I learned a lot from analyzing around 200 gymnastics websites to find the top 20 websites. I found that many shared similar mistakes that held them back. While many of the greatest websites had things in common that pushed them towards success. In this quick review, we will cover both what to avoid and what to do in order to get the most out of your gym’s website.
Functionality
One of the largest factors that lead to the success of a website is its functionality. I know that this sounds like a no-brainer, but you would not believe how many websites I came across with broken elements, links, and photos. The first tier of a successful website is its basic functionality. It does not matter how beautiful a website is if it cannot be used by your customers.
Another factor that demoted many websites was that they were not functional on mobile devices. More people are using the internet on their phones every day. Your website must work on phones just as well as it works on computers. People will only continue to use their phones more and more every year so this is an investment that is well worth the time and effort.
Photo Resolution
The next problem that I saw repeated across about three-fourths of the websites was the use of blurry images. Many websites opted for large hero images across the front of their website which look great with high-resolution images. However, putting a small image across the front of your website often resulted in a blurry mess. If you are going to use a large image in front of your website make sure that it is a high-quality photo. I would recommend something around 1200px by 600px to really fill in that space.
At the same time when you are using a large image make sure that it is not too large. Try to shrink down massive files to be a more reasonable size that way they will not slow down website load times.
Paying to get your photos professionally taken is almost always worth it. If you cannot pay to have a professional take your photos instead make sure to use a high-quality camera and spend a good amount of time capturing great photos. IPhone cameras are good enough to capture crisp and HD photos for use on a website.
Websites are only as good as their photos allow them to be. The images that you chose to display on your website make a big difference to the feeling and message of your website.
Smiling Faces
Something that separates the top gyms from their competition was the use of the correct photos. People want to see what benefit your gym will have for them. The best way that you can show them is through photos showing the result of your services – kids having fun, learning, growing, getting stronger, and gaining confidence. It is much more compelling to see your students and your coaches interacting and having a great time together than it is to see an empty gym.
Make sure to incorporate the life and feel of your gym by capturing happy faces and fun moments. This will help to give customers an idea of everything that you have to offer them. Pictures without some kind of emotion spun into them are nowhere near as meaningful.
Simplicity
This was another common problem that I saw many websites run into. They were just focused on saying too many things. If you try to get 20 messages across to a customer on your home page you are going to end up scaring them away. That is just too much information too quickly.
Every page should have one purpose or goal and that goal should be tied to one call to action. This way every page on your website is as simple as possible and easy to follow. All of the higher-up websites on this list did a great job of having simple focused pages.
Remember, when in doubt try to trim away everything that you do not need. Simplicity and clarity is the goal in almost every situation.
Unique Style and Branding
Creating a unique style and purposeful branding is one of the greatest things that you can do to separate your business from your competition. This branding should be seen in your imagery, copy, layout, and design elements. I saw far too many websites either have no unique branding or have a non consistent branding style. Both of these situations end up leaving the customer feeling as though they missed something.
Build a strong brand by using hand-picked fonts, colors, and styles of photographs that match your business. These elements can help you define your brand and create meaningful results.
Make sure to discuss what makes your business different than any other. Do you use a different style of coaching? Do you have a unique coaching philosophy? Are your coaches certified in a different way? Defining the differences between you and your competition will help to draw in customers and earn new business. Creating your unique selling proposition will help customers decide what gym they should choose rather than just what gym is cheapest.
Conclusion
I learned a lot from my analysis of 200 gymnastics websites. I hope that this summary helped you to learn something as well. If you ever need any help fixing any issues with your website we would be more than happy to help. Let us know here if there is any way that we can assist you and your business.