Alright, design is one thing but having a sick design does not mean you are going to press the pain buttons of your potential clients. That comes down to the copy. Having a great headline ensures that the visitor knows they are in the right place and that there is value in reading more. Lots of people freak out when it comes to writing copy for their website and I understand that it can be a daunting task so let me make it easy for you.

• Identify your target market and create a profile (or avatar) for that specific person.
• Using the pains outlined by that person (eg: I cant lose the last 5 kg)
• Write a headline that talks directly to that person, using their pain and offering a solution.

It is important to focus your headline on one person and write specifically for them . When potential clients come to your page, you want them to feel like your page has been written specifically for them and the headline is the start of that.

Step 3: Lay Down Some Copy That Speaks Their Language

Good copy on a website is not about guilt or shame to create a response; it is more about letting your potential client clearly know that you understand that they are going through and that you can help them get where they want to go. So in your copy you should include these things as your bare-arsed minimum:

• outline their pains (be specific and speak in there language not yours)
• outline your solution (how your service is going to resolve of there specific pains).
• paint the happy picture (let them know how they will feel after they have achieved there goals)
• make an offer (massive value that they cant refuse)
• call to action (include there pains or benefits into the call to actions).

This is a basic formula that has many additions (testimonials, before and after shots etc) but as a minimum your copy should have those five points. Now, to really super-charge your conversion put together your copy and then present it on video so your prospects can get a look at you.

People relate alot better to a real person, especially on the net so if you can make it look reasonably tight, video is an awesome option.

Step 4: Have A Bait Piece That Is High On Value

Building a list is crucial in the online world as it is important for your buyers to like, know and trust you. In one visit to your site, you may be able to establish likability and be known but the trust thing may take a little longer. This is where an interactive list becomes an amazing business asset. Having valuable interaction with your list (whatever form that may take) is crucial as this allows you to:

• show up regularly with valuable content.
• have a direct line of communication to your target market.
• build trust and authority.
• promote to people who already know, like and trust you (much higher chance of buying)

But if you don’t get your initial website visitors to opt-in, you have no list. No list = no love. So when it comes down to putting together your opt-in and bait piece (the thing you offer when they opt-in) you need to come back to your target market profile.

What do they want more than anything?

Work out what it is and give it to them. It needs to be something that has enough value that is:

1. going to make them give you their details.
2. allow you to contact them in the future (because everyone who leaves there deet’s knows what they are getting into).

So hold nothing back and give your best stuff over as your bait piece. Remember that this may be the only time that they come to your site, so let’s make sure that they never forget you.

Step 5: Get Bucket-Loads Of Traffic

Ahhh, the Holy Grail of having a successful website – traffic. It is all well and good to get your website looking the part, reading like you are inside the head of your target market and having the most amazing bait piece and opt-in form.

All this hard work means absolutely nothing is no-one ever walks into your online store….. Search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising, Google maps, online directories, blogging, forums, link building, article writing, You Tube, Facebook ads, Twitter, Facebook pages, email marketing – the list of possible sources is as long as your arm leg.

I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the big ticket holders (Google and social media) as that is where a lot of people are hanging out these days. Then after that, work towards your strengths. Me… I like to write and I am warming up to being on camera so blogging is a good choice for me while creating You Tube video’s is also starting to help.

You will need to maintain a consistent and diverse approach to your traffic generation until you get to a point where it works for you automatically. I used to look after all this stuff myself but to be honest, I don’t really understand it that well so I now spend $40 a month and get a SEO company to do it all for me. My traffic has never been better and I have washed my hands of the whole thing (if you want there details, let me know).

So as you can see with those 5 steps, the main thing when designing and providing content for your website is to look through the eyes of your prospect. It doesn’t really matter if you like it or not, if it doesn’t make you target market get fired up and want to start training with you (or at least grab your bait piece) then it may as well be about basket-weaving.

For the good of your business, be critical of your website and always think that you can do better. If it is not bringing in a bunch of leads every month, it is not doing it’s job and something has to change.

I would love to know what is currently frustrating you about your business website?

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and runs a PT Fight Club for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

Sometimes people are just funny. No matter how “on the money” your marketing message is, there is still a reasonably large percentage of the population who need to hear how effective your service is from a third party.

Someone who is in their exact position and has now achieved great things by using your service.

The fancy marketing crowd out there call it “social proof ” and it is a powerful weapon in persuading potential clients that what you have is what they need. They just need to hear it from someone other than you…

So today I am going to walk through the process of shooting a video testimonial that really rocks so your clients can help you spread the good word about your service…

Step 1: Choosing the right clients

Now I have two schools of thought on this one.

Firstly, clients that have been with you for a long period of time (say a year or more) know you and will feel more comfortable getting in front of camera for you. So they may be more likely to put there hand up when approached.

But, clients that have been with you for say 4-6 weeks and have achieved excellent results will be so stoked that you have helped them flip their life around, that a testimonial is the least they can do for you.

Either way – try to choose the “personalities” in your business as this will allow for a more colorful video rather than the bland, monotone “My trainer is great” version.

Step 2: Picking the right time

I called Richard Marc Toutounji from Meet Your Personal Trainer and asked him about his best tips for trainers making testimonial videos (seeing as he specialises in the video-making department).

