How to Build a Fitness Website in 2022: 3 Easy Steps

This year due to the massive COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, people started to work out at home more than ever before. Only 20 to 30% of people are currently visiting the gym. Therefore, investing money in how to build a fitness website in 2022 is not only fashionable but also quite profitable.

Even after the pandemic, the online workout industry had a huge boost: over 53% increase in total revenue.

The revenue boost was experienced not only by sports giants such as Nike but also by startups such as Fitternity. Nike Training Club hit a 100% increase in weekly clients and Fitternity increased its popularity by 200% in terms of corporate requests. 

Judging from the data above, it is probably the best period to choose the online workout industry and learn how to build a fitness website.

Why Build a Fitness Website: The Market Overview

The health and wellness industry is now a highly profitable market with over $6 billion in value.

And that is only the beginning. As experts predict the growth per year will be over 31%. By 2027 the online wellness industry is expected to grow to $59 billion.

Source: CAGR, Fitness Market Forecast, WellnessCreatives

Fitness Site Market Report Scope

Source: MarketResearchFuture, RunRepeat, ResearchandMarkets, GrandViewResearch

Regularly, there are three popular devices people use for digital gym activities.

• Smartphones – 67,6 %
• Wearable Devices like Apple Watch and Fitbit – 27,4%
• Tablets – 5%

Source: GrandviewResearch, Statista

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Top 5 Types of Fitness Software

The wellness industry is very versatile and includes at least 5 core types of workout software. It grew enormously in recent years due to people choosing a healthier and more active lifestyle. Not only did numerous types of apps have emerged but also different web personal and group coaching websites. 

Here is an overview of the most popular types of sports software:

Gym and Club Management Systems

Gym and club management systems are software that gives businesses the functionality to manage

• schedules
• memberships
• facilities. 

This system functionality includes:

• Membership management
• Administrative task management
• Class Scheduling
• Billing 
• Storing member information to know in a database
• Automate marketing
• Notifications.

Gym and club management systems are usually used by sport-focused companies:

• gyms
• athletic clubs
• dance and yoga
• aerobics
• swimming and gym centers

Examples: Vagaro, GymMaster

Fitness Apps

Workout apps have an enormous impact on people’s health and well-being. According to Flurry, users become more involved and dedicated to their workout routine and health in general once they start using gym apps.

1) Diet and nutrition apps

Diet and nutrition apps are used by people who want to:

• lose or gain some weight
• eat healthier and keep track of their food diary

These kinds of apps need to utilize graphics, notifications, and visualization, in general, to keep their clients motivated in using the app.

Examples: Lose It, Fooducate 

2) High-intensity interval training apps (HIIT)

HIIT apps are used for quick workout sessions, but with high-intensity exercises. This type of app is great for more workout-advanced customers.

Examples: Tabata HIIT Interval Timer

3) Activity Tracking Apps

Activity Tracking Apps are mobile apps that help users to keep track of their daily activity by checking out clients’ statistics on their phones, smartwatches, and sports trackers. Usually, these apps are integrated with a GPS to track users’ covered distance and speed.

Examples: Runkeeper, Runtastic, Nike+ Running

4) Personal Trainer, Studio Apps or Workout Apps

Personal trainer and studio apps offer customized training programs and personal trainer services. Some studio apps serve only for booking or canceling offline sports sessions. 

Examples: Aaptiv, Sworkit, Handstand

5) Meditation and Yoga Apps

Meditation and yoga apps provide their yoga lovers with different daily sessions according to users’ levels. They can both provide clients with recorded videos and live sessions.

Examples: Daily Yoga, Down Dog

6) Running Apps

Running apps help to track users’ running results including distance, speed, and elevation. Usually, running apps can track users’ results with the help of a phone, smartwatch, or a client’s sports tracker.

Examples: Runkeeper, Strava

Fitness Aggregators

Aggregators are a middleman between gyms and customers. They provide users with the ability to search for the best gym or program cost-, time-, and location-wise. 

