School Website Content
I have looked at well over a 1000 school websites. It never ceases to amaze me how much information is missing on their site. Folks, this is your business. You may want to consider having your site professionally designed, just as you do with your business cards and such. This article will cover some details about what sort of content your website should have.
The Must Haves
The following is what is strongly recommended you have on your site.
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Mission Statement:
All businesses usually have a mission statement. A paragraph is usually enough and can be put in the front page. If you wish to write a really long one, the put it on a separate page with a short paragraph and link leading into the mission statement on the front page.
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Contact Information:
This should be on your main page (your street address with a link to the contact page) and a separate contact page. The thing you should remember is that the internet is global. I can't count how many times someone puts their address on their site with no information about what state they are in.
School Name
Full Street Address
City, State/Province, Zip, Country
The contact page should also have an address, a link to driving directions (mapquest or yahoo maps will do), and a email form or other way for someone to get an email to you. Try to avoid email links as those will open you up for spam. [read ABC's of Designing a Martial Arts Website]
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Instructor's Profiles:
You should include bios of the school owner and any other instructors in your school. The head instructor should probably have the most detailed bio. I know many of us can be challenged when it comes to writing, so here is one way you can format your article.
- Header of Article - Name, rank, title, and etc.
- Paragraph or Section 1 - This should be an intro to the instructor. Some general details about them that will catch the readers interest.
- Paragraph or Section 2 - The instructor's training history.
- Paragraph or Section 3 - The instructor's accomplishments. This can be both a paragraph and at the end add some bullet point details.
Short Example
Do not copy this and use it as is or just by replacing the XXX's.
This is only a short example.
Also, you can include a photo the the instructor on the article.
John Doe
Senior Instructor/Owner
Nth Degree Black Belt
Master John Doe has been teaching adults and children in our community for XX years. He has been the recipient of several awards and is considered by many as a primer instructor in the area. His devotion to the martial arts comes through in his teaching style.
Mr. John Doe began his training in the arts at the age of XX in the style of XXXX. He continued his training in 19XX under Master XXXXX. He has also been trained in XXXX martial arts and holds the rank of XXXX black belt.
John Doe is president and founder of XXXX association/program. He has been featured in XXXXX magazine and has trained people in the field of XXXX.
- President of XXXX association
- Featured in XXXX magazine.
- Founder of XXXX.
- Member of the XXXX.
- Tournament winner in XXXX.
- Head coach of the XXXX team.
- etc.
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About your Style/System:
Just because it is obvious to you what style you do based on the name. It may not be obvious to your visitors.
Generally speaking, there are 3 types of groups that may visit your website. These are;
- Martial Arts Newbie - the martial arts newbie who has no clue what the difference between Karate, Kung Fu and Jujutsu.
- Martial Artist not of your Style - those that may have martial arts training who's knowledge is limited when it comes to your style,
- Martial Artist from the Same Style - the visitor that already trained in the same style and wants to know what makes your interpretation different or the same compared to others.
Your article about the system you teach should try to cover information for all those groups. This can be done in one article or several, depending on what you feel is needed. If done in one, I would start addressing the newbie first and work your way down. Maybe include a little history about the style to start with, followed by the general focus of the style, and last working towards more detailed information for those that are in the know.
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About the School:
This can be the following.
- Schedule of classes
- Photos of the school
- Link to contact information
- Map of area or map link
- School history
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About your Programs:
Most schools have more than one program. Such as adults, teens, children, after school, cardio, and etc. You should give details about these programs and what the focus of each is as well as links to articles of interest on your site (such as your article about the style). You should avoid giving a price online as you will want them to contact you about that.
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Links:
Links are important. Especially if you plan to do a link exchange.
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The Could Haves:
A list of things that you could have but is not necessary.
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Photo Gallery:
Visual aids help, so a decent photo gallery could both help to verify that you know certain people and give a feeling of the atmosphere of the school. Be selective of what you put there.
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Videos:
I've found that videos have increased traffic on some sites by as much a 100% (more if they are brand new). The disadvantage is videos can really eat of bandwidth (the amount of memory allowed to be transferred per month by most hosts). So keep them small and be selective. The internet is a large community, so if you put something that is below grade on your site, you could find members of a large forum dissecting your video to pieces in the form of criticism.
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Discussion Forum:
Forums can help build a community which helps to drive traffic. Disadvantage is that it is time consuming as you need to monitor the forum daily.
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News and Events:
Updated news and events will keep your visitors coming back.
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More Articles:
Adding articles about various subjects can not only help get visitors but also helps in search engine ranking (assuming the articles are unique). So if you like to write, do it. Obviously it should be about martial arts in some way, not basket weaving.
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The Do Not's
Things you should avoid like the plague.
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Copyright Rip off:
You should not take any articles of someone else's website without permission. Even if there is not copyright notice on the page, it is still copyrighted. Unless there is a copyright notice that gives you permission to do so. Those usually requires a link back to their site.
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Making Claims:
As I mentioned, the internet is a large community. Making false claims will eventually get you in hot water and label you as a fraud. There a many martial arts forums out there, and one of their favorite pass times is to tear apart those that make odd claims. They call it fraud busting. It's what comes with free speech.
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Conclusion:
Hope this article helps. Good luck with your school!
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