Website traffic is important, but an element often overlooked by small businesses is the rate of conversion. A website conversion is when a visitor to your site becomes a customer. There are a number of factors that can be changed on your website to increase this conversion rate.

1.  Make it easy for the visitor

The online world is a competitive place and users will make instinctive, snap decisions. Online is an environment where ease of use is fundamental. Consider the following elements to ensure your user can navigate easily through your website.

• Ensure your website works on a range of browsers and mobile devices
• Avoid the use of Flash in the sales process
• Have a clear visual hierarchy
• Use strong, clear Calls to Action and avoid jargon
• Eliminate competing elements on one page
• Make the purpose of the website obvious
• Establish clear routes and actions you want the user to take

2. Get Social proof

As human beings we don’t like to act in isolation, particularly if we are feeling vulnerable or uncertain. Online is still an environment where people are hesitant to make decisions and purchases. It is therefore vital that your website establishes trust. A great way of doing this is to get other people to help you. Some examples are:

• Show your social following; Facebook / Twitter etc
• Highlight testimonials from clients of your services
• Use photographs to show you have a real business with real people
• Show any awards or recognition your business has had
• Incorporate any media or press coverage your or your business has had

3. Less is more

As mentioned in point one, ease of use and usability is key online. As business owners we often want to demonstrate what we do through reams of words. This often distracts form the buying process. In today’s online world less is more, try using more of these elements:

• Imagery and video – bold photography and video can tell a very strong story
• Bullet points – rather than paragraphs of text, highlight key points
• Clear visual heirachy – use colours and fonts to highlight key elements
• Tone of voice – establish a use of language that builds a personality and engages the visitor
• Forms – limit the number of fields you ask people to complete

1. Puts you in control

Gone are the days when as a small business you need to pay for a website developer to change a word or add an image.

WordPress has an extremely powerful and intuitive content management system that enables business owners to manage every aspect of their website.

Once you have a WordPress website you are able to add and edit pages and blog posts, add imagery, add videos, edit all text and reply to comments.

WordPress even has an application that enables you to manage all content simply and safely from your mobile device. The WordPress CMS is very easy to use and there are a wealth of help tutorials on the WordPress website and across the internet.

2. Gives you powerful data

Your WordPress website really can become the hub of your business as it enables you to drive growth and develop services.

One of the strengths of WordPress is its intuative usability. These features make it very user-friendly and even extend to the Analytics plug-ins that are available.

This makes it easy to see how many visits your website gets, which content people are reading, where they come from and how they got to the site. This is extremely powerful management data that can play a key role in developing your business and services.

3. WordPress is liked by Search Engines

WordPress is structured in such a way that it delivers strong search engine optimisation (SEO) as standard. There is even a range of plug-ins that are available that enable you to improve your visibility to Google and other search engines. The Analytics plug-in will also show you which Search Engines visitors are coming from and the terms they use.

4. Easy to grow your website

WordPress has been built by a worldwide community of developers. It is a platform that is designed to be continually extended and improved.

This is done in the form of plug-ins, which are small applications that you can add to your WordPress website to fulfil pretty much any function.

These plug-ins range from social integration, to advanced security, e-commerce and advertising. Making best use of these plug-ins enables your website and business to grow rapidly and cost effectively.

5. Gives you a chance of keeping up with technology

In a fast changing world it is good to know that you are not alone. As mentioned above WordPress is created and developed by a huge network of developers ensuring that there is always a solution to a problem. This is perfect for an arena that moves so quickly. This means your business will be able to react to changes and trends without the need for large expenditure outlays. It also gives you the peace of mind of knowing that as far as can ever be the case the platform is secure, robust and stable.

Black Line London is a collective of like minded souls who share a passion for Triathlon, Music, Laughter and Life. Black Line London contacted Size Digital when they started their quest to build a truly digital and active online home to share stories, knowledge and support, even if the members were continents apart.

