Does having an Internet website help your school?

[Sideburns]

I met a guy at a local dojo I was trying out and we started having a conversation about searching for a new school. He used the term "e-bigoted" to illustrate that he only visited schools that had an Internet website, therefore excluding ones that did not. I guess I was just as guilty of this as he was. My flawed logic was that if a school took the time to have a professional-looking website, perhaps the instruction might be good. Of course, that is not always the case.

I would be interested to know why some schools choose not to have a website. In this Internet age, I can only assume that by not having a website, the school is missing out on recruiting new customers (i.e. students). Is it because some school owners do not want to spend the time or money on a website and use the old tried-an-true method of making people actually come to the school? Or do some school owners fear public scrutiny through the Internet?

[Kodiak]

I never actually bothered to look anywhere but the internet when I was searching for a school.

[Sideburns]

Well when I first started out in the MAs, the Internet did not exist and the only way to find a school was through the yellow pages . However, things have changed, and I only use the Internet to search for schools. However, I have found several schools that show up in Google searches, but have no website. These could be great schools, but no body will know this because they don't advertise.

[Kodiak]

A lot of small businesses haven't caught the memo that you need a site with your address, phone number and a couple photos at a bare minimum these days, its not limited to the martial arts places.

[Wastelander]

If it can't be found with Google then it might as well not exist. If you're teaching martial arts for the fun of it and don't care about making money then that's great, but in this day and age you'll still be lucky to have any students to teach if they can't find you on the internet first, at least through a forum (the new "word-of-mouth"). I've been to a few places that don't have a website, but only because I've been invited or someone told me to go there because otherwise I had no idea they existed.

[Dobbersky]

Although my school has a website, it did for many years not have one

I actually find that some of the best schools DON'T have Websites and can only be found by word of mouth or from checking with your local sports centre, Church or community hall.

It seems that Most of the Websited Schools are infact Aparty to being McDojo's or Belt Factories or Black Belt Academies etc. as these are the ones with high numbers of students who can afford the fees to set up a really good website

[Spodo Komodo]

I went to a Karate club miles away (but with a good website) for many years before finding out that there was a supposedly good club within spitting distance of my home but which had no website and only advertised in a free newspaper which is not delivered where I live. I think not having any website whatsoever is a bit of a handicap these days, even if you only have a Facebook page or something.

[DWx]

It doesn't have to be a full website but nowadays its worth the investment to at least have a webpage up with some contact details. Doesn't cost that much and it makes you easier to find. When most people are looking for something they'll Google it.

Speaking from my own experience, I moved up north to go to uni and really wanted to find a school within the same style so I could keep up my training. Googled it, looked in yellow pages, in directories of TKD schools, community centres, leisure centres, asked around.. couldn't find anything. Then, coming to the end of my degree and I just happened to come across the smallest article in the local paper mentioning some kid who'd done something or other and trained in a TKD school about a 10min walk from my house.. If only they'd had a website, then I could have trained there..

[Patrick]

Long post alert, long post alert. I had a few thoughts and then it grew longer. Here is that stream of consciousness:

This really isn't anything new. Sideburns, you mention the Yellow Pages. Let's think of it in that context, since the Yellow Pages have been around for a while. Are all martial art schools in the phone book? No, they aren't. Why weren't or aren't they? Well, they have their reasons. Everyone has different goals.

Some people don't want others to discover their school - or, perhaps, they only want people to find out about it through referral. That's totally cool. Everyone is different. It's important to remember that. It's good to have diversity.

The tried and true method of having people actually come to your school, as you put it Sideburns, hasn't changed at all. What has always been true is that to come to your school in person, they actually need to know it exists. And that's where the Yellow Pages, the internet, good signage, good location, an advertisement, word of mouth, etc. all come in.

If you want people to discover your school, consider attending it, learn more about what you teach, etc., then you want to put yourself in a position to be discovered by them. To do that, you need to be where they look.

Different people look in different places. And, for many people, that's the internet - and Google is probably the largest part of that. For what some martial arts schools spend on marketing and promotional materials that aren't internet related, generally speaking, I think they would be better suited to spending a couple of thousand dollars to get themselves a nice website, with it's own domain name, that they can keep up to date. Not Facebook, not some free website creator, not some website that you put together over the weekend.

Where the Yellow Pages limited you by space, online, you have as much space as you need to tell your story. That's very powerful. But, a lot of people think they know better and cut corners where they gladly spend money on things they could cut.

As Sideburns mentioned, a nice website isn't indicative of the quality of a school. But, given the choice between a nice website and one that looks a bit more amateurish, why choose the second one?

I suspect it is unfair to try to take anything negative from having a website or not having one. I disagree with the thought that if you have a website, you are more likely to be a McDojo. On one hand, you expect McDojos to have a website because they are supposedly great marketers.

But, on the other hand, I bet that there are plenty of McDojos that operate on the idea of secrecy and mysticism to lure people in and part of that secrecy is not needing a website. In a way, it's also good marketing. "You won't find us online, we don't want many people finding out about us. We're a very exclusive art." On a local level, especially, someone might be able to make quite a bit of money running that sort of game.

Let's throw some numbers behind this, as well. Check out the Google AdWords Keyword Tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. What this tool shows us is how many times people search for a given phrase on Google in an average month. Type in your city and then the word karate. Replace karate with martial arts. How many global monthly searches are there?

In Danielle's case, she went to the University of York. There are 2,900 searches for York taekwondo each month on Google. That's not all looking for York in the UK, of course. But, the number one listing is for a school in the UK.

Even if Google says that there are zero searches or inclusive data for the term that you enter into the keyword tool, it doesn't mean no one searches for it. Also, look below and see the "keyword ideas" section for related terms and how often people search for them.

Think of search engines in two ways: discovery and research.

When a martial artist is moving to a new city, as Danielle was, one of the things that many of them do is start running Google searches looking for the martial arts options in that city. Even if it is a small town, they are just as likely to do this. If you are on that first page (especially in the top 3-5), you have a reasonable chance of them considering your school.

Let's say you are in a big city where there are a lot of schools and you may have no chance of ranking well for that city. That's where the research kicks in. Let's say they hear of your school. Obviously, they don't know you or how good you may be. So, they start researching and they enter your school name into Google. You don't have a website, so what they see is either nothing or other mentions online.

It's better to have a website where they can find out more about you. Plus, with your own domain with the name of your school in it, you have an extremely good chance of ranking number one when they search for your school on Google.

They may want more critical sources or someone else's perspective (as we often have people ask here at KF, "what do you think of this school?"), but if you don't have a website, you don't have a voice in this particular matter.

I am sure some do fear the internet. But, the reality is that people will always talk about your school and always have. Now, it is just easier to find and easier for you to address. If we accept that people will talk, it's generally better to have a voice than not have one.

Just some thoughts. Hope they are valuable to people who run a school.

[Montana]

When I started the arts, computers were the size of a HOUSE!

Internet? What's that??? lol

Now, yes, I'd say a website is a good idea if you're looking to bring in students and especially if you're planning on making a profit from teaching. I tried the commercial route for 3 years back in the late 80's, but preferred smaller classes and less headache of trying to make a living at it. As more of a "hobby" I found I enjoyed it more.

I have no website and truthfully, never will. Word of mouth works best in my situation and I get a better class of students that way.