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Naming your online course can be as challenging as naming your blog. You want the perfect name, but at the same time, you don’t want to waste time on your name and neglect creating your course. And for anyone with or thinking of creating an online course, at some point you will need to come up with a name for your creation.
It’s an age-old dilemma.
Right from the get-go, my advice is to not waste time pinning down a perfect name before you even start creating your course.
There’s nothing wrong with having a working title.
The most important thing about creating an online course is to create the course itself.
There is no point in having a perfectly curated title for your course, but your course content is abysmal or even worse, just doesn’t exist.
As you plan and create your course, your ideas for your title and content might also change. And that’s fine. When I created my Bloggers Creating Courses course, I only had a working title which was more of a description of the course than anything else. It was just something to fill in the space in the course title space whilst I was creating my course.
How to choose your online course name
Once you’ve got your content decided on, it’s time to pick an online course name.
Choosing the right name for your online course is key.
It should be short and lend itself to having an easy-to-remember course name. It should also provide some insight as to what your students can expect from your online course.
In addition, think of how Google search results work when people search topics related to your online course. This can help with how people will find your course in the future.
The best way to come up with an online course name is by brainstorming words related to what you plan to teach your students.
Play around with these words until you get a name you’re happy with.
Some important factors to remember when naming your online course are:
- How easy the name will be for people to remember. You want something memorable and something that people can easily spell. This is not the time to come up with clever, alternative spellings or puns. Think about what people will search for.
- Think about the keywords which people are using to search for the content covered in your course. In his course, Stupid Simple SEO, Mike Pearson discusses finding out about your competitors’ keywords, how your competitors rank in Google and how you can too. (For a FREE masterclass taken straight from Stupid Simple SEO, click here).
- How short it is. Short course names are more memorable. The longer the course name, the harder it’ll be for people to remember it. Short and simple is key here.
Get the guide
Target your audience
In your course title or tagline, including your target audience helps everyone know who your course is for. For example, my course ‘Bloggers Creating Courses’ tells everyone who the course is for: bloggers.
Yes, other people might find the information useful, but ultimately, my target audience is bloggers who are either new to the concept of creating an online course or who want to improve how they teach online.
Takeaway
- Consider your audience. Your audience could really help you when it comes to naming your course.
- Having your target audience in the title can help your intended audience know that your course is for them.
Use your keywords
When you created your blog you decided on keywords that would describe your blog. You might have even used some of those keywords in
Takeaway
- Use your keywords. Draft the keywords that you associate with your blog. Which of these can be used in your online course title? Using one or two of your keywords that are associated with your blog can help with the SEO of your course.
Include a timestamp
Some course titles work really well having a timestamp in them.
For example; ‘30 days to…’ ‘Learn to do….in 6 weeks.’
The great thing about using timestamps is that it gives students a goal and focuses their attention on when they should be able to complete the tasks in your course and see results.
Think of it like this: would you be more enticed by a course called ‘Grow Your Instagram Following,’ or ‘1 Week to 1,000 Instagram Followers’?
Probably the second one.
Why? Because it’s promising you that within a week of following the course, you will see the results you want. This also appeals to our 21st-century buying style of wanting to see quick results.
Takeaway
- Include a time stamp. For example, can your student complete and implement your course in a week? Whilst not always necessary, giving a timestamp can help students understand how quickly they can complete or see results from taking your course.
Use power words
Power words resonate with your audience and make them feel something that pulls them into whatever you’re selling.
Using emotions is a great way to sell your course. And there’s no better place to start selling your course than with a title that sparks some sort of emotion and resonates with your potential students.
Like keywords, power words should be used sparingly to avoid overuse. But used correctly, adding just one power word to your online course title can be very effective.
Takeaway
Use power words. Power words help make your title interesting and memorable. Examples of power words that you could use include:
- Breathtaking
- Hack
- Latest
- Challenge
- Basic
- Cheat-sheet
- Impressive
- Easy
- Life-changing
- Extraordinary
Keep it simple
When you’re trying to sell an online course, clarity is your friend.
Don’t try and be clever or use puns that need explaining. If you want people to buy your course, nine times out of ten people will buy based on what is written on the tin. That is, they will base their buying decisions on what your online course is called.
Think about it. If you were going to buy a course about starting out with vegetable growing, which course are you most likely to buy?
- Vegetable Growing for Beginners: Setting You Up for Success
- Un-beet-able Growers Guide to Veg
Yes, the second one is funny, but it doesn’t tell you what you will learn. It doesn’t explain that the course is pitched for beginners. And if your potential student doesn’t know that beetroot is a vegetable, then the pun could be completely lost on them. That could lead to a lost sale.
This is why it’s so important to try out your course name on others. What do they think when you tell them the name of your online course? Do they agree but pull a face at your idea? Ask them what they expect to get from your course based on your title.
Depending on their feedback, you might want to reconsider the name of your online course.
Naming your online course checklist
- Does the course name align with your brand and keywords?
- Is the name easy to remember?
- Say the name out loud. Does it sound ok being said aloud?
- Type it into Google. Make sure you haven’t picked a name that is already being used. This could confuse your audience and affect your traffic.
- Talk to people about the name. Make sure there aren’t any connotations with the words in the name you’ve chosen which could be misconstrued by someone from a different place to you.
Conclusion
A good course name is vital for effectively selling your course.
It is the first thing that potential students will see about your course when they land on your page or see a graphic on social media. Therefore, you need to pick your title carefully. But, you also need to make sure that you don’t sacrifice amazing content because you spend so long creating a title.
And remember that there is nothing wrong with having a working title for your course whilst you create it.
Even if you’re pre-selling your course, there’s no shame in changing the title of your course as you plan and create. Use the name change to your advantage and contact the students you have pre-sold to tell them about the name change and why. It could serve as a great piece of marketing to up the hype about your upcoming course.
And if you really can’t think of a name? Ask your social media following.
Run question and answer sessions with your followers and get their opinions and thoughts on what you should name your course. This is fantastic (free) advertising for you and a great way to start spreading the message about your online course before it even hits the point of you selling!
However you decide to name your course, make sure that ultimately you are happy with it. After all, it is your course and your product and you need a name that you are proud of and you feel suitably reflects your course and your brand.
What do you think? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
