“Ready, Shoot, Aim”
I remember when I first met one of my mentors, that was one of the first things he said to me. To be honest I don’t think I really even noticed at first he wasn’t saying, “Ready, Aim, shoot.” We are all conditioned to take way too much time working out the details, making sure it’s perfect, calculating and worrying about the “what if’s”, being afraid, and procrastinating. Do yourself a favour and listen to the words that I’m passing on from my mentor.
“Ready, Shoot, Aim”
Don't worry about the bullseye, Ready, Shoot, Aim!
Simply put that e-book you’ve been writing but haven’t shared with anyone, share it, today, right now, don’t even finish this post go email it to your list.
If you’ve been thinking about starting a bootcamp, group personal training sessions, a new class, lecture, whatever, do it. Stop reading right now and go book time in your schedule to work out the basic frame work and then do it. If you wait to solve every problem someone else will either beat you to the punch or you will simply never get it done. And for those of you that are like me (highly type A, total control freak, absolute perfectionist) no matter how much planning you go through if you ever do go ahead with it it’s still going to be plagued by problems anyways.
One of the biggest secrets to the continual rapid growth and success of One-to-1 Fitness is Ready, Shoot, Aim. When we launch a program we brainstorm, create a rough framework, and launch. Yes we have problems, yes we have some unhappy customers but accept it, do what it takes to make them happy. Offer high perceived value program add-ons, have the “oops” rewards you keep for times like this, use trial rates and offer money back guarantees.
Now of course as emotional creatures we all tend to think of extremes and that is the caveat to this conversation, do away with the terrible images of upset customers you have in your mind at this very moment. I’m not saying you should decide today that you want to fly an airplane and expect tomorrow to get a job with Westjet. What I am saying is that we all know what our strengths are when it comes to growing the business you want the number one thing standing in the way is you! If you want to progress by leaps and bounds pull the trigger sooner, whatever that next thing on your list is get it done and implement it. If you’re following the Profitable Personal Trainer than you are already one of the elite and whatever you do is going to be good. Once you see the problems in action they are not only easier to identify but usually easier to fix. With Ready, Shoot, Am it will be perfect sooner, trust me.
When Systems Fail
Milo my calculator operator could hardly believe the results either.
The following is an example of why it’s important to always remember to not only be a strong leader but an effective delegator. Sounds easy but do you truly know the difference between delegation and abdication?
Yesterday was one of those days you really wish to avoid, but once you get past the frustration you are reminded of the value of failing forward. Yesterday was budget day at One-to-1 Fitness. Our first quarter has appeared to be every bit as successful as many months before, (with the exception of a little bit of a lull in March that many of you might also relate to.) However where sales and receivables appeared strong our bank account cash flow just seemed like it wasn’t totally adding up. The difference, well it was fairly significant, more than fifteen thousand dollars between our accounting records and our facility records. Certainly a significant amount over only one business quarter and enough to unravel any budget you have in place and are attempting to follow. Where did it go? How did this happen? What kind of problem were we facing?
Over the last three years at One-to-1 Fitness we have made it a habit to make each decision as though we’ll have to face the same scenario a hundred times or more. Than as we apply the solution it’s carefully documented as a step-by-step process and added to our operations manual. Every aspect of the business is treated the same way from the trainers and their responsibilities through to sales and administration. It can be trying at times but it is what has allowed us to go from 100 appointments a week to routinely over 500 appointments per week while maintaining a high level of customer service.
So unfortunately a planned budget meeting scheduled to last an hour now became a full scale nine hour audit lasting well past midnight, of sales and close outs. After hours of frustration, calculation and remembering why I never wanted to be an accountant I discovered all sorts of user errors in handling payments and refunds. Thankfully a number of them were data entry but after a gruelling evening about $3000 still remains unaccounted for. What would you do?
