Online fitness coaching can bring you a six-figure income while changing lives and monetizing your passion. Many gym aficionados can turn their hobby into a side-income or even a full-time business that can give them the life of their dreams. It’s time to stop scrolling Instagram. Stop watching your favorite influencers live luxurious lives and start creating your own. In this article, we will go through everything you need to do to start your online fitness coaching business. Buckle up, and read on.

Online fitness coaching looks amazing. Top coaches drive flashy cars, go on sunny vacations, live in top condos, hang out with celebrities, and live the dream.

On top of all that, their line of work helps thousands of people improve their lives for the better.

Online fitness coaching can be both rewarding and well-paid.

And as an added bonus, you can also enjoy these benefits while pursuing your passion in helping people.

There’s nothing better than receiving positive testimonials from happy clients.

As an online fitness coach, you have the power to change somebody’s life. 

You can help the skinny kid get jacked and the chubby person get lean.

Your work can help people self-actualize.

On top of that, you can live like a king and work only a few hours per day.

Online fitness coaching can be your ticket out of the 9-5. 

You won’t have to work that job you hate anymore.

You can work from anywhere you want – as long as you have internet access.

You can have the financial freedom to do things you’ve always wanted to do.

You can finally have the freedom you enjoy. 

This article will go over everything you need to do to become an online fitness coach from social media, creating irrestible offers, taking photos, how to get clients and what content to create.

If you are serious about becoming an online fitness coach, check out our course that will save you years in time and thousands of dollars.

Why You Want to Become an Online Fitness Coach

Let’s dive straight in.

Why you are offering online fitness coaching

To become a successful online fitness coach, you must understand why you are offering your service.

Look at it from your perspective first – why do you want to become a fitness coach?

  • are you passionate about fitness?
  • are you passionate about helping people?
  • can you add value to people’s lives?
  • do you have a story or transformation that can inspire others?
  • do you have expert knowledge that can help people?
  • do you want to escape the rat race?
  • are you looking for freedom?

When you can understand the reasons why you want to become an online fitness coach, you can then start to market yourself to your target audience.

But you need to be honest with yourself.

Are you doing it for the right reasons?

And you must put the client first.

Many people have an amazing physique, are full of charisma and can market themselves well.

You too must have a good physique as you are selling yourself – your body being both the results of your training program and effectively your resumé – for clients to take you seriously.

Why Your First Client May Hire You as an Online Fitness Coach

Take a look at why the client might hire a fitness coach:

  • accountability
  • expert knowledge
  • having the boring stuff (macros, programs) done for them
  • liking the personality of that coach
  • trust
  • being able to deliver killer results

At the end of the day, a client will hire you for you.

Your body has got to be on point, you have got to know what you’re talking about, and you’ve got to have some charisma to become successful in this space.

Trust is one of the biggest factors in determining whether a client hires you as a fitness coach.

The client is putting themselves in a highly vulnerable position by revealing their body to you.

If they were 100% secure with their body, they wouldn’t hire you. It is purely due to their insecurity that they are hiring you and you must respect that.

You will need to forge trust with your followers in the value you can provide them.

How to start becoming an online fitness coach

To become an online fitness coach, we must address the specifics.

You may be wide-eyed and want to offer a myriad of services from fat loss to build muscle to gaining strength.

Unless you already have a massive online presence, it is better to niche down first, approach a specific niche (fat loss or building muscle) and create a solution to a problem people might have.

The big three are:

  • fat loss
  • muscle gain
  • strength/athleticism

Fat loss is the most popular query within fitness, for example, but the niche has got to fit you.

In my experience, I was obese for two decades and got ripped, therefore, fat loss is my primary offer since I have experience in this niche.

If you were the runt of the litter, 110lb soaking wet in high school but are now 220lb and jacked, then your story will appeal more to guys trying to gain muscle.

Picking Your Best Niche As an Online Fitness Coach

niching down (fat loss, muscle, recomp, hormone optimization)

Once you’ve figured out your area of expertise, then you should try to appeal to certain niches.

Some online fitness coaches target specific demographics like: fat loss for menopausal women or performance optimization for entrepreneurs.

