Ethical dilemma!

Blimey, what dilemma! The difficulty you have is a lot of girls love the guys to look like that so they are add ing more fuel to that fire. Can you perhaps balance it with the other reasons? You say yourself it is a small part of your own reasoning. I think a balanced view would be better than trying to avoid the issue totally. Maybe try to advocate all of the other reasons, but acknowledge that this is a part of the reason too.

Enjoy the journey.

Mandy

That's a bold claim!!!

I mean how can you be sure that "they know" it's "WRONG" to train for girls. I can assure you that there are many guys (like me) who believe that their is nothing wrong with going to gym so as to flex muscles in front of girls. Although I must add here that I seriously don't believe that this approach works, however there was a time in my past when I used to think it does!!(LOL!)

I don't see anything wrong with promoting (Or reviewing) your product from this angle of "get-this-&-flex-muscles-in-front-of-babes". You might even want to consider putting in a few dating affiliate links in a separate category articles written specifically for this purpose. (However if I were you I would resist this temptation since It has the potential of weakening the "Call to action" to your readers)

Bhupinder

Really it is a person's choice if they want to body build to impress woman or just go get tone, I don't think your doing any wrong but you might have more success by not mentioning it at all, just my 2 cents.

I think different men will have different motivation for training and looking good. Not all will want to impress girls. I'm married and want to build a nice body, more for satisfaction and health, and to look in the mirror and not get depressed. What about gay men? They are certainly not trying to impress girls.

In a sales letter you should try to hit every motivation point you can think of because everyone is different. If your course materials or personal belief is that training for the female population is wrong, then advocate that, don't change. I personally don't see a problem with it. Whatever works to get them motivated to work out.

Dude, you know it to be true so why avoid the issue?

Why not confront it head on? You don't need to be negative about it or talk it down. You just need to address it up-front to your prospects/readers.

Of course, some well-placed pictures of bikini-clad babes wouldn't hurt your message, now would it? :p Yeah, I put a "tongue-poke" smiley there, but I'm actually not joking. It's interesting what goes on "under the radar" (i.e. subconsciously) for readers. You might say "Hey, guys... y'know, picking up chix is not the be all and end all of getting ripped. There are XYZ benefits and blah blah blah too..." and have a picture of a hottie right there!

We all know which urges people actually act on.

You don't need to water down your message. You just need to acknowledge that it's there and what problems it can cause for your motivation/routine/results (whatever... I don't understand! LOL!)... and then get on with whatever advice you care to offer your readers, right?

Then... added bonus! Because you haven't said it's a no-no (which would be pissin' in the wind anyway), you can then cross-promote to your dating-advice site, which is an affiliate site for DYD or something like that (because in my experience, a lot of guys who want to get ripped to date gals are doing it because they're missing what D'Angelo/Pagan calls "Inner Game" -- MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more important than looking like a condom full o' walnuts. Fact.)

Hope that helps!

TheNightOwl
(74kgs for 20 years and doin' just fine with the ladies )

One good advice you always hear in sales is never Assume

That is to put it crudely you make an Ass out of U and Me.

You will never ever know what people are thinking. Also You cant predict what people will think its just one of those things.

Take feedback from your readers - what do they say, what do they want more of? Cater to them and they will spread your website. If they dont get what they want then they wont bother doing your bidding. Long term you can grow to get free traffic just from these readers recommending your site.

As it is a Niche - ie bodybuilding to get in shape to impress girls. People that want to get fit may not be interested in coming to you site. As they don't have the intention of getting fit for anyone but themselves so they would go to a generic body building site anyway.

Focus on building a tight niche - then some day go wider.

Hi there,

I went and had a look at your site in the signature line and I like what you have done so far. I think in your intro where you emphasized the "great looking, strong and healthy body" that you have hit the balance perfectly. I don't suppose it really matters what a persons' motivation for looking like that would be - I agree that it would be better for their self-esteem if they were doing this to feel better about themselves and looking after their health, rather than trying to impress the ladies - but the bottom line is that they are motivated for what ever reason and that has to be a good thing for you.

Personally I have always got annoyed with my female friends who diet to please their man - or as another warrior mentioned wears makeup and what have you - but we all do some things for silly reasons and I guess this is just another example. I don't think you would put guys off if you came out against them buffing themselves for women though as they are likely to agree with you that it is for their health, or confidence, but still think inside "yes and it gets the babes".

Just my two cents worth
Lisa
P.S. I loved your pictures on your site - are they yours?

Well, you know, some of them aren't into girls. I guess you could go for that market.

Seriously, this isn't an ethical dilemma at all. You're asking whether you should sell what matters to the customer. Well, DUH! Of course you should! Forget health and fitness and longevity and all that claptrap; tell it like it is:

Look Good Naked

End of story!

AfteraDream, I like to help people out here. How about if I send you a photo of me an a swimsuit on a beach and you could use it with the caption DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR BODY!

That would probably scare them into buying. How about a 20% commission

Personally? I would promote to women also and I have a lot of close female friends who work out solely for that reason...to look good. It is a basic part of our human nature to want to attract the opposite sex (or same sex if you schwing dat way). We may try to deny it or say it's secondary to our health and well being..."we feel good when we exercise because we're releasing endorphins...we're doing something good for ourselves...we feel better and will live longer..." But to deny that we want to look good when we go to the beach or at work or for our significant other...why not?

Just my take on this but I think that if you have a blog you could just write from your heart about this...think about it and write like you talk. Just look at the response that you got HERE on a marketing forum! And seriously...I wouldn't limit myself to just guys...I mean for your site...I'm not implying anything...not that there is anything WRONG with that...ok...I'll shut up now!

You go, bretski!

Seriously, AfteraDream, As long as you don't flame people for having a different reason to do what they do than you do, you can state almost any opinion and still build the Marketer's best friend, rapport, with your readers.

I've found that one of the best ways to state your own, possibly controversial opinions, is to preface what you have to say with some variation of "In my own experience..."

For instance: "I found out the hard way that if I work out just to impress others, my motivation to work out takes a hit if they're not impressed. Then everything becomes much harder. So I make my workouts about impressing ME first..."

You're telling your truth, but you're also making room for others to have their own experiences. You also give folks who had never thought about it an opening to think about why they're doing what they do. Even more importantly, you're giving your readers room to state their own opinions, and that means they'll probably come back to your site, if only to see if anyone had a response to what they said about what you said.

So I wouldn't tone down my own views if I were you, I'd just state them in a way that allows you to maintain rapport.That would be a real win-win situation.

Three quick thoughts come to mind when reading this thread.

1. Maybe you should go ask the girls what they think. Take a poll or something. Once you have a general consensus, go market your results (minus your personal belief) to the guys.
2. You said you're in the muscle building niche. Have you considered that there is a huge market of women out there who are body builders too? I'd be interested in knowing what your viewpoint or marketing agenda is for them? I mean, guys like a well toned woman...and the girls know it too.
3. This problem sounds more like a personal belief/agenda than a caterer to a specific niche whose objective is to shape a product or service for visiting customers. So, in a sense, you've created a problem that you don't need...one that wasn't there to begin with.

Now, I don't have an opinion of the body building niche, but then again, MY OPINION DOESN'T MATTER anyway, Right? Because it's what your audience thinks...and THAT'S what matters when it comes to marketing.

I'm just saying I really don't see a dilemma.