Top 8 Pages Every Martial Arts School’s Website Should Have
September 23, 2008 by Ryan Wheaton
Filed under Online Marketing
You know you need a website, but what kind of content should you have on it? You’re not alone. Many martial arts school owners struggle with what to put on their website.
Do you focus on your style? Your training? How many pages is too many?
This article cuts through the fog and gives you simple recommendations so you can include all of the key information people need to evaluate your martial arts school and help convert them into paying students.
Here are the top 8 pages every martial arts school website should have.
1. Home page
This is the first page most of your website visitors will see first. The job of this page isn’t to sell, tell your whole story, or replace the content found elsewhere on your site. Rather, it’s primary purpose is to filter and direct visitors to the content that will help them make the best decision for them. If you teach both adults and child, segment them out with distinct calls to action to help filter your audience into the right areas. Be sure to clearly emphasize your most valuable content and also clearly state what makes you different than your competition.
2. Contact Us
This page should provide all the various ways people can contact you. Include your address, email, phone, fax, and a map to your location. As an option, you can also have a contact form for people to send you messages. I often include a statement above this information directing people to my FAQ page and free trial.
3. About Us
This page should give the nuts and bolts of your operation and instructors. This is the best place to tell your story of how you got started, your training history, and why you started your martial arts school. Don’t make it boring. This is the place to communicate your philosophy and history with some personality.
4. Frequently Asked Questions
Save yourself some time answering the same questions over and over on the phone. Having answers to the common questions will help prequalify people better before they call leaving you more time to get them signed up for an appointment. For a list of ideas, be sure to visit my post “Using Frequently Asked Questions to Attract More Students to your Karate Dojo.”
5. What You’ll Learn
This should be positioned as the kinds of things that people will they will learn when they join your program. Please note, this doesn’t mean you should sell your style here. I would recommend that you sell them the benefits first then support with facts from your style or system (a distant) second.
6. Training Schedule
If you offer a robust schedule, I recommend that you create a single page that has a simple grid that spells out your schedule by day, time, and program. Make this so easy an 5th grader could understand it. If you you only teach one or two days, you might just want to include your schedule on the frequently asked questions page.
7. Why Train Here
I highly recommend having a page that outlines the most important reasons your prospect would want to train at your martial arts school. Put yourself in the frame of mind of your target prospect, what they want, and how your martial arts school matches their needs. Then, address those needs.
8. Offer Page
This can be a trial sign up page, a newsletter sign up page, a free guide download page… whatever kind of offer you want to make. Just be sure to collect a name and an email so you can start building a list to follow up with over time in exchange for your offer. Learn more about “How to Create an Irresistible Offer Your Prospects Can’t Refuse.”
What other pages do you use that help you sell? Add your experience below in the form of a comment!
Welcome Martial Arts School Owners! Start here to learn how this site can help you grow your martial arts school. Be sure join the conversation and leave a ton of comments. Also, be sure to participate in our new martial arts marketing forum! -- Ryan Wheaton
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I'm Ryan Wheaton and I work with martial arts school owners to help them attract more students. Many martial arts school owners are confused at how to best market their business and feel awkward in selling situations. I help them overcome those challenges to become confident and competent in marketing and selling their services - helping them become more profitable so they can live the lifestyle they want to live.
What a great post! Please do more on web marketing.
Our school has a terrible web site. Its not alone, its appalling how many MA schools have out-dated and incomplete web sites. I know in many cases it is because they got the site in barter with a student or parent of a student. Most MA schools seem to be about 10 years behind when it comes to fully utilizing the power of the internet to market their business. Good web sites don’t cost, they pay!
m.a.l.s, I couldn’t agree more with your statement about good websites don’t cost, they pay. Well said. I’ve been reaping the rewards since 2001 with mine and have never looked back!
I just received an email today from a NAPMA representative that they do not recommend having a training schedule on your website and that it can decrease response by 34%. They don’t source that data so I’m not sure where they pulled that number from. Your schedule can decrease response but it can also qualify prospects better and increase the quality of people who contact you. If you get 34% increase in people who can’t make it to your classes anyway, are those quality prospects you want to spend your time on when you could be focused on more qualified prospects?
I agree about not putting up your schedule. I wouldn’t want someone to qualify a schedule on their own. I’ve had students who have adjust thier schedules to our academy because they understand how much our classes have done for them. If I put up the schedule online, they might have never come through the door.
T,
Thanks for the comment. I can see it from both sides. In fact, I am testing it right now where my class schedule is not so obvious on my site to see the impact on response. So far, hiding it has decreased responses to my trial program offer.
Ryan