Well I thought about it for a while and then reminded myself that this was truly my fault, after all we had put what we felt was a good system in place but I had neglected to review it at regular intervals to ensure its accuracy. Key individuals will need to be reminded that it is their responsibility to make good decisions and point out areas that are not functioning correctly, as I have now reminded myself but as the captain it’s my job to review the systems and correct or adapt them as needed for better function and accuracy. And that is the difference between delegation and abdication. If your goal is to be ultra successful become comfortable with delegating and outsourcing as much as you possibly can so you can focus on your top 5%. Just be prepared to take responsibility and immediate action when things some time go astray.
Killer Classifieds and Ad Copy 101
I see so many crappy classifieds it’s unbelievable.
“Hi, I’m Shawn, I am a personal trainer, I will get you in shape, I was Hercules in the TV series for the last 14 years, and I won Mr. Some Obscure Place and was crowned king for a day and I charge $50.00/hr. Contact me here….”
Do your classifieds create a connection?
Does this look and sound familiar? What’s funny is I read this and it makes me think of my bodybuilding days and the stereotype of bodybuilders being these egotistical clowns that never leave the mirror. Anyways not only are these ads me centered they have absolutely no attraction point to your audience and as a result generate little to no response.
In one of the mastermind groups I have participated in the topic of discussion was “Why do people buy?” The following list summarizes the buying action very well:
• They’ll buy when they feel understood.
• They’ll buy when they are referred.
• They’ll buy when they see social proof.
• They’ll buy from people they know, like, or trust.
• They’ll buy from those who are authentic, because authenticity is the NEW currency.
When you are generating ad copy or content of any kind it’s really important to keep these things in mind and try to encompass as many as possible.
Specifically when it comes to writing ad copy the following is a list of criteria I subject pretty much all my copy to as an effort to rate its effectiveness. Writing ad copy is about connection and emotion, without that you got nothing.
What is important to customer?
Meaning, what is their pain? How do they feel about their current situation, being overweight, in danger of heart disease? Your headline and opening sentence should hook their interest based on what is important to them.
What do they need to learn?
Explain why it’s not their fault, it’s because they don’t know…help them understand what it is that they need to learn to achieve the success and good feelings they are looking for.
What are core elements to producing result?
Specifically what things will you teach them and focus on that will achieve the result. This is your spot to share your best knowledge and validate the above while earning their trust.
What do they want to hear? Provide the solution.
Here is where you get to deliver your pitch, explain the solution and specifically how you will provide, ensure or create that solution. It’s important to validate rather than brag, rather demonstrate your success but then show them how it’s absolutely attainable.
How much time do you spend working on your Top 5%?
Where do you spend your time?
There is one thing that certainly holds true when you are an entrepreneur or work for yourself. Expect the unexpected. I am sure you know what I mean, you wake up in the morning feeling excited to take the day head on. Maybe you have a bootcamp in the morning and a few clients to teach in the afternoon and a couple of errands to do. No big deal, pretty relaxing day, it’s nice outside and just when you are thinking you might have a good chunk of your afternoon free to enjoy the phone rings…
A vendor, a supplier, the insurance agency, your accountant, a new potential customer, an upset customer, whatever but suddenly you have 15 different things you didn’t expect to add to your list, so much for enjoying the afternoon.
Does this sound like you? This is common for many self-employed people, particularly when they are just getting started. You are likely an amazing technician when it comes to servicing your customers and handling all things scheduling when it comes to them, sadly you have just realized you are terrible at time management.
If this carries on it soon get’s even more difficult, because now when you get up in the morning you begin to procrastinate. All those crazy things that came up yesterday that you didn’t get done, well you don’t want to do them today either. So now checking email, heading to facebook and painting your toenails are all far more appealing then what you should be doing.
