As a personal trainer, you do life-changing work in the most literal sense. You help people to reconnect with their spouses, to develop the confidence to apply for promotions, you even help extend the length and improve the quality of their lives.
But it’s easy to get caught up in the details of our day to day work, so when it comes time to writing for yourself, to showcase all the extraordinary things you do for people, it’s easy to draw a blank.
Here are some actionable tips around what you can do to make your personal trainer website work a little harder for you. To make your fitness writing more exciting and compelling. And to show people that you are the right choice to help them to live longer, happier lives.
Finding Fitness Content Ideas
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You don’t need to come up with unique ideas continually. It would be almost impossible to keep that rate of production up. But you can use other people’s writing for inspiration or repurpose your old content.
1. Find Content Ideas
For every hour you spend writing something useful, you will spend around another hour properly researching it. Making sure that your audience wants to read what you write will be a crucial step to getting enough people to visit your website, consume your content, and share it with their friends.
2. Use Existing Content as Inspiration
Check out the magazine covers in supermarkets to get a feel for what topics are popular with your demographic at the moment. You absolutely should not plagiarise the content of that article, but you can use it for inspiration. How could you explain that idea better, or put your own perspective on that topic in a way that would work well for your audience?
3. Get Ideas From Social Media
Using social media outlets such as Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags or explore pages, or even question boxes to ask your audience directly can be perfect ways to get a feel for what they’re interested in reading about before you start writing.
1. Find Content Ideas
For every hour you spend writing something useful, you will spend around another hour properly researching it. Making sure that your audience wants to read what you write will be a crucial step to getting enough people to visit your website, consume your content, and share it with their friends.
2. Use Existing Content as Inspiration
Check out the magazine covers in supermarkets to get a feel for what topics are popular with your demographic at the moment. You absolutely should not plagiarise the content of that article, but you can use it for inspiration. How could you explain that idea better, or put your own perspective on that topic in a way that would work well for your audience?
3. Get Ideas From Social Media
Using social media outlets such as Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags or explore pages, or even question boxes to ask your audience directly can be perfect ways to get a feel for what they’re interested in reading about before you start writing.
4. Google Keyword Planner
You can use free tools such as the Google Keyword Planner to discover what people are searching for online. There are also paid tools which are a little more sophisticated, such as SEMRush. The idea here is that by doing your research on what your prospective personal training clients want to read about, your content will perform well once it’s written.
Understanding your audience is a massive part of having content that performs well for you. Once you know who reads your website, you’ll be able to write for that particular person. You’ll be able to use the sort of language that they would use to talk about a topic.
When your website is written this way - full of topics your audience cares about, written in a way that they would talk about those topics, and with meaningful solutions to problems they have - the greater the chances they will buy personal training services from you. You’ll be the trainer that gets them.
You can use free tools such as the Google Keyword Planner to discover what people are searching for online. There are also paid tools which are a little more sophisticated, such as SEMRush. The idea here is that by doing your research on what your prospective personal training clients want to read about, your content will perform well once it’s written.
Understanding your audience is a massive part of having content that performs well for you. Once you know who reads your website, you’ll be able to write for that particular person. You’ll be able to use the sort of language that they would use to talk about a topic.
When your website is written this way - full of topics your audience cares about, written in a way that they would talk about those topics, and with meaningful solutions to problems they have - the greater the chances they will buy personal training services from you. You’ll be the trainer that gets them.
Fitness Writing Tips
The return on investment for written content on your website is enormous. A compelling, personal copy which helps your audience to connect with you immediately. Interesting, story-driven content which illustrates all the ways you can help your reader. It gives a return on investment that sometimes can last for years.
5. Write for 5 year Olds
When writing your own content, aim for clarity. Don’t try to be witty or funny if that makes your point harder to understand. Ask yourself these questions if you aren’t sure:
If you need help with this, you can use a free web editor called Hemingway to check the reading age and complexity of your ideas. Simple is usually better.
5. Write for 5 year Olds
When writing your own content, aim for clarity. Don’t try to be witty or funny if that makes your point harder to understand. Ask yourself these questions if you aren’t sure:
- Does this sentence make sense, or do I need to clarify?
- Does the following sentence flow on from it?
- Can I edit it to be shorter?
If you need help with this, you can use a free web editor called Hemingway to check the reading age and complexity of your ideas. Simple is usually better.
6. Nail the Headline
Write a clear and compelling headline for your blog article so that someone will know from scan reading it whether they want to continue. Headlines take some work; they’re not as easy as they first seem. This is one of those areas where practice pays off.
