Music and Maths Portsmouth
My client, Music and Maths Portsmouth, did a good job on their own for their website. Especially since they had no experience in copywriting or web design.
First, I asked my clients what kind of people were making up their customer base. Who did they want to target? They said they were mainly teaching children who need exam help. But some of their students were adults looking to broaden their skills. As they wanted more of the same type of students, I had enough information to form a buyer persona.
As agency tutors advertise their services for very cheap prices, my copy would be wasted on bargain hunters. My clients could never compete with them unless they reduced their prices to unaffordable rates. Instead, my copy targeted people who were looking for quality, effective tutoring that is personalised to their needs. In other words, their buyer persona that I was targeting was the quality seeker.
The next thing I did was conduct some market research, to see what other tutors were operating in the area. In terms of other self-employed tutors, they had very little competition. Most of these people didn’t have a website advertising their services. Instead, they advertised on agency sites, where all the tutors blurred into one stereotype of a professional tutor. So the fact my clients had their own website afforded a lot of freedom to stand out.
Increasing the visibility of the website was essential to raising my clients’ digital profile and attracting more students.
My clients also had plenty of competitors that had professional, sleek websites with many fancy widgets. These competitors tended to be either national agencies or local educational institutions. They had far larger budgets for advertising and web design than my self-employed clients. So these competitors would always precede them in Google rankings in terms of visibility and price. Making them stand out from these large tutoring companies in a positive way was vital.
I did it by targeting the quality seeker.
Buyers searching for quality tutoring prioritise quality over cheap prices. I emphasised what it was about my clients that made them good tutors. Their academic knowledge that they mentioned in their ‘About’ page was a good starting point.
My copy links their academic knowledge directly to their tutoring skill. It was good they mentioned their qualifications, so I enhanced the value of their qualifications by emphasising why they matter.
Bearing in mind the corporate homogeneity of their competitors, I sought to create a sense of my clients as individuals. I spotlighted how they bring themselves and their passions into their tutoring.
I created a new ‘Home’ page and a reworked ‘About’ page. This gave me more room to expand on my client’s value. Adding more pages with internal links also encouraged user engagement.
Throughout, I took care to always write in a friendly, approachable tone. Their original website was excellent in emphasising their professionalism, but I was eager to highlight their personableness. This tone mirrors their tutoring style, giving potential students a ‘preview’ into who they are.
I added some internal links from the main pages to the ‘Contact’ page, in my call to action prompts. Now, prospective students can simply press a link and find several options for to get started with tutoring. I added a Google Maps widget and a contact form. This means that prospective students have even more options to choose from. Whether they prefer to use the phone, email or contact form, my client’s website now has them covered.
My clients reported to me that despite paying for advertising they were not getting many hits on their site. I then checked their SEO techniques. Their website builder, My Music Staff, provided ways to incorporate keywords and metadata into the website.
I took the opportunity to add tutoring-related keywords. The most effective included ‘maths exam help’ and ‘piano and recorder lessons’. I always included the local area in the search. I set up a blog, which additionally drives traffic. This raised my client significantly higher up the search engine rankings.
The first day after I published the new website, they got an influx of 50 visitors a day. This may be modest, but it really makes a difference to their small business.
The result? They are now getting a steady stream of visitors to their website and I have a very satisfied client. They’re “really impressed by the look of the website and the fact that it’s already attracting interest.”
They’re so impressed, they decided to keep me around. I’m working on their business blog and creating a new one about what makes music and maths fun (coming soon!).
Don’t take my word for it:
What This Means for You
To summarise what I did:
- I started by talking to my client about their business needs and the types of customers they get
- From this information, I created a buyer persona that fit the personal needs of their customers
- I then analysed their competitors, allowing me to spotlight where my clients stand out from the crowd
- I wrote friendly, approachable copy that mirrors their friendly approach to teaching
- I made it easier to navigate their website, enhancing user experience
- Using SEO techniques, my copy launched their website up the search rankings and they are now receiving more traffic
Every website benefits from eye-catching, clear and compelling copy and I can do that for yours.
Naomi the Wordsmith 