Here’s how to ensure you get more done each day…
Get yourself a bulletin board to hang in your office. You could also do this in a spreadsheet electronically but I highly recommend the billboard for a visible simple tool in the area where you most commonly work. At the top of the billboard add these categories in big letters:
“To-Do” – “My Top 5%” – “Doing” – “Done”
The truth is out of all those items in your growing to-do novel; it’s that small 5% of key items that is going to produce the biggest results. I can’t take credit for that labelling, this comes from my coach but I have learned well in these last three years just how true that title is. All of the things that need to get done should be posted in the to-do column. Each morning scan the to-do column for the key things, your top 5% and move them to the My Top 5% column and begin with the hardest one first. Always it’s these items that must garner your attention through to completion first. If it can’t be completed in a single day move it to the doing column and the next day begin in the doing column before going back to the next item in the top 5%.
As you complete items move them to the done column until the end of the week. Every Sunday night remove all the items from the done column, this is the setup and affirmation of how successful and productive last week was. (Or in some cases reminder that this week has to be better.)
It’s a constant visual transition that will help you maintain focus, set priorities and give you a virtual pat on the back when you do a good job!
What does Doggy Daycare have to do with Personal Training?
- What does Doggy Daycare have to do with Personal Training?
Last night my wife and I went to visit some really good friends of ours, they are solid gold the kind of people that would drive a hundred miles to help you in a snow storm just because. In fact when we first opened One-to-1 Fitness they put in countless hours with us on a volunteer basis just fixing the place up to finally get the doors open. Now nearly two years ago they took the big step to also open their own business. They are not personal trainers or even in the same industry. I have never met anyone more passionate about and better with animals, they began with sincerity, passion and a dream, a true foundation for success…they own a doggy daycare and provide pet supply and dog boarding.
Now here’s the really cool part, based on their natural affinity for animals they established their business with their sincerity alone but as growth has slowed it’s time to develop and learn to market the business to continue their stream of growth.
Now here is the really cool part, during our visit we began to discuss some ideas and quickly came to agree that most (if not all) the things I am telling you to do can be easily adapted to their business.
They asked me what little things they could do to really increase business. I started by looking at their website and plunking a few searches in Google. Now because I know many of you are in the same place with a very basic website this will be really useful for you too so I decided to post their ‘to-do’ list for you also.
First how do people find your website? Punch in a few keywords and phrases into Google and see if you can find your website on the first or second page. Keep a list of all of, what you think, would be the most likely words or phrases to find your business. Now here’s what you do in order of importance:
1) If you haven’t already, sign up for and download my free report, there is so much great step-by-step knowledge in here.
2) If you have a website (or if you don’t) and it’s not a blog look at www.wordpress.com and consider changing your website to a blog. Blogs are incredibly versatile, adaptable, super easy to manage and search engines love them. (About as hard as writing an email.) There are many free wordpress themes to choose from and when the time is right I can refer you to someone who can do a custom theme and really make it shine. (However more importantly would be to first buy optimized content which you can for about $5 US a page, 20-40 pages will drastically improve search term rankings, in fact I bet it would begin paying for itself in mere days.)
3) Buy a few keyword domains, for instance one of the high ranking search terms I use to find people like yourself is ‘Personal Trainer Certification’, you’ll notice if you type in www.ProfitablePersonalTrainerCertification.com you will end up right back here. Key word domains, any words or phrases someone would type in google to search for your business. Point these to your website; this is another inexpensive way I have gained local first page listings. If you live in a big city with multiple regions within your drive radius you can even buy a few domains that might allow those in neighbouring regions to find you a little easier.
4) Your page title, right now what does it say in the top right corner? If like my poor friends it says ‘Home’, change this ASAP. This is the first tag the robots will read, make sure it’s keyword rich, something you know a lot of people are searching for. (One of the ways you can test your key word phrases is by going to www.wordtracker.com and using the free service to see how popular searches are.)
