New Personal Trainer - Really Need Advice!

[deldel]

Hey okay so here's the quick run of my story. 2 and a half weeks ago I got certified as a ACE personal trainer. I applied to 9 different gyms, and have not heard back from one of them. So I decided 3 days ago to start my own business. All I can offer is in home personal training though. Well I put together a nice website, and some cool promotional tools, I am running google ad's and ******** ad's and still I Havant got one phone call or email.

Any tips?
Is it cause I am too young?

[Jobins]

How old are you?
Where is your website?

[deldel]

How old are you?
Where is your website?

18 right now, and www.bodybyas.com

[Jobins]

The website needs a lot of work, honestly. Spellling and grammar must be accurate. If you're going to run a business successfully, you have be professional.

In one area you state: "im pretty confident".. why are you only 'pretty' confident in your product? I guarantee there is someone nearby who knows their services will work.

Youre young, and have a lot of learning to do. Why don't you get on at a gym nearby as a trainer, learn some standard procedures and business practice, then make a decision regarding what route you want to go, from there.

Good luck

[thatfitguycom]

...still I Havant got one phone call or email...

Welcome to the business world! haha. Trust me, it takes a while to get started. I run my own diet/fitness website and offer a variety of services too and it's TOUGH to get started. There's a whole world that you need to learn about (SEO techniques, PPC advertising if you use it, list building, e-mail marketing...).

Remember that YOU are your best source of marketing. You need to get your face out there both in the local community and online. There's a million different gurus out there. What makes you better/different than anyone else? Why should someone order a service through you instead of another website online? I would be doing everything you can in your community to get some recognition. Exchange business cards, see if you can advertise in local gyms (good luck) or supplement stores, shoot Youtube videos, do podcasts, link exchanges on your website... anything you can do to get free traffic and market yourself you aught to be AGGRESSIVLY doing.

Best of luck brother!

[Endevorforever]

18 right now, and www.bodybyas.com

You need to proofread and paragraph format your website. The name "studios" is misleading. Add links that get to your rates quickly. On your home page you might want to let people know in a bold manner what service you are offering. If it is in-home personal training, Say "in-home personal training". The graphics are not visually balanced. I missed all the important info on your home page, Such as: Your name, certification, area serviced, and your rates. Your rates should be published clearly. For example, don't click to see, don't contact me, etc... You have no reason to hide your prices, and you should be proud of them if you are worth it.

Google is expensive advertising. It is effective, but you shouldn't use their automatic settings. It might take some months to get some clients, and it will be especially hard to get clients during the summer. For some reason people aren't thinking about exercising. Look at your adwords and analytics. If you are getting impressions and clicks, then Google is working. If you aren't getting conversions, look at how you can make it easier to inform prospects of your services.

The package names are interesting, if not a little misleading. If a customer purchases a six pack abs package and doesn't get six pack abs or the workouts don't target abs because they have other needs, they might get upset. Pick up the book "Don't Make Me Think" on Amazon.com It will help you build a professional website. It will go into the little details people don't consider when making a website.

It has nothing to do with your age, because most clients won't know how old you are until you tell them. If you feel people might judge you according to your age, then don't reveal it.

[deldel]

You need to proofread and paragraph format your website. The name "studios" is misleading. Add links that get to your rates quickly. On your home page you might want to let people know in a bold manner what service you are offering. If it is in-home personal training, Say "in-home personal training". The graphics are not visually balanced. I missed all the important info on your home page, Such as: Your name, certification, area serviced, and your rates. Your rates should be published clearly. For example, don't click to see, don't contact me, etc... You have no reason to hide your prices, and you should be proud of them if you are worth it.

Google is expensive advertising. It is effective, but you shouldn't use their automatic settings. It might take some months to get some clients, and it will be especially hard to get clients during the summer. For some reason people aren't thinking about exercising. Look at your adwords and analytics. If you are getting impressions and clicks, then Google is working. If you aren't getting conversions, look at how you can make it easier to inform prospects of your services.

The package names are interesting, if not a little misleading. If a customer purchases a six pack abs package and doesn't get six pack abs or the workouts don't target abs because they have other needs, they might get upset. Pick up the book "Don't Make Me Think" on Amazon.com It will help you build a professional website. It will go into the little details people don't consider when making a website.

It has nothing to do with your age, because most clients won't know how old you are until you tell them. If you feel people might judge you according to your age, then don't reveal it.

Thank you for the in depth reply, have another look at my home page. I made some changes, also I will work on the rest of your tips.

[JoeCannonMSCSCS]

Your age is fine. give it time. Have you tried craigs list? Ive had good results with it. Make your CL add very easy to read. Dont write paragraphs, put statements in bullet form. Use your full name and list your website. dont put your phone# because we dont want people calling you at 2 am.

