All that work and not a proven viable idea!?

[Implacabilis]

Hey folks. I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to have a quick look over a little website I built. Although gaining feedback on the site would be fantastic, it's more to answer the million-dollar question, is it a viable idea and a market for such a thing? It's not a new concept as there are a few websites already set up. It's basically a comparison site for online fitness services. I was a PT myself so tried to add a little more functionality.

www.home-fitness-world.com (just click on the first button 'Find my fit' to enter the comparison part.

The quick questionnaire you can find at: Personal Fitness Hub

Any help would be greatly appreciated so I know whether to pivot or persevere.

Many Thanks,
Gareth.

PS just to add, if I'd read the Lean Start-Up book and watched Tom Bilyeu's talk with Mark Randolph, I would have tested the idea first prior to building a website. Live and learn!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

It's basically a comparison site for online fitness services.

I think there is a good need for this.

However IMO, the idea is poorly executed based on what I saw from the website.

When someone visits your site, the first thing they need to know within 3 seconds is WHAT YOU DO and WHAT IS THE BENEFIT. This little fact, was non existent. Don't force your visitor to click 3 times or read 4 paragraphs to determine if your site is valuable.

Your headline is: Personal Fitness Hub

What a terrible waste of space.

What does this mean?

What value is it?

What will it do for me?

No one searches the web saying, "Gee, I need a personal fitness hub"

Extract the primary SKEW for your business and the problem it solves, then turn that into your headline.

Good luck.

 

[Implacabilis]

I think there is a good need for this.

However IMO, the idea is poorly executed based on what I saw from the website.

When someone visits your site, the first thing they need to know within 3 seconds is WHAT YOU DO and WHAT IS THE BENEFIT. This little fact, was non existent. Don't force your visitor to click 3 times or read 4 paragraphs to determine if your site is valuable.

Your headline is: Personal Fitness Hub

What a terrible waste of space.

What does this mean?

What value is it?

What will it do for me?

No one searches the web saying, "Gee, I need a personal fitness hub"

Extract the primary SKEW for your business and the problem it solves, then turn that into your headline.

Good luck.

WOW! Thank you kind sir. That's exactly the straight talking no nonsense, honest and constructed feedback I'm looking for. Family and friends tell you what you want to hear. And getting public to review it is a difficult process.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to take a look and giving me such an invaluable detailed response.

I'll get to work straight away on the whole site with thoughts on your feedback.

Thank you again. Very much appreciated indeed.

Gareth.

PS this site is a goldmine for newbies and entrepreneurs alike.

 

[Keeton]

Hey folks. I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to have a quick look over a little website I built. Although gaining feedback on the site would be fantastic, it's more to answer the million-dollar question, is it a viable idea and a market for such a thing? It's not a new concept as there are a few websites already set up. It's basically a comparison site for online fitness services. I was a PT myself so tried to add a little more functionality.

www.home-fitness-world.com (just click on the first button 'Find my fit' to enter the comparison part.

The quick questionnaire you can find at: Personal Fitness Hub

Any help would be greatly appreciated so I know whether to pivot or persevere.

Many Thanks,
Gareth.

PS just to add, if I'd read the Lean Start-Up book and watched Tom Bilyeu's talk with Mark Randolph, I would have tested the idea first prior to building a website. Live and learn!

In my opinion its just too much. I was able to scroll on your website for a long time, You're giving the customers too much to look at, and that can turn away customers. I would try to simplify things. People don't really like clicking on 30 different buttons to find what they are looking for. but it definitely is a good idea if you can master the website, but right now Im willing to bet people get to your landing page, and leave immediately

 

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[Implacabilis]

In my opinion its just too much. I was able to scroll on your website for a long time, You're giving the customers too much to look at, and that can turn away customers. I would try to simplify things. People don't really like clicking on 30 different buttons to find what they are looking for. but it definitely is a good idea if you can master the website, but right now Im willing to bet people get to your landing page, and leave immediately

Thanks for taking the time to look at the website. Really appreciate your honest reviews. It was a concern I had. People do not want to spend time reading. They want to get to the meat. At most bullet points or demonstrations.

The dilemma I have is trying to sell the idea of online personal training. I'm trying to outline all the great benefits, and just how much it impacts your results.

Do you have any suggestions on how I can still do this without overwhelming people on page one? i.e build the sections solely into the menu for people to read? How do I let them know that this information is there if they want to read up further on it without sending them packing? Or even, how do I fill them with confidence and trust without bombarding them with just too much info.