He had a really good tip…

Film your testimonial video’s either during a session or directly after a session so that you get real answers, not the manufactured fluff (with sweat and heavy breathing an awesome added extra). He added that this may involve getting a third party involved to ask the questions and to film them while you are out there doing your thing.

If it is just you, grabbing your camera (or i-phone) directly after your session and hitting them with your questions is the best option so they don’t have time to get nervous.

Step 3: Asking the right questions

A good video testimonial needs to contain the right content to speak to your target market and it is your responsibility to make that happen. For the majority of you clients, asking a few basic questions is the best way to shape the content of your video, but I think the main thing to remember is to HAVE FUN.

Boring video is boring video – regardless if it is the latest DVD or your video testimonial so have a bit of fun with your questions and make it both entertaining and educational for your viewer. Essentially, you will want to cover these main areas in your video:

Starting Point

Eg: What was life like before you started training?

Eg: At what point did you decide that you needed a trainer?

Work Involved

Eg: How much work per week do you put into your training?

Eg: How long have you been training with …?

Results

Eg: So tell me exactly how you are different today compared to the day you started training?

Eg: How do you feel right now?

The Why:

Eg: What really gets you out of bed when it’s freezing cold to come to your session?

Eg: What would you say to someone thinking of getting started?

Now these are all relatively boring questions but you can use these as a base to create your video content and put your own stamp of personality on your video.

Here is example of a video testimonial from Chris Bellette from Active Aussies using a few simple questions that are nice and light but really gets the message across that this business is a great place to be.

Step 4: Have some bloody fun with it

Chris’ video is above is a great example of a professional video that has been nicely edited together to create a sweet finished product. If you look at that video and think that creating something like that is way out of your league then don’t sweat it.

Seeing as I have recently embraced the making of videos myself – I have learnt that the perfect “take” doesn’t exist and you can waste halve a day messing around trying to be “perfect”. So embrace any imperfections and just let the camera roll.

There is a bunch of editing software out there that will allow you to cut things up and use the best lines if that is a path you want to go down. Personally, I like to get a client right after they have finished their re-assessment and after they have finished their session and just roll the camera. Some clients know what to say and others will need to be led with questions.

Regardless of which approach you use, the finished product must clearly demonstrate why your business rocks (and that you have a good time in the process). Here is a testimonial I put together last week of one my own PT clients.

If you don’t like hearing the f-bomb, then I probably wouldn’t listen to this as he gets quite “passionate” about his achievements :-)

So as you can see, a video testimonial can take a variety of forms depending on your target market but I want to leave you with one thing. My video testimonial full of swearing is 100 times more effective than you video testimonial that doesn’t exist.

…and I want you to prove me wrong!

Throw up a link to your best video testimonial in the comments section and let’s compare.

Don’t have one yet?

Grab your camera or I-phone, a client and put one together using the steps in this post and throw it up by the end of the week.

Oh – and don’t forget to shamelessly promote it on your website and Facebook page as well….

Happy shooting,

Rick :-)

Generating a bunch of leads for your personal training business online is something that alot of fitness “experts” talk about but only a very few actually do really, really well.

Now I am a big believer of learning from people who actually walk their talk and when it comes to delivering online leads for your fitness business, Chris McCombs is THE man.

Hands down, no questions asked; the go-to guy in the online fitness marketing world.

Before I explain how the guy helped me get to #1 on Google (amongst other things), I want to let you know how and why getting your business to #1 for your specific search terms is so important for your business.

Search-engine research company Chikita, recently found that the #1 position received twice as much traffic as #2 and the same amount of traffic as positions 3-20 COMBINED. So while we all knew that getting to number one was important, this research shows how important being at the top of page one really is to your traffic.

More traffic means more clients, so it just makes sense to do some work and get your site where it needs to be.

Getting to number one has never been so important…

The Story So Far….

In the very early days of PT Business In A Box (I think it was about two years ago), I understood the importance of ranking well on Google but had no idea how to do it. At the time, I was also managing my own PT business website and needed to give that a kick in the pants as well, so after a little research (well not much really because he is everywhere on the Google) I came across Chris McCombs.

Chris McCombs is the kind of guy that you either love or hate, but regardless of what you think of him personally, he knows his shit when it comes to getting leads from the net. I like people who don’t conform to please others so while we may never go ride our Harleys together (cos a.motorbikes scare the shit out of me and b. I don’t have a Harley), I respect the guy for producing absolutely amazing results and doing it all online.

My mind was started to tick.

The First Step…

I am sure you have had moment’s in your life when you are faced with a risky decision that could blow up in your face. You run the pros and cons through your head but when it comes down to it you simply have to ask yourself “how much risk am I prepared to take to get what I want?”

I had decided to sell my PT business and put all of my efforts into running PT Business In A Box but there was only one problem. I had an online business, no online presence and absolutely no idea how to change it.

Enter Chris McCombs.

I had been on one of his 300 lists for a while and saw that he was bringing out a membership program called Market Annihilator which basically showed you everything you need to know about building your online presence and getting a heap of clients.

Awesome, great timing.

