Getting more reviews on your Google listing (And Yelp and other review sites for that matter) can give you a big boost in your Google rankings, as well as make you stand way out from the rest of the BJJ academies in your area.

Think about it, if most gyms in your area have less than 5 reviews, and you have 50, who do you think potential students will check out first when they want to start training?

The good news is it is pretty easy to get some 5 star reviews.  Here are a few quick ways to get it done:

1. Place a sign at your front desk or bulletin board asking students to leave you a review.  As you have no doubt seen, students love to stand around and play with their iPhones before, after, but hopefully not during class.  Give them the little reminder that when they are playing on their phone, to leave you a review or you will kimura them relentlessly until they do.

2. If you have a Facebook group page, leave a post asking your students to give you a review.  Be sure to include the link of where to leave the review (Google Places page) to make it easy for them.  Be sure to never ask anyone to leave a POSITIVE review, as soliciting positive reviews goes against Google’s policy.  Just asking for a review is fine though.

3. If you have an email list of your students, send them an email with the review links asking them to please leave you some reviews on the different review sites.  That way when they are at work wasting time watching YouTube instructionals and reading Sherdog, as opposed to working, they can easily leave you a review.

The more reviews you have the more trust you will build with potential students, the more clicks you will get from Google searches, and you will also rank higher in Google.  The fact that it’s free doesn’t hurt either.

We are currently coding our very own BJJ Online Reputation Management System that will make it much easier for our clients to get a ton of 5 star reviews to their profiles.  Once we finish we will be sure to share it with you all.

Now go get on the mats!

- Cody

We all know that showing up on the first page of Google when people search for BJJ in your area can bring in a lot of students, especially if you rank in the top three. Fortunately, it usually isn’t so difficult to get on the first page of Google.

Here are three quick and easy ways to help boost your website rankings that you should do right NOW.

1. Ask Students For Backlinks

Websites linking to your gyms website is one of the most important factors in ranking highly in Google. A great source of links is your students. Many of your students are small business owners like chiropractors, doctors, lawyers, accountants, plumbers, general contractors, etc. Ask them if they can add a link on their website back to your gym site to help you out. Most will be happy to do it. A half dozen links can go a long ways in increasing your website rankings.

2. Post Links on Local and BJJ Forums

A lot of people are posting on local internet forums asking about martial arts, Jiu Jitsu, fitness, etc. in your local area.  Search Google and see what you can find.  You can do this by typing “CityName Brazilian Jiu Jitsu”.  Look for local forums like City-Data and Q&A sites such as Yahoo Answers and Quora, and also Jiu Jitsu related forums, where people have asked about gyms in your area.  Register an account and post about your gym, leaving your gyms info and website link (where possible), and answer any questions that you can.

Even if the post was from several years ago, still answer the question because a lot of people have probably found the post and read it since then, and many more will in the future. You also will get to leave a backlink which helps to increase your Google rankings.

3. Make Sure Your Website Title Is Correct!

This is extremely important, and I see it done incorrectly all of the time.  Your website title, the title displayed at the top of your browser, should tell people exactly what your website is about.  You do this by changing your title tag.  Take our client Bangkok Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for example.  They are a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym in Bangkok, Thailand, and their school name is known as “BKKBJJ”.  So, what is their title?  “Bangkok Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy | BKKBJJ | Thailand BJJ”.  This not only tells website visitors exactly what website they are visiting, but it also tells Google what your website and business is about.

This is extremely important for website rankings, you have to tell Google where to index your website in their search engines.  A good rule of thumb is to have your gym name, your location, and also what you offer in the title.

So there you have it, three quick and easy tips you can implement this very second to help increase your rankings and bring in new students.  These three tips were covered to varying degrees in 101 BJJ Gym Marketing Tips, but I wanted to remind you of them because they are things that are easy to implement, and can have a big impact.

Make the changes and let me know if they helped!

What if I told you that with just two simple website changes, you could increase the number of new students your website brings in by 137%? You probably wouldn’t believe me, and that’d be right considering I made the 137% part up. However, I would be correct in saying that you can significantly (possibly even more than 137%) increase new students from your website with just two simple changes.

Most website visitors will make a mental note to “check BJJ out” sometime in the future, but the fact is, the large majority will never get around to it. You have to MAKE them take action, or most will never become more than window shoppers and tire kickers.

So, how can you easily turn these tire kickers into BJJ ass kickers?

Website Opt-in Form

This is hands down the biggest mistake I see gym owners make with their websites. Even if they have a great looking website with lots of information, the one thing the large majority leave out is an easy to use form for people to fill out to get their free class/week/month/whatever.

You want to have a prominently displayed opt-in form on every page of your gym website so that if the website visitor is interested, they have a very clear and easy way to get started. Be sure to call these people the day they send their information. The longer you wait, the less likely they are to follow through and see first hand how awesome Jiu Jitsu really is.

What Should Your Opt-in Form Look Like?

The opt-in form should stand out on the page, and be the most prominent feature. The number one action you want them to take is to sign up for BJJ classes, so this should be the most prominent feature on your website.

Blue or green works great for opt-in forms. Stay away from red as it conveys danger. You can see two examples of opt-in forms we created at Bangkok BJJs website, as well as on the home page of our own site, BJJ Website Gurus.

The sign up button should draw in the visitor’s eye and make them want to click it. It’s important that the button is somewhat large and stands out. You’d be surprised at how little details like this can significantly increase opt-in rates. A somewhat large yellow button on a blue opt-in form both converts and looks great. Give it a shot and see for yourself.

For the opt-in form be sure to ask for their name, email and phone number. You definitely want to try to call them first to set an appointment for them to come in for their free trial class. Use email as a last resort. Setting an appointment makes them significantly more likely to show up than if you just give them your class times and tell them to drop in whenever. You will also be expecting them, so you can be sure to give them that extra bit of attention on their first class to make them feel comfortable and make sure they enjoy their first time on the mats.

If your site is built on WordPress (which we fully recommend) there are a lot of opt-in box plugins you can try. Opt-inSkin is a very popular one, though I have not personally used it as all of our opt-in forms are custom designs.

Call To Action

The call to action is the second important piece of a highly effective website that I see overlooked time and time again. It is surprisingly easy, but people just don’t know about it. A call to action is basically just a short sentence TELLING a website visitor to do something. What do you want them to do? Generally it is either to pick up the phone and give you a call, or fill out your website opt-in form to get their free lesson scheduled.

So, how do you get someone to do what you want? It’s easy. You TELL them.

For your opt-in form make the title similar to “Start Your Free Month Now!”, or “Get Your Free Introductory Lesson Today”. Something short, simple and to the point that TELLS them what to do.

For your telephone, it is as easy as prominently displaying your phone number on your website with “CALL US NOW: 555-555-5555” or “Call For Your Free Trial 555-555-5555”. Again, you are TELLING them to call you.

It really is that easy. A well designed opt-in form and a couple of prominently displayed calls to action will significantly increase your website leads, which will in turn add a significant increase to your student base.