These aggregators collect information users need to know about gyms and sports centers all over the Internet and offer detailed information on the gyms and their programs.

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Usually, aggregators like ClassPass or Gympic offer the features of searching, booking, and paying for the clients’ workout sessions.

With the COVID-19, some sports aggregators, like ClassPass started to offer online classes.

Examples: ClassPass, Gympic 

Brand Websites

Fitness brand websites are promo- websites of a certain brand that wants to promote their business. Typically, this kind of website has some general information users need to know about their gym or a studio. Such sites aim to

• showcase their services and areas of expertise
• best professional trainers and the timetable of classes

Examples: Phive, Studio Fitness

Fitness Websites

Fitness websites are websites not only have features of brand websites but also offer a range of additional services for workouts and a healthy lifestyle.

Whilst workout apps tend to target a very specific niche, like nutrition or activity tracking, online sports sites often specialize in providing clients with as many services as possible. Usually, they include:

• Online personal or group training
• Live streams
• Nutrition plan
• Recorded video training
• Personalized program

Examples: Omstars, BodyStar, Booyafitness, DailyBurn

Today we are going to take a closer look at this particular type of software, namely workout website: its core features, ways of monetization, and how to build a fitness site. Stay tuned! 

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Top Fitness Websites

My Fitness Pal

MyFitnessPal is a US website and then an app released in 2005. It tracks diet and exercise. The company’s revenue was $7.57 million in April 2021.

Now it’s the most popular fitness platform in the US and UK and the most known software with over 74% global user coverage visits in the world.

ClassPass 

ClassPass is a New York-based website that offers membership programs from 25,000 studios all over the world. 

The company was founded in 2013 and has raised around $549M in 9 funding rounds. In 2020 ClassPass became the first unicorn startup of the decade.

Active.com

Active.com is a website that provides users with a variety of classes, sports, and recreational activities, facilities, and venues. It was founded in 1998 in San Diego, California, and fundraised $15.5M.

Fitternity 

Fitternity is one of the largest websites in India founded in 2013, it has raised $7.5M in 6 funding rounds. 

Before the lockdown, Fitternity offered its services for booking fitness and gym classes through its platform. However, when the COVID-19 hit, it had to

• pivot to offering online classes
• pre-recorded workout videos
• personal online coaching

Since then Fitternity experienced an increase of 200% in corporate bookings.

Alomoves

Alomoves is an online video site that offers yoga and other classes. In February 2020, Alomoves had a major user growth and the number of total visits sums up to over 1M a day. 

DailyBurn

DailyBurn is a workout and nutrition tracking site and app that is headquartered in New York and was founded in 2007. 

The site attractiveness has been influenced by people being on lockdown, unable to visit a gym.

Why Do Businesses Need a Fitness Website

According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a trend in the wellness industry of using online training and on-demand or live streaming workout sessions. 

It is predicted that 2021 is going to be a fitness year with a huge amount of worldwide users. If a brand has an offline business, now it’s the best period to go digital, providing them with a wider range of opportunities and international growth. Even an enthusiast like Steve Kamb, founder of Nerd Fitness, developed a famous website out of his desire to be healthy and run his online community. So, regardless if you’re a big company or just a solo gym freak, now it’s your best time! 

Here are the main reasons why you need to consider building an online site:

• Additional channel for attracting customers
• Little competition on the market
• Growing market
• Constant users availability
• Cost saving on equipment, location, and staff

The gym dropout rate in the first eight weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic started was considerable.

This happened first of all because some gyms are not able to follow sanitary standards. Secondly, due to peoples’ busy schedules and gyms being far-located gyms weren’t ready. 

Being remote is our reality now, so businesses must be prepared for the new virus pandemic and protect themselves from material losses and their users from the lack of a healthy lifestyle.

10 Core Features for Creating a Fitness Website

Registration

With registration, you’ll be able to collect some basic info on your users and target them later in case they haven’t tried your website services yet.

