This is for you if...
<arrow-bullet>You're a yoga studio or shala owner looking to improve your website.<arrow-bullet><arrow-bullet>You're a yoga teacher wanting to learn how to design your website as an online yoga studio.<arrow-bullet><arrow-bullet>You're in the business of yoga and want to open a yoga studio, yoga shala, or yoga center.<arrow-bullet><arrow-bullet>You have a business model similar to yoga studios, like a pilates, mindfulness, or fitness studio. Your websites will most probably have the same goal — have people sign up for classes, events, and/or workshops.<arrow-bullet>
On this page
The Design Criteria
What I look for when I review the websites
My Ranking System
How I evaluate them
The 7 Most Impressive Yoga Studio Websites
From all the perusing I've done online, these were my favorite
Final Thoughts
A few takeaways from what I learned while reviewing these websites
It's not just yoga studios
While doing research for my client Cocoa Yoga Cafe — a yoga studio in South Florida — I ended up with a really good list of yoga websites for inspiration. So why not put it out there for others that are looking for the same inspo?
It's not exclusive to yoga studios, shalas, and schools — other businesses that have the same website goals can find inspiration and learn from this list. The goal here is to have their website visitors sign up for classes, events, workshops, and trainings. They can have secondary goals, like increasing their email list, but ultimately the goal of that is to have repeat customers.
Pilates studios, gyms, fitness-related centers — even spas, dance studios, and art centers — are good examples of businesses with similar website goals.
The Design Criteria
I based these reviews on the same criteria I use when I give website audits. Each review is divided into 4 categories: design, copy, user experience, and mobile responsiveness.
Usually, I add SEO as a category since clients want that as feedback in an audit to improve their websites. I decided not to add that as a criteria since it requires Google Analytics — or a similar platform — and it's unique for each website. Also, if their messaging and copy is consistent, it will have a positive impact on SEO.
Design
This is the first thing people see and what most designers exclusively focus on. Color, layout, hierarchy, contrast... The basics.
When a website is designed well, it creates an easeful and enjoyable experience — so much so it's unnoticeable. In fact, many studies have shown how much design influences trust on site visitors. In one study, 94% of feedback given by the participants was design-related and only 6% was content-related.
On the other hand, when it's designed poorly, it creates frustration in whoever is using the website, which immediately deters your visitors to sign up for a class — or whatever the goal is in the design, they give up what they're doing.
Things I look at when I look at a website:
- Color contrast, consistency in color
- Unique branding
- Scannable and legible text, good use of fonts (consistency, combinations, and sizes)
- Clear and contrasting calls to action — obvious ones that the visitor will see quickly
- High quality images that are consistent in style and represent the brand
Copy
The powerful force behind web design that should be talked about more in web design circles.
Copy is important to quickly and easily convey your visitors your business, how they benefit from working with you, and why they should work with you.
Good copy builds a connection and guides them toward the goal.
What I look at in terms of copy is:
- Clear messaging, define a good problem and state the solution — this one usually isn't common in yoga websites since they tend to target everyone and every style of yoga the majority of times.
- Headings copy that helps make content scannable.
- Social proof — testimonials, reviews, any logos from companies they've worked with
- Contact info — since most of the yoga studios on this list
User Experience
Sounds like a complicated term, but it's not. A good user experience means the website is easy to use or visitors can get to their goal with ease.
You know when you're looking around for that piece of information on a website? Or when it takes you forever to finally make an appointment? Those are examples are bad user experiences.
The things I look at here are navigation and overall flow of the website.
Navigation is the menu, usually placed at the top of the website, that takes visitors to different pages or sections.
Flow, or user flow, is how easeful the experience is. How quickly and easily can a website visitor sign up for a class?
If it takes them too many clicks to get to the studio's schedule, then that's not a good thing. Less clicks doesn't necessarily mean better. But that's a topic for a different post.
Mobile Responsiveness
At this day and age, every modern website must be mobile responsive.
No excuses.
Of course, there may be some mishaps here and there, but overall it has to have a unique design for different screen sizes.
Why is mobile responsiveness so important? Around 50% of website traffic worldwide happens on mobile devices since the beginning of 2017.
According to a report from SimilarWeb, mobile has become an even larger platform for website categories like Health, Food & Drink, Community & Society, Lifestyle, and others.
I don't know about you, but I'm always looking things up on my phone.
To me, having a mobile responsive website is a given on any of my designs — so much so that I don't list it in my proposals. It is and should be the standard for every website and web designer.
Good web design, and a good web designer, musssssssst have a website that looks good on mobile just as it does on a laptop.
My Ranking System
As much as I don't like to rank things as "better" or "worse", "good" or "bad", sometimes it's necessary.