Try to come up with a niche where your target audience has disposable income.

Offering fitness coaching to high schoolers won’t be a profitable niche, for example.

Who is your target audience?

You need to learn who your target audience is before you can start posting willy-nilly on social media.

Casting a wide net and posting generic fitness advice is fine to gain traction at first, then you’ve got to zero in on something more specific.

Say you’re the guy who offers fat loss programs to menopausal women; you won’t be successful if you post memes that appeal to 18-25 year old men.

Your ideal target audience will suffer from one pain point.

These can be:

  • I can’t lose fat
  • I can’t build muscle
  • I am weak
  • I hate the way I look

You, as the online fitness coach, must provide the solutions.

Appeal to them with emotions over data.

Raw data and scientific studies can help you develop brand authority, but bombarding people with sciency stuff will turn off the average person.

They don’t care about the ins-and-outs of why a high-protein diet can help with fat loss – they just want help with fat loss.

These studies show them that you are authoritative – even if you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

But be careful: fakers always get outed. Which leads us to our next point.

What Qualifications Do I Need to Become an Online Fitness Coach?

You don’t need official qualifications to become an online fitness coach, but they can help.

Out of the 1000s of people I have helped, not a single one has asked me about my qualifications.

However, accidents can happen and it is best to cover yourself legally with one of the myriad qualifications you can obtain.

Official qualifications can also help add prestige to you as an online fitness coach.

But the best qualifications in the eyes of your target audience are the results you can give your clients, your physique, and your lived experiences.

Do I Need a Good Physique to Become an Online Fitness Coach?

There’s a running joke in the online fitness community that “your physique is your resumé”.

Online fitness coaches with bad physiques or who never show their bodies don’t get clients or are chewed out by their peers.

How do you expect to sell a service helping them get a million dollar physique when you look like a nickel?

You must be in good shape to be successful as an online fitness coach.

There is, however, a slight caveat in this.

A friend of mine is a successful online fitness coach whose target audience is predominantly made up of older men. He is “in shape” but not winning any physique competitions any time soon. But his physique represents an “ideal”. Most people don’t want to be 220lb and 8% body fat, just a little healthier with energy to make love to their spouse and play with their kids.

This is why it works for him.

He is a testament as to how you looking “too good” may actually hurt your brand.

How to Use Social Media as an Online Fitness Coach

Once you have found your ideal niche (fat loss, recomp, athleticism, etc) it will be time to you to put yourself out there.

Every single online fitness coach SHOULD use social media.

Building up a blog with decent organic traffic through SEO is time-consuming and comes at a cost.

Social media requires little-to-no upfront costs plus can provide you with near unlimited advertisement for your online fitness coaching brand.

In fact, many online fitness coaches only have a social media presence with a landing page — and don’t even have a website!

Don’t worry if you’re still struggling to find your ideal niche.

The chances are that you will have to learn how to grow an audience on social media before the demand you get for your coaching services helps you choose what niche to pursue.

There are five main social media platforms you will use as an online fitness coach:

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • TikTok

Although you should be diversifying your reach on all platforms and become proficient at all forms of fitness content, there will be platforms you will be better at.

If you are a good writer, Twitter will be your best fit.

If you are a good picture taker, Instagram and Facebook (even Twitter) could be a good match.

If you are a good video editor, you may excel at TikTok and YouTube.

But you have got to make sure your social media competencies align with your target audience’s disposable income.

I will rank each social media platform according to each user’s disposable income:

  1. Twitter
  2. Facebook
  3. YouTube
  4. Instagram
  5. TikTok

You may stuggle to find high-paying clients as a great short form video content creator targeting over-50s on TikTok.

Ideally, you should focus on these three elements when specializing on a social media platform:

  • Your target audience’s preferred platform
  • Your target audience’s disposable income
  • Your fitness niche

Despite knowing what your target audience needs, you still need to get noticed before you can find clients.

To grow your social media presence from zero, you will need to:

  • Reply & comment to top influencers in your niche
  • Send value-adding DMs to other influencers
  • Network
  • Create Top Tier Content
  • Learn each platform’s algorithm
  • Study the main pain points suffered by your target audience and offer solutions
  • Learn storytelling

The main takeaway is to get noticed and to learn what goes viral on each social media platform.

