Hey, gym owners, let’s have a chat about your website. You know, the one that you’ve been using since 2010. We’re here to tell you that it’s time for an upgrade.
We get it, you’re in the noble trade of making people better versions of themselves. You’re not in web design. But today is the day when we help you create your own professional website - it’s never been easier!
There’s a wide variety of website builders to choose from.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to three favorite site builders to make your gym website, and we’ll share a few ideas to help you construct your new and improved gym website.
How To Visualize and Build Your Site
Just like you visualize your next bench press max, you can visualize how your site will appear and function. So grab a sheet of paper and jot down a few notes about what features you want your site to have. You can even sketch the rough layout of your site and get an idea of how you want your site to appear.
It’s a good idea to take a look at your competitors’ sites. After you do this, think about a site that rivals theirs in appearance and function. For instance, if your competitors have a booking function, visitors to their site will find it convenient. If your site doesn’t have a booking function, visitors might prefer the more convenient competitor over you.
If your site looks sloppy, and site visitors struggle to find your hours of operation and location, chances are they won’t be interested in becoming your client. For site visitors to immediately start doing pushups after visiting your site, you must clearly communicate how to contact you and your location.
You’ll need a site that creates more value than your competitors' sites. Luckily, you can build a better site by using a no-code website builder. Tools like this require no technical or coding skills. They have drag-and-drop interfaces that let you cobble together a professional-looking site that can rival one built by an MIT Computer Science Pro.
We’ve selected three no-code website builders you can use to build your site:
Adalo
Adalo is useful as both a website builder and an app builder. The website builder is so user-friendly that you can zoom out and see all the pages you’re building in one place. You can quickly navigate to each page from this screen and build out each page with Adalo’s drag-and-drop interface.
What Makes Adalo Ideal
- Adalo has several fitness templates that are preloaded with built-in features. You can also find a dedicated webpage that will guide you through building a health and fitness app, perfect if you’re starting from scratch!
- Users have built over 1 million apps and sites using Adalo. If you have questions about how to add certain features or would like to see other gym apps, check out the Made In Adalo page, and you’ll find a large selection of Adalo-made apps to get your creative juices flowing.
- Adalo has integrations with thousands of apps and features, including Zapier, Google, Stripe, Square, and much much more. You can design your app to send emails to clients, tailor workout plans as a perk for premium clients, take bookings, and even receive payments.
Pricing
Adalo’s pricing starts at $36/month.
Wix
Wix lets you build your site quickly and with ease. You can find a huge range of professionally designed templates on Wix. As a person building a gym website, you'll find Wix’s wide selection of sports and wellness website templates super useful. When you pick a sleek website template from Wix, you’ll save time. This will give you more opportunities to help your clients reach their fitness goals.
What Makes Wix Ideal For Building Your Gym’s Site
- Do you have a site design of your own and don’t care for Wix’s templates? Then Wix is right up your alley, because it also gives you the option to build your site from scratch. Just upload the pictures or videos you want to use and start building.
- Unsure if using Wix is the best option for you? Wix offers a limited free trial for 14 days, so you can start building your site to see if Wix is a good fit for you. If not, you can cancel free of charge.
- Wix has a large selection of add-ons and plugins that you can feature on your site. These functions enable you to sell your merchandise, make bookings, and track inventory. Wix has got your back.
Pricing
While it offers a Basic Plan at $16/month with very limited features, you’ll need to subscribe to its Business Plan at $23/month to get full access to Wix’s useful plugins.
Squarespace
While Squarespace offers fewer templates than Wix, it does offer sleek and aesthetically pleasing features that you can use to build an eye-catching website. Squarespace’s drag-and-drop interface is very responsive and intuitive, and it will allow you to build your gym site quickly.
What Makes Squarespace Ideal to Build Your Gym’s Site
- Don’t worry about optimizing your desktop site to a mobile version. Squarespace will automatically create a mobile version of your site from your desktop version, saving you even more time. All you need to do is click on the mobile icon, and a mobile version will be created
- Squarespace is integrated with several functions to support e-commerce. If you sell merchandise or process membership payments online, Squarespace has features that will make this a whole lot easier.
- Did you get locked out of your account and can’t find your way back in? Squarespace offers 24/7 live chat support. They’ll be able to get you back into your account or help you solve any issue you have in no time at all.
Pricing
Squarespace’s Personal Plan starts at $14/month, but to get the full e-commerce feature shebang, you’ll have to sign up for their Advanced Commerce Plan at $49/month.
Must Haves for Your Site
After committing to your site builder of choice, it’s time for the fun stuff. Start building up your site. While you can design your site to your unique taste, you’ll need to include the following features to convince site visitors to come to your gym for a consultation:
1. Contact Information, Location, and Booking
Your gym’s location and contact number should be at the top of every page on your site. Always provide quick navigation to a contact form. You can do this by putting a “Contact Us for A Consultation” button on every page.
If site visitors have a difficult time contacting you or finding your location, they’ll go to one of your competitors.
Use a no-code app builder like Adalo to create a unique booking function for quick consultations. Site visitors and clients can download your app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store or access the booking function from your gym’s site.
Curious people booking consultations aren’t the only ones who will enjoy the convenience of your booking app. Your regular clients will love the ease of booking personal training sessions or reserving a spot in a group class.
2. Highlight the Customer Experience
Highlight the fun and enjoyable atmosphere your gym brings to clients by featuring videos of satisfied clients working out and enjoying your facilities. Then, encourage clients to write positive testimonials and publish some of these on your site.
Positive reviews and watching current clients enjoy your facilities will reassure site visitors that joining your gym will be money well spent.
3. Share Your Expertise With A Blog or Videos
Once a month, write blog articles that provide useful and actionable information about health and fitness topics. You can write about recovery after lifting heavy, the importance of hydration, or protein intake for muscle gain.
The main purpose of these articles is to provide your readers with value-rich information about health and fitness while establishing yourself as an expert on the topics.
Want to create easy-to-consume and highly valuable content? Make instructional videos every few weeks and cover topics best illustrated by video narration. You can talk about correct lifting techniques or how to properly load weights onto a bar, there’s so much that you could share!
Emphasizing the fundamentals of lifting might help ease any feelings of intimidation that beginners feel about joining your gym because you’re willing to guide them through and show them the ropes.
Next Steps
Once you get your site up and running, you’ve got to maintain it. It’s important to stay consistent and publish a blog that shows readers your expertise at least once a month.
Add a handful of positive comments from your happy clients to your homepage, and don’t forget to make minor changes to your site’s appearance and layout once a year.
A beautiful website will impress site visitors and give them a good reason to show up at your gym. Your gym’s facilities and its overall client experience are the main things that draw people to your gym. But an eye-catching website that inspires people to throw on some trainers and run to your gym will help you grow your gym memberships.
