Can you use SEO to sell Online Courses?

Are you a course creator trying to figure out how to sell more of your courses? If so, you're in a great spot today! Yes, you can use SEO to help you sell more online courses. I do, and I'm happy to walk you through how you can do it, too. SEO or search engine optimization is simply a few steps you do on your content to help Google understand it better. When Google understands your content better they're more likely to show it to people who are interested and searching for information. SEO is the connection point between your content and the audience you're creating it for. It really is that simple. 

Many course creators seem to focus only on using Facebook or Instagram ads, but there is a huge missed opportunity for using SEO to sell your online course. You should be optimizing your website for the search engines and making it easier for Google to understand what your website is about so they can send you more potential customers. You want to have a multi-channel marketing approach for your online course business. What the heck does that mean? It means you want to focus on more than one marketing channel so that if something happens to the one, you’re not sunk. You should be generating leads from multiple channels each month to protect your business. It would be great to see leads from people coming directly to your website, SEO, ads, social media, and email list. You want lots of leads to grow your business. On average, only 3-5% of your leads will turn into students, so you need to have lots of leads coming in to grow your business. It's a numbers game when selling anything online. 

How do you use SEO to sell online courses?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a process we use to help Google better understand what our website is about to send more potential customers to us. If you can sell your online course on your website, you can (and should) use SEO as part of your marketing strategy.

You will need to create content for your online course on your website, and you’ll need to optimize that content for Google so that it gets shown to more people. Without optimizing your content, you won't get found on Google or sell more courses. 

How to use SEO to sell online courses

There are several steps to selling your online courses via SEO.

1. Create content that answers your Ideal Customer’s most important questions and provides value for them. Make yourself a resource for them and optimize those content pages or blog posts for the terms they’re searching for the most.
2. Add new content to your blog each week, and be sure to use SEO to find the right keywords for your blog posts and optimize them for Google so they get visibility and traffic. 
3. Add an opt-in to your landing pages and blog posts. Ensure you offer your potential customers something of value that helps them with the next step in their journey. Adding the opt-in helps you grow your email list. 
4. Create an evergreen landing page for your online course. An evergreen page is one you leave up all year, whether your course is open for enrollment. You can include a call-to-action to join the waiting list if your course isn’t always open for registration.  

 How SEO helps you grow your online course business

The more content you create and optimize content related to your business, the more opportunities you have for new customers to find you via Google. When you use an SEO content strategy to develop your blog content, you can address the questions your potential customers ask the most and, hopefully, have your blog posts rank high in the search results, sending people to your website. 

Think of every blog post you create as an opportunity for a new customer to find you because that’s what it is. 

Using SEO to sell your online courses is easy

1. Brainstorm topics or go through your frequently asked questions
2. Research the keywords you want to use
3. Write your content
4. Optimize your content
5. See the traffic start coming in 

If you’re ready to learn more about SEO, get your copy of my free Beginner's SEO Guide and find out what to do on your website or blog so that you’re optimized for Google. Take my free SEO 101 Class today and join me in Simple SEO Content, and I'll walk you through how to create an SEO content strategy to grow your online course business, too.