Registration feature includes login and signup. Both these features don’t need to be too complicated. The uncomplicated way out is to have a social media integration on the site, it can be either Facebook, Google, or both.

User Profile

A user profile needs to have some basic settings, like changing the password or your contact information. Users will want to have the ability to view

• their previous classes
• their billion information
• upcoming classes

Search

Users can search by type of training, by the studio, or personal trainer. This is tightly connected with what type of fitness software you are offering. 

You can either partner with studios where they have already selected professional trainers and have the qualifications to coach customers or your online training software can include independent trainers who are free and have skills to offer their services on the website.

Trainer’s or Studio’s Page

Trainer’s or Studios Page is the next thing after users choose a certain personal trainer or class. If you partner with studios then studios pages need to have basic information users want to know about the studio, like

• its description
• contacts
• social media accounts
• reviews and feedback
• class schedule

If your website only partners with personal trainers, then a trainer’s page should have information about

• trainer’s qualification
• contact information
• reviews and feedback
• timetable of available slots

You need to keep in mind that quite often users only trust gyms that they have been in, rather than standalone trainers. So, if you do decide to collaborate with professional trainers, give as much information on each trainer as possible.

Plus, reviews and feedback usually work like a charm. As an additional trust booster, you can ask a trainer to make a video about themselves and their experience and some things where they work out in a group or individually.  

Booking

The booking feature on fitness websites usually includes the ability to choose the best slot, leave notes if necessary, and then pay for the class. 

Online websites often use an escrow payment system. With an escrow payment, the money is charged from a user’s card before the class but transferred to a trainer’s bank out only when the class is finished. Meanwhile, money is stored in a payment provider, like Stripe for example.

Let’s read about Stripe pros and cons: in-depth review of a payment gateway

Video Call or Live Streaming

Video calls and live streams are probably the main things why people would use the software for online training. With a video connection, trainers can have live communication with a customer as if they were offline. Trainers can

• pinpoint if users are doing everything right
• correct users while showing the exercise or a position with their example

Video calls can be either group or individual. If you are planning to have group sessions, then make sure your website can handle multiple users all connecting to one video call. Plus, probably not only one trainer is going to have a call immediately. Usually, several professional trainers can have their classes with their groups at one moment.

Communication

In case, trainers and clients have any additional questions or want to change their class. The messaging system enables them to communicate with each other.

Activity Log

In brief, an activity log is a plan that users follow to make their training more effective.

It is not enough to have only videos with exercises to make a change in someone else’s lifestyle. The workout websites need to offer a complex plan that users can follow. The plan should consist of exercises, nutrition, and overall daily activities. 

Several ways to motivate users to stick to the plan:

• Goals: one of the first things users want to do on a website is to set up their own goals. Usually, users have goals about their weight or eating healthier habits. After a user chooses their goal, it is worth asking how many times a week can a user work and for how long. Then, a sports website can offer daily and weekly goals. 

• Calendars and notifications: it’s vital for users to have calendar reminders about their upcoming events. Don’t let them forget about their goals.
  
• Progress analytics: people tend to get even more motivated when they see some progress. And visualization like graphics and diagrams are very helpful here.

Video Tutorials

Giving free access to some of the video tutorials on sports websites will encourage users to use them more frequently and at the same time will gain users’ trust.

Besides, if you choose a subscription revenue model or freemium then premium video tutorials will be the source of your monetization, either the main or an additional one. 

Blog

Besides having video tutorials as an additional source of value, educational content can help users to be more engaged and knowledgeable about health and wellness.

Having a blog will bring you traffic, which may result in a higher number of customers.

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6. How to Monetize a Fitness Website

Subscription

The most popular monetization model for a website is a subscription-based revenue model. Within this monetization model, a user pays a recurring fee, either monthly or annually. 

What do fitness websites offer for a subscription fee?

