Lesson 7: Making It Yours
Your customers should never feel like they are using "some WordPress plugin." They should feel like they are using FitSite -- a platform built for their industry. This lesson covers branding, white-labeling, and making the platform feel like a product.
Where We Left Off
FitSite has a working checkout flow that takes fitness studio owners from plan selection to a live site. Now we make the entire experience feel like a cohesive, branded product.
Your Platform Domain
The foundation of your brand is your domain. For FitSite:
- Main domain:
fitsite.com(your marketing site and network root) - Customer sites:
studioname.fitsite.com(subdomains) - Custom domains: Customers on Growth and Pro plans can map their own domain
Setting Up Your Domain
- Register your platform domain
- Point it to your hosting provider
- Configure wildcard DNS (
*.fitsite.com) for customer subdomains - Ensure wildcard SSL is active
See How to Configure Domain Mapping for detailed instructions.
White-Labeling the Admin Experience
When a fitness studio owner logs into their site dashboard, they should see your brand, not WordPress or Ultimate Multisite branding.
Custom Login Page
Customize the WordPress login page to show:
- Your FitSite logo
- Fitness-appropriate background imagery
- Your brand colors
Dashboard Branding
Use the Admin Page Creator addon or custom CSS to:
- Replace the WordPress logo with your FitSite logo
- Customize the admin color scheme to match your brand
- Add a custom dashboard widget with fitness-specific quick links and help resources
Custom Admin Pages
Consider creating custom admin pages that surface the most relevant actions for fitness studio owners:
- "Edit Your Class Schedule"
- "Update Trainer Profiles"
- "View Your Site"
This reduces the learning curve by putting niche-relevant actions front and center instead of burying them in the standard WordPress menu.
Branding Your Communications
Every email, invoice, and notification should reinforce your brand.
System Emails
Navigate to Ultimate Multisite > Settings > Emails and customize all system emails:
- From name: FitSite
- From email: [email protected]
- Email templates: Use your brand colors and logo
- Language: Fitness-specific throughout
Key emails to customize:
| Generic Version | FitSite Version | |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | "Your new site is ready" | "Your fitness studio website is live" |
| Payment receipt | "Payment received" | "FitSite subscription payment confirmed" |
| Trial ending | "Your trial is ending soon" | "Your FitSite trial ends in 3 days -- keep your studio website live" |
Invoices
Customize invoice templates with:
- Your FitSite logo and brand colors
- Your business details
- Fitness-specific product names (not generic plan IDs)
The Customer-Facing Site
Your main domain (fitsite.com) needs a marketing site that sells the platform. This is separate from the Ultimate Multisite network admin -- it is the public face of your business.
Key pages:
- Homepage: Clear value proposition for fitness businesses
- Features: What FitSite does, in fitness terms
- Pricing: Your three plans with niche-specific feature comparisons
- Examples: Showcase sites built on the platform
- Sign Up: Links to your checkout form
Create your marketing site as a site within your own network. This lets you manage it from the same dashboard and demonstrates your own platform's capabilities.
Custom Domain for Customers
For customers on plans that include custom domains, document the process clearly:
- Customer registers or transfers their domain to a registrar
- Customer updates DNS to point to your platform (provide exact records)
- Ultimate Multisite handles the domain mapping and SSL
Create a help article or knowledge base entry specifically for this process, written for non-technical fitness studio owners.
The FitSite Network So Far
FitSite Network
├── WordPress Multisite (subdomain mode)
├── Ultimate Multisite (configured + branded)
├── Platform Domain (fitsite.com + wildcard SSL)
├── Site Templates (Studio Essential, Gym Pro, Fitness Chain)
├── Products (Starter, Growth, Pro + Order Bumps)
├─ ─ Checkout Flow (niche-specific, tested)
├── Branding
│ ├── Custom login page
│ ├── Branded admin dashboard
│ ├── Niche-specific system emails
│ ├── Branded invoices
│ └── Marketing site on fitsite.com
└── Ready for onboarding flow (next lesson)
What We Built This Lesson
- Platform domain and DNS configured for a branded experience
- White-labeled admin with FitSite branding throughout
- Customized communications -- emails, invoices, and notifications all on-brand
- A marketing site that sells FitSite to fitness studio owners
- Custom domain documentation for customers who want their own domain
Next: Lesson 8: Customer Onboarding -- we design the experience that turns a new signup into an active, happy customer.