Set and forget fitness marketing systems are the holy grail of personal trainer business marketing. The words "set and forget" almost scream passive income which is every PT's dream, but most passive income advice rarely lives up to the name.
When you read or watch most set & forget marketing advice it normally involves some kind of costly software or the need to hire someone to do some of the work for you and let's be honest, that's not always financially feasible for a PT in years 1, 2 and 3 of business.
In this blog we're going to talk about some either free or very low cost (under $50) set and forget fitness marketing systems that are as "set and forget" as they could possibly be. By that, I mean I won't insult your intelligence by saying you won't need to do some maintenance work, but it will be very little.
The set and forget fitness marketing systems we're going to talk about are.
In this blog we're going to talk about some either free or very low cost (under $50) set and forget fitness marketing systems that are as "set and forget" as they could possibly be. By that, I mean I won't insult your intelligence by saying you won't need to do some maintenance work, but it will be very little.
The set and forget fitness marketing systems we're going to talk about are.
- Search Engine Optimiation (SEO)
- Social Media
- Website Layout
Set & Forget SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of optimising your fitness website so that it appears higher in Google when a user searches for your service in your location.
For example, if a potential client in London decided they're ready to invest in personal training services, they might go to Google and type in the search bar:
"Personal Trainer London"
Google would then show the user a list of the best possible results the Google search bots (spiders) can find. Like so...
For example, if a potential client in London decided they're ready to invest in personal training services, they might go to Google and type in the search bar:
"Personal Trainer London"
Google would then show the user a list of the best possible results the Google search bots (spiders) can find. Like so...
A well optimised site is a site that makes it easy for the Google spiders to understand what your website is about. To understand how to optimise your personal trainer website we need to look at why Google shows certain sites more than others.
Googles goal is to provide the searcher with the best possible, most relevant and trusted result possible so that the user continues to use Google.
More users equals more audience.
More audience to show ads to.
THAT is where Google makes its money. Delivering adverts from companies to the users. Ads like this:
In order to show the best possible, most relevant and trusted results Google uses an algorithm which dictates where a website should position in Google based on thousands of variables.
Some of these variables we, the website owner, have control over and these are the variables we're going to talk about today.
Page Title
The name you give your page is still a huge factor for Google. The title of your page tells Google exactly what that page is about so using keyword specific titles will help your website to rank higher.
Example page title
For example, naming your services page:
"Personal Training Services in London"
Describes your page much better than:
"Services"
The H1 Tag
The H1 tag is your header one. This is the heading that goes at the very top of your page to tell the reader what they're about to read.
Most website builders leave this is out and assign your titles with a H2 tag, so you might need to add a H1 tag using an HTML element. Sounds scary but it just looks like this in the element:
<H1>Your Page Title</H1>
Of course, on the published website you won't see the ugly tags on each side of the header. Be sure to use only ONE Header 1 and again, try to use your keyword or a variation of your keyword in your Header 1.
Example Header 1
The H2 Tag
This is the heading most website builders will give you by default. If Header 1 is your most important header, the header 2 is the second most important.
You can have as many header 2's as you like and use a different variation of your keyword in each.
Website Copy
Your website copy should be for your readers first and for SEO second. When I SEO a website I wrote the copy for the reader first and then go back to SEO it.
When I SEO it I simply add an instance of the keyword in the first paragraph and last paragraph on the page.
I might also add variations of the keyword several times within the copy of there are enough words on that particular page (1,000+)
Multimedia
Pages with images and videos seem to rank much better than pages without. But Google can't "read" images and videos so be sure to give your images a caption and name your embedded videos with a keyword.
For example, an image of you could use the caption:
"Personal Trainer London"
Because you're a personal trainer in London.
A video of you training a client could be titled:
"Personal Training in London"
You can read more about SEO for YouTube here: How to Get More YouTube Visitors
Links
Links are a two way strategy that might be the most important factor in your Google ranking efforts.
Links from your page to authority sites help your page rank but more importantly, links from authority sites to your site will massively boost your rankings in Google quicker than any other strategy.
It's too big a topic to cover here but I'd recommend reading up on it using these resources:
Social Sharing
Since the rise of social networks, social signals are now another important ranking factor.
Social signals are likes, tweets and shares of your page. These signals tell Google that your page is liked. Which means it can more than likely be trusted.
For example, the more likes, tweets and shares I get in these boxes below, the more Google will trust this page and rank it in Google. So go ahead a share it with a friend you think it might help. You'll be making the world a better place :)
Set & Forget Social Media
Meet Edgar is a social media management app with a twist. It enables the user to recycle old posts.
Now, in an ideal world, you'd spend your days manually posting on Facebook as this has been shown to get higher engagement than posting from an app, you'd spend your time engaging with users on Twitter to build your reputation and you'd have something new to post in your Facebook group every day.
But in reality this is very time consuming and you've got clients to train. Plus, there's only so much networking you can do before you look and feel like an Internet pirate.
Here's where Meet Edgar comes in.
Create loads of content. At least 3 months worth. This content could be inspirational, funny and motivational quotes and memes, informative posts and tips and promotional posts that link to your content.
Arrange all of this content in to categories in Meet Edgar and create a posting schedule. Here are my categories on Meet Edgar:
Now, in an ideal world, you'd spend your days manually posting on Facebook as this has been shown to get higher engagement than posting from an app, you'd spend your time engaging with users on Twitter to build your reputation and you'd have something new to post in your Facebook group every day.
