Question

Topic: Strategy

Marketing Fitness Blog Site To Young Professionals

Posted by Anonymous on 10/23/2009 at 6:17 PM ET 250 Points
Hi, I have been fighting the fitness battle my whole life. In high school and college I was too skinny, then I started my own business and found little time to train.

I have solved both problems, going from a skinny 150 lbs to a lean and muscular 178 lbs while shortening my workouts to fit my increasingly busy schedule.

I needed balance in my life, fitness gave me that and I want to share my solutions with others facing the same problems.

I want to help other young business professionals win the same battles without making the same mistakes I did in the form of a free blog site.

How do I get this message across on my site?

I need an effective title and subtitle as well as an effective page layout but am struggling with both.

Here is my site, read 'my story' for more info. I have a boxing background which I'd like to incorporate into the site as well. Any ideas will help! Thanks

www.chadhowsefitness.com
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 10/23/2009 at 6:45 PM Accepted
    I think we better treat this as a marketing problem, right? So what is the real objective? How much are you willing to spend to attract blog followers/readers? What are they worth to you? How will you monetize a visitor? How many do you want/need? How often do you need for them to return for more?

    In short, how will you know if you're successful (or not)?

    Once we understand that we can begin to help with messaging and marketing. Without that, it probably doesn't matter very much. Do anything you want and it might work or might not ... but you'll never know, so it doesn't matter.
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 10/23/2009 at 6:57 PM Accepted
    you will have to be lazar sharp in your marketing-- because most people feel the opposite you do. They aren't' too skinny, they're overweight.

    Market your site as if it were a bricks & mortar store. How would you bring traffic in the door? You'd talk to people in sports, people aspiring to weight training. Nutritionists.

    I love the boxing. Its competitve and adds confidence.

    Talk about the self confidence factor. I just heard a speaker talk about something totally unrelated -- and traced all his success to the confidence he gained with weight training.

    Your site is good for a beginning. But its impersonal. I know you think your story is personal-- and it will if you add some passion.

  • Posted on 10/23/2009 at 7:06 PM Author
    CarolBlaha, I agree that the route of weight loss or weight gain is confidence lost or gained.

    I'd like to position myself in a manner that would speak to both, maybe looking deeper into the confidence issue from both sides. I will make my story more personal.

    I want to capture this in the title of my page as well. It is bland and pretty much the definition of impersonal. I'm struggling to find the words that would provide a connection to me and the visitor of my site.

    I feel my personality will come across much more in my posts but I would like to have a title and story that connects me with the visitor even before they read any of the posts.

    Thanks for your help.
  • Posted on 10/23/2009 at 7:15 PM Author
    mgoodman,

    I'm just starting the site and am looking to build a connection with me and my niche in the title and in my story.

    I am willing to spend some money in developing the site and SEO but will do as much as I can on my own.

    As far as amount of visitors I want to the site, I want at least 10 people to be commenting on each post at the beginning and keep that number growing daily, weekly, monthly. I'll be syncing the site with my facebook page so many of the visitors will be of the 400 friends I have on there first as well.

    I eventually want 80-100 visitors consistently contributing and commenting on my site. A friend of mine has 70,000 visitors a month averaging 10-15 comments per post. He measures his success through how many people purchase his product. Since I don't yet have a product, the goal is to build a following, success will be measured by how many people visit the site and how many people actually comment. I'll call that my conversion rate.

    Any suggestions of how I can better communicate to my niche when they visit the home page?

    Thanks for your help.
  • Posted on 10/23/2009 at 7:42 PM Author
    PhilGrisolia,

    Thanks for the response. I actually train a guy who owns a marketing company and contacted him to meet in exchange for free sessions.

    I see what you mean and agree that I've got to focus the mission of the site and then put some money into getting my point across.

    In the beginning the site will provide free information with the point of building a loyal following. As I begin to gain a following I'll come out with a product so the focus will change from following to conversion.

    I've got some article I'm sending to some fitness site's in hope that they'll publish them on their pages in order to get some traffic to my site.

