Intrigues by the Internet

By Tracy Bauer

Attract more students to your school

Your school’s website should be informative, professional, and enticing from the very first headline.

In this age of information technology, websites offer dance school owners a huge opportunity to communicate with potential students and their parents. Many people search for information online, at their own pace and convenience, at all hours of the day. A website is your chance to reach those customers who may be hesitant to contact you personally, and it allows you to include advertising information in an unconstrained ad space.

In order to justify the expense of a website, you must utilize it for marketing purposes. Let people know where to find you online by making your web address a prominent part of your publicity efforts. Include it on the school’s outgoing voicemail message and in all marketing materials, so that people can obtain information readily even when they can’t get in touch with you right away.

Your school’s website should be informative, professional, and enticing from the very first headline. Give your prospects every incentive to ask for more information. If you include detailed information on prices and class schedules, you’ve given them too many of the answers they might be looking for. Instead, include only enough information to engage them and make them want more—enough so that they’ll pick up the phone and call you. Once that happens, you can use the power of a personal encounter to convince them to visit the school and register their children.

How much you include on your website is up to you. A simple, single-page website can work as well as a more complicated one that has lots of links—as long as it is informative. In fact, many web surfers prefer single-page sites because they open more quickly and are easier to navigate. However, regardless of its design, every site should have one primary goal: to convert traffic (the people who view it) into leads who contact you for more information and who, ultimately, increase your enrollment. Don’t allow visitors to peruse your information without taking action and expressing their interest.

Using the site as an online newsletter for current customers (who, most likely, already receive that kind of information through mail, memos, and print newsletters) will not help to build your business and generate income. However, if you would like to include information updates for your current students online, consider creating a special link for them, perhaps even protected with a password so that your customers feel special. That way, competing businesses don’t have all the inside details about your studio at their fingertips.

At the bottom of every page on your site, especially the home page, include a no-risk offer for visitors to click on to learn more information. Don’t merely include your standard contact information in a small font—this should be a compelling presentation that tempts them to click on the link to learn more. That link then takes them to a form where they can enter their contact information to ask a question, be added to your mailing list, or receive a brochure, video, catalog, or sample of whatever you have to offer. By contacting you, they take a step closer to becoming a customer. Add them to your database of leads so that you can contact them again if they don’t sign up for classes right away.

You can also use a website to test advertising messages and photos, or to split-test two ideas to see which results in the most e-mail from prospective clients. Often, small changes to headlines, photos, and offers can make a big difference in response rates. And wouldn’t it be good to know what works best before investing hundreds of dollars on print ads? With a website, you can make small changes easily, test different ideas, and measure response rates in a matter of days!

Setting up a simple homepage at a reasonable price is easy if you know where to go for help. Here are a few suggestions: CityMax (www.citymax.com) makes building a website for a small business simple and affordable. For $19.98 per month, you can choose from a variety of templates, fill in the blanks, and get your site up and running in a few minutes. CityMax also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee as well as a free 10-day trial and free online support. There are many other website builders, such as www.homestead.com and www.imagecafe.com, but CityMax seems to offer the most for the money. Or maybe a friend or family member can set up a site for you. Of primary importance is having the ability to make updates and maintain the site easily and quickly.

Although the Internet is not a requirement for successfully marketing dance studios, it certainly gives an advantage to those who use it. A website, when used effectively, can be a wonderful source of information for prospective clients and an excellent way to generate leads for any business.

For more information on how to optimize your website, check out  www.GrowMySchool.com

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