Copywriting Tips to Sell More Online Courses

There are many ingredients that make an online course successful: one of them is great copywriting.

Copywriting means writing any kind of text with the purpose of marketing a product and generating sales.

For online course creators, good copywriting involves writing the text for the course sales page, promotional content, blog posts, advertising, etc.

In many cases, online course creators spend so much time and effort in building the content for the course that when it comes to the last step of building a landing page and promoting their product, they underestimate the importance of copywriting.

If this sounds like you and you want to learn more about copywriting and how to increase your online course sales by writing copy that resonates with your potential students, keep reading below. In today's article, we will walk you through the elements of great copywriting to sell more online courses and how you can do the same in no time.

What are the Principles of Excellent Copywriting?

Let's get right into it: how do you spot great copywriting? Let's see what are the main characteristics of copywriting that convert so you can add these elements into your copy.

Focus on The Benefits

The first tip for excellent copywriting is to focus on the results and the benefits that your students will receive by completing your online course.

If you want to sell your online course, you need to make sure you are answering the "why"; why would anyone invest time and money into your course?

It might seem obvious, however many creators fail to apply this principle to their online course sales copy. Instead, they focus on what their course includes or how many lessons there are instead of writing from the buyer's perspective.

So, instead of saying, "This course has 100 lessons, modules, templates etc..." focus on the results you are going to provide for your students, for example: "We'll help you get your dream job in 30 days..." (or whatever your value proposition is).

Remember that ultimately your customers aren't looking to buy an online course; they are looking for a transformation in their lives. So make sure you clearly communicate the result you provide!

If you are not sure about what your audience is looking for, do some research online. Check the most popular Google searches in your niche, and ask people what their most significant pain points are and what they would like to see in an online course.

Learn all about structuring your online course around a result in this article from our blog: The Most Important Thing You Need to Know When Selling an Online Course - Build it Around a Result.

Address the Pain Points

Great copywriting should resonate with the readers.

Your site visitors should feel that you understand what they are going through and your online course is the best solution for their problems.

So make sure to address their biggest pain points in your copywriting! What problems are they looking to solve with an online course?

This concept is similar to the previous point of communicating the result you provide, but it allows you to connect on a deeper level with more diverse customers, as people who have the same goals in mind might have different backgrounds or reasons why they want to take your online course.

For example, let's say you are teaching a Yoga course. Your customers' pain points might vary from feeling anxious, wanting to lose weight or get in shape, not being active, being stressed, and so on.

Speak the Customers' Language

A common mistake we see creators make is using their own jargon or complex buzzwords in their copy.

Unless your online course is designed for a specific audience that should be familiar with your jargon, aim to keep it simple!

If your sales copy is hard to read, you risk losing the attention of potential customers. Try keeping your copy straightforward and jargon-free.

Writing as you speak is a good way to get your point across and stir an emotional response from your visitors. This might seem counterproductive and not professional, but the truth is that many readers want to be spoken to like a friend.

Show Proof of the Results

As a course creator, you are selling a digital product, something that customers cannot see and touch, so it is important to prove that you are a trusted authority in your niche and that what you say is true.

This is where social proof (reviews and customers' testimonials) comes to play. Check out this article from our blog to learn how to collect positive reviews for your online course: 7 Quick Tips to Collect Reviews Easily and Increase Social Proof in Your Online Course

Another way is by showing quantifiable or numerical results and specifying this in your copy, for example: "Lose 10 lbs in 90 days; gain $500 in affiliate commission, join a community of 1000+ experts, save 5+ hours a week..."

Clear and Concise Writing

When you are writing about something you are knowledgeable or passionate about, such as your own online course, it’s easy to get carried away with words. When it comes to copywriting and marketing, using excessive language can have a negative impact on your readability and conversions.

A good way to achieve concise writing is by reducing excess words. Here are a few tips for doing this:

• Prefer an active voice over a passive one
• Avoid vague nouns (around, in the area of, to a degree...)
• Reduce wordy phrases to a single word (in order to ➝ to)
• Convert nouns to verbs (the creation of ➝ to create)

Answer Your Customers' Questions

The main goal of copywriting is to get potential customers to purchase from you. This also means reducing the time it takes them to make a purchase decision.

If people who visit your site cannot find the answer to their questions, chances are that they will either leave and go to the competition or try to reach out to you and wait for a response (delaying their purchasing decision even more).

So make sure you answer the most common questions from your target audience in your marketing copy.

Make Your Copywriting Visually Easy

Your copy can be the best in the world, but if it is long and bulky, you run the risk of losing your reader’s attention.

Eye-tracking studies reveal that website visitors only read about 20% of the text and prefer skimming through content rather than reading every sentence. So it is important to keep your copy short and to the point and avoid long blocks of texts without any interruptions.

Try to break up your paragraphs with subheaders, bullet points, images and videos.

Direct Readers to a Call to Action

A call-to-action (CTA) is a small line of text that encourages leads to take a specific action (go to a different page, download a lead magnet, purchase a product, subscribe to a newsletter etc...)

Your goal with copywriting is to bring your visitors to click your CTA and carry out the desired action.

Remember to add CTAs to blog posts, emails, ads, landing pages, digital products, and anywhere else you want a lead to complete a certain action to push them to the next stage of the buyer's journey.

Here is our call to action: if you found this article valuable and want to learn more about course creation, you will love our community of online course creators. Create your free Heights Platform account to start selling courses and build your online knowledge business today!