I made the commitment to invest into the program and learn from the best in the business. The investment turned out to be less then one new client per month and now looking back it is some of the best money I have spent on my business.

The Results…

Market Annihilator is essentially a massive collection of how-to videos where Chris or his partner Zach Hunt step you through exactly what you have to do to automate getting leads from the net. They have thought of everything including a “getting started” program, followed up with literally hours and hours of short, sharp practical videos. They cover pay-per-click marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, social media, website conversion, video marketing, copy writing, outsourcing, email marketing, Facebook ads, launch videos, website reviews and a shit-load more.

Basically every possible way for you to get more clients and build your business online.

So every Tuesday and Thursday night I would head into my home office, watch a couple of Chris’ videos and implement what I learnt over the next week. I found this to a great way to learn this new online world because I could check-in whenever I wanted; basically getting cutting edge,  industry-specific knowledge to fast track my online business.

Check out where I now sit on Google for the super competitive term “personal training business” thanks to the MA program:

click image to enlarge

But to me, this program is more than getting an awesome Google ranking. It has taught me the big picture; how to blog using my own voice, how to use social media effectively, how to build a solid email list and a whole lot more. A no bullshit approach from the best in the business.

So Why Am I Telling You This?

The ultimate goal of this website is to help personal trainers just like you to build a kick-ass personal training business.

Period.

So I don’t want to leave any tools in the shed (for lack of a better analogy) to help you do that. This premium program is one hell of a tool that gets serious results for serious trainers who are looking to make a career and lifestyle out of the fitness industry.

THIS IS NOT A QUICK FIX.

The MA membership program in an on-going curriculum that involves learning alot of cool shit and then implementing it into your business. But once you have learnt the concepts, done the work and really made the most of what the internet can do for your business – you will be armed with the knowledge to repeat for any further business ventures (or new products or services).

That is why I am telling you about Market Annihilator?

So you too have the opportunity to create the business and lifestyle that you want. Simple.

What Do Other Trainers Think?
I recently found out that one of my guest posters here on PTBIAB, Scott Williams from Succeed is also a member of the Market Annihilator program (small world) for the past 18 months, so I asked him what his thoughts on it were.

He told me… “these tools have made a massive difference to my business as they will any trainer who is prepared to put in the work. I would highly recommend the Market Annihilator program to anyone in the fitness industry looking to make a living out of it.”

To really see what Scott is talking about and find out why MA is a game-changer, check out this video.

A Serious Offer For Serious Trainers…

I love nothing more than watching personal trainers really step up, develop their skills and the build the business that they REALLY want. No excuses, no bullshit – just solid action to get where you need to go.

So if your website is acting more like a lost business card than a lead generating machine, here is what you need to do:

1. Head over and register right now for Market Annihilator
   
2. Once you have secured access, email me some proof that you are now a member.
3. I will then contact you and book you in for a FREE 1hr coaching call with me to sort out your OFFLINE business marketing and put together a 6 month offline campaign that works.

Once completed, you will have both your online and offline marketing campaigns bringing in clients from every direction and providing you with a serious business to smile about.

I look forward to helping you make your own path,

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and writes books for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

]]> http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/how-chris-mccombs-helped-me-get-to-1-on-google/feed/ 0 http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-part-4/ http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-part-4/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:34:15 +0000 rick http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/?p=1088

Today we have come to the final part of our blogging to build your personal training business series and we are going to get under the bonnet of how to successfully network your blog posts so that you and your Mum are not the only ones loving your work.

I also have a cool announcement to make but before we get into that, let’s look back at what we have covered so far in the series. To start off, we covered why blogging is important in building your PT business and how to structure a blog that converts. Then last week we got right into how to write great content that you clients will love, respond to and want to share.

Before we begin part 4, a quick announcement:

To celebrate the blogging series, I am ripping 100 bucks off the top of my “Blogging To Build Your PT Business” 8 week coaching program. In this program we work together to establish (or grow) your blog, smash your search engine optimization and build a killer social media strategy. So if you need some help and think $547 is an amazing price to have your all your blogging, SEO and social media needs sorted then click here.

Now onto the four best ways to network your blog so that you can expose yourself to the world (without getting arrested).

1) Facebook

Love it or hate it, Facebook is one hell of networking tool. THE biggest and most used website in the world and Australia has one of the highest rate’s of usage in the world. So if you are ignoring Facebook, you are doing so at your own peril. This is how a massive segment of the community currently communicate so it pays to have your Facebook feet and ensure that you have a presence and a strategy.

So lets pretend that you have spent the time and effort to build up your personal profile or even better your business fan page (or maybe even both if you are keen). Networking your content onto Facebook is amazingly simply by using either of these methods:

1. If you have added social media sharing options to your blog, you will simply be able click onto the FB tab and a link to your wall will appear. You get to type in a little description of your post and you are away.
2. Or you can cut and paste the link (URL) of the post and add the link to a new wall post on your fan page. Like the first option, you then get to edit your wall comment to go with the link.

The great thing about Facebook is that it is soooo easy and quick to use and with a regular consistent effort, your stuff will be seen by more and more people (and they will be coming back to your site to hang out).