I agree with what you're saying. Less is more, and make it as simple as possible.

Thanks again for all your feedback. It helps massively listing to constructive feedback like that.

Gareth.

 

[OverByte]

Do you have any suggestions on how I can still do this without overwhelming people on page one? i.e build the sections solely into the menu for people to read? How do I let them know that this information is there if they want to read up further on it without sending them packing? Or even, how do I fill them with confidence and trust without bombarding them with just too much info.

As MJ said I think you need to focus on finding your unique skew and focus completely around that. This is a highly competitive space. What one aspect can you do better than anyone else that people are specifically searching for and focus everything on that. If I have a problem and your website tells me in the first line above the fold that you solve it, then I want to know more and I'll keep trickling down further into your funnel. If you don't grab me right away I'm out. Remember how fickle and elusive any customer's attention is, you really have to nail the bait to rise above the noise. If you're just selling the same grub as everyone else on the street, you likely won't even get a glance yet alone someone to read your paragraphs and navigate your website.

You need to figure that out how you are going to rise above the noise and provide that unique value I'm looking for. But the first thing I sense when I see your site is that it is overwhelming and I have no idea why you are different than anyone else or what you're offering. Who is your ideal customer and what is their pain point and how are you solving it? Start there. This will also help make sure your webpage is congruent with that customer.

 

[Knugs]

Has the learn start up not taught you to validate all the assumptions you make? You need hard data from your niche customer group to answer these questions for you, indirectly.

 

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[Implacabilis]

I think there is a good need for this.

However IMO, the idea is poorly executed based on what I saw from the website.

When someone visits your site, the first thing they need to know within 3 seconds is WHAT YOU DO and WHAT IS THE BENEFIT. This little fact, was non existent. Don't force your visitor to click 3 times or read 4 paragraphs to determine if your site is valuable.

Your headline is: Personal Fitness Hub

What a terrible waste of space.

What does this mean?

What value is it?

What will it do for me?

No one searches the web saying, "Gee, I need a personal fitness hub"

Extract the primary SKEW for your business and the problem it solves, then turn that into your headline.

Good luck.

Wait this isn't thee MJ De Marco, writer of unscripted ? Am I being silly here?

If it was I'd want to kindly thank him for not wasting years of my life on startups with easy entry levels like everyone else. The ones that make the so-called gurus money for teaching the courses.

Anyway, even if not, I think everyone here knows how life-changing that book is for any entrepreneur. Certainly an absolute game-changer for me and shifted my whole perspective from chasing wealth to genuinely attempting to offer something of value.

 

[Implacabilis]

As MJ said I think you need to focus on finding your unique skew and focus completely around that. This is a highly competitive space. What one aspect can you do better than anyone else that people are specifically searching for and focus everything on that. If I have a problem and your website tells me in the first line above the fold that you solve it, then I want to know more and I'll keep trickling down further into your funnel. If you don't grab me right away I'm out. Remember how fickle and elusive any customer's attention is, you really have to nail the bait to rise above the noise. If you're just selling the same grub as everyone else on the street, you likely won't even get a glance yet alone someone to read your paragraphs and navigate your website.

You need to figure that out how you are going to rise above the noise and provide that unique value I'm looking for. But the first thing I sense when I see your site is that it is overwhelming and I have no idea why you are different than anyone else or what you're offering. Who is your ideal customer and what is their pain point and how are you solving it? Start there. This will also help make sure your webpage is congruent with that customer.

Hi OverByte. Thanks so much for such a detailed response. Really very much appreciated.

At this stage, I am unsure who my specific market is. Other than a hunch it will more likely be aimed at newbies/novices to fitness looking to get fit or into fitness, training from home, or to supplement their gym workout. This early on I didn't want to niche down too early in case I was missing my target market(which was overlooked). I guess that's where I need to get creative and do my market research to find it as quickly as possible before wasting any more of my time.

I had the idea of simply running some local and basic google, FB ads, offering a FREE service to find them the best online(or local trainer). I would mention I've trained for 15 years and qualified PT myself. I fulfill the service offered by the free fitness evaluation form I have set out already for customers. Then from there just some good old-fashioned leg work and web research on the type of online fitness services that would best suit them. Then maybe get back to them with 3 possibilities. I'm not sure if this would add merit to my idea. However, my thoughts are that if people started using this to help them find a service or trainer, there is a need for someone else to do the groundwork for them to find that perfect fitness match. But do people care enough about their fitness? Do they even know it's not one size fits all? That's what I need to find out.