5) You need an opt-in, something people can get off your website for free of high value to get leads and contacts, for me it’s my report, on our PT website it’s the free newsletter, building your list is mission critical. Always be developing your list and building your relationship with your list, just like I am doing with you each week. I gladly give you as much value as possible each week and hopefully at some point maybe we can do business together or I find a great product to tell you about hopefully you will consider buying it from me. For this you could use: www.icontact.com, www.aweber.com or www.1shoppingcart.com (to name a few) the first 2 are really simple, probably aweber is the best for simple, shoppingcart gives you the most options if you eventually want to sell online. (Selling online costs about $500 to setup and about $100/monthlyish)
6) Your website needs lots of content. Most of us start with a simple website that’s like, “hey here’s my website, now buy from me.” These kinds of websites get people’s attention for like 10 seconds and then they leave and never come back. For instance, why are you on the internet? If it’s not for Facebook it’s because you want to know something, the answer to a question. For your website to add to your business and create sales it needs to provide the answers. Add content (and ultimately value); teach your visitors something as chances are they came across you looking for answers not your services.
7) Facebook; fan pages are better than groups, something to do with the search engines, not to mention Faacebook has become the new word for procrastination, that’s where everyone is, go to the people. Every time you post something new on your website link it on your fan page and send the update to your fans under the edit page function. With a properly configured blog this can almost be entirely automated.
8) Offline, get client testimonials stick these on your window for people to read and then give complimentary businesses a discount coupon of some sort, something that seems really valuable to the customer but costs you next to nothing, the best items are consults or service trials (has to be more than 1 session though, create real value) these seem really valuable to the customer but have little physical cost.
These 8 things will easily create thousands of dollars in new sales, I could go on but I think I have given you enough to do. 🙂
Easter Eggin’ Affirmations
Don't forget to take time off for adventure!
Happy Easter Everyone! Easter is like my second favourite holiday of the year, next to Thanksgiving. You see I love these two holidays because they are the least about gifts and the most about families and friends coming together, time off work, great food, and most importantly –fun.
Fun, adventures and time off are a critical part of your continued success as a fitness professional or in any profession for that matter. Now people close to me reading this would probably make them chuckle, as I am known to be a highly focused, serious, work a lot kind of guy. But truth is in the last three years when I’ve began to experience the most success I’ve also: travelled more, taken more time off, and planned more big adventures. Yes in part because with a growing business more options become available but the bigger part has been just understanding how important time off and away is. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, or anything for that matter to qualify for a big adventure, I am more convinced than ever there are amazing things to see and do in your own city or within 1-2 hours drive.
Easter is one of those times, no matter what your situation is I suggest you take some time this weekend to spend doing anything other than work. Make sure you connect with family and friends and ask and listen to them talk about their lives; put yours on the shelf just for a little while. You will be amazed at how great you feel and how focused you are next week.
Now the next thing I want you to do after you have taken that break from your work, and your “typical” life, is to pull out a piece of paper and write yourself an affirmation. It doesn’t have to be long, but it should encompass whatever you main fears are. We all have them and it’s critical to face them. For example, my personality type is very much that of a highly analytical perfectionist. It’s a constant battle to remind myself that it’s ok if it’s not perfect. At times it has gotten the best of me and pushed my stress levels to the boiling point. In fact at one point it almost cost me my marriage and my business. So my affirmation goes something like:
“Today is going to be an awesome day, I am unable to make a wrong decision and whatever I do it will be the right thing, the right answer, and will be more than good enough.”
Now maybe this sounds corny to you, but to me the message that is sent to my subconscious is profound (as it will be to yours if you are true to yourself and write an affirmation about your fears.) The positive energy this has created within me has increased my productivity and ability to move forward in my business and my life exponentially. Start each day next week with your affirmation, promise me you will do this for 10 days and then come back and tell me if you have noticed a difference(here’s your chance to remind me I’m not perfect.) There is only one catch, it has to be one of the very first things you do when you open your eyes and you may need to say it, think it, a few times until you actually believe it.
