In my last few columns, I have focused on the importance of optimizing your Web site content, both for prospects and search engines, and how this process must be finely tuned, so your Web site will be found, and then be effective.

Last month, I introduced the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) concept that makes your Web site search-engine-friendly. SEO is so important to attracting prospects to your site that if you won’t optimize your site with SEO methods, then you shouldn’t both with having a Web site.

SEO is defined as the “active practice of optimizing a Web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines.”

In my next series of columns, I will be writing, in detail, about the controllable factors behind SEO. By controllable factors, I mean what you can easily do to make your Web site appealing to search engines. Key phrases and page titles are two of the basic methods I presented in earlier columns, but I want to lead you deeper into the various techniques that will increase the likelihood of your Web site being found.

Previously, I wrote extensively about content. There is a famous adage in the Internet marketing world, “content is king.” Web site content must be developed strategically to attract your target audience and be found by search engines; and, ideally, your Web site content should be so good that other Web sites will want to link to yours. As you develop this content, you must be aware of key phrases you want to utilize (more on this later).

There are three elements you should consider when writing your content.

1.       It should be interesting, useful and, if possible, entertaining. In the martial arts industry, this translates to writing content that educates your prospects and excites them to visit your school.

2.       The content should be unique to your school. Search engines frown upon content that is repeated on more than one Web site, so, if you have written an excellent sales letter with another school owner with a different school, and you both want to use it, then customize it, so it’s unique for your school. For example, change the order of some of the paragraphs, write different titles, etc.

3.       In addition to useful, interesting, entertaining and unique content, search engines are more attracted to content that is updated often. You might be thinking, “Wow! This is too much work!” It can be, if you decide to do it yourself. If you love to write, then it will be a pleasure, but if you don’t, then there are certain tools that can help you keep your content fresh and new. You can always hire someone to write the content, either in-house or from many of the online copywriting services (visit websiteskarate.com for more on these resources).

There are a few other strategies that will help you create and write content.

1.       An FAQ (frequently asked questions) section about martial arts in general, the benefits of martial arts and your school. Write mini-articles based on the most frequently asked questions from your customers and create an individual Web page for each topic. Instead of just a listing all the questions and answers on one page, you have separate articles of each topic, each with its own key phrase to optimize. You’ll increase the credibility of your Web site and school for prospective students as well as search engines. As a result, you might even attract outside links that refer to your articles, due to their scope and uniqueness.

2.       Create a links page. Many Web sites have links pages, some being used to their maximum potential, while others are not. It’s certainly a good idea to put numerous links of related subjects on your “Useful Links” page, but it’s better to create an annotated links page, which means you write and include descriptive paragraphs of those linked sites. If you use the key phrase strategy and optimize your paragraphs wisely, then not only will you attract links to your site, but also your site will possibly appear on searches by keywords you’ve used to describe the links.

Use these easy methods to craft a well-developed Internet marketing campaign, as you expand your Web site to include crucial elements that will make it a more powerful tool to increase prospect traffic and enrollments.

I have already mentioned that the prospect site is the equivalent to your introductory lesson. Your student Web site includes everything else. It’s a little student retention, with a dash of martial arts education, culminating in the renewal conference. It is designed to service your current students and to make them feel that you and your school care about them; even after they enroll! Your member Web site should also promote your Black Belt and any other upgrade programs.

Start with the Student Renewal Section

The first and most important part of your student Web site - the section that will impact your bottom line directly - is student renewals. The strategy is to educate current students on the benefits they are currently receiving as well the future benefits of your upgrade programs. To achieve the former, you must create Black Belt, Master and/or Leadership programs (or whatever you want to name them and fully explain their benefits and what students can expect to gain. For the latter, there should be a whole section that includes Black Belt student testimonials and video clips of your upgrade events, such as Black Belt tests, boot camps, etc. Also, include plenty of mixed media - audio and video of you, your staff and your current Black Belt students and their parents.

The second part of your student Web site is the service section - and maybe the easiest. This is where you provide student resources and education that will make the preframing for renewal conferences much easier. Contents of this section promote and foster the philosophy of your martial arts school as well as practical resources related to requirements. You can direct students and parents to the following information, saving you time and money.

