by Brian Cannone
This is Jack LaLanne…
He started off as a physique competitor.
And here is Tony Horton who has actually never competed (well, he is the guy pointing at me):
Most physique contestants are personal trainers and are looking for ways to market their accomplishments along with staying motivated and working on their physiques but also trying to make their hobby a career. I admire these people and there are things you can do to help you market yourself regardless of winning trophies on stage.
When you are trying to achieve a goal in any career that puts you in the spotlight you are going to need your own website. This is especially true in the fitness profession! You want to put your name out there and you want people to be able to look you up! Now, there are many ways you can go about putting your name out there and getting the right kind of publicity. You can put yourself out there on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. But you will benefit the most from having your OWN website. This means having a website that solely belongs to you and you can put whatever you want on it. This website will become directly linked to you and your profession and will increase your chances of getting the publicity you want and need by a drastic percentage.
The first thing you need to understand is that your website is YOUR website. This website is YOUR brand. You will need and want this if you want to get anywhere in the fitness profession. If you do not have a website that is truly your own then you are just another ‘John Doe’ on a social network hoping to be noticed by someone of importance. If you have your own website this shows that you take not only yourself seriously, but your profession seriously as well. People enjoy reading about and are generally interested in someone who takes their profession very seriously. If you start thinking about your website in terms of your brand, you will be much more dedicated in seeing it go all of the way.
When you start thinking about your website in terms of a brand, you then will start to think of yourself as a brand. When you consider yourself as a brand (which you are) you will see that creating your very own website is NOT AN OPTION!! If you try to look at a website as a choice, it is obvious that you are not serious about your career. If you are serious about your profession in fitness and if you are serious about taking your publicity to the next level, this is the ultimate way to do that. Do you want to take your career to the next level? What about your notoriety? If your answer to these questions is “yes”, then it is imperative that you create your own website. You are your own brand. Your website is your brand. Your website is necessary to promote this brand.
Now, you need to understand that this means creating your OWN website. While it is all good to have a free site, this particular website does NOT belong to you. This means that at any given time they can take off content from your site and they can use the information you post on this site in any way they like simply because once you have posted it on a public site it now becomes public and you renounce all ownership to it. This free website can also take down your page at any given time. All of these factors are no good when you are trying to establish yourself as a brand. Yes, it is still useful to use sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but these pages cannot and should not be your only source of publicizing your brand. When you have your own website created you own it. This means that it belongs solely to you! Only YOU can determine what content is added and which is removed!
When you have your website built, it is going to cost you a little bit of money. Some people are put off by the amount that it could take to build the website you want. But having your own website built is definitely worth the money. Very simply, the end justifies the means. Putting in time and effort to build a website that belongs to you means you are putting that very same time and effort into establishing yourself as a fitness brand. You will first want to decide what your domain name is going to be. What is a domain name? A domain is your web address (i.e. www.facebook.com). It is your very own .com. Most times it would be appropriate to use your own name as your URL. However, if your name is already used or has already been purchased by another it means that you just have to be more creative on what your website’s domain will be. If your name is not available, you should use a portion of your name and what your website would be about! For example, if you were looking for beach towels, a website like www.beachtowelsplus.com explains to you EXACTLY what is on their website. So it would be very beneficial for you if you used part of your fitness niche in the domain. Then this becomes easier for the consumer to find your page based on the niche you have provided. After you have decided what your domain will be and you have purchased it (you can use sites like GoDaddy or HostGator) you now have to find yourself a web designer who can build your website. You will want to start off moderately priced, you do not want to go all out on your first page. This will save you money and headache in the long run. You will see that it takes a lot of trial and error to find out what attracts people to your website and what puts people off. Remember, once you have taken off as a brand, you can then go in and redesign your website without worrying about the cost!
Establishing yourself as a fitness brand is no easy task. It takes a lot of publicity to get your brand well known. You will want to use the free social network sites to your advantage but it should not be your only source of publicity. It is imperative that you create your own website so that you can determine the content of that site and it belongs solely to you. Anyone can get themselves the right publicity if you do it the smart way. Having your own website helps to set you apart from all of the others who are on those free sites hoping to be spotted. If you go about it in the right way, it will happen faster for you! Now keep in mind, this does NOT happen overnight. It takes hard work, time and effort to accomplish your goals. By creating your own website you are making sure that your future as a fitness brand is not left completely up to chance, but to hard work and dedication!