We worked with their team to put together a website and online offering that reflected the ethos of the Black Line London brand and technology view. The site is very clean and easy to navigate and makes great use of multimedia such as imagery, video and audio. The site is extremely scalelable and will grow as the group grows. The group share a passion for music and that will play a big part in the development of the site.

The website is a community site and we have set up the infrastructure to enable members to manage all of the content through WordPress, even enabling the site content to be managed from a smart phone or tablet device via an app.

Visit the Black Line London website for the full details of what we have delivered or check out our New Website Package page for details of how you can take advantage of this great value offering.

I recently wrote an article on using Instagram to grow your Personal Training business which proved a big success.  Shortly afterwards I saw this photo on Facebook from the guys at TB Conditioning and was struck by just how powerful photography can be in telling our stories and selling our services in the fitness industry.

Show the Benefits

Our job involves working with people, often to change their appearance and lives, the extent and impact of the change can be difficult to get across in words.  As Personal Trainers we often try to find hundreds of words to explain what we have helped clients achieve when often one image will do.

What we love about the photo above is that it tells the whole story, will engage and motivate existing and prospective clients and was self shot and created.

Share the Story

Devices such as smart phones and tablets and social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest have empowered individuals and small businesses to take, promote and leverage their own photography. This is great for Personal Trainers as it requires little or no budget, the primary investment being your time.

The ability to add multi-media such as photography and video so easily is one of the reasons we are so passionate about WordPress, as we know how this content can transform not just your website but your business.  Are you using imagery strategically on your website to engage and motivate? The homepage and key landing pages should be using imagery to convey the benefits of your services.

Grow your Following

Have a think about what stories you can tell about how your business benefits people. Here are a few to get you started; before and after photos, meal of the week, exercise of the week, client of the month.

The added benefit of the above categories are that in conjunction with social media sites you can use these to organise competitions, encourage social sharing, grow your network and attract new clients through your website.

]]> http://www.sizedigital.com/using-photography-to-grow-your-pt-business/feed/ 0 http://www.sizedigital.com/instagram-for-your-personal-training-business/ http://www.sizedigital.com/instagram-for-your-personal-training-business/#comments Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:23:29 +0000 Simon Burden http://www.sizedigital.com/?p=1926

Let Images Tell Your Story

Personal Training is a business that creates many powerful and personal stories. Many of these stories are best told visually.

Whether it’s a new exercise, a “Before and After” weight loss photo, your favoured food choices or piece of kit – photos can communicate your business benefits with awesome power.

Over the last 12 months Instagram has become the photo taking and sharing app of choice. It is available for iPhone and Android and was recently acquired by Facebook for $715m, which shows its growth potential.

This brilliant free app, easy to install can be used to both take and share photos. It comes with some cool filters which enable you to develop a unique style to your photography.

Instagram makes it so easy to share your photos on Twitter and Facebook. Your photographic handy-work can be easily posted onto your WordPress website, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter Feed.

How Does Your Business Benefit?

As with most forms of with Social Media, Instagram can be used to showcase your expertise and particular view point. Linking back to your website is key - driving your Instagram followers to your website to find out more about your services – increasing website traffic.

Through this exchange of knowledge it is possible to build a following who are loyal and have trust in what you say.

To take your Instagram marketing efforts to the next level, try using hashtags relating directly to your brand or subject area. Using hashtags is a great way of sharing your personal view or way of doing something and then inviting your followers to do the same, using the same hashtag. You can quite quickly create a following around the use of a strong hashtag.

We’d strongly recommend visiting the App or Android Stores and downloading Instagram to start sharing your Personal Training stories with the world.

We have been involved in the LDN Muscle project through the initial conceptual stage to the website launch last month. We have worked with the four founding contributors to establish a brand identity, website design and build  and digital communications strategy.

This combination of services enabled the LDN Muscle site to get thousands of views on its first day and to continue to grow since through a comprehensive inbound marketing campaign using the LDN Muscle website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We will continue to work with LDN Muscle to develop the functionality of the website, the scope of the marketing strategy and to develop revenue streams.

Visit the LDN Muscle website.