Train the Trainer Part 4: Sell Your Course

What is a URL?

A URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator—but let’s keep it simple: it’s a link or web address. The URL for your course is available on the Embodia website at all times. All you need to do is go to www.embodiaapp.com/courses and search for your course. 

The direct link will be at the top, in the address bar—copy and paste it wherever you need it (newsletters, social media, emails, websites, etc.)

Here’s the deal though: The URL (aka link) needs to be copied exactly. We want your potential, and current, students to be able to find and register for your course quickly and easily. One missing or different character would break the link and prevent interested people from registering, so it’s important to take care when copying! If you have issues we can help, just email us at support@embodiaapp.com. 

 

Where to share your course link

A great place to share your link is your own website! Minimal resistance is key in marketing, as in making things as easy as possible for your target customer to convert (more on what conversions are below). Adding your course URL makes sure that potential users can find your course (and hopefully register/convert) very easily. Adding your course(s) and webinar(s) to your website also creates consistency. That way, anyone searching for you can find the courses and webinars you offer as well.

Always remember that your own website is the best free marketing tool you (may) already have. All you need to do is add a short description and link to your Embodia Academy course. 

Tip: When crafting the course description for your website, it’s best to paraphrase for SEO purposes. You can use parts of the description from the course overview page on Embodia but the more unique your description is, the better. If you were to use the exact same description, search engines would see this as duplicate content which would hurt the SEO for both Embodia’s page and yours. There are plenty of AI tools out there to get the paraphrasing job done quickly but, as always with AI, it’s best to use it as a source of inspiration and then make it your own. You’ll want to proofread and humanize what’s written because search engines are now able to detect AI-written content and this can also impact your website’s SEO.

 

What are conversions?

Conversions refer to particular, desired actions taken by target customers that align with business goals. 

There are three different kinds of conversions:

1. Sales - the customer makes a purchase.

2. Leads - the customer provides contact information, or inquires about your offering(s), and becomes a possible lead. More on leads below.

3. Emails - the customer signs up to your email list.

Bottom line, conversions contribute to overall success and revenue. With few exceptions, the more conversions, the better.

 

What is a lead? 

A lead is a person or business interested in what you offer. You can think of each lead as an opportunity for growth and revenue. 

Some leads are of higher quality than others, meaning they are more likely to convert/take action - those can sometimes be referred to as “warm leads”. But with leads, in general, the more the merrier. Even the low quality ones can’t hurt because they have the potential to convert immediately or turn into warm leads.

You can acquire leads through your marketing efforts, such as spreading awareness about yourself, your expertise, and your courses and webinars. After all, people have to first find your offer to become interested, i.e. become a lead.

 

What is a Call-to-action (CTA)?

A call-to-action (CTA) is an invitation, or prompt, for a customer to take a desired action, usually for the purposes of making a sale (aka. conversion) or inviting them to enter your sales funnel. More on funnels below.

CTA’s can come in many forms but are most often seen as links or buttons. 

A CTA should give a very clear idea of what the customer can expect on the page they’re taken to. If what they click on doesn’t match what they expected, they are likely to hit that back button and abandon the action they had considered taking. You want the page they arrive at to be of high relevance to the button they clicked. 

In the lesson, All about SEO, we discussed positive contributors to SEO, but there are negative influences as well. 

When customers (aka. ‘users’) leave your page(s) quickly, and often, it is referred to as a high ‘bounce rate’. Bounce rate is something that negatively impacts your SEO because search engines deem that to mean your page is of low relevance, and therefore less valuable. Quality is key in the SEO game.

Luckily, crafting a good CTA really isn’t all that difficult. So long as it takes them exactly where it says it will, you’ve got half of it covered. The other half is the words you use to entice your customers to click and, ultimately, take action.

Here are some examples to give you an idea:

• Save my seat now

• Take me to the course

• Register today

Tips: 

• Using words like “me” or “my” have been shown to have the highest conversion rates; “your” is also effective, though allegedly not quite as much. 

• Using time-related words, such as “now” or “today”, can help create urgency and increase conversions.

 

What is a funnel?

One of the most common terms in marketing is the funnel (aka. sales funnel). 

A funnel is a metaphor used to describe a customer’s journey to conversion. Funnel strategies are designed to generate awareness, acquire leads (customers), and generate conversions, aka sales. It sounds fancier than it is, and there are multiple versions of funnels out there. 

Essentially, picture the bottom of the funnel as the goal line. That’s where the highest percentage of conversions happen, and that’s where you want your potential customers to get, by funneling them there. 

Here are examples of some common funnel stages:

1. Awareness:
   The top of the funnel, being the widest and farthest from the ‘goal line’, is the awareness stage where potential customers enter - they are not likely to convert at this stage but they have discovered you and are aware you exist! They may have found a YouTube video, seen an Instagram post, or found a search ad.

2. Interest:
   They then move to the interest stage where they start to consume and engage more with your content. They may like posts, comment on blog articles, subscribe to your accounts/channels, and even subscribe to your email list.

3. Consideration:
   By this stage, your customer is weighing their options. They’ll be taking a deeper look at what you offer before making a decision. They will often seek out testimonials and reviews, compared with your competitors (aka. other options), and familiarize themselves with all of the details they need to make their buying decision. This is where it’s crucial that all of this information is already ready for them to find, and easily. SEO helps with this but the information and testimonials have to be there.

4. Action:
   As mentioned above, the bottom of the funnel is where potential customers finally make their decision and convert! Now that’s great if you only wanted them to purchase from you once but that’s often not the case - if you want a returning customer they need more...

5. Retention:
   Wouldn’t it be great if your customers enjoyed their purchases so much they bought even more? That’s where the maintenance of this customer journey comes in. You’ll want to nurture that relationship by ensuring what you provide is valuable and high quality so they do enjoy it. You can also maintain this relationship by staying top of mind, notifying them of new offers (i.e. courses), and continually establishing your industry authority through the other marketing channels we mentioned above, such as social media posts, new blog articles, and email newsletters.

Tip: Freebies, also known as ‘lead magnets’, are great ways to attract potential customers at EVERY stage of the funnel. Think free webinar, cheat sheet, template, guide, resource, etc. Often you can ask for something like their email to gain access to these freebies, but there don’t always need to be strings attached. The key with lead magnets is to provide value and/or address customer pain-points. Get in their heads - what do they really want or need to know or have? When done well, lead magnets can establish your authority and expertise, build trust, and generate interest - all valuable in reaching that conversion goal.

 

If you’re interested in taking a deeper dive on this, there are many articles on this and other marketing topics online. We are also happy to answer your questions or point you in a direction to get you started.

Need help with the course images, videos, or content for your website? Contact us at support@embodiaapp.com.