Name of your website?
Top Form Fitness
Your name?
Josh Hewett
Your Location (city, etc)
Toronto, Ontario
Please give us a short summary of your website?
I’m a Personal Trainer, coach, educator, and competitive strength athlete, with over 20 years of involvement in the fitness industry.
My website introduces my business and the services I offer, and briefly describes my background and qualifications. It also offers nutritional information, free fitness articles, and an opportunity to subscribe to my free newsletter.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I understand the strength of the internet for marketing one's business. I also wanted to reach a larger audience to share what I know with those who want the information. I am passionate of physical performance and human potential, which is also why I started my blog (www.stayfitminute.com) and newsletter.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
www.Top-Form-Fitness.com was my first website. I launched it in 2003, but it's been upgraded since then. I've expanded by developing my team of strength athletes: www.TeamBarbarian.com; and my soccer training site: www.SoccerAthletics.com; and others.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I had registered my business name as Top Form Fitness several years earlier.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
My background, education, and experience set me apart from my peers in this field. I have experience with post-injury fitness and with muscle activation, which allows me to correct muscular imbalances and rehab / prevent injuries as clients are improving their conditioning. This is an integral part of high performance training... because if left unchecked, weak links will surface as the training intensity increases. Also, I have competitive experience myself... I believe that UTB (Under The Bar) experience is invaluable for strength coaches and trainers. Book smarts without life experience is not enough.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
My goal is to develop a line of products (DVD's, ebooks, clothing, etc) and services (online training, groups, seminars, 1 on 1, etc) that I can market through my site. I also hope to have more free services, videos, articles to offer those who frequent my sites.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
If you know your market, and have a quality service / product to offer, than investing in a good website and online marketing is always worthwhile.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would make my site more interactive.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Not at this time; I had a daughter a few weeks ago, and with the new projects and courses I'm working on my schedule is full. But I'd be open to hiring staff to assist with this, if that came to be.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The production of my first DVD was far more work than I had anticipated.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Balancing fatherhood with business development.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Videos. Posting high energy training footage and free fitness advice via video on YouTube and other sites has had the biggest response.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I didn't expect there to be so much to learn about web promotion and development. There's always room for growth and change.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
It's been over 4 years, and I'm planning to keep it indefinitely.
What is your website address?
Top Form Fitness
