Many gym and CrossFit affiliate websites don’t have the design and engaging user flow you would hope for in a small business website. Our goal is to maximize web design efficiency for all of the projects we interact in, here are a few of the main features we focus on in our web design.

1) Make it simple for new members to sign up and get started

For any small business website the main goal is always to align your website to best cater to new customers. When it comes to CrossFit affiliate and gym websites it’s all to common for a potential client to have no clue how to sign up. It should be a simple and clear process for new members to get involved with your gym. The best way to do this is highlight your programming that caters to new members first and lead them to a call-to-action of signing up at the same time.  If your gym offers an on-boarding program or a class catering to new members (which you likely should), make it the first thing visitors to your website will see. Follow that up with a button, form, or call-to-action; leading visitors of your page to signing up with your gym.

2) Easy access to important information for existing members

While I had stressed earlier that the landing page should be focused towards new members, we cannot forget the importance of making information readily available for existing members. It’s obvious that dedicated pages and navigation links for workout of the day, schedule, rates, general gym information, etc. should be accessible but where else can you feed important information to your members? There’s a couple of options, one of which is offering direct and relevant previews of important information on the home page. To do this I’ve previously had sections just below the landing on the home page that offer a preview of the schedule by just showing the normally scheduled programs for that particular day. Likewise, a listing of the WOD can be applied in the same location. Another way to make sure this information is easily accessible is to submit your website’s map to Google and other search engines and set the search results to display these pertinent pages. This way members and other visitors can head directly to the schedule page or workout from the search results.

3) General business information is easily obtainable

As with any small business, a CrossFit website needs to make general business information readily available. Things like hours, location, phone number and email can be located in a variety of places. A couple that are most common to place this information include: The very top of the page above the navigation, the footer of the page, or even both (my favorite). One thing that might be overlooked by some gym owners is the availability of this information on Google search results. In the picture below you can find key business details in red when you submit your gym’s information to Google:

kodacrossfitnormangooglesearchpic

Great looking search results will help your ability to gain new members and keep current members informed.

4) Emphasize the social aspect of your gym to increase your brand awareness

A large part of growing any brand in the modern business landscape is an engaging social media presence. Whether you’re adding social media feeds directly into your website or including promotional links to follow your brand, it’s very important to bring valuable content to the table for your members and potential members. A great social presence is also sure to rise your gym’s rank in Google SEO for your city + CrossFit as well. Whether you want to pop your social feeds right onto the site or just link it and encourage active participation doesn’t matter too much, what does matter is being an engaging and valuable community member through your gym’s social activity.

5) Engaging and useful home landing page

My last key feature is one that is useful for all website designs. The first impression that you give the user is huge for converting members and making current users feel at home on your website. The landing on the home page should be excellent on all devices for getting your messages accross. There should be clear call to action buttons (Sign-up now, Try a free class, etc.) and also keep clutter to a minimum in order to clearly get your message and brand accross to users.

Thanks for reading, keep checking back for more posts on web design and development efficiency for the gym and CrossFit industry!