Online courses are big business. The convenience and accessibility of remote learning means that more and more people are choosing it as a way to bolster their skills. Whether it’s a company training course or someone just trying to learn a new skill, these courses have become hugely popular.
Whatever the reason, and whatever the course, course landing pages have to be up to scratch. We’ll look at what a landing page should be doing and what you can incorporate into yours for best effect. OK, let’s start learning.
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What does a landing page do?
Course landing pages are a little like shop windows. What does such a window have to include. Firstly, it has to appeal aesthetically. Pleasing color combinations and thoughtful placing so that items are harmoniously distributed will have a major effect on the eye of the customer.
Secondly, it should have a sense of drama. Bold positioning and use of contrast can impact casual observers quite significantly. They can be the first steps to real customer engagement.
Thirdly, a sense of story, giving usage context for the products displayed, or use of teasers, giving hints at the glories of what’s inside. All these can work wonders.
So that’s shop windows. But that’s, of course, landing pages, too. The job is pretty much the same. The casual internet surfer just popping in is far more likely to have their attention ensnared by a landing page employing strategies like these.
There’s one significant difference, however, between bricks-and-mortar store passers-by and internet users.
How will the customer get to your site in the first place? Probably, because of the SEO you employed to beckon them over. Or perhaps you went to the trouble of using an enticing domain extension (like buying a .ai domain for artificial intelligence course landing pages).
So, unlike the passer-by in the street, your site visitor will already be somewhat inclined to know more about what you offer. So, once they’re in the vicinity, course landing pages have one overall job: to get that already interested person to take the next step.
In the case of course landing pages, that next step is to sign up for a course. So, the landing page has to propel the customer towards this step. By breaking down those three strategies we’ve just talked about into small but important elements, we can achieve this.
You need a hero section and a headline that has drama, as well as being descriptive enough to give a distilled idea of what it is you are selling. It also needs to use language that will resonate with your target audience (this factor has to continue throughout your whole design: you have to create a landing page that will chime with your chosen customer).
Here’s a terrific example.
Screenshot from liveoffyourpassion.com
It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s descriptive. It emphasizes the keyword passion, which will hugely impact those who are visiting the website while they should be working at their uninspiring job and thinking wistfully about alternative and more fulfilling ways of making a living.
It’s a headline that works because it concentrates on the outcome. It’s like a wormhole taking you from one part of a universe where things are somewhat less than exciting to an altogether different part where thrills and joy are guaranteed.
How do we get there? That’s where the subtitle comes in.
So, the headline’s all about the impact. Now comes the information that gives more of a description of the course you’re offering. In the example above, it says ‘It’s a step by step guide to finding and doing work you love, guaranteed’. No, it doesn’t need to have masses of detail. It just needs to flesh out the headline a little so the visitor is in no doubt what it is that your site is all about.
Here’s another example that works because it gives the reader an idea of what the business of the site is, without going into too much detail. (Although, in truth, the sentence should probably be shorter.)
Screenshot from fitnessblender.com
Incidentally, this kind of subtitling is crucial, not just for course landing pages. It’s also what makes product pages work. There has to be a bridge from the headline to the meat of the product copy, whatever the site is selling, from a predictions manual to a predictive dialer. This is what subtitling does.
So, the visitor is interested to learn more. This is where you go into a level of detail about what it is that your course is all about. Note – we’re saying a ‘level of detail’. Exactly how much detail will be determined a great deal by your target demographic.
If you’re looking to talk to professionals in search of quick answers to whatever difficulty they may have, then you need to be quick about telling them what you offer. Use bullet points and short phrases to embed exactly what you do without trying anybody’s patience.
Or, if your demographic is likely to have a little more time to devote to reading, then you can go a little more detailed. But, even with the most leisure-rich demographic, don’t go too detail-heavy: it’s very easy to put people off by swamping them with data. Remember that you can always deposit the fine print on subsequent pages. The landing page is all about the broad strokes.
One effective technique is to concentrate on outcomes. So, rather than talking about the nitty-gritty of how your successful course delivers what it delivers, talk about what the individual taking the course will be capable of afterward.
For example, say you’ve developed a great online ‘Cooking for Beginners’ course. When it comes to your course description you’ll of course want to discuss how your course offers fantastic tutorials and tips, but you’ll also want to highlight what someone will gain, such as, the ability to make 7 easy and inexpensive meals and basic food preparation and storage techniques.
This has the advantage of not only showing what the course taker will be capable of but also briefly indicating the areas that the course will cover. This is like demonstrating how a product improves lives without going into unnecessary detail about construction and provenance, etc.
So far, we’ve been concentrating mainly on the wording. Just as important is the look and feel of the page. Just like the design components of the shop window, there has to be an element of aesthetics for the page to have optimal effect. Let’s break this down further.
Font
Distinctiveness and clarity are the watchwords here. A font can have a dramatic impact but be impossible to read.
Think carefully about the image you’re trying to project. Is it sober authority? An unfussy font like Helvetica or similar will be the area you might want to consider. If it’s financial, for instance, such as a course to boost your insurance lead generation skills, then you want a reassuringly solid font devoid of arty flourishes.
On the other hand, if your course has more to do with arts and crafts, then a font that simulates needlepoint might be a good choice.
Don’t neglect the power of picking out a particular word or phrase in another font for extra impact.
Screenshot from kimgarst.com
This is a great splash of handwriting style in bold red, which is a corporate color that finds echoes in the logo, the CTA boxes, as well as Ms Garst’s glasses and top. Wait a second, you might be thinking to yourself, this is a financial site, so shouldn’t it be all about the weighty, authoritative font?
Well spotted. This site is a bit of an exception as the designer is thinking about the target customers: people who might want to dabble in money-making online but who aren’t necessarily in the big league. For these people, fun and approachability are the main characteristics of the course to promote. So, it underlines the importance of knowing and speaking to your demographic throughout the landing page.
Colors
We’ve already hit on the impact a bold use of red can have. Color is undoubtedly massively important in terms of catching the eye and being persuasive. There are all manner of characteristics that each color is meant to represent in marketing, but we don’t have space to go into all this here.
Suffice to say that color can be potent, but don’t overdo it. Color is all about contextualization. The red above would not look nearly so good against a brown background, for instance. Which leads us to mention another factor. Always include enough white space. It’s the canvas that helps the picture make its statement.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to include a really bold and clear CTA button so that you can actually sell the course. All your fine work devoted to making a clearly understandable and attractive site will be for nothing if people aren’t encouraged to take the next step. You can be unique with your phrasing if you like to show off your brand’s personality, such as in this example:
Image from wordsream.com
However (and this is true throughout landing page design), never sacrifice clarity for cute. If you’ve come up with a turn of phrase that makes you want to award yourself a rosette for breathtaking wit but which other people struggle to understand, then you’d be better off keeping it for your journal. This is true no matter what area your course landing page covers, from mastering macrame to mainframe modernization.
Landing page lift-off
The world of site design is truly a massive area to get your head around, and landing pages are so crucial that they occupy a large part of it. Hopefully, we’ve given you enough of an idea to get started on making your course landing pages all that they can be.
If in doubt, concentrate on two C’s: clout and clarity. Your page has to have an impact, but it also needs to be clear. If you can combine the two, your course landing pages will be a hit.