Ninja Tip: Just recently Facebook have made the “like” button available for bloggers to put on individual posts so that readers have the opportunity to “like” them. This is not only great social proof  (seeing others like something you like) but it also provides the opportunity to spread your post around to networks beyond your reach by the “like” being posted on peoples walls. Here is the link to install it onto your site if you “like” the like button.

2) Blog Subscriptions

Getting people to subscribe to your blog is also a really important aspect of networking your blog posts and I rate even higher than Facebook because it goes out to people that have made the conscious choice to want your stuff sent to them. Blog subscriptions normally either take the shape of a RSS feed (an automated email of your post sent to the person and you don’t know who they are) or email subscriptions (where people join your email subscription list and you send them your posts when you make them live).

Both options have the pros and cons – RSS sucked because you weren’t build any type of list that you could write to and emails sucked because you had to manually do it all yourself.

BUT, A-Weber (email marketing software company) in their infinite wisdom have managed to smash together a product called a blog broadcast which is essentially a RSS feed (posts are automatically sent when they go live) and an email list (so you can promote with additional emails to them as you build trust and rapport) combined.

So I would definitely recommend getting on board A-Weber’s Blog Broadcast to make blog subscriptions easy and effective.

Ninja Tip: As well as having an opt-in box for your subscription, create a hidden page in your site (like I have here) so you can send people to it from the blog, Facebook and email marketing efforts as well as having them join on your normal page.

3) Twitter

The international phenomenon that I first found to be extremely annoying, then after a little while longer I still found it extremely annoying. On a serious note, Twitter is one of those things that you get out what you put in. If you are prepared to “tweet” regularly and interact with alot of your followers then your Twitter following will grow quite quickly and you will have lots of followers reading your stuff.

BUT – two problems.

One: that the concept of tweeting all the time may freak you out and you are busy enough already right?

Two: how do you focus your marketing message on the international world Twitter if you are a location based business?

Ok, I will let you in on exactly how I use Twitter because I fit into the “”I’m too busy to spend my life tweeting when I could just be out living my life” box. So there are some easy steps that can make Twitter an nice, AUTOMATED way for you to spread your message:

1. Make sure you have a “follow me on twitter” icon on your email signature, website and business card.
2. Link up you Twitter and your Facebook accounts -  you can find out how to do that here so when you promote your blog post on FB it automatically goes up as tweet as well.
3. Get onto www.socialoomph.com (it’s free) and sign up for a free automated direct message when someone follows you. I use this to send people to my FB fan page because I spend way more time over there.
4. List yourself on some Twitter directories like wefollow.com so that others know that you are out there.

Ninja Tip: On Twitter, inter-action is king so try not to just hit people with your blog posts as every tweet. Give a little of yourself (or the self you want for public consumption) and interact with others – you will increase your click through’s and re-tweets.

4. SEO Your Blog Posts So They Rank In Google

The first three methods generally have a direct response when you use them to put your blog posts out there. Structuring your blog posts to rank well in Google is a longer term proposition but definitely not something to be sneezed at as they can bring in a enormous amount of traffic for you over time. So here are four basic things that you need to do to get your blog posts ranking well:

1. Establish what keywords you are going to focus on for that post. For example for this series my keyword focus has been “blogging” and “personal training business”.
2. Make sure that your keywords make up at least 3-4% of the on page copy.
3. Make sure that your keywords are in the title tag of the page (and that it is is less than 78 characters as this is the total amount that Google recognize in a search).
4. Make sure that your keywords are in the the first line of your meta-description and that your description doesn’t go over 168 characters for the same reason.

With those four basic things in place you are now telling Google what your page is about and when someone does a search for that topic they will think of you.

Ninja Tip: The more active links (live links that take you somewhere else) that have your keywords in them, the more Google will love and trust you. Even better is if other sites are sending those links back towards your site with your keywords in them (keyword back-links).

So that wraps up my 4 part series on blogging to build your personal training business. I hope that you have enjoyed the series and are now ready to go out create some amazing business opportunities (and have some fun)  through your blog. If you have any questions just post them up in the comments section.

Don’t forget that if you want to have your own smokin’ blog, lots of web traffic and a great social media presence in eight weeks from now, click here to be a part of my “blogging to build your PT business” 8 week coaching program and save yourself $100 in the process.

Don’t forget to post any questions you have and I will see you next week,

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, swearing personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books, runs an online community and holds live workshops for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to blog here and get your weekly dose of goodness delivered straight to your Inbox.

]]> http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-part-4/feed/ 3 http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-part-3/ http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-part-3/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:22:31 +0000 rick http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/?p=986

So far in our “Blogging To Build Your Personal Training Business” series, we have covered why including a blog to your business website is such great idea and how to structure it to give you maximum impact. Today, we are going to get stuck into the less-glamorous side of blogging…..how to actually sit down and writing awesome content that your clients will love and want to share (or subscribe to).

Lots of trainers that I speak to about blogging love the idea, they know that it is going to do great things for their business but they are scared wit-less about actually writing.  I was the same when I first started but after a bunch or trial and error and a little research, blogging is now really fun and something that I look forward to every week. Let me explain how…

Step 1. Know Your Audience (yawn).

