Copywriting

Although we take care of many of the technical details, there is absolutely no substitute for writing good copy. If you write descriptive text which is both engaging to potential students and incorporate the search terms that people will search for, you are well on your way to a successful website. Put these descriptions into:

• tags
• courses

Tags should be at least a paragraph and course descriptions should be 1-2 pages of copy. The first sentence of the course description is particularly important since it is used for the short description on the search results. Try to incorporate:

• aspirational goals. What will they gain from doing this course? Can they expect to advance their career? Will it be fun? Will they meet interesting people?
• what they will learn. Describe the outcomes in detail. Will it be challenging or easy?
• what should they bring? Do they need to prepare in any way?

Your goals are to:

• Get them excited about the content.
• Alleviate any concerns about difficultly. Give them enough information to feel confident about what will be expected of them.
• Explain the value proposition. What will they gain in exchange for their time and money?

Don’t even think about SEO keywords until you can do all the above. There is no point in getting clicks unless you convert them into sales through engaging copy.

Next, log into Google Adwords (even it you aren’t going to spend money with Google ads). Find the keyword planner and use it to understand what search terms rank for your site. Now add those words and phrases to your copy, but not at the expense of keeping your copy clear and engaging to humans.