marketing, idea, market-research, lean-startupI am currently teaching for a well-known online English teaching site.
I discovered a new interesting and effective method for teaching English while I was teaching at that ‘well-known’ site.
I then applied my method while teaching students at that site. Of course, I can only apply my new method after I finished the formal material of that website.
90% of the students loved my methods. Some even told me to reveal my method to other teachers so that other teachers can apply that new method as well.
I applied that new method for >500 classes (about 500 teaching hours, each class has about 4 students, so I taught my method to about 2000 students)
I then developed my own site that focuses on teaching that new method. One student out of 2000 students knew that site & paid me for teaching her.
I advertised on FB & got one student but she only learned for two weeks because she didn’t like my method.
I then advertised on Adword, one student contacted me. He said he liked my method but then he never called me back.
In Adword, I got one campaign & just 2 text-ads & the text-ads are very specific & Keywords are very relevant. For example, the text ads said “Method A- a unique & very effective way to learn English”. The click Through Rate in Adword is very high about 2%. That means for each 100 impressions, there were 2 visitors click on our ads.
The landing page is my homepage where I got a video telling about my new method.
Checked in Google Analytics, Bounce rate=100% & Duration=0.
Then I removed all old text-ads & added new text-ads. This time the landing page is the page that lead visitors to an exercise that reflects my method. Now, this time, in Analytics, Bounce rate=50 or 60% & Duration=10 secs or 20 secs.
But no one signed up or called me.
Note: I also have some organic traffic & its bounce rate is quite low about 30% & Duration is about 2 or 3 mins.
So, what’s wrong with my startup?
Do I have an advertising or a product problem?
Do you think that people don’t trust my method because it is so new. Or traffic from Adwords is very bad (maybe click fraud)
What should I do now?
What is wrong with my startup
Maybe you should not solely focus on online in order to get clients. Online seems easy but as a first base word of mouth is the most important.
Why don’t you first try to reach people in person to teach your method for leaning english in a class where you would introduce your website ? There are many ways to gather interest around your project, but I would recommend you to be creative in the way you attract clients. You go to universities, learning centers, companies and post an add about your learning method !
Once you have a client base, the website will help you get more customers, but the website and the adds solely are not a strong enough base to build a customer portfolio.
Try to think differently. If you were a student and wanted to improve your English, what would you do? Here are a few questions you might want to be answered:
1. Do I need a teacher or can I teach myself with books and online resources
and possibly go cheaper?
2. If I decided for a teacher, where would I look for?
3. How do I know the teacher is actually any good?
4. Can I afford a specific teacher?
As a student, you’ll likely not ask yourself: ‘What teaching methodology do I want to use?’. First of all, you likely have no clue what methodologies are out there and second, you want to learn English and not a new methodology. As long as it works, the student will be happy.
Does your website address the 4 questions and more? Do you have student feedback posted (with their permission)?
I wouldn’t even post a video explaining your new methodology or if, then not in the front page, but somewhere further in. Again, as a student I want to learn a language. If a teacher answers all of my above questions and more and convinces me that I truly need a teacher and he is the person to go to, I truly don’t care what methodology he uses as long as it works.
I agree with CantrianBear, People look for different alternates like lesser price,discounts or free. Let’s talk about the revenues later, First we need visitors( I mean serious visitors not passing by visitors).
Below are the best ways that I feel :
Create Youtube channel and upload few basic classes including the one explains your teaching model ( the one your are already using in your landing page)
Create Facebook Page with some catchy stuff, If they like your teaching methods and material you will get good number of subscribers and page likes.
These subscribers and FB page like count are nothing but they are looking forward to get some more good content from you. You can get feedback from them that is really important.
Then you can think about the pushing the product into right market and making revenue from it.
All The Best..
Analyzing the visitors of your website is not that easy. Especially if there are coming in low numbers.
What you need is some visualization tool - a webvisor. It will record visitor actions like scrolling and mouse movements and clicks. After that you will be able to see what they do on your website and figure out reasons for them leaving without signing up - maybe you have a horrendous website and they don’t like the design of it? Or maybe there is a single not very visible button for signing up and the visitors just don’t see it?
Hire a SEO specialist to do that all for you. Specifically, you may want to setup Yandex Analytics - https://metrica.yandex.com/ After adding a small code to your website like in Google Analytics you will be able to see user sessions in Webvisor.
Also, Google other english courses websites. Compare your website to others and see where you are better and where there are some elements that you can adapt and copy to your own website.
It's all about timing and the type of campaign you're running.
Sometimes, even the best campaign will not convert to sales. It might be because you are not targeting your market properly. Or it can be that you have not set realistic goals for your campaign.
You could try and set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-bound
Check to see if your campaign falls into any of the goals specified above. Also keep in mind that marketing takes time. Its not a one-time deal. But as long as you know that you have specific goals that are achievable in the span of time you allotted, then you're good.
Just don't stick with one campaign. It's good practice to change and try other options. Do that until you find one that is aligned with your goals.
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