Now I know that I belt on about this all the time but there is no use writing a blog every week that no-one is interested in. So you must understanding the needs, pains and struggles of your target audience. In one of the recent FBOMB audio files, I was chatting to Victoria Judge about this and she suggested that creating a target audience avatar is a great place to start.

What is an avatar? No it is not a movie with blue people, V explained it as a detailed dot point description of what makes up your target audience. Their physical description, age, sex, income level, education but more importantly you want to list their major pains, struggles and roadblocks. Once you have a list of 50 or 60 points, you are now starting to get a good handle on your target audience. Identify the 5 or 10 biggest issues and base the majority of your blogging content around these issues.

Step 2: Plan Your Blogging Strategy

Ok, so you have done your audience avatar and you have a good feel of what your target audience would see as valuable content. Now you must think about delivery. Are you going to write daily, weekly, monthly and what topics are you going to write about?

Obviously you want to choose a writing schedule that you are comfortable with and one that you can easily commit to. Once a week is a nice place to start but is you are really time poor, even starting to post once every two weeks is good. I wouldn’t start posting any more than once a week until you get your game on (I am now just increasing my post frequency to twice a week now I have my head around everything).

Then comes content. In your strategy, you done need to identify specific blog post ideas but rather setting a plan of what broad topics you are going to cover. For example, if you are posting weekly your month’s strategy might include a training post, a nutrition post, a motivational post and an keyword optimized post to help your Google ranking (if they were the things that your avatar said where important). Once you have your over-arching topics, you can then move to planning and writing the specific posts.

Step 3: Thinking About The End Before You Start

Before you sit down and write your blog post, it is reeaaaalllly important that you think about what you are trying to achieve. Because blogging can be used for a number of different reasons,many of your posts will have different conversion goals. For example:

• Looking to build relationships: goal would be to generate lots of comments.
• Looking to build your database: goal would be to have your readers opt into your list.
• Looking to build your ranking: goal would be to get your audience to share your content (using social media).
• Looking to sell your service: goal would be contact you (preferably by a certain time).

As you can see, all of these goals are achieved by giving a clear call to action within and most importantly at the end of all your posts. When you have a clear picture of the goal, it will be much easier to write your post knowing where you will end up (ie: it’s very easy to get lost in your writing if you don’t do this first).

Step 4: Sitting Down And Writing Your Posts

Now that you know what your target audience wants, you know your overall strategy and you have your end point all sorted – it is time to sit down and punch out your first post.  I have a few main rules that I follow when I write a blog post:

• I always start with my headline as this is crucially important. By writing a compelling or curiosity-raising headline, you are encouraging your readers to want to read through your post.
• In your first paragraph, explain what you are covering and what the end result will be. This gives your readers clear expectations.
• Use sub-headings (or steps like in this post) to create a clear path for your readers to follow.
• Conclude the post re-iterating what you covered in your intro and give a clear call to action.

These are just a few of my favorite ways to write lots of content at a consistent level. When it comes to the actual writing I think one of the most important things is to not try too hard to be someone your not. When I first started blogging, I tried to write in a certain structure and it took me forever to get a post out.  Luckily I learnt reasonably quickly that writing in your own voice is really important (and much easier to do).

So my number one tip when sitting down to write content for your blog is to be yourself. Write with the same passion that you run your personal training business with and remember to get excited. Every personal trainer knows a bunch of great info that is valuable to so many people. So be yourself and use your own voice; others will appreciate it.

My question to you today is a simple one.

What’s stopping you from blogging to build your personal training business?

I look forward to your answer…

Cheers

Rick :-)

P.S: Stay tuned because the final installment in my blogging series is how to effectively network your blog posts using social media. Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss out and have it delivered straight to your inbox instead.

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, swearing personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books, runs an online community and holds live workshops for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to blog here and get your weekly dose of goodness delivered straight to your Inbox.

]]> http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-part-3/feed/ 3 http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-pt2/ http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-pt2/#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:00:14 +0000 rick http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/?p=859

So last week in part one of our blogging series, we established that there are a bunch of really cool reasons why blogging on a regular basis is a great way build up your personal training business. If you haven’t read that post, head over there and have a read before you get your hands dirty today.

Today I am going to focus more on the structure and the how you can put a great blog together so it does all the great things we spoke about like bring more traffic, build trust and relationships and get more client into your business.

So lets get busy…..

In my experience across the board, fitness professionals are really, really good at training people, OK at running their businesses and bloody terrible at anything to do with internet marketing. Yes, I know there are some amazing exceptions and that as we progress into the “social” generation we are all becoming a LITTLE better. BUT, to expect that everyone has the ability to put together a website that gets enough traffic, speaks to your audience and then has the ability to convert that traffic into a tangible benefit (lead, list, supporter) is a little crazy.

So today I am going to spell it out for you , I am going to explain to you:

How To Build A Fitness Blog That Actually Converts

Step 1: Make sure your blog is actually connected to your business website URL (eg: as a page of your site)

Having a little additional blog that you link to from your business site may seem like a good idea at the time, but it’s not! It is really important for a number of reasons that you have your blog on your business site:

1. It then becomes really easy for people to take a look around once they finish reading your article.
2. It will increase the overall SEO (search engine optimization or getting people from Google) of your website.
3. Decreases the amount of f’ing around people have to do – straight lines = happy visitors.

