How to create a win-win website for your leisure centre

You’re probably aware of the importance of having a functional website for your leisure centre, but are you and your team making the most of what your website can offer?

A well-designed website makes it easy for customers to access your leisure centre’s services, while giving your centre a platform to showcase everything from upcoming events to special offers to job vacancies.

Years ago web designers waved wands behind screens and conjured up websites using arcane code. Luckily these days anyone can use website content management platforms to update their sites without going through a tech-wizard intermediary. All you need is some initial expert assistance to design and set up your website before you can take control of the reins yourself.

So what makes a good leisure centre website?

Including the basics of location, services, opening hours and contact details are just the beginning. The secret to a truly successful leisure centre website is in understanding your customers and giving them what they want, while also streamlining processes for your staff.

Providing useful information such as a current timetable and information about activities, as well as the availability of coaching or personal training services, all help to make it easier for customers to see what you offer and access your services with minimum effort.

Online booking options for swimming lanes, and group fitness sessions such as yoga classes or HITT sessions increase convenience for customers and reduce the administrative effort for your team. Giving your customers the option to sign up for membership packages online is another timesaver for staff and allows customers to consider the terms and conditions of the contract in their own time.

News sections with relevant stories, profiles of team members and updates on new services or offers can help customers connect with your leisure centre and staff, developing a sense of culture and belonging that increases customer loyalty.

When it comes to events, your website is the perfect place to promote them. If you have control over your website’s content, you can update details to build up the hype as the event gets closer gets and enable easy sharing of links with event details via email and social media.

Add value with real-time updates and rich content

Widgets are handy helpers for websites that can do everything from giving real-time updates on available spots left in a Pilates class, to letting customers give feedback on a class they’ve attended or counting down the hours to a fund-raising event you’re hosting.

Websites can also be used like a public noticeboard in a community hall: to alert customers to a sudden closure due to an unexpected event, such as flooding or staff sickness. Used alongside social media, emails and SMS updates, websites can play a vital role in ensuring customers are kept up to date and don’t become frustrated by turning up when their desired activities are unavailable.

Optimising the customer-friendliness of your website increases website traffic, making it a smart move if you and your team want to improve the experience of customers as well as increase bookings and better serve your community.

Don’t forget to promote your job opportunities

At a time when many facilities are looking to find staff, your website can be gainfully employed to advertise staff vacancies, especially seeing as it targets a pool of potential applicants that have some experience of your leisure centre, even if only as attendees.

Job ads are, by nature, temporary fixtures on your website and are taken down once a job has been filled. Having the ability to add or remove job ads easily will make finding the right people easier and help highlight vacancies to your existing customer base, many of whom may also know and be passionate about your leisure centre, making them ideal employees.

Selecting the right platform

While a fair proportion of Australian and New Zealand councils are tied into IT systems that make updating leisure sites in a timely fashion challenging, others are empowering key leisure centre staff to engage with their communities in a more agile way.

Jonas Leisure offers a platform used by some local government, university and privately-run leisure centres and gyms to provide engaging websites that are easy for staff to update whenever they need to.

This platform allows staff to build the site from the ground up, but if expert assistance is required to design and layout the site initially, Jonas Leisure has an in-house web design team that can assist.

There’s no need for complex coding or graphic design skills – once your website is up and running the power is in your hands to add or amend it as you wish.

If you’d like to find out more about how Jonas Leisure can help you create a win-win website for your leisure centre, please contact us.