Just trust me and do it! Happy Easter!
One of my favourite affirmation quotes:
“If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.” –Timothy Ferriss, from the 4 Hour Work Week
Books to read:
Feel the Fear and DO IT Anyways! – Susan Jeffers
Awakening the Entrepreneur Within – Michael Gerber
Obvious Adams the Story of a Successful Business Man – Robert Updegraff
Why do you do what you do?
Developing effective relationships will do more than improve your business.
Guest post by: Mr. X
In a job situation, most people think the easy answer is “the money”. When you think about your work, I guarantee that your pay check is not the first image that pops into your mind. If you are in a positive work situation, it is the people that jump to mind. If it is a negative situation, it is usually the people as well. You spend most of your life surrounded by people. Have you taken an account of those relationships that are most important to you and do you invest the time required to grow those relationships?
So the first step to building a great relationship is time. You build great relationships over time. Who are your 3 best friends? How much time do you spend with them in a month? How do you stay in contact with those best friends? Is it only by email? Do you get together for coffee? Do you get your families together regularly? Different means of contact and the amount of time invested makes the relationship stronger and more memorable.
Do opposites really attract? There are many people who believe that opposites attract. I would want to look closer at the attraction because you usually see a quality in someone that you have as well or that you want to develop. If you read many self improvement books, you will know there are 4 main personality traits. We have all seen the successful marriage of the loud obnoxious person with the shy quiet one. You point to this as proof that opposites attract. If you dig a little deeper though, you will find the core values of those two people are similar.
Have you heard about the story of the horse pull competition? The two top horses each pulled 2000lbs, individually. The farmers decided to see if they hooked them together, how much could they pull? Bets were places between 4000 and 6000lbs but everyone was surprised when together the team of 2 pulled 11,000lbs. We will naturally cultivate relationships with people going in the same direction and have similar core values. This will add to your life and your energy. We enjoy investing time with people who are like us. When you are with people you want to enjoy a deeper, more profitable relationship with reinforce your similarities when you invest time together. It might be hobbies, family, culture, interests, or career. The core principle of building relationships is we like those who make us feel good about ourselves. Great relationships take time, effort and consistency.
Use this small thought experiment to see how important relationships are:
What if because you took the time to read this article, I would build your dream home for you and pay for it. Imagine your dream home. What would it look like? Where would it be? Imagine the parties you could throw with your friends. However, the only catch is that you are the only one allowed through the front door. Do you still want the dream home? I know I wouldn’t but why not have it all. To be honest, the people in my life, the mentors I have chosen, have built solid relationships with people in life where they want to be. They have the fruit on the tree. I would trade everything I have materially for more time with these people because when you have those relationships, it will not be long before your dreams come true. I encourage you to develop a vision for the most important relationships in your life starting in these 3 areas: spiritual, family and business.
“Secrets to make millions…PLUS a smoking hot blonde!”
Earlier this week I was shopping for a couple of new keyword domains on GoDaddy.com and I noticed an image in the left hand column it read like this:
The secrets I used to sell online and make millions…PLUS a smoking hot blonde!
Now as you can likely figure out if you are reading this blog I read a lot of different books, blogs, etc about sales, marketing and related topics. So naturally being a 34 year old male the addition of “smoking hot blonde” took my interest level beyond a casual notice or interest in the topic to the point of actually clicking on it. Now that might sound bad but when you are considering how you reach your niche this buyline illustrates a basic human behaviour and an effective connection point to the targeted prospect.
Or at least that’s my opinion, here’s a brief idea of what I think his target prospect might look like and how he used this buyline to attract them:
1) A large number of internet start-ups are by males, mid to late twenties to early forties. Those that are more likely to embrace technology, are excited about the prospect of having something work for you rather than actually working, likely single and not afraid to risk what resources the have or to attempt to make a lot with a little investment. The buy line now appeals to this demographic in many ways: secrets used to make millions, hot blonde. Strong connection to the illustrated demographic.
