Gym Website Design Tips That Drive Leads & Membership Sales

Good gym website design is about more than making it look pretty. An effective website will generate quality leads and membership sales for your business. It can even aid retention by helping keep members loyal for longer.

In this article – we outline how to design a gym website that drives leads, sales, and retention (whether you’re outsourcing to a designer or using a DIY web builder).

We’ve built numerous gym websites for our clients so know exactly what works (and what doesn’t). As a specialist fitness marketing agency with 15+ years of industry experience, we’ve tried and tested almost every approach there is. So you can be confident that the guidance in this article is based on real-world experience that’s proven to work.

Why Good Web Design Matters

For most would-be gym members, Google is the first stop when researching fitness options. They’ll look up which gyms are located near their home or work, then explore facilities and pricing. But if you don’t have a website, then they’re not going to be able to find you in the first place.

82% of customers research their purchases online (even if they prefer to actually buy in person).

Forbes

And if you have a website but it doesn’t contain useful info, is confusing to use, or looks ugly, then that’s almost as bad as not having one. It makes a terrible first impression that’s very difficult to recover from.

Having an online presence is essential for gyms, fitness studios, and health clubs, but setting up a website alone isn’t enough. If the site doesn’t compel people to become a member or book a tour, then it’s not doing its core job.

But great website design can transform your gym business…

• It can ensure you’re the first gym that people find when searching on Google.
• It can generate high-quality leads for your sales team and even process online membership sign-ups.
• And it can even boost loyalty and retention so that members stay with you for longer.

Let’s look at how to design a brilliant gym website that does all these things while looking good too…

Find a Web Designer or DIY Website Builder

Step one is to decide how you’ll build your website. There are three broad options to choose from…

1. Hire a professional web designer
2. Build it yourself using WordPress
3. Build it yourself using a DIY website builder like Weebly or Shopify

We’ve tried all three options so have first-hand experience with each of them. In our experience, using a DIY builder or outsourcing to a designer are the best options for gyms.

DIY builders are the cheapest option, easy to use for beginners, and allow you to make updates whenever you like. Professional web designers are the most expensive option but they’ll take care of everything for you (however you’ll need to work around their schedule if updates are needed).

WordPress is a brilliant website tool, but has quite a steep learning curve which is why we don’t recommend it for most gym owners. The only exception is if you’re planning to become a fitness blogger, in which case WordPress is the best option.

What Should a Gym Website Include?

So, let’s start with the fundamentals that every gym website needs. Whether you run a fitness studio, health club, or personal training gym, you’ll need to include the same core elements…

• Home page – that immediately explains how your gym helps people and why they should read more.
• About – which covers more about your gyms, it’s start-up story and values, and why you’re the best in the area.
• Products or services – that explains what you offer (membership options, personal training services, group classes, etc.), including features, benefits, and points of difference from the competition.
• Contact – make it super-clear how people should get in touch with you (online booking form, phone, or email) to ensure the site generates as many leads as possible.

These four elements are absolutely essential so it’s important to get them right. If you’re working with a professional gym website designer, then they’ll take care of this for you. But if you’re doing it yourself using a gym website builder like Weebly or Shopify, then you’ll need to add these.

Of course, there’s a lot more that you can do with your site to promote products and services. But if you don’t have the time or it’s not a priority right now, then at least get these sections sorted.

Take action – does your gym website have all four of these elements and include the information that’s listed above? If not, then get the missing pieces resolved asap.

Let’s look at how to optimise the content in each of these sections…

Homepage

• Does it clearly describe exactly what you do? Ideally, there should be a headline that summarises who you help so that visitors immediately know if your site is what they’re looking for.
• Is there a clear next step? A button that says ‘learn more’, ‘view services’, or something similar should be prominent.
• Do people need to scroll down before they get to the good stuff? Everything important should be visible ‘above the fold’ i.e. without needing to scroll down.
• Is the content all relevant and ordered logically? Think about the information that your client is looking for and present it in the order that they’re likely to think about it (who you help ⇒ how you do it ⇒ pricing ⇒ testimonials ⇒ FAQs to address objections).
• Will it interest people? Your home page should give people a reason to hang around and explore other pages.

About

Your about page should balance professionalism and personality while explaining…

• How you help people
• Your values or philosophy
• What makes you different from competitors
• Who your team members are
• Why people should choose to work with you (expertise, authority, trust)

A really strong about page will focus on how you or your company benefits the user (rather than talking about themselves the whole time).

Products & Services

This is where you explain about you’re offering and persuade people that it’s right for them…

• Lead with benefits and focus on how your product or service helps people, then list features.
• Describe exactly what people get for their money, whether it’s emotional or physical results.
• Is it easy to distinguish the differences between different product or services options? If people are confused they’ll simply leave the site rather than try to figure it out.
• Include proof that it’s worth the money, such as testimonials, reviews, or return on investment statistics.
• Remove risk by offering a money-back guarantee so that people have nothing to lose.
• Ensure that your pricing is clear and explain whether it’s recurring or a one-off payment.
• Add an FAQs section to address common objections and reduce administrative enquiries.

And Finally…

Ensure that your gym website is fully responsive. Everything needs to look and work equally well on mobile, tablet, and desktop.

• Click all the links to ensure they direct people as intended.
• Use a site like MobiReady to visualise it on different types of device.
• Double check that everything is aligned with your sales funnel goal.

Now let’s look at how to ensure your gym website actually generates leads and membership sales…

Designing a Gym Website That Generates Leads

Once you’ve got the basics set up, it’s time to focus on improving lead generation. What do you want potential customers to do when they visit your site? Is the end goal to get them on your email list so that you can nurture the relationship? Arrange a tour of your fitness facility? Or contact you for a personal training quote?

Decide what the ultimate goal is first – this will be the end point of your website sales funnel. It will likely be getting visitors to one of the following…

• Contact page
• Shopping cart
• Email sign-up form

Once you’ve decided on your endpoint, everything else on your website should point people there. There should be a call to action at the end of every page that directs them to visit your goal page. Every button and banner should be funnelling people towards this page.

If you have a more complex product or service, then you may want to create a funnel with more layers. People don’t tend to make purchases immediately, so if you’re selling online then you’ll need to direct them to pages that educate and persuade. In this case, there may be more steps in the customer journey but it should still be directing them to one end goal.

One of the biggest website mistakes that fitness companies make is not defining their goal. They create content to fill the different pages but there’s no strategy behind it. Without a clear objective and funnel to take visitors there, there’s little chance of your website generating leads.

Take action – does your site have a well-defined lead generation funnel? If not, then it’s important to create one asap so that everything is working towards one end-goal.

Not sure where to start? We can audit your site and define a strategy for you to implement – learn more here.

By following these simple steps, you’ll be able to increase website leads and generate more revenue in your business. It doesn’t matter if you have a basic one-page site or complex e-commerce setup, these tips will improve visitor conversions. By doing the fundamentals, defining a sales funnel, and optimising your content, you’re guaranteed to boost results.

Need Help With Your Gym Website?

We can audit your website and create an effective funnel strategy that generates more leads – learn more here.