As you prepare to launch your online course, you’ve identified your target audience and their pain points. However, you’ve now run into a roadblock. What should you name your online course? A course name is the first thing potential learners will see. It can either attract them to continue scrolling down the page to learn more and enroll or push them to click away. While we will put a lot of emphasis on a course name in this article, remember, it is just one of the elements you’ll need to launch a profitable online learning program. Picking a captivating name can be a daunting exercise, but we’re confident these three strategies will shorten your ideation time and help you make more sales.
First, your cohort-based course name should be specific. It should communicate the specific result or outcome that learners will obtain by joining your program. Pick a name that communicates the value and make it obvious what enrolled students will learn.
At a glance, your audience should know what the course is all about, which means don’t make it fancy. Instead of using jargon, use common terminology.
One way to name your cohort-based course is to use the ‘verb + noun’ format. Using a verb first demonstrates how the course will transform a learners’ life.
Examples of courses using the ‘verb + noun’ format include:
In Supercharge Your Productivity, a 4-week crash course, you’ll learn the cheat codes, tools, and mindsets to improve your productivity and live on your terms. Building a Second Brain teaches how to save your best ideas, organize your learning, and expand your creative output by creating a personal knowledge management system (a second brain). Both course titles are clear, and their course descriptions support what learners would expect.
As with most things, less is more. Ideally, your course name should be short and catchy. Shorter course names are easier to remember, and if you want to purchase a domain name (mycoursename.com) it’ll be easier to share and memorize.
Some experts recommend titles with less than ten words. And if you decide to use a colon (:) in your title, use everything after the colon to describe learner outcomes further.
Here are a few examples of short and practical course names.
Lastly, consider creating a course title with keywords that people are searching for online. When potential learners are searching, they will find your course in the search results by using keywords. Free resources that can help you figure out what people are typing into search engines include Answer the Public and Answer Socrates.
While naming your cohort-based course is an essential step to launching an online learning program, do not let perfection get in the way of making progress. Do your best at naming your cohort-based course, knowing that you can change it in the future. Give yourself a set amount of time to brainstorm course names and when time runs out, make a decision.
If you’re ready to build an online school, get started for free using Virtually, the course platform designed to manage cohort-based courses, boot camps, and other live group-based learning programs. We also offer robust analytics to help you track attendance, monitor the health of your course, and make informed decisions to improve your program.
Read Next: What Makes A Successful Cohort-based Course
Danielle Desir is an author, freelance writer and the host of The Thought Card, an affordable-travel and personal finance podcast. (danielledesir.com) Follow on Twitter: @thethoughtcard