How to Choose the Perfect Name for Your Online Course

Deciding on the best name for your online course, coaching program, or membership site may not seem like the most important decision to make as a course creator.

On the contrary, the name is the “cover page” of your program, the first step to influence a potential customer's buying decision.

In this article, we will explain in detail the importance of choosing the right name for your online course. We will provide you with actionable tips on finding the right title and a few templates you can use to help you speed up the process.

Jump to our main tips on choosing the perfect name:

1. Specify the Results of Your Online Course
   
2. Address A Specific Niche
   
3. Use Simple Words Everyone Understands
   
4. Include Power Words
   
5. Find Out What Your Audience is Searching For on Google
   
6. Keep it Simple and Avoid Extra-Long Titles
   

The Importance of Finding the Right Name for Your Online Course

First impressions are even more critical when it comes to selling products online.

When we are online, searching on Google or scrolling through our social media feed, we come in contact with hundreds of titles, ads, and content that we quickly skim through.

Sometimes a piece of content happens to attract our attention. They may be using a catchy headline, colorful images or communicating something that interests us. However, most of what we come in contact with online goes unnoticed.

So how do you stand out from the crowd?

Let’s start with the title of your online course, as it is the first thing any potential customer sees about your program.

A good name sets you apart from your competitors and can impact the number of people clicking on your ad or opening your site page.

According to a study, titles and headlines can impact clicks and website traffic by 500%.

Let’s see what the main benefits of finding the perfect name for your online course are:

• Higher Click Rate: a catchy headline that resonates with your target audience will guarantee you higher traffic on ads or your online course website.
• Increased Sales: If more people click on your site thanks to your great title, you will get a higher number of sales as a result.
• More Targeted Audience: If your title is structured well enough and communicates clearly what your online course is about and who it is for, it will result in better-targeted traffic. This means that only your ideal audience will click on your site, and your marketing efforts will be more effective, as you will avoid wasting time on the wrong leads.

But how exactly can you come up with a perfect name for your online course, coaching site or membership program? Keep reading below to find out!

Tips on How to Come Up With a Great Title for Your Online Course

#1. Specify the Results of Your Online Course

This is one of the most important and powerful tips to come up with an online course name that converts.

Your title should communicate clearly what your course is about, but more importantly, how your customers will benefit from it and what results will they achieve.

The result you are aiming for should be reasonable and in line with your course content. If you promise something you cannot deliver, your customers will eventually realize and be dissatisfied with your online course.

So whatever you are promising to your audience, specify it in the course title.

This is a step that should be taken even before drafting any content for your online course. The best result you can provide should align with what potential customers want, not what you think is good for them. Remember that ultimately your customers aren't looking to buy an online course; they are looking to buy the result that course will provide them. 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, ask people what their most significant pain points are and what they would like to see in an online course.

Once you have established the most significant pain points for your audience, start marketing your online course as the solution.

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.

The first step of promoting a specific result is by communicating it in your online course title.

Here are some good and bad examples of this. Let’s say that you are building an online course about photography.

Bad Examples

“Intro to Photography”

“All you need to know about Video Making.”

“The Best Photography Course”

Good Examples

“How to Land a New Photography Client in 2 Weeks”

“Learn How to Use a Canon EOS R5”

“Photography for beginners: Shoot Professional Pictures in 7 Days.”

As you can see from the “bad examples,” these titles may sound good, but they are too general and do not communicate any specific result.

A potential customer reading these titles will not be convinced that your online course is the best fit for them.

On the other hand, the “good examples” communicate a precise result to the audience; a potential customer will learn specific skills at the end of the course.

Do you have trouble finding the perfect name for your online course? Send us an email with:

• Description of what your course is about
• The result you want to communicate
• Drafts of titles you have thought about so far

We will help you come up with a better name for your online course!

#2. Address A Specific Niche

Niching down is another great way to secure the right audience for your online course. If you address a specific group of people in your program’s title, you are guaranteed to attract their attention.

This may also give you an advantage over your competitors using more general names.

For example, let's say that your online course is about fitness and working out.

Your main competitor sells a program called “Lose 5 lbs in Two Weeks Cardio Workout”.

As they are not addressing any specific niche, think about who your ideal customer is. A title like “Cardio Workout for Women in their 50s” would sound more convincing for people who are specifically women, 50+ years old, and want to lose weight.

The same concept applies to any topic and niche, so make sure to address your ideal customer in your course title.

If your course is for literally anyone, it works too! You could specify in your course description that everyone can take part in your program.

The goal is that your ideal customer should feel confident that your online course is a perfect match for them.

#3. Use Simple Words Everyone Understands

Can a toddler read your online course title and understand what it is about? If yes, you are on the good track!

A common mistake we see creators make is using their jargon in the online course title or complex wording and sentences to describe their course content.

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

If your title is hard to read, you risk losing the attention of potential customers.

#4. Include Power Words

Power words are words able to trigger a psychological or emotional response in the reader.

These words are used in marketing to quickly communicate a concept and instantly get potential customers emotionally involved with a product.

How does a word qualify to be considered a "power word"? If a word generates an emotional response that is action-driven while still being descriptive, then it can be used as a power word.

The most widely used power words in marketing trigger an emotional response of urgency, scarcity, excitement or desire.

Words like "Unique," "Secret," "Money-Making," "Proven," "Risk-Free," and more are examples of power words.

Here is a comprehensive list of power words you can use in your online course title.

Barb McGrath is a creator who uses Heights Platform to host her online courses about digital marketing and SEO.

Her online course title is: "Get Found by More Ready-to-Buy Customers."

Her use of the power word "Ready-to-buy" is aimed to trigger an emotional response in the reader while allowing her to target her ideal audience.

#5. Find Out What Your Audience is Searching For on Google

A great way to find the perfect name for your online course and increase your SEO reputation is to align the title to the most common search queries in your niche.

If your online course title is worded similarly to a common Google search query from your audience, you will increase your chances of ranking higher for that particular search and keywords.

So do some keyword research on the most popular queries in your niche and adapt your course title to reflect this.

If you are unsure how to do this, check out SEO tools like Ubersuggest for keyword ideas or read this article from our blog: All You Need to Know About SEO to Sell Online Courses.

Put yourself into your audience's shoes, try to understand their pain points and figure out what they are most likely to search for online. Go ahead and type a few queries on Google related to your online course and see what comes up. If the results you get are other online courses from competitors in the same niche, it means that the search query you used is valid, and there is a demand for your online course.

#6. Keep it Simple and Avoid Extra-Long Titles

Studies run on articles' headlines suggest that longer titles perform worse in terms of clicks and traffic. The optimal number of words for a headline highly depends on its audience, field and content.

However, titles that contain 7 to 12 words seem to receive greater attention.

The same principle can be applied to online course names. The key is to communicate effectively what your online course is about and its main benefits in a relatively short title.

You can always provide more details in a subtitle and course description.

Our Proven Formulas for a Great Title

As we explained above, in addition to communicating your online course content using clear and simple language, a title that converts should include these main elements:

• A Power Word
• The Result of Your Online Course and/or a Time Frame
• The Niche you are Addressing

Try using our pre-built formulas to generate the perfect name for your online course or membership site:

If you already conducted market research and know the main results of your online course, try to create a title with the templates used above.

If you are still unsure of your title, send us an email with:

• Description of what your course is about
• The result you want to communicate
• Drafts of titles you have thought about so far

We will help you come up with a better name for your online course!