2) The description in the sentence creates a subjective judgment, targeted at a male audience, “what is this guy’s definition of smoking hot? And what is he using sex to sell? Well I might as well see what these supposed SECRETS are also.”
Now even if you have no interest in selling products online this is a great video for you to watch. It’s a really good example of an entertaining presentation of simple truths that will bring success in any service based business model. I’ve embedded it here to make it easy for you to take a look.
The other point to make about this is that if you haven’t noticed, video is taking over the internet. YouTube is now one of the largest search engines next to Google. If you haven’t already incorporated the use of video into your website, you should. Now if you’re like me my initial thought about video was: time consuming and too much money. Truth is it doesn’t have to be either. Last year while presenting at a fitness conference in California I was introduced to the 
FlipCam (that is now catching on like crazy everywhere.) A small USB re-chargeable camcorder that is smaller than your cellphone and has it’s very simple to use editing software built right into its internal memory. You can shoot a video, edit it, and have it on YouTube in minutes. In fact almost all the video on any of my websites right now is made with a FlipCam, and far cooler stuff can be done with a little creativity. Though a video like the above looks nice, is fun, and entertaining a much simpler video can still be equally effective.
Video will set you apart from your competitors, it will provide a dramatically improved connection with your virtual customer or prospect, and with the addition of keyword rich titles and descriptions YouTube will become another traffic centre driving prospects to your website.
Anyhow that’s a brief little bonus for a Happy Friday. Have a great weekend everyone!
The Power of Re-Packaging as a Fitness Marketing Strategy
Some of the best fitness marketing campaigns come from simply re-packaging or re-organizing your existing services creating a completely unique program with incredible perceived value. A good example, last week we re-packaged our ongoing group exercise program (FIT Camp) into a fitness marketing strategy called the 21 Day Rapid Fat Loss Bootcamp. In 72 hours we signed up over 40 new participants into our bootcamp with two carefully crafted emails. Do you think if you had 40 new clients starting today, for 3 weeks, that you could impress them enough to stay with you for more training after? If you can’t you better re-read every post on this blog immediately, but I am sure all of you can and would; you are an elite group of success minded personal trainers committed to being the upper 5%.
Re-packaging can be an amazing fitness marketing strategy for the rapid growth of your business. Let’s lay out the guidelines in 6 tips for re-packaging success.
1) Use sparingly, it has to be something you only do once in a while, about 3-4 times a year or it loses its appeal. The has to be an attention getter as it should provide a completely new, unusual, unique way of accessing your services. Ultimately this will create high differentiation between you and your competitors.
2) Timing and relating is everything. What I mean by this is relate your pitch to common thinking. For instance right now is an excellent time for re-packaging as it’s the transition to spring here in Alberta and everyone is excited to enjoy the sun, warmer weather and is thinking about how much better they would like to look for summer. Our pitch referenced the “winter spare tire” which created a huge image/emotional connection to the program.
3) Scarcity is important. Make sure you create a limited number of spots based on availability or some other major limiting factor. This can be real or perceived. This is critical to drive people to take immediate action. Early bird gets the worm; wait too long and you are going to miss the boat.
4) High perceived value. This is also mission critical. Provide an attractive price point or find ways to add perceived value to your service with low to no cost. Like a free meal plan/guideline, a report on effective ways to strengthen your core and why that leads to a pain free life. Connect with a complimentary professional service and see if they will offer a free trial to your new clients. Whatever it is really crank up the value of the program to promote high conversion without adding additional overhead costs.
5) Make it easy to sign up for. Complete an email form with name, phone, email. Call them back and register them. Even better if you can accept credit cards use a service like www.1shoppingcart.com and setup an online order form. You will double your conversion with online registration over just having a phone number alone.
