Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi there :-)

The site looks nice and works well in Firefox (1.x). I`m not a fan of white text on a black background, but you`ve got enough line spacing that it`s readable without much effort. However, the "why Fittron" is kind of slow reading.

I`m thinking that since white-on-black is a bit more difficult on the eyes, maybe for the "What is Fittron?" section, use shorter than ordinary sentences, and put most of your statements into bullets, for "super fast" consumption. I think people then would be more willing to scroll down and read the next section.

Another, related thought is to have the second section about why  you should choose..., as a separate page and article. When I clicked on the yellow sunburst (front page) I was satisfied that I`d reached the correct destination. But I just didn`t want to read a lot, all on one page.

If you put maybe the first two paragraphs of the article on choosing a lifestyle on the front page, then a "read more..." link, sending people to a separate page, it might improve the visibility of your "argument" in favor of the lifestyle. Just a thought.

The big problem is going to be populating the database. I really like the search-by-ZIP code function, but as with all new businesses, if the results are empty, it`s disappointing.

We`ve had a lot of traffic increase through Kathy`s WordPress blog. By putting up an entry every couple of days, she`s getting strong visibility on WordPress, which in turn is being crawled by Google. Then, with a link to our Web site, we`re getting a large boost in traffic.

If you focus the blog on 1) why people should choose a fitness lifestyle, and 2) profiling many fitness instructors, I suspect you`ll garner some interest in those instructors. They would then be more likely to visit your directory.

I`d also change your terminology, including the word "directory" together with "database." Not many people really understand the term "database," and I`m thinking fitness instructors would more likely be interested in putting a "listing" in your "directory," sort of like an online phone book or yellow pages?

Finally, if you`re going to use fitness instructor pictures, I`m guessing they should be more on the order of whole-body images. To see only someone`s face doesn`t really promote them much as an expert in fitness. I know you`re stuck with whatever images the members use, but you could have a page for fitness instructors.

Maybe change your term "Users" to something like customers, or public. Right now it`s a bit ambiguous. I was thinking "users" referred to professional users of the site--the instructors. Then instead of "Professionals," change it to "Instructors."

You could have a professional log-in, where fitness instructors could maintain their profiles or take advantage of periodic deals you might offer down the road as you expand.

All in all, it`s that populating the database thing that`s the biggest problem. The more instructors you have, the more interest the site will generate for first-time visitors. You might consider doing a whole lot of data-entry (or hiring it out), and combing the national phone books for instructors. Then put in a basic listing, email or direct mail that person, and let them know they`re in your system.

They`ll almost surely visit, just to see how they got placed. When they also see they have only a bare-bones listing AND that they can improve that listing easily, it`d be sort of like seeding the ground. :-)

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