There’s no point rattling off stellar content to nobody following you.

While you should create content on your social media timelines, the game is to get noticed.

Once you have a following, then you can start posting grade A thought-provoking content to your audience that encourages them to engage and share your content.

What content you should post as an online fitness coach to social media:

  • Workout videos
  • Physique pictures
  • Meals
  • Tips
  • Hacks
  • Reels
  • Carousels
  • Twitter Threads
  • Short-form video content
  • Long-form video content
  • Client testimonials
  • Case studies
  • Stories
  • Your own transformation
  • Platitudes/Memes (I’m serious)

The way all social media platforms are changing caters to advertisers. Advertisers want content creators who can keep viewers on their content for the longest possible time. You will need to create content that keeps people engaged on your stuff. That way the social media platform will reward you with boosts on the algorithm.

Find what works for you on social media, then double down on it.

You will need a good bio for your social media pages that includes:

  • What you have done in relation to fitness (if you’ve lost weight, tell people how much)
  • What you can do for your target audience (talk about fat loss)
  • What you intend to do (coach 10k people)
  • A link to your landing page (so people know what you’re about)

This will all help with converting profile visitors to followers.

You should also pin a post to the top of your social media pages that shows off your competence.

This could be:

  • A client testimonial
  • A thread
  • A story
  • A recent win

Just make sure you have a name, face, and physique out there for your social media presence. Some of you may want to remain private with an anonymous brand, but this can end up hurting your business. No matter how good your content is, your target audience will find it hard to trust and connect with you.

The good thing is that practicing on social media will enable you to test what works and what doesn’t. In the future, you will know how to run successful ad campaigns without wasting your time and money in your early days.

I also recommend that you watch how the top influencers post, address their audience, interact with others, and call out certain topics.

You should also research the main points your target audience struggles with (hunger cravings, not eating enough, rest, binge eating, etc.) and address these points in your social media posts.

How to Start a Website for Your Online Fitness Coaching Business

After you pick a WordPress site from your preferred hosting site, you may begin to grow your website to bring in organic traffic.

You don’t need a fancy website to get clients. As I’ve already mentioned, there are plenty of successful online fitness coaches that don’t have a website.

But the benefits of a website can’t be overlooked:

  • Organic traffic through SEO
  • Blogposts can add authority to your brand
  • Opportunity to network with other online fitness coaches
  • Create a steady readership
  • A place to showcase your client testimonials & info products
  • A place to build your mailing list

Building a website does not have to be too taxing.

Plus you don’t need to spend hours writing guestposts to be noticed.

But it is wise to diversify your traffic as social media platforms can change their algorithms and kill your reach in an instant.

Your website should contain:

  • A blog
  • An option to sign up to your mailing list
  • Your products/services
  • Your client testimonials
  • An About You section

At first, your website doesn’t have to be flashy — just make sure it is navigable and contains everything someone you would like to work with to see.

How to Get Your Website Noticed

If you don’t have funds to pay for promotions, you can post your articles to social media, groups, and blog directories.

Until your blog generates organic traffic, I recommend doing a combination of keyword research and guest posts for similar blogs.

If you create news-like content, you can submit news articles to syndicated news sites to gain more exposure and backlinks.

You may need to spend a considerable time doing some cold outreach to blogs and news sites for them to accept your pitches. But do not view it as a one-off: you should be creating networks within these industries to become a regular contributor or to find new sites that will accept your posts.

Aside from that, you may start a blog on Medium, Substack, or Tumblr to gain traction for your website.

Why You Should Become a Good Storyteller as an Online Fitness Coach

People can’t relate to studies. 

I’ve said it.

Your target audience will want to hear stories from you relating to your fitness journey and how it can guide them on theirs.

You are effectively becoming a leader to them and your experiences are there to help guide them.

They don’t want to hear about how eating 500 fewer calories per day will help them lose a pound of fat a week; they want to hear about stupid pitfalls you made that they could be making. They want to hear about struggles you overcame to fill them with confidence. They want to hear about how you started building muscle when you switched out bench presses for weighted dips after eating two Pop Tarts as your preworkout snack!