Step 2: Make sure you use WordPress as your blogging platform.

I get paid no money to say that, I just love WordPress like it is one of my surfboards (and I love my boards alot). Look, it has the most user-friendly plug-ins (cool things that you can add to it), easy to use dash-board and it is really SEO friendly. There are an amazing number of basic themes that you can choose from to suit the style of your site and if you want to give your blog a little bit of Red-Bull and vodka, the lend themselves really well to being altered with custom designs.

You might actually be surprised how many actual website are WordPress themes that you probably wouldn’t notice. Our new www.fbombersinnercircle.com is a perfect example of this.  Anyway, you can check out WordPress and all their cool themes.

Step 3: Use A-Weber email marketing software to build your list and your blog subscribers.

I actually do get paid to say this one (I’m an affiliate of A-Weber) but I have tried others and these guys are by far the best. Just to get you up to speed, A-Weber provide you with the software to design opt-in forms, build and schedule auto-responder e-mail series and just recently, they took also took blog subscriptions to a whole new level.

Normally to subscribe to a blog, you would join the RSS feed and you would have the blog posts delivered to you as soon as they go live. This is all good but unlike a list that people opt-in to (and confirm), the owner of the blog does not have the ability to develop a ongoing relationship via email with their subscribers.

But now A-Weber have introduced what they call a Blog Broadcast which is essentially a RSS feed for your blog but it also acts as a list builder that allows you contact them if and build your relationship via email.  They have also recently updated their opt-in form templates so now you can design your own and make them look reasonably cool.

There is no other email marketing company- use A-Weber because they rule!

Step 4: Make it easy to read – no, really I’m serious.

Ok, so this step may sound a little obvious but you will be surprised how many people think that a black background and white text really ads “something” to their blog. CRAP! If people have to squint their eyes to read your posts then you are pushing it uphill. WHITE BACKGROUND, BLACK TEXT – forget about funky design, if it is not easy to read they won’t come back.

On top of this; use headings, subheadings, dot-points and lists to get your information out there. Break up your big blocks of text and make it easy for your readers to consume your info.

Step 5: Images make the world go round…

Adding at least one image to your blog post will  increases the attractiveness and can draw peoples attention in. If you are writing about activities or events that have happened in your fitness business, having photos is an awesome accompaniment to give others a real look at what happens.

Other great sources for your image’s are Flickr Creative Commons which is a free directory of photos but you have to credit the photographer in each post. The other great source of image’s for your blog is I-Stock but you have to pay a little for each of those.

Step 6: Every post must have a conversion goal – an action you want your reader to take.

So its nice to write articles and stick them up on your website every week, educating your readers and developing a relationship with them. That’s nice, but nice unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills. What we are really looking for is a strong two way interaction between you and your readers, so each one of your posts must have a clear conversion goal. This is simply something that you lead your reader to (a call to action) and could include:

• Asking for readers comments.
• Building your subscribers.
• Registering for your new program.
• RSVPing for an event.
• Purchasing a product.
• Joining a list.

Step 7: You must give people the ability to share your stuff.

Now as you write your blog posts, the real power when your information is shared. Not only does that give more people, more opportunity to get their eyes on you but it also provides more back-links to your site and that keeps the nerds at Google happy (and when they are happy, your ranking increases).

So, even if you don’t spend all day on Facebook and Twitter yourself you really should provide your readers with the options to share your content on those two platforms as a bare minimum. Even installing a Facebook “Like” button is an non-threatening way to get your stuff out to a whole new audience (and get some sexy back-links from Facebook).

Today I have stepped you through some basic “hows” of getting your fitness blog to convert. Next week in part three of the series, I am going to be showing you how to write great content that suits your audience.

But, before then I would love to know your experiences with starting a blog for your business.

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, swearing personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books and holds live workshops for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to blog here and get your weekly dose of goodness delivered straight to your inbox.

]]> http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-pt2/feed/ 4 http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-pt1/ http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-pt1/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:56:36 +0000 rick http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/?p=798

A couple of years ago, I started writing a blog to help give my business a little online kick in the pants. When I first started, I didn’t really know exactly why I was doing it. I had just heard that it was a great way to  super-charge my website and connect with my audience….shit, was I in for a shock.

Not only have I turned blogging into one of my passions, but I have also turned it into the backbone of my entire business. Why? Because it is a powerful, powerful medium which allows you to build a relationship with your audience, become good friends with Google and gives you and your business a real voice.

Yeah, yeah…that’s all great but how in the hell are you going to run a smokin’ blog that gets you more clients?

Well, that’s what I am here for. I live it, I coach it and now I am going to put it all down for you in a easy to digest, 4 part series that will explain why you need to do it, how you can set it up, the secret to writing great content and how to let the world know when you do. So lets get straight into part one….

5 Cool Reasons Why Blogging Is Important When Building Your PT Business

Cool Reason #1: Your Blog Makes Your Website A Highway, Not A Dead-End Back Street

So having a website for your business is obviously a really, really important way to let lots of people know that you are really good at what you do. We all get that. But just having a high converting website that looks amazing is like dressing up for the dance and sitting in the corner all night – you gotta get some action, or in this case some traffic.

