4 Common Fitness Website Mistakes (and how to fix them!)
When you’re building (or rebuilding!) a website for your studio, the choices can be overwhelming. Between the content, sitemap, and design, crafting a site that drives business and serves clients is often anything but simple. Mistakes are bound to happen along the way.
Here are some common pitfalls, and simple ways to avoid them on your site.
Mistake #1: Clutter
Do you ever walk into a room looking for something, only to be met with piles of mess and clutter? Suddenly, finding that one item seems overwhelming. You might even be tempted to give up and walk right back out. This is how it feels when clients visit a homepage that’s cluttered with text, page links, and too much information. They came to you looking for something specific. If they can’t find it, they might just leave.
When you’re designing your navigation at the top of your homepage, keep it as simple and sleek as possible. If you have more than 6 or 7 links in your navigation bar, ask yourself these questions about each page or link:
Is this necessary?
Is this page helping my clients do what they came here to do?
Would this link be better placed in the footer or resource page?
The idea is to really think through each item and make sure it has a very clear purpose - and isn’t just cluttering up your page. The main things that need to be easily accessible from your home page are: your schedule page, pricing page, and a page for people who are new to the studio. Think carefully before putting anything else on your navigation bar.
Pro Tip: Do a little digging into your analytics and check out which pages people are visiting most often. This can be a helpful indicator of the pages that should be on your homepage navigation!
Mistake #2: Readability Issues
Nobody likes squinting at their screen, trying to make out what time their class is starting or what the cost is for a monthly pass. The text on your website has to be easily readable. While delicate fonts and small font sizes might fit your design aesthetic, they can make reading the information just too challenging for most website visitors. As a rule, the absolute smallest text on your site should be 16 pts or higher so that it’s clear and accessible.
Readability is about more than just font size though. You should also make sure that the contrast between your text and background is stark enough to make for easy reading. That means picking black, very dark gray, or navy for text on a white or very light colored background. If your background is dark, keep your text a nice bright white or another very light color. Middle shades, while they can be beautiful, don’t usually work well with text or backgrounds - they just won’t pop. Contrast, contrast, contrast!
Mistake #3: Missing Calls to Action
Picture this: an eager new client comes to your website. They poke around the site for a few minutes, and decide they’re ready - they want to come to your studio. Great news! But they can’t figure out their next step…
Do they need to go back and book from the scheduling page?
How do they get that great new student special that’s all over the home page?
Confusion can quickly become discouragement or distraction, which does NOT help sales.
Luckily, the solution is a simple one: clear, direct calls to action within each page of your site. Every page should have at least one button or text link that leads to the next logical step in your customer’s journey. Here are some examples:
On the Class Descriptions page, add a button to the scheduling page, so clients can see if the class that caught their eye fits their schedule.
On the New Student page, include a link to the Pricing page, so they can pick out the package that works for them (or take advantage of the New Student Special).
On the About page, link to the class descriptions page, as a way to get students to picture themselves in the studio.
These are just a few ideas. Spend some time thinking about how you want potential and current clients to ideally move through your site - then guide them there with calls to action.
Pro tip: Make sure there is always a clear way to find your contact information - whether it’s a button or link on each page, or the footer. That way, if people get “stuck”, they can reach out before they get frustrated.
Mistake #4: Disconnected Messaging and Visuals
Trust is important. We learn to trust businesses—not only by direct interactions, but intuitively as well. When things feel “off,” we're likely to go looking for other options, or at least delay our commitment.
That’s exactly what happens when the visuals on your website don’t match up with the message you’re trying to convey.
Even if clients can’t put our finger on exactly what it is, they’ll get the feeling something’s not right - it won’t feel honest.
That’s why it’s so important to have a good understanding of what you’re trying to convey, then choose images and visuals that support it.
If you're saying your studio values inclusion and diversity, you need to show that in the photos of your studio and your clients.
If you're talking about the quality of instruction your studio offers, then you need to show a teacher teaching.
If your studio is all about simplicity, then you need to feature a clean, crisp aesthetic in your site design.
When you’re designing a site, it’s tempting to use images or add design flourishes because they “look good.” But it’s more important to think about each visual element as a tool to support the message you’re trying to convey.
As easy as it can be to fall into some of these mistakes as you craft your studio’s website, it’s just as easy to self-correct and make simple fixes. In the case of these common pitfalls, little tweaks to your site can reap amazing benefits - both for you and your clients.
