Are you looking to become an online personal trainer? This article will cover everything you need to know about pursuing this career, including:
Contents:
- About The Role Of An Online Personal Trainer
- Establishing What Qualifications You Need
- Finding The Right Course Provider
- Picking A Platform For Your Online PT Business
- Using Social Media For Your Online Personal Training Business
- Using A Website For Your Online Personal Training Business
- Insurance You Need As An Online Personal Trainer
- Design Packages For Your Online Personal Training Clients
- Get Your First Online Personal Training Clients
- Develop a Speciality For Your Online Personal Training Career
If you’d prefer to listen to content featured in this article we have you covered. Our dedicated YouTube channel covers this information, allowing you sit back and learn how to become an online personal trainer with ease:
If you’re ready to turn your passion for fitness into an exciting new career? Enquire about our Personal Trainer Diploma; you could be qualified in as little as 4 weeks!
About The Role Of An Online Personal Trainer
Before we break down the steps to become an online personal trainer, let’s explore the job!
The primary role for online personal trainers is to design and deliver bespoke training programmes that support clients in reaching their short and long-term fitness goals. Depending on the services you offer as an online PT, you might also spend time performing weekly check-ins and creating marketing materials for your social media.
One of the biggest perks about working online is that you can be entirely flexible with your schedule. Since you’re not fixed to one location you can be accessible to your clients early mornings, evenings, and weekends. You’ll also be able to support clients from around the world, rather than just your local area.
Although the average personal trainer salary is around £29,200, this varies depending on factors such as:
- Number of hours worked
- Number of clients
- Amount of experience
While this is the average salary, your earning potential is uncapped when working online as you have complete control over the hours you work and prices you charge as an online PT.
Establishing What Qualifications You Need to Become an Online Personal Trainer
To become a personal trainer online in the UK, two qualifications are required:
Level 2 Fitness Instructor course: Qualify as a Fitness Instructor and have the necessary prerequisites to progress onto a Level 3 Personal Trainer course. If you already have a Level 2 qualification, you can jump straight in with a Level 3 course.
Level 3 Personal Trainer course: Become a fully qualified Personal Trainer, with all the necessary skills and knowledge required for designing & delivering bespoke training programmes and working with clients on a 1-on-1 basis.
If you don’t already have either of the above qualifications, the most affordable and quickest way to become an online personal trainer by completing a Personal Training Diploma, which combines both the Level 2 and Level 3 courses.
You must check that your chosen course is regulated by an Ofqual-approved awarding body such as Focus Awards. If you’re keen to find the highest quality course, you should also look out for CIMSPA-endorsement.
CIMSPA is the professional body for the UK’s sport and physical activity sector. They ensure fitness professionals qualify with a high level of knowledge by working with awarding bodies and course providers.
Ofqual is responsible for regulating England’s vocational qualifications. These regulations ensure any Level 3 Personal Trainer provides the same high level of training regardless of the course provider.
Finding The Right PT Course Provider
One of the biggest factors when it comes to your studying experience and your future career prospects is the vocational training provider you decide on.
Some questions potential students should ask themselves include:
- What study methods are available to me? Course providers may have the option to study entirely online, full-time, or part-time. Here at OriGym, we offer all three to allow our students to decide on the most suitable study method for them.
- What post-course support do they have? A course provider that offers plenty of support after qualifying means you’ll find it easier to get your foot in the door when you enter the industry. As a result of our range of free career services, we have the highest work placement rate among competitors. This includes CV analysis and distribution, as well as opportunities for interviews.
- What do past students say about the provider? Potential students should check out reviews on websites such as Trustpilot and Google Reviews to have an insight into the experience of previous students.
For further tips and advice on comparing personal training courses, check out our video below:
Picking The Right Platform For Your Online PT Business
When becoming an online personal trainer, it’s important to plan how you’re going to deliver these services to your clients as there are many ways to run an online PT business. For example, are you going to operate through social media pages or via a business website?
To understand how you can utilise both of these platforms to their full potential, we’re going to look at each one in detail.
Using Social Media For Your Online Personal Training Business
When deciding to become an online personal trainer, many choose to operate their business solely through their social media profiles. But how exactly is this achieved?
Whilst many trainers choose to create a professional business profile, this tool is only typically used for marketing purposes, to attract new/potential clients.
#1 – Create A Professional Public Instagram Profile
Creating a professional public Instagram profile is a great way to showcase what you can do for clients.
