Your club has an effective website, you’ve added your domain name to all of your promotional materials and plastered it all over your local area. What more can you do? Assuming that you’re using search engine submissions to get your club’s website listed on Google, Yahoo!, AOL and the other top search engines, what else can you do to enhance your local web presence?
Let’s face it; no one cares if you are found by a prospective member in another time zone. You want locals who are searching for a facility to be able to find you in local Web searches and directories. Even though the internet is a “global community” and every day people from around the world are connecting at an astounding rate, this will do little to impact your local business. Surprisingly, a large number of people use local searches, link lists and directories. Your job is to get on as many of these resources as possible.
Finding Local Directories
Do a search on Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search, etc., and put in your town name. You will see which local directories come up in the top 10. They are usually websites like yourtown.com or yourtownonline.com and it’s normally very inexpensive to get listed (and get your website linked). These sites are invaluable to scoring new residents because people moving to your area will probably rely heavily upon them.
Once you locate these sites, you can also inquire about getting banners on their front page and sponsored links that can place you at the top of the health and fitness category in the directory. You can also do the same type of search using your state instead of city to find statewide directories (yourstateonline.com) etc. Keep in mind that even though you’ll get more traffic from a statewide directory, you’ll get contacted by a lot of people who aren’t near enough to use your service. However, most state directories are broken down by counties or even cities.
Chamber of Commerce Websites
Another website that comes up in this search is your local Chamber of Commerce. Even if you don’t have time to attend all the meetings and activities that are available with these organizations, you simply pay the nominal yearly fee to get listed and linked to their web directory. If you do join the local Chamber of Commerce, you can exchange links with other members and even cross-promote your business by placing your business cards or flyers in their business and vice-versa.
Local Networking Groups
Similar to a Chamber of Commerce, but less membership-based, are local networking groups. Treat these like Chambers and make sure you don’t miss opportunities to swap leads and crosspromote.
National Lists with Local Listings
There are a number of large national health and fitness directories that get placement on local searches. One good example of this is healthclubdirectory.com. This is a fee-based directory and you will pay for the leads, however they have a 30-day free evaluation of their service. Scrutinize every advertising opportunity and see if it pays off for your club.
Local Newspaper Websites
Local newspaper websites can help you as a lot of their readers may also rely on the same publication for online news and local info. Advertising in their Health section may be affordable and yield a good result.
Local TV and Radio Station Websites
Not only do local media outlets offer directories and advertising opportunities, ask them about doing a feature story on your facility. You cannot underestimate a good TV story or radio referral for your business. Often, radio stations will offer sponsorships of local health or “wellbeing” shows (“This program brought to you by “Your Local Club”.”).
Link Exchanges
Exchanging links with vendors, partners, and business neighbors as well as other companies in your area can also increase traffic to your site. You can even attempt to exchange links with companies that come up ahead of you in the search engines to improve your placement.
Paid Advertising
Of course, there are other performancebased SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and banner rotation opportunities for companies with bigger budgets. Email marketing campaigns are also gaining popularity but sending email is almost as controversial as it is successful. Most paid advertising campaigns offer a free evaluation or test market period to determine effectiveness. It is clear, however, the internet is definitely the place health and fitness club shoppers now look for guidance and information.
Using as many of these strategies as possible will ensure that when your neighbors try to find you online, you’ll reach as many as you can.
Glenn Steers is the Director of Internet Services for ClubSolutionsSites.biz. He can be contacted at 800.536.5830, or visitwww.ClubSolutionSites.biz.
