I’ve successfully built and marketed my personal training services using only my website and Google.
The proven strategies I share with you below will boost visitors to your website and help you get more traction in the Google search results.
And best of all, they’re 100% free to do yourself. No paid ads required.
#1 Harness Video Content
People’s attention span is limited. A picture might be worth a thousand words, so a video could be worth millions!
And the best part is that you don’t have to create a visual masterpiece. You can shoot videos on your phone, from home and upload them straight to YouTube.
But before you start rolling…
Make sure you know what you’re trying to say. It might sound obvious, but a good video will really resonate with your intended audience.
And make sure to only cover one point per video. If you cover too much, your message may be lost or forgotten.
Here are my top tips for epic video content:
Shorter is better, ideally under 60 seconds so it can go on Instagram, too
Adjust the angle when editing to keep the viewer’s attention
Write more on the topic in a longer blog post, and add the video to it
#2 Link Power
For Google to know how credible your website is, they rely heavily on how many people are talking about you.
They can gauge this using social media such as Facebook and Instagram, but they mainly do it by looking at how many other websites and blogs are linking to you.
Imagine if you were a celebrity and you had a website. Think about how many newspapers, magazines and other blogs would be mentioning your site and linking to it.
If all those other people are talking about you, you must be worth talking about. That’s how it works in very simple terms.
But there is another important point…
The credibility of the links you get are important. For example, if BBC news mentions you on their site and links to yours, that is more credible than some small village website which links to you.
Unfortunately you can’t just ask BBC to mention you on their site, you have to earn it. And that’s why it’s more powerful.
How to make it work for you…
You have to start off small. So start writing content on your own blog to make it look credible and also make sure your website is high quality. No errors, horrible blog posts or dodgy images.
Then, start offering to write content for other sites for free. You might start off with the small village website in this instance. You can then use that success to approach the next blog, one which is larger and more popular, and show them you’ve written for other sites.
You can keep on doing that until you start getting writing gigs on highly reputable and credible sites.
Pro Tip: You want to write on sites which are relevant and credible within your area of expertise. As a personal trainer I want to write on blogs about sport, crossfit, athletics, training, etc. Writing on sites related to gardening and knitting is not as relevant so won’t help as much.
How to get started today…
- Look at websites and blogs you read and see if they have a “write for us” section. This means they accept guest posts – you’re the guest and you post on their site
- You can even search google with something like “write for us” sport. Replace sport with whatever your area of expertise is. You will find hundreds or thousands of places.
- Create a spreadsheet of all the sites you can find which are related to your area of expertise which accept guest posts
- From your list, pick out the ones you want to write for. Check out their other posts to see the style and topics they cover. Look at their requirements and then submit your post
- Make sure to include a link back to your website and social media in the post. Most sites will allow you create an author bio where you place these links
#3 Reviews Matter
Genuine reviews for your business online are hugely important.
Wherever possible ask your customers to leave feedback across multiple platforms, such as on Facebook, Google, Yell, etc.
When a user leaves a review on Google, they will have to have a Google account. As such, Google will know a lot about that user. For example, they will most likely know if that person has been to your physical business location.
Tracking reviews…
If you are considering getting fake reviews, it’s just not worth it. Google can easily track the users so if those reviews are coming from genuine accounts or some dodgy overseas ones, from places like India and the Philippines.
This happens often, so don’t get caught out. Ask for genuine reviews only and build trust. Make sure that you respond to each review, too. Having lots of genuine reviews with personal responses from the business owner is a big positive for your potential new customers.
Top Tip: When you get people to write a review for you, ask them to talk about the details. Those details not only help your potential clients see exactly what you offer, in the words of existing clients, but it also helps Google understand more about your business.
Closely related to reviews is how your Google listing looks.
#4 Level-up Your Listing
You should already have a Google My Business profile. That’s absolutely essential.
Most people leave it at that, but that’s a big mistake. Your business listing can be incredibly powerful, so here are a few key things to do with it.
Add more categories
When you put your main category down, such as “gym” or “personal trainer”, you should also add as many others as you can which are genuine. For example, “fitness centre” and “boxing gym”. There are a lot to choose from so go through and add as many as are relevant.
Service and products
There are two areas where you can add what services you provide and any products you sell. Make sure to complete them.
Add in your personal training costs, what’s included and any extras you provide. The more you can complete the better it is. Think of your business listing as your shop window. You want to make it as thorough and inviting as possible.
Website
There is another section on the left hand side labelled “website”. Google provide you with a website as part of the Google My Business listing, so take advantage of it.
It won’t replace the website you have already linked to the my business listing, unless you tell it to, but it does give you extra credit. All of your information will be added to it, such as your opening hours, services, the area you serve, etc. So make sure all of your information is correct and up-to-date from your business listing.
Overall, think of it this way; Google wants to display high quality businesses to their audience. Completing all of the information on your business page shows that you are serious and are prepared to make the effort.
There is one more section I’d like to mention, which is an essential to use.
#5 Google Posts
Google gives you the opportunity to create posts which are like blog posts, event notifications, offers and updates to your listing.
These posts are a perfect way to show people you are active and help them engage with you and your business. The posts, offers and events that you write will be shown on Google when people are looking at your business.
The posts will only stay visible for 7 days, whereas events and offers last based on the dates you specify for them. It’s easiest if you take a look to see exactly how it works, but the key thing is to use them.
Create 1 post a week if you can, use images and videos to boost engagement and make them relevant to your audience. You can even use parts of your existing blog posts and then link them through to the full post by adding a button to the post which links to the full article on your blog.
Top Tip: Keep in mind that you want to communicate with your intended audience when you write the posts or make the videos. Always create content which is relevant to them and will help or motivate them in some way.
Recommended article: Engage with customers on Google for free
What’s Next?
The 5 action points listed above are not just one off jobs to do, they are areas of your online business that you must continually look at, improve and add to.
They lay a solid foundation for improving the ranking of your website in Google, especially for local search results. But don’t expect immediate results overnight. It takes time to see results, so stick with it.
The biggest factor in how quickly you will see results is how many links and mentions you can get from other websites and places. So the more you can get writing for other blogs and then linking back to yours will be where you should spend more time.
Author Details
Robert Jackson
Rob Jackson founded Minimal FiT and PT Pod. He is a personal trainer and studio owner in Canary Wharf, London. He specializes in working with time-restricted office workers, helping them achieve lasting body transformations in minimal time.
Social Media Link: https://www.facebook.com/MinimalFitTraining
Website Link: https://www.minimalfit.co.uk
