by Pilates pal
Pilates is a popular fitness phenomenon and web marketing research has shown that interest in Pilates continues to grow, with new Pilates businesses popping up all the time. This is a dynamic niche market, and one that requires a top notch website and an ongoing and comprehensive marketing effort to be successful. Keep reading to learn about 5 Ways to Get More Leads for Your Pilates Business.
1.) Strong Website Foundation
Even if you run a brick-and-mortar business like a Pilates studio, today's customer has a high standard for their website experience. Publish a cheap, poorly designed website and visitors will see this as a reflection of your business.
A professionally designed website will capture the visitor's attention through the strategic use of copy headlines, colors and graphics placement. Key elements of a good website are:
• Good design, easy for visitors to navigate and find what they want.
• Copy and layout that entices visitors and makes them curious for more.
• Interactivity. Today's websites should be linked to a frequently updated blog about the Pilates studio's activities.
• Easily read by search engine spiders. When spiders crawl your site, the html/xhtml metatags should clearly indicate what the website is about and who might be interested.
• Fast-loading. A slow website should be a thing of the past but some websites still take a long time to load. If this is happening to your website, address the problem with your hosting company or webmaster immediately.
• Thoroughly informative. Even though you have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, articles written about your business and a blog that links to your website, it is not enough.
Your main website is the foundation and it must be the primary source for information about your company. Why? People trust the information here more than they will something they read on a blog or Facebook stream. Make sure the main website contains pages that comprehensively tell visitors:
• About the company, the owners and the Pilates instructors; all with pictures
• Accurate contact information. This should include detailed directions to the studio and a Google map, phone numbers, email address and physical address
• Types of Pilates classes you offer and detailed descriptions with pictures and prices. Be transparent and welcome people to the website the way you would to the studio.
2.) Popularity Is the Key
You have probably heard the term "content is king," but good content is only half the story. Without proper marketing and promotion efforts, you can have the Fountain of Youth store and few people would find you. As with any business, you must get the word out, and keep it out.
Fortunately, word-of-mouth referrals for your Pilates business can grow quickly with the help of social media applications and an active blog linked to the main website.
There are many ways to use social media platforms such as Facebook to promote your business and gain loyal fans who "like" your page and spread the word. Businesses can also purchase ads that stream to a targeted audience. If a user "likes" this ad, they are effectively giving your business a "thumbs up," which is enough to convince their friends to at least browse the page, if not become fans of it.
Your Pilates business should have one or two additional interactive platforms, and visitors to any one of them should be able to link easily to the other. A good strategy is to maintain a Facebook page linked to a Pinterest account linked to an interactive blog. All three should link to the main website.
3.) Content is Vital
"Content is king." This is a common phrase thrown out by Internet marketers, but what does it mean? Content is anything written on your website, blog, and sometimes on your social media pages that is intended for people to read. This list includes articles written with the intent of positioning yourself as a Pilates expert and bringing people to your site. So, if you are creating a post for your blog, make it original, informative and preferably at least a page (300-500 words) long.
In addition:
• Link to other articles you have written, social media posts or pages within your website.
• Use low competition keywords relevant to your post or article.
• Be concise and break up your paragraphs. Readers should be able to grab a lot of information from a quick scan
4.) Article Marketing
Article marketing is the process of writing articles about and related to your website topic (Pilates and fitness in this case,) and then submitting them to article directories. Examples of directories include:
• Hubpages
• Ezine
• Article Dashboard
• GoArticles
There are many more, and these can be a good source of long-term organic traffic, the kind that naturally flocks to your website as it rises to the top of the Google search pages.
5.) PPC-Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising has the potential to attract a lot of targeted visitors to your pages in a short amount of time. You can sign up through Google and set a monthly budget based on selected keywords. Websites are charged a per-click rate and will continue to be charged until the budget limit is reached. PPC is a good strategy to generate initial interest in your Pilates business website.
The Marketing Goal
In order for your Pilates business to thrive, several marketing methods should be used. The goal is to be found at the top of Google searches for your selected keywords where the largest amount of targeted traffic is found. Use the lead generating methods listed above and you are sure to get there soon.