The people want Bro Science.

Within reason.

You can always back up your expertise with peer-reviewed studies.

But they also want to be taken on an emotional rollercoaster that illustrates how your knowledge can be implemented into their own fitness regimen.

How to Get Your First Client As an Online Fitness Coach?

Getting the ball rolling can be hard.

Some of you reading this are fitness trainers in real life and already have client testimonials that you can post.

Converting your first clients can be hard if you don’t have any testimonials or prior experience.

I would recommend coaching some accountable friends or family members in real life for free or at a discount to get your first client success stories to post on social media.

But, to get your first clients as an online fitness coach, you will need to make high quality, informative social media posts with a call-to-action.

You often see calls to action such as:

  • DM me “lean”, “fat loss”, etc. at the end of a post.
  • “For similar results, email me at ….”
  • “I can help you reach your goals.”

These calls to action often come after a high quality:

  • YouTube video
  • Short form video
  • Instagram reel/story
  • Twitter thread
  • Facebook carousel
  • Email

Many coaches tell their audience to send them a Direct Message or email after every high quality post for enquiries.

You will have to be quick in responding and closing the prospect. With each passing moment, the prospect’s motivation can fade, making it less likely for them to want to join your coaching program.

Be quick!

Ideally, you will either schedule a call or a chat with the prospect to tell them about the coaching program and determine whether they are a fit.

Then the client will tell you whether or not they wish to become your client.

For this reason your positioning will be important: if you appeal to a specific demographic, you will have a higher chance of converting the prospect to a client.

What You Should Charge Your First Client

Until you have testimonials and case studies, your goal should be to get those testimonials.

Whether it is for free or at a discount, you need to prove your target audience that you can get results.

Then you can start charging between $50-150 per month if you feel shy.

However, there are fitness coaches who charge $2000 for 12 weeks without prior experience.

Although this is a harder sell for somebody inexperienced, however you price your coaching services should be based on:

  • What you are comfortable with charging
  • Whether you can deliver results
  • How accountable you wish the client to be

Coaching programs with a higher price point often have higher success rates due to the client having more accountability.

On the whole, a client paying $2000 will “try harder” than a client who paid $100.

Most fitness coaches general charge around $100 per month then increase their price as per the demand for their coaching program.

If you are considering charging high ticket prices, your presentation on social media needs to be elite and you will need to deliver results for a high percentage of clients. Otherwise, your reputation will fall.

Getting Online Fitness Coaching Clients in The Future

Some of your audience may be more tentative about taking on your services.

Which is why you should start a mailing list.

This is playing the long game, but far more intimate than social media content.

You have also got to consider that a large portion of your audience aren’t on social media every day, but check their emails on a daily basis.

You will be creating a relationship similar to a one-sided pen pal.

Your helpful long form content in their inbox can become part of their daily routine.

By sending value-adding daily emails, you can build more rapport and authority with your mailing list.

All online fitness coaches should grow a mailing list.

Here are two things you can do to grow a mailing list:

  • Create a lead magnet (free eBook or program)
  • Have a sign up form on your website

The beauty of creating a good lead magnet is that it can be promoted on both your social media profile and website.

A good lead magnet should solve a problem for your target audience (for example: meals to help you lose fat, tips for how to gain muscle, etc.) without giving away too much information.

A good lead magnet can help you generate goodwill and authority with your target audience — increasing the chances of your audience wanting to work with you.

What Apps Should You Use As an Online Fitness Coach?

It is possible to track your clients’ progress with spreadsheets and Google documents, but you want to make the process as easy as possible for you and your client.

Get the client their dream results with the least possible effort.

MyFitnessPal is a great app to teach your clients how to track their macros and calories.

Trainerize allows your clients to input their workouts and stats to ensure that they are progressing on their workouts.

Everfit can help keep your clients accountable by tracking their step counts and other health metrics.

If you don’t want to do that or are more old school, you can simply use a spreadsheet to track your client’s progress to immerse them deeper into the process of reaching their fitness goals.