Having new and relevant information on your website, updated on a regular basis is a great way to make your site a highway for traffic, not a dead-end street. A blog allows you to do this – provide information to your target market which will give them a great reason to come back to your site again and again and again.

Too many personal training business websites are just glorified business cards that talk about themselves and there services but in your blog you have the opportunity to provide bucket-loads of value to the people who will really benefit from it. This is turn promotes alot of information sharing and more traffic to your site (but we will talk more about this later).

Cool Reason #2: You Get To Show Everyone The Human Side Of Your Business

Businesses are run by people – commonly in our industry they are run by passionate people who really care about the people they are helping. Your blog is a great way for you to show people exactly how passionate you are about your business and the people it helps. Enthusiasm is infectious and your audience will be naturally attracted to the real you, the one who loves helping people and who strives to get great results with all your clients.

People also buy from others that they trust and like so consistently putting down quality content in your own voice WILL build a loyal band of followers that love your work. Developing this sense of community is not only crucial is running a successful blog, but it is also my favorite part. I actually love helping trainer build their businesses and therefore my intentions are pure and I love getting emails and reading your comments on the posts.

This is important.

Building a community without a pure intent (or you could call it a passion) just to drive people to your website and make more sales will not serve you well. People have excellent bullshit detectors and if you are not putting up 100% honest content, you will pay the price in the long term with people voting with their feet (or clicks). So be human, be passionate, be consistent and focus on the relationship – not the sale.

Cool Reason #3: Google Will Trust Your Site More And Rank You Higher

Google is a funny beast and even as I write this there is probably an 18 year old IT genius sitting in a renovated warehouse in Silicone Valley CA, re-writing the algorithm on how they are going to rank websites next month.  As the internet evolves, how Google ranks sites also changes but there are a couple of sexy things that you can do with your blog that puts you in the good books with the big G:

• Having a site that has consistently updated content which is relevant to it’s audience builds trust in the eyes of Google. Basically, they like to see you putting in some time into what you are providing. Static sites don’t do this and they wont rank as well as sites with blogs (if all the other SEO is the same).

• Blog posts are a great opportunity to slam your keywords into your site without screwing up too much of the content of your sales page.

• Blog posts give you the opportunity to create back-links (links directed to your site from another site) and having more and more of these back-links tells Google you are a trusted resource (that is good). This is achieved when others share your blog posts.

• You get the opportunity to put your keywords into active links  (like this: personal training business) which is also a great way to increase your ranking as this tells Google that this is partly what your page is about and will rank you accordingly.

If all of this stuff sounds a bit foreign to you, don’t worry. It’s simple to pick up the SEO basics, it makes a huge difference to your business and I am going to run you through it in all a blog series like this one on how to play nice with Google, coming up soon.  Subscribe here to make sure you get it delivered to your Inbox.

Cool Reason #4: Your Own Blog Is The Backbone Of A High Converting Social Media Strategy

Social media is cool isn’t it? Everybody hanging out online, networking, helping each other out. You know what I really think? I think that if you haven’t got a social media strategy for your business then you may as well go down to pub and chat to the locals for the same amount of time that you waste on Facebook. That’s right people, I am going to say it…

Social media is a massive waste of time if you don’t have a plan

Floating around on Facebook or Twitter and justifying it as business building is just bullshit – it is procrastination in it’s purist form. Except for the 2,000 pretend friends that you now have, what have you actually achieved. Do you have anymore clients, is your list any bigger, can you effectively communicate with everyone?

Commonly the answer is no (a few people are doing it right but most are flailing around in the social networking abyss). You MUST have a plan and that plan must have outcomes that you can touch – more traffic to your site, more opt-ins, more sign ups. These things are tangible (in a weird virtual kinda way). Running your own blog becomes the backbone of your social media strategy because you now have a valuable reason to pester your 2,000 friends and let them know that you just wrote a great article and they should check it out. As always, you blog simply adds value to your audience.

This is one of the major reasons why it is ESSENTIAL that you have your blog attached to your actually business website so that when all your 2,000 friends come to read your amazing article on “52 ways to do a clap push-up” then they just might hang around and read your site (or join your list or inquire about your service). Every blog post then becomes like your own press release, 2010-style.

Cool Reason #5: It Is A Surefire Way To Build A Large, Interactive And Responsive List

We have already spoken in point #2 about how having a blog is a great way to build a relationship with your audience, but this by itself is only the first step. Translating that into a strong list of subscribers or people who opt-in to anything that you offer on your site is the next and crucial step in the process. This allows the people to receive more of your stuff but only based on their permission, so it is a comfortable scenario for all involved.

Your readers get more info, you get a direct line to your readers so you can further develop your relationship and then move from their. On this site, I have two ways for you to receive more information from me, you can subscribe to the posts and get them delivered to you inbox or you join my work/life balance email program. Both offering different types of information and value to the different needs of my readers.

With the repeat visits that your blog provides, having different opt-in options allows you to build a much bigger list than you would be able to using a static page.

