School Websites...

[chuck7413]

Even though I had nothing to do with it, here is my school's website:

http://www.goldentigerkarate.com/

[DWx]

i agree and have done most of what you have said already. i definately agree on the enter page, although yours is nice, i hate them. we have enough room on the hosts server for all of our pictures and videos. i just need to get an idea for a template. i like yours. where did you get it from? and what program do you use?

I don't have anything to do with our site but I'm guessing the template is one that the host has pre-designed because someone else I know that uses them has a near identical template.

[ironsifu]

you know, a few years ago, i hired a consultant, and he was not a martial artist, but he gave me very, very good advice i would like to share some:

1. website should be informative, but also sell your school. more than just a history of the art - look at me - site. but ask questions that the student has, and answer them. give them a tour of the school, not just pictures, but tell them what your school is really like. i was afraid to really explain my school, because it would throw off some students, but i also dont want to attract people who will not like my school either. but guess what, by doing this i get exactly the students i want, and they find exactly the school they are looking for.

2. you might want to have more than one site for each kind of student you are attracting. for your fighting class, they have a site. for the kids, they have a site. for the fitness students, they have a site. even one for price-shoppers! here are some (not all) of mine:

https://www.typhoonma.com my main site

https://www.angelfire.com/co2/gatdula old site, but for FMA people only

https://www.typhoonfitness.blogspot.com fitness people, it's a blog

https://www.yubacitykarateschool.com my 3rd location, which is mostly children school

https://www.filipinofightingsecrets.info my private lesson site

soon i will have https://www.sacgirlskarate.com a site just for my girl's class, which has it own location (2nd location). it is all-girls school.

3. ask for them to make a move; call me, email me, come check us out, etc. many sites do not do this very basic thing

4. have a "why study here instead of there" page. it is a very powerful thing. look at mine...

5. get another guy to write your site for you. my sister wrote one, my brother wrote one (my worst site is the one i wrote lol), but i pay smart people to write mine, i'm a teacher, not a salesman. the salesman knows what to say to bring you business. its expensive, but effective.

for my private lesson site, the guy i used, who is very intelligent (georgetown u. smart), copied from a guy named lloyd irvin, who tells you about his school, and the training, but not much about himself. chris (my consultant) says, why tell them about this degree and that degree? they dont care. hmmm. makes sense. most of that stuff is for our own ego, and it doesnt help business. what the guy does care about is, will i learn to defend myself, will i get in shape, what if i'm too old/fat/weak, why is your price so high, what about the other schools they have a good deal too... this kind of stuff. make sure your websites answers all of that!

can you post your page when your done?

[BDPulver]

http://www.isshin-ryu.com/

This is my sensei's site. One of our black belts is actually credit'd with doing the site up. Not sure of the program he actually used but he told me it was just basic HTML so that changes can be made daily or whenever.

[Wa-No-Michi]

you know, a few years ago, i hired a consultant, and he was not a martial artist, but he gave me very, very good advice i would like to share some:

1. website should be informative, but also sell your school. more than just a history of the art - look at me - site. but ask questions that the student has, and answer them. give them a tour of the school, not just pictures, but tell them what your school is really like. i was afraid to really explain my school, because it would throw off some students, but i also dont want to attract people who will not like my school either. but guess what, by doing this i get exactly the students i want, and they find exactly the school they are looking for.

2. you might want to have more than one site for each kind of student you are attracting. for your fighting class, they have a site. for the kids, they have a site. for the fitness students, they have a site. even one for price-shoppers! here are some (not all) of mine:

https://www.typhoonma.com my main site

https://www.angelfire.com/co2/gatdula old site, but for FMA people only

https://www.typhoonfitness.blogspot.com fitness people, it's a blog

https://www.yubacitykarateschool.com my 3rd location, which is mostly children school

https://www.filipinofightingsecrets.info my private lesson site

soon i will have https://www.sacgirlskarate.com a site just for my girl's class, which has it own location (2nd location). it is all-girls school.

For what its worth, all your sites are too "wordy" not enough pictures and images imo, but then I do come from the advertising /brand design industry, so I tend to pick up on this sort of thing.

[ironsifu]

Wa-No-Michi,

i know, we talked about that when we made the typhoonma.com one. but because i thought about what kind of student i wanted, we decided to go after the people who thought about the school they would join, instead of the ones who got excited about pictures and fancy buildings. none of my schools are "commercial" or real nice. the main school is located in a ghetto area, with people selling dope right down the street, and police in our area all the time. we dont really compete against the commercial dojos, even my all-girls classes is for tournament fighters. in my yuba city school, the youngest kid is 12, and classes are 90 minutes long. so we are advertising as the alternative to the commercial dojo, and our students are older, and usually did a lot of shopping before they walk in my doors.

soon we will add videos to the sites (not yubacitykarateschool website) which will be a little more attractive. but yeah our sites are aimed for the more serious students who do their homework.

i'm actually going to have the guy do another website which will be more like the other schools sites, for my yuba city school. they gave me a good deal, so its worth trying a new idea out. i'll post it when its done, but the address will be https://www.kingeagleyubacity.com

[bushido_man96]

This is the website for our HQ school: http://www.sunyistkd.com/