Similarly, sub-headlines will give your reader the chance to quickly skim read your content and know where they’d like to read more carefully. Use them to hook your reader in by being straightforward.
7. Organise your Content
Keeping related ideas together in paragraphs will help to organise your thoughts. Aim for around 3 sentences per paragraph. These shorter paragraphs keep your reader engaged and moving through the article, not scared off by big blocks off text.
One of the most efficient ways to do this is to use bullet points. As the reader scans the document, they’re more likely to stop and pay attention to your bullets because they’re short and precise. You could use them to summarise the main ideas you want your reader to remember.
8. Write Like You Talk
Write conversationally, without feeling like you need to include big words to impress anyone. The content on your personal trainer website is aimed at your clients, not other personal trainers, so it needs to be something they can understand. If your visitor can learn something each time they visit your website, you’re delivering plenty of valuable content.
9. Link to Authority Resources
That said, don’t be afraid to provide links to other resources if people want to learn more. Those links can be to other articles on your website, or external sites for reference like in the blog of one of our Managed Website and Fitness Writing client below:
7. Organise your Content
Keeping related ideas together in paragraphs will help to organise your thoughts. Aim for around 3 sentences per paragraph. These shorter paragraphs keep your reader engaged and moving through the article, not scared off by big blocks off text.
One of the most efficient ways to do this is to use bullet points. As the reader scans the document, they’re more likely to stop and pay attention to your bullets because they’re short and precise. You could use them to summarise the main ideas you want your reader to remember.
8. Write Like You Talk
Write conversationally, without feeling like you need to include big words to impress anyone. The content on your personal trainer website is aimed at your clients, not other personal trainers, so it needs to be something they can understand. If your visitor can learn something each time they visit your website, you’re delivering plenty of valuable content.
9. Link to Authority Resources
That said, don’t be afraid to provide links to other resources if people want to learn more. Those links can be to other articles on your website, or external sites for reference like in the blog of one of our Managed Website and Fitness Writing client below:
This is an excellent way to provide how-to information without overloading your reader with technical details.
10. Don't Hold Back
Give the reader everything they need and don’t be tempted to hold back information for “when they buy”. There’s so much guidance available for free online; no one is paying for information. People invest in a personal trainer for implementation, so don’t feel frightened to give them your best advice for free.
10. Don't Hold Back
Give the reader everything they need and don’t be tempted to hold back information for “when they buy”. There’s so much guidance available for free online; no one is paying for information. People invest in a personal trainer for implementation, so don’t feel frightened to give them your best advice for free.
Presenting Your Content
11. Use Images
Use the right images to break up your writing but also to help make your point more clear. As a personal trainer, you might support your written content with before and after images. We already mentioned the importance of paragraphing ideas together, but choosing a clear, easy to read font will be important too.
If you have your own images, these are best as visitors to your site seem to find them more authentic and relatable. Be warned though, if you don’t have your photos yet, don’t just save pictures from a Google search. These are often licensed and not available for use.
If you need relevant stock images, you can try these sites:
If you have a Pro Canva subscription, you can also find plenty of stock photos in their photo library to suit your needs.
Use the right images to break up your writing but also to help make your point more clear. As a personal trainer, you might support your written content with before and after images. We already mentioned the importance of paragraphing ideas together, but choosing a clear, easy to read font will be important too.
If you have your own images, these are best as visitors to your site seem to find them more authentic and relatable. Be warned though, if you don’t have your photos yet, don’t just save pictures from a Google search. These are often licensed and not available for use.
If you need relevant stock images, you can try these sites:
If you have a Pro Canva subscription, you can also find plenty of stock photos in their photo library to suit your needs.
12. Pick a Font
Typography is a deciding factor in whether people will read what you’ve written. Picking a font that works well both on a desktop and also a mobile device will be essential. Finally, choosing a colour scheme which is high contrast and easy to read can be a useful way to help the eye comfort of your reader.
Wrapping Up
When it comes to reaching your potential customers, the topics you discuss, the way you express yourself and the visual experience all will play a part in their decision to come back for more.
If you decide that you would instead get some help with your writing, we do offer a done for you fitness writing service for both websites and content. Websites and blog content are both optimised for SEO. You’re left with a professional website, loaded with crisp, persuasive copy.
If you decide that you would instead get some help with your writing, we do offer a done for you fitness writing service for both websites and content. Websites and blog content are both optimised for SEO. You’re left with a professional website, loaded with crisp, persuasive copy.