Online Fitness Coaching FAQs

How much does a fitness trainer cost?

$26.39 per hour is the average hourly wage of a fitness trainer. Some online fitness coaches can charge from as little as $50 per month up to $4000+ for 12 weeks.

How much does an online fitness trainer make?

Top online fitness trainers can make well into six-figures. Some even make millions a year with a well-built social media presence and scaled coaching offer that I teach in my course

What do the top online fitness trainers make?

The top online fitness trainers make millions of dollars per year. Of course, not every online fitness trainer can get there, but there are a considerable number of online fitness trainers pulling in over $100k per year.

Can you make good money as a fitness instructor?

Absolutely, but without prior social media knowledge or marketing, it can be difficult to make a good income. Most of the top online fitness instructors are social media wizards or have marketing teams behind their brand. In person, a fitness instructor can earn a decent wage. However, only celebrity fitness instructors make top salaries without an online presence. 

Can you make a living as a fitness trainer?

Yes, you can supplement your income as a fitness trainer or even go full time.  Many fitness trainers do it on the side to supplement their 9-5 with more online fitness coaches going into the business full time every year.

Is fitness trainer a good career?

Becoming a qualified fitness trainer can be a very good career, with many fitness trainers becoming millionaires after years of hard work. We recommend that you become an online fitness trainer to expand your reach on social media and through SEO. 

Can you make money as an online fitness coach?

You can make good money as an online fitness coach. It may take time to learn how to market yourself properly, build a social media following and drive organic traffic to your website. You may have to work on your online fitness coaching business part time for a while before it can become a profitable full time endeavor.

How do I start an online fitness trainer?

While you don’t need formal qualifications to become an online fitness trainer, we recommend that you get qualified from your preferred local licensing board for legal protection. You will need the following to become an online fitness trainer:

  • Social media presence
  • Landing Page
  • Can-do attitude

How much should you charge as an online fitness coach?

Your pricing as an online fitness coach is up to you entirely. The important thing at first is to get testimonials and case studies to showcase on social media and your website to build trust and authority.

If you don’t have any testimonials, we recommend that you build experience by offering your services at a discount or to family and friends – do not offer it for free to just anyone. When no price is set, the person you are coaching has no skin in the game. Your client must be held accountable. 

Once you have experience and testimonials, you can charge between $50-250/month per client. Depending on how much demand there is for your services, you may raise your prices to meet a demand that you can uphold. Some coaches even charge beyond $2000 per month.

Is online fitness coaching worth it?

Online fitness coaching has the power to change lives for the better. Not only can you improve someone’s life, increase their life expectancy, and make them a more confident person, you can also make a substantial living off fitness coaching while in the knowledge that your craft is a net benefit for the world. 

However, it isn’t worth it if you lack patience or compassion. An ailing online fitness coaching business can be extremely frustrating and unfulfilling. If your brand is poorly positioned, you may attract a lot of unqualified leads and half-hearted clients. You need to have a passion for fitness and self-belief to make it work.

Do you need to be a PT to online coach?

You don’t need to be a PT to online coach. There are many online fitness coaches who have no formal qualifications other than a good physique. We always recommend that you get formal qualifications to protect yourself legally. Some clients may do things out of your control.

For example, take illicit performance enhancing drugs under your care (without your knowledge) and damage their health, perform complex movements with poor form or too much weight and get injured, or even blame your lack of qualifications for their poor results if they fail to stick to your program.

How do online fitness coaches get clients?

Online fitness coaches get clients via a few methods:

  • Building a social media presence
  • Building a website with good SEO
  • Direct outreach on social media
  • Running social media ads
  • Networking with other coaches
  • Doing a good job with existing clients and gaining referrals

How do I create an online fitness coach?

To create an online fitness coaching business you will need a social media presence, landing page (preferably a website), a payment processor to receive fees, a bank account, and an incorporated company to keep it legal. This is all you need to get started. As your business begins to grow, you may need to begin to employ people to delegate more mundane tasks so that you may focus on growth.

How do I attract online fitness clients?