Having an Instagram page for potential clients works as a ‘shop front’ to attract potential clients by showing your success at helping people achieve their goals while demonstrating your knowledge and expertise.
Ideas for what you can present on your page include:
- Before and after pictures of client results
- Advice and guidance posts
- Gym demonstration videos
- Fitness events you’ve taken part in
An example of a great personal training page comes from @harriet_mcguffie_pt:
As you can see, Harriet posts a range of content with a focus on female training. This means potential clients who visit this page really get a sense of her personality and how she works as a PT.
To find out more about doing this successfully, check out our article: How To Start A Fitness Instagram.
#2 – Why You Need a Private Profile That Can Be Accessed by Clients ONLY!
A private account creates a sense of exclusivity for online personal trainers, as the content on this page will only be accessible to those who have paid for your services, rather than the general public.
Private accounts will also make it easier for clients to get in touch with you. Rather than getting lost in the shuffle of enquiries that your regular profile generates, their messages will all be filtered to one place.
Finally, having a private account makes it easier to broadcast important information.
For example, say you want your online PT clients to submit their measurements for their weekly progress check-in you can post an announcement to your story asking for clients to send them in.
#3 – Conduct Check-Ins Via Direct Messages
If you wish to become an online personal trainer, it’s important to maintain a consistent line of communication with your clients. Whilst there are many ways to do this, if you’re running a private account on the likes of Instagram, you can simply send off a direct message.
Much like in-person check-ins, you should still ask relevant questions regarding a client’s workout programme, such as:
- How did you find training this week?
- Are you struggling with any aspect of your programme?
- Is there anything I can do to help you more effectively?
These official check-ins should be conducted at least once a week, but you can also talk to your clients on a personal basis in order to build rapport.
#4 – Create Content That Encourages Communal Engagement
As an online personal trainer, you can also use social media to create content that encourages communal engagement.
A simple but incredibly effective way of doing this is by posting clients’ progress pictures. Similar to this example below from Roar Fitness London:
These posts allow you to celebrate a client’s achievements, and encourage others to congratulate their peers. This will provide motivation for the client in question, but also for others who will want to obtain similar results.
In addition to this, clients may be more likely to share these results on a private page as they know it’s filled with like-minded people who will share in their happiness. Whereas they may be less likely to share if it was going on a public profile for anyone to see.
Creating these posts help to create a sense of community, where everyone uplifts and supports each other during their programmes. In turn, this can positively affect your retention levels.
Using A Website For Your Online Personal Training Business
You could also opt to use your own website to manage your online personal training business.
Many trainers will do this after they’ve gained initial experience from using social media and cultivated a larger following of clients. You can also use this to link to your socials for easier navigation and vice versa – post your website in the bios of your social media accounts.
Specifically, during the creation process, you should ensure to include a ‘members section’ in order to manage your business. This page should only be accessible to paying clients, who must input a username and password in order to access your content.
An example of a members page can be found below, from PT David Kingsbury:
You can treat this members section similar to your private social media accounts, where you will post exclusive content that keeps them engaged in your business.
On top of their regular workout programme and check-ins, you could also offer:
- Monthly seminars
- Weekly Q&As
- Pre-recorded home workouts
- Group challenges
- Posts that help build up a community
All of this content should be available to every client regardless of when they sign up. Think of it like a hub, where all your most valuable resources will be available!
For more information on this, check out our article: How to Make a Personal Training Website.
Insurance You Need As An Online Personal Trainer
As an online personal trainer you need to have insurance as you’re still at risk of legal and financial consequences when training clients.
The two types of insurance you are required to have as an online PT include:
- Public Liability Insurance – This provides protection if you, or one of your clients causes damage to property or injures themselves during a session.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance – This protects you if advice you provide ends up leading to accidents or injury. For example, if your workout programme leads to injury.
Having insurance as an online personal trainer is important as you won’t be in the gym directly guiding clients and correcting their form. This increases the risk of clients not following your advice correctly and leading to injury as you won’t always be there to help them.
Find out more about this with our article: What Personal Trainer Insurance Do You Need?
Design Packages For Your Online Personal Trainer Business
This is a great way to build a base and gain an idea of how many clients you will be training. Monthly packages are also your best option as they don’t come with an end date, meaning clients won’t need to subscribe again, they can simply set up a direct debit.