• Add resources, such as class schedules and belt requirements, which you typically make available in printed form. Of course, you still want to offer these resources as printed documents at your school, but they become even more convenient when they can be downloaded and printed from your Web site.
• Include video clips of forms, combinations or any other part of your curriculum. These clips are easily created and can be placed on your Web site to be viewed and downloaded by your students.
• Build a sense of community and camaraderie with plenty of information about you and your staff, including biographies and martial arts training and accomplishments. Emphasize the history of your style, your school’s background and any other information that will help reinforce school loyalty and a sense of affiliation.
• Equipment sales is another useful and practical resource for the student service section of your Web site. You can create an online pro shop with your own line of equipment and lists of items your students will need. You can also link to other suppliers, such as Century Martial Arts.

Finally, the general public should not have access to your student section. This will create a sense of exclusivity for your students as well as protect your curriculum and other information you use exclusively to preframe students for upgrades/renewals. Take this a step further and deny access to your Black Belt and more advanced curriculum to students who are not yet enrolled in those programs. Dangle the carrot, but don’t give it away.

In my experience, a student section tends to be neglected and not even considered in the development of a school’s Web site. It is my opinion that it is as important as your prospecting site, since any business requires new as well as repeating business to be successful. In addition, it also reinforces and fills the gaps in the much-needed education of students of the benefits of making martial arts a way of life, and why a long-term commitment is necessary to reap those benefits.

Some school owners ask me whether they should start with a prospecting or student’s Web site. I advise that they start with the prospecting Web site to increase new business, but also plan and build a student site to have a complete business presence on the Internet.

In this month’s column, I would like to focus on how to lay the groundwork for a successful prospecting site, one with the sole purpose of bringing you more business. To do this, you will have to wear two hats: the school owner hat and the Internet marketer hat.

First, determine your target market. If 90% of your students are children and you have no interest in teaching adults, then you should develop a one-page Web site with a message aimed at the parents of the children you want to attract to your school. If you have a good mix of children and adults, then your Web site should contain two main pages that target both groups and build on the strengths of the different programs. Stay away from one page that fits all.

Once you have determined your target market and how many pages you will need to spread your message, you will then need to gather the contents for those pages. You will want to include a letter from you that details the benefits of your program, what students can expect to gain from it and why you are different than other martial arts schools. You already present this information in your introductory classes and conferences, so all you need to do is commit that information to paper. Write compelling copy that creates urgency and motivates the reader to take action, either to use the phone or your Web site to make an appointment.

In addition to a powerful letter, you will want to include testimonials from parents about the benefits their children have gained at your school; gather similar testimonials from adult students, if you teach that age group. Don’t ask for random testimonials; make sure your questions are based on the points you want to promote in your letter. For example, on the children’s Web site page, if your message strongly touts how your program is built on character development, such as self-discipline and self-respect, then the testimonials you gather should reflect the success students have experienced in these areas. Parents of prospective students prob-ably don’t care that Johnny or Mary has developed a great side kick. These testimonials carry more weight when they include a picture of the students and/or their parents, so make sure to col-lect those, as well. A digital video camera is a handy tool to record testimonials, which are very compelling on a Web site.Besides the testimonials and respective pictures, make sure you include pictures of your students in class. In the children’s section, pictures of groups of kids, bowing, standing at attention or inter-acting with an instructor are very powerful. You should be trying to create a familiarity between the prospect and you. In the adult section, you can include pictures that reflect fun, camaraderie and the benefits of a good workout.

You will want to consider including some mixed media. Either audio or video clips of yourself or your school that is relevant to the site. These clips should be short and to the point, geared to generate excitement and urgency throughout the site.

Now that you can bring your messages, testimonials and images to the Internet, prospects become excited and want to make appointments. Make sure the appointment making process is easy to do. Your phone number should appear throughout the site in bold and larger text than the rest of the content. There should also be a Web form at the beginning and the end of the Web page, so prospects can provide their information. Finally, you might consider a registration form, so prospects can register for appoint-ments online.

In conclusion, once you decide on a target market, make sure you draft a compelling message that promotes the benefits of your school and motivates prospects to make appointments. Support this message with testimonials and photographs and audio and video clips. Finally, present your contact information throughout your Web site, so it is easy for prospects to contact you.