SEO: When this happens, consumers are not just going to the search engine and typing the product, but instead they are researching content. For example, someone looking for golf clubs may search for information on how to improve their golf game before deciding what type of clubs to buy.
This consumer could be targeted by a golf club supplier at the very beginning of the purchasing cycle, if they provide an article on improving their golf game, which contains keywords related to the research and a link to their sales page. This link could generate traffic for months or even years if it remains live on the internet. However, the article will not appear in the top few pages of a search engine, if it is not optimized. This is why SEO is important, even for businesses that do not sell their products over the internet.
It is important for fitness businesses to have search engine optimization (SEO) if they are going to be competitive in today’s market. More and more consumers are doing price and product research on the internet before making a purchase. Often times they are looking for a particular product, but may not have a specific supplier in mind.
Importance of SEO for Fitness Businesses
PPC advertising is an effective means of getting your website to show up in search results, but it is a method that can be quite costly, especially for small businesses. Furthermore, research has shown that around 80 percent of search engine users ignore the sponsored results. With SEO, on the other hand, the traffic that you get is free once you have established a high ranking. Because the searchers are already interested in your type of services, the traffic is also highly targeted. Organic search is ultimately much cheaper and more effective than paid advertising.
To succeed in the highly competitive fitness industry, search engine optimization is absolutely critical. Whether you are a personal trainer, a yoga studio, a wellness coach, or a fitness center, you need to have an effective online presence that attracts customers to your business. Eighty-nine percent of internet users now do at least part of their searching for products and services online, and about 80 percent of those searchers will only click on the natural search results.
In other words, if you want to get the attention of the vast majority of potential clients, you need to appear on the first or second page of search results. What’s more, people tend to trust the organic search results more than paid advertising. They feel that if a website ranks high on a Google search, it must be relevant to their needs. This is particularly true in the minds of fitness-seekers who are looking for professional help. A high search ranking can thus greatly enhance your online reputation and increase consumer trust in your services.
Benefits of Implementing SEO Strategies
Return on Investment (ROI) – ROI is one of the major benefits of SEO service. Optimization results in trackable and quantifiable results regardless if you are an e-commerce or non-ecommerce site, so there are no qualms when it comes to ROI. SEO agencies are able to track nearly every aspect of their strategy, like increases in rankings, traffic, and conversions.
Comprehensive analytics also provide the ability to drill down at a granular level and see demographic information and other engagement metrics for individuals who have interacted with your website. E-commerce sites, SEO agencies can see which paths users take in order to complete a sale, all the way down to which keyword they used to search for you prior to purchasing. For non-ecommerce sites, you can assign values to your lead conversions. For example, contact us forms and estimate requests and calculate the value of your SEO strategy that way. These tangible results provide a clear-cut case showing exactly what you are gaining as a result of SEO.
Brand awareness – Increased visibility and ranking higher in search engine results in significant impressions. Being on the first page of Google for your targeted keywords will allow your potential customers to associate your brand with those keywords. This will instill trust as studies have shown that companies on the first page are generally perceived to be more trustworthy. The more your content and pages rank in high positions in the search engines, the more chances you have for users to see your content and associate with your brand.
Keyword Research and Optimization
One of the most effective and free methods of keyword research is to utilize the keyword tool from Google AdWords. This tool can give you broad and specific keyword ideas. It can also display the advertiser competition and whether you should use a keyword or not. With the keyword ‘fitness’, it has a global monthly search of about 37 million with high advertiser competition. This means that the keyword ‘fitness’ is too general and there is too much competition to use this keyword to drive traffic.
Another example is the use of the keyword “pole dance lessons” which has about 8000 monthly searches and low competition. This could be a good keyword to use for long-tail optimization. Long-tail optimization usually targets niche demographics who are more likely to use a specific set of keywords to find anything. 60% of all search engine traffic consists of long-tail keywords, which is a huge niche market not to be missed. Using this strategy, you can also display the locations, target audiences, and come up with better keyword ideas.
The best search engine optimization strategy is the application of relevant keywords to your fitness business. The correct use of keywords could drive potential clients who use search engines to find your fitness business. The more keywords, whether it be short or long-tail, that your website has, the more probability that your website will be recognized as the site that an individual is looking for. A crucial part of SEO is to find relevant keywords to optimize. Use keywords that are too general and you will be swamped by competition. Use keywords that are too specific and you might miss your target audience.
Using “fitness” as an example, a person who is searching for a fitness business could be looking for anything. To narrow it down, “weight loss fitness” could indeed bring about more potential clients. Another good way to gather relevant keywords is to spy on your competition. By viewing the Meta tags of a site and applying a keyword research tool, you are able to see which keywords are driving traffic to their site. This can then give you an idea of which keywords you can and should use to drive traffic to yours.
Identifying Relevant Keywords for Fitness Businesses
The next step is to cut the fat. You must evaluate each keyword in terms of relevancy and competition. Most likely, you will want to focus on keywords that are very specific to your service. These are called niche keywords. For example, a personal trainer specializing in training baby boomers might be inclined to use “baby boomer fitness” as a keyword. This is very relevant to a specific target group, but it may be too narrow. A web user is more likely to type in something more general like “personal training for seniors.” Always consider the mentality of your target audience. What are they likely to type in?