Here I did it for simplicity's sake — to make this process easier and to limit the amount of websites I'll add to this post.
Plus, I added emojis to make the process more fun! Even though I did use a point system.
Maybe one day I'll make a list of 101 best yoga websites... I just know there are that many and more around if I look for them.
BTW, if you think another website should be featured here, even if it's not yoga-related, please reach out and I'll add it to my next list of best websites!
🙃 — They Tried...
Oh well, at least they tried. Or maybe they didn't even try at all...
🙂 — It's OK
Sure, it's OK. Nothing special.
👍 — Good
Good enough. There's always room for improvement!
🙌 — Nice!
This is great! There's juuuust this one little thing that can take it up to the next level.
🤩 — Amaaaaaazing
On poinnttttttt! I'm blown away.
(Sheesh, get to the point, Nicole!)
Okkk okkkkkk, here's the list! I like explaining myself 😬
The 7 Most Impressive Yoga Studio Websites
GreenMonkey Yoga
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
By far the best yoga studio website in all Miami. As a local, I had to put a yoga studio from where I live.
The Good
- Uses a very neutral color palette — white, beige, gray, and a gray-ish light blue — and, surprisingly, no green!
- Their photos are branded and everyone is wearing a neutral color outfit — looks super profesh.
- The font type and colors are consistent.
- It's super easy to contact them, follow them, and they make it even easier to sign up for different class types, depending on what you're looking for.
The Bad
- I take points off because there are some blocks of text that are over images, which reduces legibility, and some body text sizes and weights vary — they range from thin to bold.
- They don't have any social proof! Anywhere! It's crazy because they have 4.9 ⭐️s on Google and over 150 reviews. Use them!
- The navigation menu is a lot, but it's what they need to have. It gets really weird when it's on mobile since some pages are ALL CAPS and others aren't.
The Neutral
- The buttons / calls to action don't have enough contrast. They could improve that in my opinion.
- Their messaging isn't focused on a specific audience, nor do they talk about their audience's problem. Even though they write about themselves, I think it works for the type of yoga studio they are — well established studio that offers many yoga styles.
- Because their colors and font type are so neutral it almost tips over to unmemorable. Their branded photos makes up for this though.
YYoga
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
A studio and franchise with multiple locations across Canada and virtual classes. They offer teacher training as well.
Their focus is on building a community, almost like a second home for their students, which is awesome.
The Good
- Amazing branded photos, filled with diverse people that are clearly part of the community — at least it feels like they're all part of the YYoga community.
- The color palette is consistent and soft throughout and the shapes are organic and flowy, giving it a very approachable and calm vibe.
The Bad
- No social proof! Very bad, especially since they focus on the community aspect.
- The photoshopped bodies in the hero section sometimes look like they're floating depending on how they're cut out. One photo in the about page has a feet and a thumb cut off!
- There are multiple menus, which makes it a bit confusing, specially after clicking around I felt somewhat lost.
The Neutral
- The body text needs to be a tad larger on mobile.
- Some of the cut-off images are slightly pixelated. I'm assuming it's because those images are PNG, which tend to be much larger files than JPEG, to allow for transparent backgrounds. I ran into the same situation on my website.
- The double menu in mobile gets more distracting. At least there is a clear Book A Class and Buy A Class button on the navigation.
Mountain Soul Yoga
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
Located in Colorado, Mountain Soul Yoga is a boutique yoga studio offering a Vinyasa, Yin, and Restorative Yoga classes and workshops. they also provide teacher trainings.
Even though the home page is a bit crowded and the store link leads to a 404 Error Page, overall the website is beautiful. I think the user flow and navigation-wise it can be a lot better.
Overall, a great first impression, but the more I look into it, the more details I see that removes the clean and cohesive design.
The Good
- The layout has a defined grid, which looks like their studio! It's a nice touch to connect the digital and physical brand.
- On the bottom right corner they have a little box that shows you what classes they have going on that day. I love how easy it makes it for visitors to sign up for classes. Brilliant, and it's something I haven't seen before.
- The use of a single font that's easy to read and the minimal color palette makes the website on brand and super cohesive.
- They add the mountain element in some hover effects and as part of the names of their classes, making it fun and adds to their personality.
The Bad
- I cannot forgive them for the arrow-like buttons:
Aside from not having enough padding — that is, breathing room around the text —, looks like a stake and decorative element instead of a button. And doesn't fit in with the rectangular, grounded vibe across the site. Plus, it's a weird shape for a button AND there are other teardrop-shaped buttons that also don't match.
- The first CTA in the second section of the homepage takes you to a page outside of their website. And it doesn't even open in a new tab! Promote your classes and workshops first, then the rest.
- Again, no social proof when they have excellent reviews in other places online.
The Neutral
- Mobile version needs more breathing room between elements and a bigger line height. The font size is a bit too small, but still legible.