When creating these online personal training packages you should try to keep things as simple as possible, which is why we recommend giving your clients a couple of possible options.
An example of this comes from Ben Malton who offers various online personal trainer packages, including Gold, Silver, and Platinum:
Naturally, the more sessions someone wants the more they will have to pay. This is important for attracting clients to buy more classes, even if they’ll be getting them for slightly cheaper. Check out our guide on creating personal training packages for a complete breakdown on making them successful when you become a personal trainer online.
Get Your First Online Personal Training Clients
To secure your first clients when you become a personal trainer online in the UK, there are various strategies you can include to ensure success:
Create Email Lists
Getting the email addresses of potential clients isn’t as difficult as you might think, all you need to do is offer them something they want.
This doesn’t need to cost you anything and can be as simple as a blank form that can be replicated for each individual client. Take a look at this example of a capturebox from Online PT Andy Vincent, where he offers a free meal planner in exchange for the client’s email address:
Here the client will get something they value for free and you’ll get their contact details, which can then be used to market your PT services.
Use Paid On Social Media
This is a great way to target the exact demographic of clients who will likely invest in your service or business. It could be female clients, pregnant clients, those looking to lose weight or elderly people. Find out more about this with our article: How To Find Your Personal Trainer Niche.
Use Google Ads
By using Google ads, you’ll get your online personal training at the top of the Google search results page when people search relevant key words such as in our example below:
By including relevant Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keywords in your website, this will also help push your page on Google, allowing you to rank higher for results and making it easier for potential clients to find your online personal trainer service.
The price you pay for these ads will depend on how in-demand the keywords are specifically. On average, local keywords such as Online Personal Trainer in Manchester will be cheaper as there will be fewer competitors.
Note: These ads will be Pay Per Click, meaning you will pay a fee anytime someone clicks on your ad.
Our step-by-step guide on Google Ads for Personal Trainers will offer further insight on how you can get to the top of page 1.
Use Enquiry or Sign Up Forms
You can use an enquiry or sign up forms on your website to make it easier for clients to register their interest in your online personal trainer service. By having this on your social media also, it makes it much simpler for clients to reach out to you as it reduces the amount of people you need to reach out to personally.
Demonstrate Your Value On Socials
As mentioned earlier, creating helpful content on your online personal trainer social media accounts, you will increase credibility and trust in your expertise. Creating posts and reels about training advice, gym demonstrations, and workout tips, you’ll show potential clients you’re a figure of authority in the industry and can guarantee you’re the one to help them hit their health and fitness goals.
Check out our article How To Get Online Personal Training Clients for more strategies on how you can do this effectively.
Develop A Speciality As An Online Personal Trainer
After completing your Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification and gaining practical experience, a couple of questions you should ask yourself include:
- Who do I want my potential clients to be?
- What services do I want to offer?
If you want to progress your career you can develop a specialism through earning additional qualifications. This in turn, will allow you to offer a wider variety of services and work with different client demographics.
There are various CPD Fitness Courses available to online personal trainers, such as:
Not only will these courses deepen your skills and knowledge, they allow you to carve out your own niche. When you become an online personal trainer, you need to separate yourself from others by offering something they don’t.
For example, you could offer workout programmes centred around training with kettlebells or medicine balls, allowing you to target beginners to more advanced clients.
Ben Malton is an example of an online personal trainer who offers a range of services, such as fitness training, nutrition coaching, and health & lifestyle advice. Ben uses his knowledge to help clients with health issues, going beyond just fitness:
You can also go onto become an advanced personal trainer by completing Level 4 Personal Trainer qualifications.
Examples of these include:
- Level 4 Advanced Nutrition Course
- Level 4 Lower Back Pain Management Course
- Level 4 Obesity & Weight Management Course
- Level 4 Diabetes Control & Weight Management
By having more specialised qualifications, you can attract a greater number of clients and carve out your own niche in the industry. You’ll also be able to offer more services, expanding your range of clientele.
For example, if you complete a Level 4 Advanced Nutrition Course, you can then sell custom online meal plans or create packages combining training with nutrition guidance. Being able to do this will also help clients hit their health and fitness goals more successfully.
Ready to Start Your Career as a Personal Trainer?
OriGym specialises in supporting both experienced and aspiring fitness professionals to reach their career goals. With our Personal Trainer Diploma, you can be qualified in just 4 weeks!
For more information on our range of fitness qualifications, download our course prospectus here.
