Have an online course you’re launching soon, but don’t know where to start when it comes to actually selling it?
Welp, you’re gonna need a sales page.
And you’re gonna need that sales page to CONVERT, if you’re hoping to make real $$$ with your new program.
Using my lovely client Ansley, CPA for content creators + Founder of Peach Perfect Financials, and the sales page I wrote for her course, Blogger MBA School, as an example, I’m going to walk you through how to write a simple sales page for your course.
You ready?
Before we get into it, though, head over to the case study I wrote about Ansley’s website so you can be filled in on who her target audience is, and why she’s qualified to teach the subjects outlined in Blogger MBA school.
(It’ll make this post much easier to understand, so keep yourself in the loop by reading this post first!)
The first thing you’ll need to do with your sales page is pique your reader’s interest. What’s something you know is going to grab their attention?
Before you answer that… maybe it’ll be helpful to back up a bit.
All of those questions are important to know the answers to before writing your sales page, so you can determine exactly WHY someone would need your course, WHO is buying it, and WHAT the main selling points are.
Once you’re crystal clear on the type of student you’re attracting—and what’s going to attract THEM to consider buying it—you’re ready to write that attention-grabbing intro.
Because we (aka me and my client, Ansley) know the main concern for prospective students of the Blogger MBA School is having tons of unanswered questions about the taxes, finances, management, and structure of their business, we grabbed their attention by letting them know that this offering is for someone in their exact phase of life.
They’ve started making money from their blog, but they don’t know what to do next.
By opening with a question, inserting ourselves into their story, and cutting straight to the chase: we’re bringing up this Q we know you have, and you can expect that you’re ’bout to get the A in a couple scrolls.
Once you’ve grabbed their attention with a headline that makes them think “ooh, wait, okay, yeah… they’re DEF talking to me… I need to find out what comes next,” it’s time to really drive home the fact that you know *exactly* how they’re feeling in this moment—and that YOU (or your course, program, offering, whatever) are the perfect solution.
On the Blogger MBA School sales page, we did this by:
#1 – Proving that we understand their business isn’t “just some lil blog” and that we know they’re serious about making content creation their full-time thing (if they haven’t already), because we’re aware that they don’t often get treated with respect when it comes to finance professionals (most CPAs don’t understand how blogging works, let alone how it can be a whole ass business).
#2 – Kindly reminding them that *not* caring about the subjects being taught in this course would equate to leaving money on the table.
#3 – Calling out how they’re currently feeling & ensuring them that we have a solution to their problems, especially if they want to stop worrying about the health of their biz bank account, making their business more profitable, and streamlining their back-end tasks.
#4 – Reminding them that it IS possible to spend more time doing what they love, and less time freaking out about finances.
Now that you’ve established that you and the reader are on the same page about their frustrations, it’s time to tell them about your solution: this is where you *officially* introduce the course.
Tell them what it’s called, the type of course it is (self-paced, drip content, live, etc), and outline the main benefits for them.
It also helps to add some social proof, like a testimonial or student review, after you introduce it, to make the readers feel more comfortable about your credibility.
Once you’ve introduced the course details, you’ll want to share a module-by-module breakdown of what students will learn once they join.
There are lots of different ways you can do this, but I gravitate towards either summarizing the point of the module and sharing the highlights (like I did here for Blogger MBA School), or sharing the details of every single lesson (like I did on the sales page for my website copywriting + content marketing course, Site Series®).
Then, if you have any bonuses to share, list them right after you tell your readers what’s included in the course.
Next up, share the payment plan details for your course. Make sure to include how much it is, and how long the payments last (one-time payment vs. 2 months).
I didn’t do this on Ansley’s sales page, but I typically recommend adding what’s included with each payment plan option, in case they’re different. Sometimes course creators offer special bonuses to people who pay in full, etc.
(Check out the Site Series® sales page & scroll to the payment plan canvas to see what I mean!)
RECAP: by this point, you’ve made them feel comfortable with you, and like they know you understand what they’re going through.
You’ve told them about your solution to their frustrations, what’s included in that course, the additional bonuses they get when they sign up, and how much it costs.
Now, it’s time to make them feel like they’re the right fit for the course, introduce yourself in more detail, address their objections, and SOMETHING ELSE
People looove to see themselves in your copy—and, sometimes, they want it to be ridiculously literal. So, give the people what they want: list out exactly who your course or program is perfect for.
This will also help you weed out the people you don’t want to enroll, because if they don’t see themselves on the list, they’ll realize the course maybe isn’t right for them.
More often than not, the people who are viewing your sales page at least have some idea of who you are—especially if they’re coming from your email list or your social media, and you’re live-launching the course (aka it’s not an offering that is available for purchase all the time)—but you should still treat this section as if they don’t already know you.
However, this “mini about” isn’t a normal “About Me” – your goals are a bit different.
You want them to finish reading this section and feel like you are 100% qualified to teach the subject they’re about to pay to learn from you, so make sure you include details about what makes you an expert on the topic, or why you’re a great person to learn from.
Address your audience’s objections, reassure them with some social proof, answer their FAQs (and tell them how they can reach you to ask more, if they’ve got ’em), affirm their positive impressions about the course, remind them what’s included… you got this. 🥳
If we haven’t had the chance to *virtually* meet yet, hi! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:
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