So, let me just re-cap on everything that we have covered today on “why do I need a blog”. I know it can be confusing and I know that writing can sometimes be a little daunting but these are small obstacles when you can get these five things for your business:

• A bucket load more traffic for your website.
• The opportunity to build a trusting relationship with your audience.
• Become good mates with the nerds at Google (equals ranking, equals loads more traffic)
• Have the structure for a solid social media strategy, and…
• Build a large and responsive list of people who like what you do.

So as you can see, blogging has some really strong business foundations that allow you to build a bloody big house. It works, it can work for you and as we step through this series I am going to show you exactly how. Stay tuned next week for Part 2: How to structure a killer blog that converts .

But, before you head off I would love to know what you think of blogging. Love it, just getting started, too confusing….?

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, swearing personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books and holds live workshops for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to blog here and get your weekly dose of goodness delivered straight to your inbox.

]]> http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/blogging-series-pt1/feed/ 9 http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/how-to-zag/ http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/how-to-zag/#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 11:09:35 +0000 rick http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/?p=520

Personal training has turned into a funny industry (funny strange, not funny ha-ha). With the influx of new trainers over the last 5 or so years, we have on our hands an interesting dilemma. Lots of new trainers and business owners all doing the same courses, reading the same books and now trying to run the same types of businesses. What is the end result? A shitload of personal trainers all doing the same thing (and that’s just scary).

Looking around and realizing you and your service are just like the other 15 personal training business in your area can be a little dis-heartening (especially when you think about it from the eyes of a prospective client). So today I want to give you a few tips that can make you stand out from the crowd and allow you to make your own path in this wonderful industry. Being different isn’t just about standing out from the crowd; it is about being true to yourself, your passion and knowing that when the get up every morning (at 4.15am) that you’re doing it because you really love what you do.

Here are my 6 tips to ensure you zag when everyone else is zigging:

Tip #1:  Be yourself.

Shit, who would have thought? Conformity is dead – it is now time to celebrate your uniqueness and bring out all the amazing aspects of your personality. Obviously you still want to maintain your professionalism at all times, but don’t try to be “the business guy” – just be yourself. Let your passion come through in every aspect of your business, your clients and every one you do business with will appreciate it.

Tip #2: Go Deep

When it comes to the service you provide (your offer), take some real time to identify a specific niche or target market that you can focus on. Trying to be all things to all people is just straight out boring and extremely in-effective. Identify your niche (mothers, kids, corporates, golfers, brides, runners, get it?) and then take lots of time to really get into their world (going deep). Find out as much as you can about the people you are targeting. Although this sounds really boring, this knowledge is power as it means you understand your market (probably more than your mediocre competition).

Tip #3: Don’t Look Sideways

STOP LOOKING AT YOUR COMPETITION. Yeah, its valid every now and again just to see what is happening in your own backyard but there is a stage where it can be detrimental to your business (and sometimes obsessive). Coming back to tip #2, with the understanding that you will have of your market you will know exactly what they need in a service. Then you can put together your own offer and provide it specifically to your niche. THIS MAKES YOU UNIQUE – not just someone who replicates what someone else has done. Remember, it’s time to walk your own path.

Tip #4: Test Everything You Do

So you may have heard this before but really, how many aspects of your business do you actually test? Zagging can be fun and exciting but if you don’t test and measure everything your do it can also expensive and time consuming. Do it your own way but make sure you measure where you get your leads from, what your conversion rates are and what your break even amount is for every strategy. Good business is still good business.

Tip #5: Get REALLY Good

You want to be different and stand out form the rest? Get really good at whatever it is you want to be know for. Group training, personal training, kids groups – whatever niche it is choose to develop your service in, just becoming exceedingly good at it.  Research, practice, mentoring, up-skilling – whatever it takes. Just get really good at whatever it is you choose to do.

Tip #6: Make Some Noise

Let everyone you know and everyone that you don’t know what you do and how you do it. In this information age, making noise has never been easier. Start a Facebook Page and a Twitter account and share your passion with the on-line community. In the real world, talk to family, friends, local networking groups, businesses, basically anyone who will listen.

Community Announcement

It is important that you don’t swing too far to the left when being unique because when it comes down to it, it your market that decides your ultimate success. Zagging is all well and good but if you freak people out then that’s not so good for business. Know your market, test all the aspects of your business and you can have the freedom to not only have a business that is unique but one that pays the bills as well.

What makes you business unique? What are you doing to Zag?

I would love to know your thoughts (and I would also love to get your feedback on the new site layout – just my little effort in the zagging stakes).

Cheers

Rick :-)

Important Update:  If you are sick and tired of getting lost in the crowd and being just another personal trainer, you can now stop worrying. How To Rock Your PT Business is a new program I have developed to make you stand out form the crowd and become a fitness celebrity in your local community. Check it out…

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, swearing personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books and holds live workshops for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to blog here and get your weekly dose of goodness delivered straight to your inbox.

]]> http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/how-to-zag/feed/ 6 http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/8-big-mistakes-personal-trainers-make-on-their-website/ http://ptbusinessinabox.com.au/8-big-mistakes-personal-trainers-make-on-their-website/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:01:54 +0000 ptadmin