I did want to offer also the best-localized trainers and fitness services for people and match them up, as well as 'online' fitness services. But the web build is out of my budget. I'm learning how to code and build websites anyway so that will come.

You make an awesome and invaluable point about what I can offer them that's different from all other fitness services, and that needs stipulating from outset. As well as, how we can solve their problem. So your words have planted a huge seed. Thank you for this. I would say, the fact that my service would be independent and therefore impartial to each service to make a more accurate and informed choice. So I'll be sure to get on this straight away re website changes.

Your words on how people browse web pages are making me redesign my landing page and many others, to be clearer and more concise. Also to hold back on some information until further into the site, as not to overwhelm them.

So many golden nuggets to take from your message, so again, can't thank you enough for sharing your time.

Gareth.

 

[Implacabilis]

Has the learn start up not taught you to validate all the assumptions you make? You need hard data from your niche customer group to answer these questions for you, indirectly.

Thanks for your response and comments. This is what I'm struggling to add validity to my hunch. I've tried sending out questionnaires. Even offering £100 voucher for my store as an incentive as well as sending ads out asking for a response. Nothing. I think at this stage I just need to attempt to get some trainers(I have 5 already) and put the feelers out with cheap ads targeted at specific audiences.

Survey companies are inaccurate due to people completing 100+ a day. I think because the website is built(although a lot of work to improve it) I will just test it out with a 5 or 10 trainers. I know if I typed into google search, 'online fitness services' or 'trainer', and a ton of trainers came up promising the earth, but one simple said, independently compare all the best trainers and fitness services to find the right one for you, I would head straight for the impartial service to take some if the strain away from finding the right one. But that's me, and that's because I love fitness. Most don't.

But you're right, I need to validate my assumptions before I spend too much time and money on a useless idea.

Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated.

 

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[Kid]

Hi,

The advice would be to bring "content" closer to client.
Call it a path or visitor journey.
As of now i clicked around 3 pages deep and i still haven't got any of content.

The path now is this:
1.[Find my fit] button click
2.Compare personal trainers - image click
3. Yet another image click required to find All trainers (here i gave up)
4. Content that visitor supposed to see.

Actually first click is also a lot to ask for.
Second clicks is a a stretch.
So on third required click i bet most people would give up.

So:
Bring some content earlier - on home page - show your 3 best trainers and link "more"
If not on homepage do it on second page also with link "more".

When people will see what you have to offer they will browse more.

Btw. Had idea to optimize your tag line "Bringing fitness home" instead of "(...) to you"
Not sure if that would convey same message (had to look up it in dictionary) but its more compact.

 

[Implacabilis]

Hi,

The advice would be to bring "content" closer to client.
Call it a path or visitor journey.
As of now i clicked around 3 pages deep and i still haven't got any of content.

The path now is this:
1.[Find my fit] button click
2.Compare personal trainers - image click
3. Yet another image click required to find All trainers (here i gave up)
4. Content that visitor supposed to see.

Actually first click is also a lot to ask for.
Second clicks is a a stretch.
So on third required click i bet most people would give up.

So:
Bring some content earlier - on home page - show your 3 best trainers and link "more"
If not on homepage do it on second page also with link "more".

When people will see what you have to offer they will browse more.

Btw. Had idea to optimize your tag line "Bringing fitness home" instead of "(...) to you"
Not sure if that would convey same message (had to look up it in dictionary) but its more compact.

Hi Kid. That's really good of you to take the time to look through my site and give me so much feedback. Folks on this forum are so helpful and abundance of knowledge and experience.

Your suggestions are just what I needed and need to hear. I think I'm focusing so much on selling the idea and trying to convince customers, rather than, letting the idea sell itself if it has merit.

So what I was going to do when things started to move a little(i.e trainers on there and clients signing up), was to put top performing trainers at the main page. Kinda like a reward system for trainers. I was also going to add most improved clients(not sure how this would be judged yet) to incentivize both trainers and clients. But your point about bringing the content closer to the client makes so much sense. Not sure how I couldn't see that.

So I have 10 trainers at the moment, I will add some of their profiles to home page to show customers straight away what they have the option to compare. The same with fitness classes.

I like the idea if the slogan changed. I wanted to change it altogether as Home Fitness World then, fitness again on the next line. But Bringing Fitness Home sounds snappier.

Listen thanks again for all these ideas and suggestions. Feedback like that is learning and helping me so much. The whole front page has nearly changed due to so much amazing feedback!

Gareth.