Online course creation is going to be the base of education if not today then in the nearest future. When students turn to learn from courses, the teachers tend to meet this demand. Accordingly, competition in the field increases and to stand out in the pool of competitors you need to do something different.
Before thinking about how to create courses, how many videos to include, or what slide templates to choose, there is something more important to focus on, and we’ll do it. For this time, I’m going to introduce some tips on how to set up your course homepage.
Setting up an Online Courses Homepage
This is the page where your students land when they want to check out your courses. We understand that this is the page that helps visitors to get the first impression and shape an opinion about your teaching business.
If your course homepage doesn’t meet the visitors’ expectations then they are more likely to leave it and look for other solutions for their needs. Follow these tips to avoid missing your potential students.
#1 Choose the Domain
Your course homepage leads your audience to your valuable courses. On Uteach, it may have either such a domain - example.uteach.io, or if you already have a website, you may choose a custom domain as AIST Global did. They chose the subdomain “trainings” and connected it to their website having the website trainings.aist.global.
You may also choose one of these options to set up your online teaching website domain. If you have a website, especially an outstanding one, then you are highly recommended to connect your courses platform to it. In this way, you will have faster development and higher success in a short time.
#2 Decide on the Items for Navigation Bar
The navigation bar is the line on the top of your website. It is also called a header and usually, it has a horizontal shape. Here you should display all the essential pages you want the users to navigate. Include the link of the pages mentioned below:
Your logo: on the top left hand of your website you should display your clickable logo. It helps the users easily navigate to your home page from any other page. You can use a logo maker to simplify the process of creating one for your brand.
Your courses: this is probably the most important page people look for visiting your website. The aim of this homepage is to present online courses, so this section should be included in the navigation bar.
About: while deciding on whether or not to buy your courses, people like to learn about you, who you are, what is your level of education, what kind of experience you have, and so on.
Contact: whenever any concern or issue arises related to the platform, or when people have some questions related to your course, they like to get in touch with you. Sometimes, they may just need to talk to you and thank you for the quality knowledge you share.
Quizzes: once you form quizzes related to your course content or just include questions on your specific niche, you may publish these tests and display the link in the navigation bar as well. The visitors may just enter and pass quizzes testing their knowledge. In this way, you increase user engagement to your website. The engaging audience is likely to become customers.
Blog: If you like to create and share content and you create the blog page, then you should include it in your navigation bar. It is also one of the pages visitors like to check out. If you haven’t still decided on ether or not include the blog section then I recommend you to do. It may have a great influence on prompting your platform forward, as well as earning a kind of passive income.
Recently, I wrote an article related to ways of blog monetization. You may check it out.
#3 Make the Registration Section Visible
People who want to buy your online courses or to take part in your live lessons will need to register on the platform in advance. So, you should make it easier to find how to do it. On Uteach, we offer separate buttons for registration and login. These buttons are displayed on the top right angle of the page.
Even if visitors don’t register in advance, they may easily find the section when they want to buy a course and the system requires them to log in.
#4 Create a Brand Image
A good brand image stays in people’s subconscious mind and they associate things with your brand. In this case, your online course website becomes your e-teaching brand. Here you should create a general view that is both pleasant to the eye and memorable for the mind.
First of all, have a logo. This is an icon that makes people identify your brand. For instance, you may choose this logo on social media posts, on images on your blog articles, etc. And in case people share this content, your logo also goes viral.
Add a favicon. It is the small image icon that is shown on the browser tab. It may be your logo or some part of it. Do not choose something large in order to make it be beautiful.
Choose a color. Have you ever happened to see a color and think about any brand? - I have. When I see the red color I associate it with Coca Cola. You may also choose a brand color and use it in your website design, in your posts on social media, in stickers, copy-books, and wherever else you think it will be possible.
However, do not forget to check out what kind of psychological effect colors have on people. Choose an appropriate color related to your specific field.
The language style is important. The way you communicate with the audience is a critical point that requires much attention. Especially, in the field of education, it is essential to speak literally. Some people confuse the literal language with the official one. Surely, you may include some humor or criticism, if you choose such a style.
#5 Say No to Long Texts
There is a misunderstanding about the long content. Some people think that long texts help website visitors to easily and better understand how useful their services are. They display long lists of benefits people will get. Therefore, this is not what users look for. Today all of us are lazy to read texts that even seem to be cover exaggerated information.
It will be great if you present your courses in a few lines but to the point. Pay attention to the simplicity of your content so that your audience gets the meaning at the first glance.
#6 Offer an FAQ Page
Imagine you are a student who wants to buy online courses. Surely, you will have some questions that need to get answers. As you may know, the FAQ section is created for the frequently asked questions. Here you should present some questions that most of all concern your audience and provide the answers as well.
Completing this section on your course homepage, you take the connection one step forward. The visitors find their answer without even writing a message or email letter. On the other hand, you don’t risk it to miss a potential student because they have some concerning questions. As a result, everybody is satisfied.
Setting Up Your Course Homepage with Uteach
When you register on Uteach, choose a domain name, and already log in to your website, you should make several actions. It is very easy and quick. Let’s get familiar with these steps:
1. Choose a style. This is about the colors of your platform.
2. Select the language. Uteach supports 3 languages: English, Russian, Armenian.
3. Upload the main image (1905x793px). It is shown on the top of the page below the navigation bar.
4. Write the text content. There should be the main heading (h1),then second headings, supporting texts, and buttons that are related to video courses and blog articles.
5. Add a logo (400x400px). This is the face of your brand.
6. Add a meta image (100x628px). It is shown when you share your page URL.
7. Add a favicon (32x32px). We are already familiar with it.
8. Fill in the contact info. It may include your address, mobile phone, email address, social media profiles that appear on the footer, etc.
9. Provide SEO data. You should write the meta title, meta keywords, and meta description to help people reach your platform easily.
10. Organize the navigation bar and the menu at the end of the page (footer). Keep in mind that all the pages that you want to include in the navigation bar should be created in advance.
Are You Ready? It’s Your Turn!
Once you have already taken into consideration all the above-mentioned steps to set up your course homepage, it’s time for you to go on and take the most essential step. Start today, create your website, fill in with useful content, so that your income comes tomorrow.
