Does a Yoga Teacher Need a Website?

The short answer: yes.

The long answer: YogaTrail is an awesome platform for yoga providers to communicate with students, promote their events, take bookings and appointments, and generally connect with the yoga community… but a yoga instructor should still have their own website.

Among all the different ways to be online, your very own website gives you the most control, maximum visibility, and lots of options to do many different things. Most importantly, a website provides credibility and establishes that you are a real pro — not only in the minds of potential clients, but also when it comes to making an impression with a studio or other kind of job opportunity.

Every year, over 20,000 yogis graduate from a teacher training program. That's a mind-boggling number, and when you add in all the existing yoga teachers… well, suffice it to say that there are a lot of yoga teachers out there.  Everybody's trying to distinguish themselves and "establish their brand"…  and just having a Facebook page is not going to cut it (Facebook doesn't do much for you, anyway). Your own website gives you a big leg up on the competition, and it provides you with a space where you can really showcase yourself — in ways that a Facebook page or even a YogaTrail profile can't do.

What You Can Do with a Website

You can truly "brand" yourself. You control everything, from the colours to the font, from the layout to the content. You create the "theme" for your own site, and the feeling, flavour, and every piece of information – it's all about You.

You can take bookings for classes, private lessons, workshops, retreats, and anything else. This is made especially easy when you use YogaTrail widgets and plugins — your class schedule appears on your website and it's always accurate, and people can book spots in your classes without having to go anywhere else. You can even do things like host videos or other digital content and let people pay for access.

You can fully express yourself and explain your background, philosophy, approach to teaching, or anything else. Not in little tweets using less than 140 characters, not with "selfie" photos and some #hashtags, and not in short-lived trivia posts that disappear in people's newsfeeds after a day… but via your very own blog, with real articles that stick around and bring you new clients for months and even years. Blogs are incredibly easy to set up nowadays, and writing is the best way to get people to really "get" you.

You can collect information from new students and potential clients. Simply add a 'contact' form where you can collect names and email addresses.

You can attract more clients by leveraging the power of Google. So when someone is looking for your special style or type of yoga in your area, your site can be on the first page of Google search results. Depending on your area and on the competition, your website can serve you as a very powerful source of new yoga students.

Why Doesn't Every Yoga Teacher Have a Website?

Nearly half of all yoga teachers don't have their own site. Maybe it's because it used to be pretty daunting for small business owners and freelancers to set one up and maintain it — and maybe especially so for yoga teachers and independent yoga studios, who tend to be financially constrained and who are usually not very tech-savvy.

Until recently, you typically would have to hire an agency or contractor to build your website for you. Or you might even do it yourself by learning how to program, or by wrestling with a complicated platform such as WordPress. Either way, a website could cost quite a bit of time and money.

Well, today things are different: there are hundreds of website builders that require very little technical know-how… and they're really cheap, too. Wix, Weebly, Web.com… those are just the "W"s. You've got Site123, Squarespace, Sitey for the "S"s… you get the idea. All these products are all pretty similar, although each has slightly different strengths and options. But for the most part, they are inexpensive and easy to use (even for the "technically challenged").

So which one should you choose? For yoga professionals, the most interesting website builder out there is Heek. Not only because it's a platform that's especially focused on yoga, but because of the amazing way it lets you make your site: with the help of the world's first intelligent chatbot for web creation. This little robot builds your website in real-time while you simply have a conversation. As you chat with Heek, it's like you're interacting with a human web designer or developer, and you can watch your website unfold right before your eyes!

The Heek conversational chatbot builds and customizes your website while you chat with it.

 

YogaTrail Integrates With Heek

With its unique interface, we think Heek is the perfect website builder for yoga teachers. That is why YogaTrail has partnered up with Heek, and we've done a "deep integration" using the YogaTrail API (application program interface). That's just a complicated way of saying that for YogaTrail members, it's incredibly easy to create their own website — and even easier still to keep it up to date!

How does it work?

A teacher or studio who subscribes to a marketing plan on YogaTrail can get a discounted Heek website as an add-on. The YogaTrail/Heek bundle then provides them with a complete professional online presence, and everything a yoga teacher needs to manage and grow their business.

The best part: your personal website is fully integrated with your YogaTrail profile. So when first logging in to Heek, all your content (descriptions, images, reviews, locations, yoga styles, classes, events,…) — it's all pulled over to Heek and will already be waiting for you on your new website. The Heek chatbot will then help you make changes and customize your site just the way you like.

Your class schedule is also on your website of course, and it's always in sync with what you do on YogaTrail. Cancel a class, add a new class, connect with a new studio… your website is updated automatically and instantly. Yes, you can also take payments and class bookings on your own website, because the YogaTrail booking platform will work seamlessly on your own website, too.

So is it time to get your own website?

Have you been meaning to get your own website but were afraid it would be complicated, time consuming, or expensive? Hopefully, now you know better. If you have a YogaTrail profile already, your own website can be totally set up in mere minutes (click the button below to get started). Not on YogaTrail yet? Create your profile here (it's free).

 

Enjoy!

from YogaTrail http://ift.tt/2rkLkgQ