You may attract online fitness clients with a good social media presence and a website. Start off your brand with clear positioning such as fat loss coaching or transformation coaching. Then grow your brand with high quality social media posts related to fitness, your own fitness journey, your lifestyle, your client testimonials, your meals, case studies, association with other reputable fitness personalities, and even an insight to your personal life to add a more relatable face to your brand. 

The three most important points, however, are positioning, case studies, and association to build trust with your target audience.

Once these are fleshed out, you can begin to grow a website to generate organic traffic to your blog.

How do I market myself as an online fitness coach?

There is a simple process you must follow to market yourself as an online fitness coach:

  1. Choose your niche (fat loss, muscle building, strength, transformation, hormone optimization, etc.)
  2. Position yourself (find a demographic within your niche with a high disposable income where your services would alleviate a pain in their lives e.g. overweight fathers in their 40s who have low libido and no energy to play with their kids)
  3. Grow an authentic social media following
  4. Network with other personalities in your niche
  5. Post client testimonials and case studies
  6. Create high value expert content with scientific backing in a digestible format
  7. Post calls-to-action for your target audience to reach out to you
  8. Create an irresistible offer (lose 30lb in 12 weeks or money back, for example)
  9. Repeat. Scale.

What do personal trainers post on social media?

Personal trainers post a variety of content on social media, depending on the platform.

Personal trainer can post the following:

  • Tweets
  • Tweet threads
  • Testimonials
  • Case Studies
  • Short form video
  • Long form video
  • Reels
  • Carousels
  • Stories
  • Memes
  • Platitudes
  • Motivational Quotes
  • Workout Videos
  • Physique & Meal Pics
  • Ads

It all depends on the personal trainer and their proficiencies. 

What social media is best for fitness marketing?

Instagram is believed to be the best social media platform for fitness marketing. It reaches a younger audience and fitness is a very visual niche, which makes Instagram the perfect platform for fitness. 

Having said that, not every fitness coach is suited for Instagram. Instagram is very saturated with some of the fitness elite dominating the platform. Plus some fitness coaches may not be blessed with the best physiques or picture-taking abilities. Moreover, some fitness coaches may target an older audience, which would make Facebook a preferable social media platform.

Other fitness coaches may be convincing writers, which would make Twitter their preferred platform. Some fitness coaches may have a ton of charisma and be comfortable in front of a camera, making TikTok or YouTube a better choice. 

Your best social media platform as an online fitness coach depends on:

  • Your physique
  • Your marketing abilities 
  • Your target audience
  • Your personality 

How do I advertise my personal training on social media?

I would strongly recommend creating a strong personal brand on social media if you are serious about becoming a personal trainer. Anonymous brands don’t do anywhere near as well as personal brands. A strong personal brand requires:

  • Expert content
  • Links to studies
  • Cutting edge actionable advice
  • Regular motivation
  • Showcasing your lifestyle
  • Stories 
  • Your transformation
  • Testimonials from your clients
  • Case Studies
  • Good quality delivery
  • Patience
  • Networking with other content creators in your niche
  • Being silly from time to time (I’m serious – it makes you relatable)

How to sell fitness content online?

You may sell fitness content online by starting a social media presence and landing page (preferably a website). Once you’re online, you can sell a combination of physical, digital, and coaching services. 

I would recommend to start by selling a coaching service since this requires the least upfront investment and effort before moving into selling physical and digital products.

Here are some physical products you can sell as an online fitness trainer:

  • Merch (gym apparel, hats, bags, gym equipment)
  • Supplements (preworkout, protein, test boosters, fat burners, etc.)
  • Home gym equipment

Here are some digital products you can sell as an online fitness trainer:

  • Courses
  • Programs 
  • eBooks 
  • Paid Articles
  • Ad space on your website

How do I get fitness clients on Instagram?

You may get fitness clients on Instagram by posting high quality, engaging content such as:

  • Reels
  • Carousels
  • Stories
  • Case studies
  • Testimonials
  • Training videos
  • Physique pics
  • Meal pics
  • Short form video

Make sure that you are presentable, engaging, and friendly to your audience. You should also have a call to action in your high value content which directs viewers to a landing page in your Instagram bio. Once you can generate sufficient cash flow and prove that your coaching offer works, then you can begin to run ads on Instagram to reach new prospects for your coaching services.