Brooklyn Yoga Project
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
They offer a wide variety a classes in a boutique-style studio. "Brooklyn Yoga Project offers workshops, teacher trainings and community gatherings where the eight limbs of yoga are studied, shared and celebrated."
Very minimal design that has the basics for students to sign up for their classes in person and livestream.
The Good
- Minimal, clean design and color palette that isn't distracting. It helps with user experience and creates a consistent design.
- "The project is you" is really good copy. Too bad you have to scroll down to see it!
The Bad
- Maybe needs more calls to action. Or at least move them to the top of the page to make it even easier for the user to sign up for classes.
- The only part that was confusing was the online classes — are they recorded or livestream? There's no explanation of what they are compared to the other classes they offer.
- No social proof, reviews, or testimonials...
The Neutral
- The prices on the pricing page are too small. That page needs a better layout overall. But it does its job.
Soya Yoga
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
Recommended by someone in The Connected Yoga Teacher Facebook group — thanks to everyone for suggesting great sites!
Soya Yoga is a yoga school located in Canada. It's the most well-rounded website, I think, because of the clear messaging and directed copy. They know exactly who they're talking to and show their personality and values.
The Good
- The messaging is very clear in showing that they have decades of experience and want to stay as authentic as they can to yoga when they teach it.
- They have social proof! Lots of it!
- They teach and train yoga teachers so the structure of their website is different, as it should be.
The Bad
- The menu is very extensive, have a lot of drop-downs, and the page names are very long. It may be because of all that they offer. But it may be better for them to have all those drop-downs than a crowded navigation.
The Neutral
- The "cards" that are in different locations don't have the same style and some need to change their inconsistent padding.
- A few images here and there that don't have such a high quality but overall they're really good photos that are taken by them and show off their personality.
Ekhart Yoga
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
An online platform for yoga classes and teacher trainings created by Esther Ekhart. They teach a wide variety of yoga styles and have a lot of teachers, too.
With simple copy, contrasting buttons, and consistent messaging, their website visitors have a clear direction to sign up for their online yoga.
Not only that but you can find classes based on teachers or different class types, allowing different ways for people to sign up without being confusing.
The Good
- They use fonts that pair well, are legible, and consistent throughout the site.
- The coral color that contrasts the rest of the aquamarine green works so well, especially since it's used for calls to action.
- The home page copy "Your home for online yoga", the subtitle, and CTA are perfect and to the point.
- Super professional photography and videography.
The Bad
- The contact info is only in the footer. They probably don't need it as much since they're a platform, but I prefer placing it on the main menu for easy access.
- It does feel a bit impersonal because the look is more related to SaaS (Software as a Service) companies, which makes sense since it's all online. It lacks warmth, but it's functional and easy to use.
- The navigation and menu are clear, but in some page the mobile menu opens from the left and in others from the right. Confusing.
The Neutral
- Even though they use different types of social proof on the home page (yay! we like that!), they place the testimonials on a slider lower on the page and don't place any on other pages.
The Self Care Space
<arrow-bullet>Go to their website<arrow-bullet>
The first time I entered this website I immediately felt relaxed.
I ran into Phoebe Greenacre's Instagram late last year while looking for Restorative and Yin yoga teachers to take classes from and I absolutely loved their website.
... Of course it does, she used to work in the marketing world for a decade before starting her own coaching business and now having this online membership.
She reminds me of my client, Lauren Scungio, who also has experience in marketing and created her website with super clean and consistent design, photography, and excellent copywriting.
The Good
- Beautiful, calm, consistent color palette.
- Branded photos, all matching the color palette.
- The first thing you read when you enter the site is "The Netflix of Self Care. It's time to restore your body, mind + soul". Couldn't get any clearer than that!
- There are different types of social proof: short and sweet testimonials by users and the logos of places they've been featured. I would put one them higher up on the page.
- It's super easy to sign up for a class, login, or contact them.
The Bad
- The fonts — although they look very similar — are aaaaaaaaall over the placeeee. There are about 6 different fonts — Playfair Display similar to Lora, Work Sans similar to Lato, Quicksand for body text, Bon Vivant as a script font that's selectively used.
- The menu is sometimes very glitchy when open.
The Neutral
- The font size is a bit too large for mobile. But that's better than a small illegible font.
Final Thoughts
I hope you learned from these website reviews.
If there's something I'd like you to take from this post, let it be this:
Use social proof on your website.
It's better when someone else says you're awesome instead of you saying "I'm awesome" (which we both know you are 😉).
Keep it simple.
A classic saying in the design world. You'd think it's easy to keep things simple, but it's not.
Most of the websites here use little colors, a few fonts, and improve their user experience by keeping the menu simple.
