How to Move Your Fitness Business Online

Sarig Reichert of Wix outlines how UK gym owners and fitness coaches can adapt their offering by moving their business online during the coronavirus pandemic

By Sarig Reichert

Like most sectors, the fitness industry has felt the effects of Covid-19 as gyms and fitness centres around the UK have been forced to close. For many, the quick turnaround of events has been a shock, with professionals having to get creative and find new ways to generate an income. This includes digitizing their skills by creating videos to reach people in the safety of their own homes.

For any gym or fitness business owners looking to take their fitness skills online by adapting their offering, Sarig Reichert, Head of Wix Bookings shares his top seven tips to help get you started:

1. Set up a dedicated website

It’s important that your website is simple to navigate, visually appealing and includes all essential information such as contact details and your background. Wix Fitness has been designed specifically for this purpose, allowing professionals to build an online brand. The product allows you to use Zoom (video call) to keep clients fit and active whilst in lockdown. You can also sell merchandise, manage your calendar, track client performance and manage team members.

2. Build a digital presence

Once you’ve created your website, you need to drive awareness to your site. It's a given that you should contact all existing clients, but now that you're online it's well worth trying to increase your reach.

The secret to increasing traffic is to make sure that search engines such as Google can find your website and rank it in relevant search results pages. An easy way of increasing your ranking is to publish your site on local online directories. Another is by completing a keyword search around topics your ideal clients are searching for and incorporating them into copy on your site pages. Uploading regular blogs fortnightly or monthly is another great way to boost SEO.

3. Leverage social media

Be sure to create a business profile on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn to reach different audiences and regularly upload content to help gain followers. Use relevant hashtags so that you are seen by the right audience.

4. Use paid social

When promoting your business on social media, consider paid social as a way to reach potential customers and raise awareness. By using in-platform ads management tools such as Facebook Ads Manager for Facebook and Instagram accounts, Twitter ads and LinkedIn Business, your content can reach a wider range of potential customers that may otherwise be missed when posting organically.

Paid social doesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming. If you're new to paid social, start with a small budget for each ad until you become more familiar with the tools.

5. Create livestream workouts

Live streaming from your newly-created website is a great way to reach more customers. YouTube enables users to monetize their live streams by allowing users to add pre-roll, mid-roll, display and overlay ads to their content. Also consider uploading pre-filmed fitness videos to your website to be rented, sold individually or as part of a subscription package. This will give you a range of options to distribute content and make money.

6. Connect with your audience

Knowing your audience is key to a successful business. There are lots of ways to get to know your audience such as emailing out frequent customer satisfaction surveys. This allows you to collect audience feedback by asking key questions. Be sure to reply to comments and direct messages to maintain active communication with customers.

7. The power of testimonials

Finally, consider publishing customer testimonials on your website. If your business is new, focus on getting quality testimonials. It can help build your credibility in the market and encourage other customers to use your services.

About the Author

Sarig Reichert is Head of Wix Bookings. Wix is a cloud-based website development platform with over 165 million registered users worldwide today. Sarig has worked at Wix for over 7 years, focusing on R&D in product management and leadership positions.