The decision is made before anybody walks in.
Written after looking at what people actually check before choosing where to train.
Price and timetable, or nothing
These are the two things every single person checks, and the two things most sites here leave out. A price you have to ask for reads as a price you will not like.
The timetable is worse to omit, because somebody with a fixed work schedule cannot decide anything without it. They move on to a gym that published theirs.
Photographs of the actual room
Nobody joins a place they have not seen. Stock photographs of gleaming equipment in somebody else's building are worse than no photographs, because the disappointment happens after the visit rather than before it.
Photograph the room when it is in use, from the door, in daylight. The size of the space is the thing people are trying to judge.
The trial, and where it should be
If there is a first session free, it belongs at the top of every page, not on a separate one. It is the only offer that removes the actual objection, which is not price but embarrassment.
What people search that you can own
Not the word gym. A class name, a time of day, a goal, a neighbourhood. Somebody looking for a morning class near where they live is a different search from somebody looking for a gym.
Each of those is a page you can have and most competitors will not bother to write.
The seasonal part, planned instead of endured
Enquiries spike in January and September and collapse in summer. That is predictable, so the pages that answer January questions should be written in November rather than during the rush.
Search takes months to move. Publishing a page in the week you need it is publishing it a season late.
Questions worth asking
Should we really publish prices?
Yes, and the objection is always that competitors will see them. They already know. The person who does not know is the one deciding, and they decide against silence more often than against a number.
Do we need an app or a booking system?
Only when the timetable stops fitting on a page or people are turned away from full classes. Before that it is a cost that solves a problem you do not have yet.
How do we compete with a big chain nearby?
On the things size prevents. A named instructor, a class of eight rather than forty, a timetable that suits shift workers. A chain cannot describe your neighbourhood and will not try.
Are before and after photographs a good idea?
Only with permission, only real, and better with a sentence from the person in them. Bought or exaggerated ones are recognised instantly and cost the trust the page existed to build.
Our members come from word of mouth. Is search worth it?
Word of mouth still ends in a search. Somebody is told about you, looks you up, and finds no timetable and no price. The recommendation was doing its job right up until that moment.
Send us your address and we will tell you what a person deciding between you and the next place cannot currently find out. Get a free audit.
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