But in reality this is very time consuming and you've got clients to train. Plus, there's only so much networking you can do before you look and feel like an Internet pirate.
Here's where Meet Edgar comes in.
Create loads of content. At least 3 months worth. This content could be inspirational, funny and motivational quotes and memes, informative posts and tips and promotional posts that link to your content.
Arrange all of this content in to categories in Meet Edgar and create a posting schedule. Here are my categories on Meet Edgar:
And this is the posting schedule:
Now sit back and let Meet Edgar post to all of your social networks. The app will recycle old posts and if you add new posts it will show them first.
Now, new fans and followers or old fans who didn't see the previous post, get to see some of the work they previously wouldn't have seen.
Does it work? I'll let you decide. Here are my Twitter stats after a few months of Meet Edgar:
Now, new fans and followers or old fans who didn't see the previous post, get to see some of the work they previously wouldn't have seen.
Does it work? I'll let you decide. Here are my Twitter stats after a few months of Meet Edgar:
And here are my Facebook stats from the beginning of the year, about 2 months with the app:
We don't affiliate with meet Edgar nor any other companies so my advice to check out the app is 100% genuine.
But what if you don't have content?
Well, you can either sit down and spend some time creating it yourself or hire someone like me to create the initial 3 months of content for you.
Once you're set up, the maintenance is low and you can add more posts as and when you need to. Eventually you'll have a whole years worth of content and you never have to worry about it again.
Set & Forget Website Layout
This section was going to be titled Set & Forget Email Autoresponders but there’s already so much info out there on this and so little info on how an effective website layout can be one of your best set and forget marketing systems that I decided Website Layout would be more original and therefore more helpful to you.
Your website layout is the position of certain elements like text, titles, images, videos, social media and calls to action on the pages of your personal trainer website.
Most people, especially personal trainers who take it upon themselves to design their own website, don’t think twice about adding an email sign up box, a Facebook like button and a call to action to purchase fitness services all on one page. Particularly the home page. Like this:
Your website layout is the position of certain elements like text, titles, images, videos, social media and calls to action on the pages of your personal trainer website.
Most people, especially personal trainers who take it upon themselves to design their own website, don’t think twice about adding an email sign up box, a Facebook like button and a call to action to purchase fitness services all on one page. Particularly the home page. Like this:
If I was looking for a personal trainer and I landed on this site, I'd have no idea where to go first. It takes time to figure this mess out.
It’s easy to see WHY one might do this. After all, your home page is your most visited page and we wouldn’t want to lose a lead, right.
The only trouble here is that the page isn’t’ optimised for the typer of lead that would be landing on that page.
For example, the home page is for COLD leads, the services page is for a call to action. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Home Page
The home page is for COLD leads. People who land on this page typically come from Google. If you rank on page one on Google (from using the advice in the SEO section of this blog) a user who lands here is more than likely interested in your personal training services because they searched for them.
So your home page should contain a huge headline that is similar to what the user might have typed in to Google. Something like:
“Personal Trainer London”
This confirms to the visitor that they are in the right place.
There should be no desperate attempts to get them to like your page, join your FB group or sign up to your list. Even if a really convincing marketing guru told you to do so! Why? Why would they give a crap about that when they know nothing about you or your company? Right now, you’re a nobody to them.
The next logical step for someone in a rush (and most people THINK they're busy) is to see if they can afford it. So your first call to action should be to invite the website visitor to do that. The secondary step for people who REALLY think they're in a rush is a call to action to get in touch.
Pricing/Services Page
A user who makes it to this page is obviously looking for pricing info so this is one of the first things they should see. There’s a huge debate on the marketing world as to whether you should list your personal trainer prices. I say yes and here’s why:
5 Reasons You Should List Your Personal Training Prices
The first thing the visitor will do is decide whether the pricing they can see aligns with the budget they had in mind.
If yes, they'll likely have questions. Below the pricing add 5 or 6 of the most common questions you get asked by clients with answers. These people will then either get in touch or continue scrolling.
If no, they'll either drop out of the site (a lost lead which you can retarget with valuable info later) or their curiosity will guide them further down the page.
That's where ethical bribe, usually in the form of an eBook, should be. Your eBook should promise to solve a problem you know your website visitors are having.
Visitors who request that info could then be sent a series of auto responders that convert them from a lead to a client.
Blog
The blog pages are to drive traffic. This can be done by adding a link from social media sites to your blog pages, sending informative blogs to your email subscribers or creating ads.
You can then track users who move from the blog page to the Pricing page and retarget them on Facebook later.
About/Contact Page
The About and Contact pages on the website like are for building trust and explaining processes by providing info, transparency and ultimately encouraging them to make contact.
Notice how no where on those pages have we asked the website visitor to hand over any money. That’s because you’re not running an eCommerce site like Amazon. You’re running a brochure site that is designed to convert visitors to leads.
Unless you either have a HUGE reputation or an even bigger social following, no one will likely buy straight from your site without talking to you or a company representative first. How do I know? Have YOU ever bought directly from the site of a person you didn’t know like or trust?
The main takeaway from this exercise is to get you thinking about the purpose of your individual pages, optimising those pages for the user who will be visiting it and removing any distractions to improve your website layout.
Something I see often is a newsletter sign up, a Facebook like box or other desperate attempt to connect in completely unnecessary places. One page, one purpose.
Your Set & Forget Fitness Marketing Systems
These are my top 3 set and forget fitness marketing systems. What set and forget marketing system would you like to share with the world. Add it in the comments!
