I have built and developed websites for over a decade, including the Gymnasticszone.com website. As part of a number of projects, including our Gymnastics Summer Camp directory and our upcoming affiliate program, I have reviewed gymnastics web sites worldwide. And like in most industries, that are not technical or computer based, the quality of gymnastics websites is very low.
Where In the World is Your Gym Located?
What set me off on this particular rant was yet another instance of a gymnastics gym website, I came in contact with (for very benign reasons), that did not have the location of its gym anywhere on the site. It had no address of the gym, no city or state, or even country, where the gym was located, no map – NOTHING! Literally the only clue to the location was the phone number. I suppose if you were familiar with the area codes of the country, assuming you knew what country the gym was in (this is, after all, the worldwide Internet), you might figure out what city the gym was in.
This Is Not the First Time I Have Seen This
I am not going to embarrass the gym owners (or even recommend they Fire the website builder and Hire GymnasticsZone.com to take over their site), because this is in no way the first time I have seen this problem. Just because you know where your gym is located does not mean anyone else on the Internet will. No one looking to sign up their child in gymnastics wants to waste their time clicking on a website in another state or country.
This Is Basic
Just like in journalism, you need to have your web site transmit to its readers the 5 W’s (and 2 H’s) – Who, What, When, Why, WHERE!!!, How and How Much. That is Marketing and Website 101. Go check your site right now and make sure all of those elements are readily transmitted to your potential clients and current customers.
Other Reasons Your Website Sucks
Your website is not current and up-to-date. Nothing impresses customers more than a website that has obviously not been updated in months (years). I am no longer interested in whether your gym was closing on Christmas Day 2008. Such attention to detail (or specifically lack of attention) will likely apply to their young gymnast in your gym as well, they will assume.
I Can’t Read Your Website
Whether you did it for theoretically artistic reasons, or you are just color blind, or you used your team colors, purple links on a black background are unreadable. And if there is not sufficient contrast to read your text, I can’t read or understand anything on your site. And truthfully I don’t care enough to try that hard to do so. I am just going to click away to the next gym.
Where are Your Links?
Again contrast may be a link issue or you are using some text color design choice that “looks pretty.” But if I can’t instantly find links to what I am looking for, I will click off your site in less than four seconds. I want information and I am not going to lose my patience and eyesight looking for where you have hidden them.
You Changed Your Links? Why?
If customers or potential clients have a particular web page on your site bookmarked, You do NOT want to change or delete that link. I run into this all the time with gymnastics summer camps. For some reason, gym owners do not understand that content should be evergreen (last forever, or at least, for a long time). I have a special program that detects broken links when this happens, but your customers and future clients probably won’t. Plan evergreen web pages on your website.
Spell Check?
Some of you will think I am one to talk about this one, but I have over 500 gymnastics articles and 350 definition pages published and over 700 more pages in the research, editing and development stages. It is not that I cannot spell. I just can’t type and when I work 15 – 18 hours per day and/or pull all-nighters, I sometimes don’t proofread… as well as I should. Â Not an excuse. Â Anyway, spell check your web site to avoid embarrassing spelling error and typos. We are gymnastics professionals, after all, right?
Yes, GymnasticsZone Does Websites
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