Why Your Gym Needs A Fitness Blog

With all of the fitness resources, blogs, and articles circling the web, most of them aren't created by gyms themselves. Creating content for your gym's blog will get more traffic to your site and more members through your door.

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There are countless health and fitness blogs, resources, articles, and videos circling the web created by anyone from a stay-at-home mom to the highest-level fitness experts. So, why don’t we see gyms pushing similar content to their audiences? Perhaps gyms don’t engage in inbound marketing because they don’t want to take the time to create engaging content. Often when attempting to write a fitness blog, the following thoughts run through their minds: “What should I write about? Can I even write? I bet everyone already knows everything about fitness from all the other sources out there. I don’t have anything original to contribute. If this isn’t awesome, people aren’t going to take me seriously or are going to know how little I actually know. Maybe I’ll just go do something else that is more important for now.”

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Another possibility is that gyms don’t think they need blogs because most people find new gyms through word-of-mouth, versus searching online, so creating a fitness blog is a waste of effort. But we think all of these thoughts can and should be challenged. According to Cybex, studies show that companies who actively post blogs to their site have 55% more visitors than companies who don’t. Need a little bit more convincing? Here are some tips on how and why more gyms should start blogging.

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How Does Blogging Benefit You?

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Blogging isn’t easy and it takes some practice, so why should gyms focus more of their marketing efforts in this area? The answer is to tear down fears and barriers to entry for people who are not natural gym goers or who don’t feel comfortable at the gym. The whole concept of a gym is to acquire as many new members and keep existing ones as possible, and creating a blog that makes potential new members feel more comfortable with your brand, location, and culture is so critical, and a health and fitness blog is the perfect way to communicate that message.

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Not only does blogging help tear down the barriers to entry for potential new members, but blogging also increases your search engine visibility. Frequent content that hooks the reader in and lures them to your site means more traffic for your business. It also creates a 24/7-open sign for your brand. Your gym probably isn't open 24 hours a day - but your website and blog can be.  Having a blog leaves great content available for new and current members to absorb and trust your brand whether zumba class is in session or not. A blog adds credibility to your business by showing off your expertise, genuine care for your members, and company as a whole. Basically, the more eyeballs you have on your blog and your website means more feet walking through your front door to sign up and renew memberships.

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Where To Start

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Okay, so now you’re on board with the idea of having a blog on your gym’s website. Now back to the original concern, where do we even begin? The first hurdle that gyms encounter is finding something to write about. The best place to start is to begin with your client’s goals or barriers to purchase and focus on the benefits of what your gym has to offer. People come to your gym for many different reasons, and these reasons include the valuable content you create. For each of your member’s health and fitness goals, try creating a list. Some of these might include: how to lose fat, increasing your back squat one-rep max, or how to run a faster mile.

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For instance, a common barrier for purchasing a gym membership is that people fear they won’t go as much as they should and therefore feel like a membership is a waste of money. Help them overcome this fear by writing a blog offering a solution to those concerns that will make people more comfortable with making that decision (in your favor of course). Or, for your existing members who are hitting a plateau in their fitness journey and need a little extra push, write a blog on tips to get them over that hump and/or offer contact information to your gym’s personal trainers or health coaches.

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By focusing your topics on their goals, whether they are potential members or current ones, you’re providing valuable, knowledge-based content that keeps them hooked on your writing, reinforcing your expertise and adding something extra to your word-of-mouth marketing efforts. Once your clients actually use your advice and succeed at their goals, you’ll have a hard time getting them to stop talking about how awesome you are, which only means one thing: more members. If you have found any gyms that produce awesome blogs and would like to share or have experienced another tip that we didn't mention, please leave a comment below!