I would not waste money on google and ******** ads right now. Definitely do not take out yellow page ads.

Joe

[ericzimmerman34]

I agree with Joe then again he always has great advice. How many times do you click on ********/google adds and if so how many of those do you act upon. Don't expect anything different from everyone else. Just a little something to think about. Get some professional looking business cards made and hand them out or see if you can leave some at your church, a supp shop, health food store, etc. Also offer free health screenings such as body fat, measurments, BMI etc and if you have any special skills such as movement screenings include that. Best of luck to you and just hang in there as it might be of the harder things you do remember nothing hard comes easy!

[Endevorforever]

I agree with Joe then again he always has great advice. How many times do you click on ********/google adds and if so how many of those do you act upon. Don't expect anything different from everyone else. Just a little something to think about. Get some professional looking business cards made and hand them out or see if you can leave some at your church, a supp shop, health food store, etc. Also offer free health screenings such as body fat, measurments, BMI etc and if you have any special skills such as movement screenings include that. Best of luck to you and just hang in there as it might be of the harder things you do remember nothing hard comes easy!

This guy doesn't know what he is talking about. Web marketing is a different animal than commercial gym "salesmanship". You have to make them want it. Them people just want to know that you are a professional. That is why consistency, grammar, and ease of use of the website is important. A no obligation interview should be added to your site. This will give you an option to get in front of clients which is where the sale will happen. People don't like paying trainers that they have not at least talked to.

Most of the changes that you have made are steps in the right direction, but are far from where your site needs to be. get the book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used. its like 14 cents used which will help you build your site into what you need. As it stands, the text is inconsistent (you use caps and lower case for page titles), your picture should be on the home page, area serviced should be in a larger font because people need to know if you can help them, weird graphics on the packages (too much like cartoons). The work you have done is a big improvement than what you had though. Try to create a consistent color scheme throughout the site, and spell check the reasons to hire a trainer page. Number one reads: "1. You'er not seeing Renaults".

[Endevorforever]

Your age is fine. give it time. Have you tried craigs list? Ive had good results with it. Make your CL add very easy to read. Dont write paragraphs, put statements in bullet form. Use your full name and list your website. dont put your phone# because we dont want people calling you at 2 am.

I would not waste money on google and ******** ads right now. Definitely do not take out yellow page ads.

Joe

Nope craigslist is no good for personal trainers. He should spend money on Google ads but manually set his bids. It will be a slow go, but will get his name out there.

[deldel]

Thanks all for the constructive criticism, very helpful. I will definitely get on as much of this as I can!

[deldel]

Your age is fine. give it time. Have you tried craigs list? Ive had good results with it. Make your CL add very easy to read. Dont write paragraphs, put statements in bullet form. Use your full name and list your website. dont put your phone# because we dont want people calling you at 2 am.

I would not waste money on google and ******** ads right now. Definitely do not take out yellow page ads.

Joe

I have a job interview with goodlife on friday, would it be worth looking at working for them irrelevant of my desire to work for myself? It would give me time to build my skills, and learn more about the business before starting my own.

[ericzimmerman34]

I would definitely start off with a gym before going independent. Just as I did you'll look back 6 months later and be glad you went this way. You'll really build up your skills from training to sales and start finding the route you want to take. Also the fitness managers and other trainers will play a big roll in helping to develop you if you let them. Also after a while you could have a hand full of clients to take with you when you go independent.

[JoeCannonMSCSCS]

I have gotten clients from Craigs list who I had for years. The key is in the delivery. follow my outline on how to do it. Most trainers I see doing it, do it all wrong. it may take time but its going to be better than spending money on ads.

joe

[JoeCannonMSCSCS]

Yes Im a fan of working in a gym to gain experience. I esp like YMCAs and JCCs for experience. since you have an interview coming up check out these posts
http://www.joe-cannon.com/fitness-jo...ps-to-success/

http://helpforpersonaltrainers.com/2...iew-questions/

JOE

[Ronin4help]

Welcome to the business world! haha. Trust me, it takes a while to get started. I run my own diet/fitness website and offer a variety of services too and it's TOUGH to get started. There's a whole world that you need to learn about (SEO techniques, PPC advertising if you use it, list building, e-mail marketing...).

Remember that YOU are your best source of marketing. You need to get your face out there both in the local community and online. There's a million different gurus out there. What makes you better/different than anyone else? Why should someone order a service through you instead of another website online? I would be doing everything you can in your community to get some recognition. Exchange business cards, see if you can advertise in local gyms (good luck) or supplement stores, shoot Youtube videos, do podcasts, link exchanges on your website... anything you can do to get free traffic and market yourself you aught to be AGGRESSIVLY doing.

Best of luck brother!

Great response! I agree.