6) Contact twice. This is the last point but the synergist of the whole mix. Your initial contact should convey how great it is, how limited it is, and why you need to take immediate action. 72 hours later you need to contact them again to let them know you’ve almost reached the limit but if they hurry they can still get in. This time give them a few more bullets of info about what the program will do for them. On the initial contact you will attract the people that see something new, exciting and valuable, they won’t ask questions they are ready to buy. The second contact will appeal to those who need to analyze and evaluate, they need more information, now they are afraid to miss out, they are now also ready to buy. It is important to keep these distinctly separate (if you have ever heard Fred Sarkari speak you will understand why) each group of people will require different information to make the final decision. Mixing all the information into one contact will cause you to lose both groups and drastically lower conversion.
Following these steps with strong compelling sales copy will produce massive results and right now is perfect timing. Give it a try with your list. If you really struggle to write sales/marketing copy this is a skill I urge you to practice and get some help with, this is a major focal point of the Profitable Personal Trainer coaching program.
Three Tips For Getting Your Website Noticed
King of Ngorongoro Crater
Wow, I can’t believe I am back home, back to regular life. Only a week ago I was in Tanzania, Africa engaging in close encounters with the king of Ngorongoro crater and trekking up the great Mount Kilimanjaro all in support of an international charity called The Water School. (www.thewaterschool.org) My journey to Africa was an amazing adventure, life changing but I have personal training to thank for it and specifically the personal trainer marketing techniques I am sharing with you within the pages of ProfitablePersonalTrainer.com.
This morning as I was settling back into work and normal life, still kind of day dreaming about this crazy adventure just past, I received a phone call from one of my coaching clients. We were discussing a few internet based things: keywords, domains, content and search rankings. I hadn’t planned to write on that topic today but after that conversation I figured that likely others have similar questions.
Here are 3 tips for getting your webpage noticed and developing “targeted” traffic for potential leads and customers.
- Keyword content – you need to write or produce content that is keyword driven. The bigger and more competitive market you are in; the more keyword content you are going to need to make it on the first page of the search engines. Now when many people think of key words they are thinking of phrases like: get in shape, fitness program, fat loss, losing weight. Sure these are keywords but not ones that are going to find potential clients just down the street. When it comes to keywords think of local search phrases that people might actually be typing into Google and Bing right now. (Ex. Personal Training Red Deer) These are the keywords you want to use within your website content and ideally reasonably often. In the title, in the first paragraph and in the second paragraph. Now unfortunately this doesn’t make for the nicest sounding article so you will have to be a little creative and accept that some of your content is not going to read as nice as others.
- Keyword Domains are a bonus – Now depending on the size of the market you are in its a good idea to buy strong keyword domains. As in the example above I am sure you can see why our studio website is built on www.PersonalTrainingRedDeer.com instead of www.oneto1fitness.com. The search relevance for www.PersonalTrainingRedDeer.com is much higher. Don’t get too hung up on this though as content is still king this is just one more little thing that helps.
- Incoming Links – Now these provide the most clout for search engine rankings because they are the hardest to get and maintain. When other sites link to yours your search value or site value is rated a lot higher, especially if these other sites have a lot of traffic, are mature in age and provide quality content. Now here’s the kicker, you can’t really go and trade a bunch of links with people, when you do they cancel each other out. So how do you get quality incoming links? Well the best way is to provide value to someone else. (Remember the more you give, the more you receive.) Generate quality content and offer to contribute it to some popular fitness blogs or submit your articles to places like www.ezinearticles.com or www.submityourarticle.com.
Uhuru (Freedom) Peak, Kilimanjaro
At the end of the day content is still king and of these three things (though you should work to have them all working for you) your main focus should be on generating more and more content. The more optimized content your site contains the faster you will move through the rankings. If it’s within your budget I highly recommend even outsourcing for some optimized content to take advantage of even a few more tips and tricks and faster ranking.
YES! Contact me today to schedule a FREE no obligation consultation and trial workout.