Do personal trainers need social media?

Online personal trainers don’t necessarily need social media if they run a website that gains good organic traffic. However, any new online personal trainer WILL need social media to start their online fitness coaching business. Personal trainers who train clients in person don’t need a social media following unless they plan to take their business online.

Is TikTok good for personal trainers?

TikTok can be good for personal trainers to expand their reach. Short form videos for TikTok can be used for other platforms to increase growth on other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. A charismatic and funny personal trainer can amass a large following on TikTok, where their audience can follow the creator on other platforms. 

There are two recommendations I have on TikTok, however. Since there is a younger demographic on TikTok, their disposable income will be less than your target audience on other platforms. I suggest that you promote a lead magnet such as a free program or guide on TikTok, then try to convert sales for your coaching program via your email list.

This way you can maximize the number of clients you can convert in the long run. The content you post on TikTok that has the potential to go viral will often be tongue-in-cheek. Long form content such as emails have a significantly greater chance of converting clients than a 10-second skit.

Do Facebook ads work for personal trainers?

Facebook ads can work wonderfully for both personal trainers and online fitness coaches. Personal trainers can set custom ads to attract local clients, and online fitness coaches with good positioning can target their ideal target audience with Facebook ads.

How do freelance personal trainers get clients?

Freelance personal trainers may get clients by posting content on social media, building out a blog, recording videos for YouTube and TikTok, reaching out to established blogs for guestposts, going to gyms, running local ads, running social media ads, and a combination of all of these things.

Freelance personal trainers can get client through a variety of ways:

  • Social media
  • SEO
  • Guestposts
  • Local Gyms
  • Ads
  • Working for established fitness sites
  • Creating a personal brand

Why is social media important to a gym instructor?

Social media is FREE advertisement for an online fitness instructor. How are you supposed to get noticed without diversifying your reach online? If you only operate locally through word of mouth, then social media isn’t 100% necessary for you. But if you’re looking to build an online brand, social media is a must unless you can finance ad campaigns and SEO. 

Can I train to be a personal trainer online?

You can absolutely train to become a personal trainer online. There are various official qualifications that you can obtain online depending upon where you are based. In fact, being a personal trainer in real life can help accelerate your progress as an online fitness coach given your experience level and testimonials. We even offer a course that will help you save thousands of dollars and years of trial and error.

How much should I charge as a beginner trainer?

As a beginner personal trainer, your aim should be to gain testimonials and case studies to attract future clients. Therefore, you should either coach people you can hold accountable for free or set your rate at a low price until demand for your services exceeds the time you can deliver a good service to your clients.

Raise your prices to a point where you can deliver a good service to the most possible clients. For example, if you can deliver a good service to 20 clients and you currently charge $150 per month when 40 prospects wish to work with you, raise your price until 20 clients are willing to work with you. It could be a jump of $50 or more. 

Typically speaking, a beginner online personal trainer should charge between $100-200/m for their clients once they have testimonials, then they should increase their prices gradually.

Why do personal trainers charge so much?

Personal trainers charge so much since they will have developed:

  • Various skills
  • Scarcity
  • Expert knowledge
  • A portfolio of good client results
  • Good training programs
  • Interpersonal skills

Online personal trainers can charge so much given the prestige of their personal brand, high volumes of demand for their services, and the results that they can generate for their clients. Paying higher sums for a high ticket coaching service also yields better results for the client as they have more accountability. With more skin in the game, the client can smash results and the online personal trainer can scale their business with greater ease.

Entry level personal trainers charge lower prices but their coaching programs are often untested and they may be inexperienced in delivering a good service.

Why do most personal trainers fail?

There are many reasons why personal trainers can fail. The reasons can vary. But some of the reasons include:

  • Poor positioning
  • Poor marketing
  • Impatience
  • Bad client service
  • Poor social media skills
  • Loss of passion
  • Bad investments
  • Lack of consistency
  • Frequent rebrands

Overall, the two biggest culprits why most online personal trainers fail is a lack of poor positioning, inconsistency (which kills your reach), and poor social media content and funnels.