I get MySpace emails all the time from personal trainers and other fitness-related business owners. Most of them are paying no attention to my profile, and I can tell that they are just spamming me to get business. How impersonal. How annoying. How… inappropriate.

But there is another option. If you want to communicate with people in your area, and let them know that you offer personal training or dietician services, check out Traineo.

Traineo is a social motivation website that allows people trying to reach fitness goals to pick a few friends to share their progress with. These friends act as motivators, and help each other reach those tough fitness goals. How does this help personal fitness trainers? By filling in your profile information correctly, other users are able to find you as a motivator in their area. Like Myspace, you get your own page to spruce up and use as a marketing channel. Unlike Myspace, the members are mostly looking to get in shape and stay motivated - which just happens to be your specialty.

So go check it out. And remember, don’t spam! Give advice. Be involved. People recognize when someone is trying to help them. If they decide to hire a fitness trainer, do you think they are going to pick the guy/gal who sent them a spammy email out of the blue, or the person who has been giving them bits of advice for the past two months?

PS: Don’t forget to link to include the URL to your website from the profile page. They do not allow links, but many search engines will crawl through text to the next website if it is in the form of http://www.yourwebsite.com .