    Thanks for your help.
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 10/23/2009 at 8:17 PM Member
    CarolBlaha, I agree that the route of weight loss or weight gain is confidence lost or gained.

    My post meant- that you are going the route of weight gained- and the majority are concerned with weight loss.

    I also agree == when you feel you look good- no matter the #'s, you FEEL GOOD. (confidence)
  • Posted on 10/24/2009 at 12:05 AM Accepted
    Okay, tough love time! You need to get a professional to layout your website. And to do the writing. Right now the site is really all about you. It needs to be all about your potential customer instead. This is key. Even simply changing your tag line "bring me your fitness goals & i'll help you reach them" to "helping you reach and exceed your fitness goals" gets rid of some of the egocentricity. Contact me if you need more help on copy/positioning.

    Good luck!
    kellyann
  • Posted on 10/24/2009 at 12:19 AM Author
    Kellyann,

    Thanks for your input. I see what you're talking about and agree that it should be changed to take the focus off me and on to the potential customer.

    My goal is to position myself as an authority figure on the topic at the same time empathizing with the customer. My niche is young business professionals who find that they are not living a balanced lifestyle. I bring the health and fitness knowledge to them in an exciting, fast way they've never experienced before.

    I also want to highlight the importance of staying physically fit and how it can lead to success in other areas of your life such as work and your social life.

    I'd love some more help on copy/positioning. How do I contact you?

    Thanks, Chad
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 10/24/2009 at 9:48 AM Accepted
    Focus on your copy first. Tell personal stories of how your body image affected your worldview and how improving your body improved your life. Ask others to share their stories.

    Don't think of trying to establish yourself as an authority figure yet. You have your own experiences, but unless you've helped hundreds (or thousands) of others improve their bodies and life, you can't claim the title (and you'd rather have others hand the title to you).

    As for traffic, that's another issue entirely. Copy will keep 'em, but you need people to read your copy. Write your articles/stories, but try to be a guest blogger in places your target audience visits. Also be clear who you're targeting - the whole world or just the area you live in (are you trying to get clients or noticed?).
  • Posted on 10/24/2009 at 2:47 PM Author
    Hey Jay,

    Thanks a lot what you wrote hit the nail on the head, I appreciate your help.

    With the blog site I'm more interested in getting notice/building a loyal following and am focused worldwide not just where I live. This site is sepparate from my personal training business, I wouldn't turn down any clients I get off the blogging, but that's not the immidiate intent. I have another site dedicated to the boot camps I have going on in my area.

    Once I have a following built up and can get some feedback as to what they're looking for most, then I'll come out with a product in the form of an ebook and dvd's.

    I have an idea of what the product with be but want to get a better idea of the kind of people that I'll attract on my site and what they're looking for most in a fitness/healthy lifestyle type product.

    Thanks again for your help, thanks to everyone for their help.

    Visit my blog site from time to time, I'd love to give you fitness advice anytime and I'd love your feedback on the whole thing.

    If there's anything you want to know or need let me know!

    www.chadhowsefitness.com
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 10/24/2009 at 8:34 PM Member
    Hey Chad-- As someone who hasn't gained a # since high school-- in fact I weight less, but the 50 something thing is changing my body without weight gain- even with 3-5x in the gym-- I need help. Bring it on -- but right now from your site, I'm not your audience. The baby boomers are a niche many think are just content to let time take us. But we have the $$ to spend. We buy botox, and worse ($$ speaking). And when I climb a 14er-- (14K in above sea level) I'm surrounded by ole farts my age. Not one my daughters age in sight. I know you want to go where you passion leads you-- but sometimes you need to go where the $ is.

    your knowledge is transferable.

    I went to an art gallery where an artist had pieces that were contemporary, cowboy, and architectural. I asked him "what is going on"-- such a range. He said "i can paint anything-- I just want something that sells. He's an extreme. But market analysis might show in your trading area who is buying and what the market is void!
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