• Premium content: workout videos of any kind, ‘how-to’ articles, recipes.
• Video calls: like at the actual gym where a customer buys a limited membership according to which you can participate in a limited number of classes of different types, you can offer the same. By buying a subscription, users will be able to participate in group or personal training sessions a limited number of times.
• Activity log: the feature that we previously mentioned is a personal and customized package. There are 2 ways to create such a package: either have a trainer create a package for a user after finding all details and goals or creating a simple algorithm that can set up, for example, weight and activity goals according to a user’s questionnaire.

Freemium

The Freemium revenue model stands for offering users 2 types of website usage – free and premium. Premium features may include workout videos by top trainers or activity logs. In some ways, freemium is similar to subscription, the only difference is that with a freemium model a website offers not only paid but also some free services.

Commission

The commission is a revenue model where a user pays a fee for each payment transaction. Usually, commission-based models are used by websites for fitness that offer online workout sessions or live streams. A commission fee can be charged

• both from a customer
• trainer
• from either side

Advertising

Unlike subscription, commission, or freemium, advertising is normally an additional revenue source for sports websites. This model has relatively low profitability and a high distraction level. Users often get annoyed when they see too many ads or can just get drawn away from your website too soon.

Fitness websites typically partner with companies that sell fitness-, workout- or health-focused products. Partner companies advertise their products on a website by paying a fee depending on a click-through rate or a per-view.

Sponsored content

Another additional revenue stream is publishing sponsored content. Gyms and workout studios provide websites with valuable content and get visibility on your website. 

Common types of sponsored content may vary:

• Free customized online training 
• PDF program 
• Sports videos
• Live video workouts 
• Online group training

How to Build a Fitness Website: 3 Core Steps

Building a workout website can be challenging if you don’t know where and how to start. Before starting the site, companies need to think about the next vital steps crucial to know.

Stage 1. Conducting Research and Discovery

It’s the most critical stage in web development that contributes to working out the success of an online endeavor:

• researching and describing the end-users
• finding the pain points of users
• collecting info and establishing the tech requirements
• identifying a website goal
• analyzing the web resources of competitors
• planning a unique content strategy

As companies know, there are many sports platforms on the market, and the main goal is to bypass the competitors using some unique options and functionality. If companies have some troubles with it, it’s crucial to know that spending some time on the discovery phase will help bring some focus and clarity on the matter. 

Stage 2. Choosing a Suitable Vendor

There are several free tools available to create a fitness website. But they are often underwhelming due to the lack of functionality, limited security, and basic design that can’t impress. Therefore, the better free option would be to search for an experienced supplier that has significant experience in building websites on platforms such as Clutch and GoodFirms, where companies can find portfolios and real feedback from clients.

When creating a workout website, it’s important to know a huge number of factors, such as:

• choosing a platform and hosting (sometimes can be free)
• creating a website layout and implementing functionality 
• a comfortable navigation system and design
• testing at every stage of the development 

Design and development usually go hand in hand, since any changes in the design of a website affect the site development process and vice versa.

Stage 3. Deciding on the Way of Development

Eager to know how to make a fitness website? Here are three best ways businesses want to know:

• Custom software development
• SaaS
• White label

Custom development

Custom software development means building a workout website from scratch. It’s usually a long-term project with a unique site design. To create a website for online sports activities from scratch, you can either hire the best team of in-house developers or you can hire an outsourced team.

Pros of Custom development

• Customization

With custom development, you will be able to create the best gym website that will suit your budget and implement your unique vision. Oppositely to any ready-made solutions, custom site development has no feature limitations. The only limit would be – the available budget.

• Scalability

Most of the market-ready-made web solutions are built the way they are hard to scale when the project grows enough. Thus, a company would have to create

• brand new website
• move all the data to the new platform

And it even would not be a big deal, unless it brings some tech site risks and big risks of losing positions in the search engines.

Cons of Custom development

• Time

Developing a minimal version of the product can take at least 3 months, depending on the needed features. If it is too long to start validating the idea, design, then perhaps you’ll make other choices.

