
Websites
#1
Posted 08 November 2019 - 10:50
Please can I ask how useful you find it to have your website and whether it generates most of your new enquiries.
Also is it best to have a domain name which includes your own name or have you come up with a business name for your website.
Any advice on websites much appreciated!!!
#2
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:06
When I first set up my (wordpress) website, it didn't seem to generate a great deal of business, most new enquiries coming via word of mouth. Lately, however, it has much more traffic, and almost all of my recent enquiries have come through my email account. I always ask new students how they found me, and - almost invariably these days - they say they did a google search, which would have led them either to my website or to my listing on MusicTeachers.co.uk (probably the former, as MusicTeachers has never brought in more than a very few enquiries). I don't have a listing with anyone else.
I came up with a business name for my website (see below) which doesn't include my own name.
#3
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:13
I find having a website works well with business cards. If you have a local music shop you can leave cards which point people to your website, and you can give them out when you are too pressed for time to really chat to someone.
#4
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:36
My domain name includes my name but I also pay for a few other domain names that redirect. They include the names of the closest towns.
#5
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:39
I find it very useful. I think even if people contact you via a different route, they've often seen the website.
Re-name, I combined my location and instrument taught - I think that makes it come higher up on google searches (eventually anyway). If you already have a well-known practice or use other types of advertising, your name or a different business name might be better.
I think pictures of students (given written permission) and of yourself, if you feel comfortable with that, give potential pupils confidence so are useful to include.
#6
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:43
Using a few directed domain names sounds like a good idea non ma troppo
#7
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:44
Lately, all my enquiries have come via my website or by word of mouth. The website enquiries come in by email, as I don't include my phone number, but they always come into my 'spam' folder, so I check it every day.
#8
Posted 08 November 2019 - 11:59
Most of my new business comes via my website these days. I use a separate email address to keep the spam out of my personal email account. My website name combines the area we live in with the instrument.
When enquiries come to me via another source (e.g. word of mouth), I always direct people to my website as it answers a lot of the questions they have without me having to tell them or type out the info in an email.
#9
Posted 09 November 2019 - 14:24
Linking your website up to Google Ads is a very good idea (don't ask - friend did this for me!) and every time I have the ads running I see a significant increase in enquiries.
Unfortunately though, for a one-man business it can turn out to be quite costly although you can set your daily spending limit. I don't have the ads running all the time; only when things are a little quiet with enquiries do I activate it again as you can 'pause' them which is handy. Also, towards the end of the summer holidays is a good time to have them running.
It just means that when someone searches for (for example) "Flute lessons Blackpool", you will come up as a 'sponsored' ad at the top of the page before any others in that area (providing they don't also use Google Ads) and hopefully you will catch the eye first of the person searching.
Have lots of links on your website to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts too. I have a link to my website (and all the other social media) in the signature part of my email so that people can click on it.
#10
Posted 09 November 2019 - 16:56
#11
Posted 09 November 2019 - 17:45
Hammer action, this is a useful insight, thank you for posting. Would you please clarify how the ads work for you? So many people these days seem to use social media very successfully for business purposes and are paid to advertise, so I thought, maybe I’ve got that wrong. And what sort of ads do you mean?
The Google Ad is a listing with the name of your website (as a clickable link) and a short paragraph underneath describing what you do. Google Ads can be identified as they have a little "AD" in a box to the left of them, so this means it's a paid advert. If you do a Google search for "24 hour plumber London" right now you'll see a few examples at the top of the page. They work for me as I have a noticeable increase in enquiries when I run my advert, although not all of them turn into new students. I sometimes use Facebook ads too and they can often generate some enquiries, but not as many as Google Ads. The thing with Facebook is the 'likes' you get on your post which then can show up on other people's homepage and that really helps get word around about you, plus some people share your post which is helpful too. With Facebook too, you have to keep an eye on your spending. Facebook ads now also link automatically to my Instagram teaching page which hasn't proved fruitful at all so far as although I get 'likes' on the advert, those likes can be from people abroad or miles away. Hope this helps.
#12
Posted 09 November 2019 - 18:50
#13
Posted 09 November 2019 - 21:18
I have had a large number of enquires through my website. Get your website tags right and you’ll appear in Google search results without issue.
My domain name is my business name.
#14
Posted 10 November 2019 - 14:42
#15
Posted 17 November 2019 - 19:56
An alternative you may want to consider is YouTube. If you wanted to target children specifically, you could record free piano lessons for how to play hit pop songs, etc. Then offer your private tutoring at the end of each video. You can get some decent organic traffic from piggybacking on searches for pop songs. You can also boost your results with paid YouTube ads
https://onplanners.c...chedule-do-list
Also You can do quality good instagram videos, use hashtags "Pianoguys,landsey striling, Piano, Piano teaching" etc