• Cost

A custom web solution is the most expensive way to create a website. Surely, the price would depend on several various factors. But generally speaking, the price for custom site development starts from $30-40K.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is a service subscription that provides ready-made software, “for rent”. Usually, such web solutions are pretty cheap, have a standard set of free features, and design is very hard to customize.

Pro of SaaS

• Price 

The huge perk of SaaS is the price. Especially if you just would like to try out the idea and design quickly validate within 2-5 months and then move to some other kind of product.

By contrast, in the long run, SaaS can make even a more expensive option.

Con of SaaS

• Lack of customization

In the best scenario, SaaS provides the ability to change for free some basic UI and UX design or add some simple features to the website. 

White Label

White Label solution is a concept of cooperation between two companies: one produces a product or service, and the second promotes them under its own brand. This allows companies to do what they do best and get maximum profit. 

It also helps companies that want to make a fitness website to save money and time on the development process. The term appeared in the USA in the music industry. Then in 2001 white label went into software technology.

Pros of White Label

• Functionality of the best custom product, one for much less money and development time
• Ability to enter the market faster and overtake competitors
• New business opportunities
• Fuctional and simple design

The in-house experts are freed up for other tasks (for example, related to the promotion of the sports website).

Cons of White Label

• Opportunity to come across an inexperienced contractor

Our Expertise

Sloboda Studio has created a white-label solution for sports center owners, startuppers, and gym service providers that want to have a workout website with broad functionality.

Our white-label fitness website solution has the same functionality as the Nike Training app and more. 

Registering

Our three-step profile creation helps you find out more about your users and develop better website navigation. 

Users also get an opportunity to sign up via Facebook and Google. Security is enhanced by the ability to protect the account by phone number and password changing, if necessary.

Profiles for Fitness Trainers and Customers

There are two types of profiles your users can sign up for – profiles for trainers and profiles for customers. In their profiles, they can add:

• Personal information, with the ability to add images, a slider to show “How it works”, bio, zip code, etc.
• Professional information if they sign up on the site as trainers; here is where they can provide their licensing and experience info

Payment Services

There is Stripe integration to make the payment services as easy as possible for clients and business owners.

Search Function

An extensive search function gives users the ability to search by:

• Session: online, offline trainings, or recorded videos
• Price
• Difficulty, etc

Search and Navigation

Users are on the receiving end of a comfortable search and website navigation due to all of the different options available.

Sessions

Users can arrange a video call, view the already recorded videos, and train offline with uploaded videos. Monetization of the website in this case happens when the users choose an online training or decide to train by using the already recorded videos.

Users can try private workout lessons. They can choose:

• Level of exercise and intensity of the clients lesson
• Number of sessions with different priсe packages
• Date and time
• Category of exercises and personal schedule
• Style of exercises and location of trainers

Online sessions are available thanks to the Zoom integration. 

On the page with private workout lessons users can choose:

• Difficulty of lessons
• Session rate
• Date and Time
• Expertise of the trainers

Listings & Trainers’ Pages

Users can view available videos and look for trainers with different experiences and qualifications according to the lessons’ difficulty. What’s more – users can watch trainers’ reviews and descriptions of the lessons to make the right choice.

Admin Panel

It helps administrators keep an overview of the trainers and users, providing the ability to just correct information on the website and quickly react to some problems that may arise.

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Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed offline workout businesses to turn into digital solutions using mobile apps or workout websites.

From 2020 the number of sports website users has increased considerably, with the health industry revenue being predicted to reach $59 Billion by 2027.

Here are a few tips on how to build a fitness website:

• Do a market and competitors research
• Choose the suitable monetization model
• Select the best ways to create a fitness website
• Hire a dedicated developers team 
• Single out only the core features and design
• Choose a White Label Solution, Saas, or Custom software development

Sloboda Studio has been on the market for over 11+ years, building websites and apps for modern businesses.

We have created a pre-made workout website that is customizable and scalable. If you’re a workout, yoga, or sports center owner or a startupper, our white-label solution will be able to create an additional channel for attracting new customers and maintaining your current ones.