Laura Kerridge
Laura Kerridge is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace connecting authors with the world’s best publishing professionals. In her free time, Laura enjoys reading poetry, writing way-too-personal personal essays, and watching bad horror movies.
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Whether your course is a free lead magnet designed to introduce users to your brand or your main product, a landing page is an essential part of your marketing toolkit. Savvy educators rely on it to encourage visitors to actually sign up for their course. So if you, too, want to build a conversion-pushing landing page for your course (and of course you do), read on. We’ll get into some examples in a moment (or you can jump directly there if you’re curious), but first, let’s hit the basics.
What is a course landing page?
A course landing page is a conversion-focused page that serves a single purpose: to get users to buy into your course. This is a page designed to convert visitors into signups, and will typically include all the key information about your course, plus a clear call to action encouraging them to sign up.
Why do you need a landing page for your course?
Setting up a one-stop-shop landing page for your course is the most efficient way to convert visitors, by providing them with everything they need to know to get them interested in your course. Rather than visitors having to visit multiple pages to get all the facts about your course, a landing page contains the essential info like pricing, content, marketing copy, and social proof. By putting it all in one place you’re better able to inform visitors and encourage them to take the plunge.
Think about your course landing page like a focused sales pitch: If it works, customers will go from wondering about your course to making the purchase.
What makes a course landing page effective?
Simply put, an effective landing page is one that gets users to take the action you want them to take, whether that’s signing up, buying a subscription, or sharing their contact info. A strong course landing page will typically include features such as:
- All the key information about the course (name, price, duration, content outline, etc.)
- A strong headline and results-oriented copy (“You will learn…”)
- Accompanying media, such as photos and animations
- User testimonials and social proof
- An author bio showing off credentials
- A single powerful CTA (or multiple CTAs all pointing towards the same destination), encouraging users to sign up
- Clean, beautiful design that aligns with your brand image
Want to see all these elements in action? Let’s take a look at 14 great course landing page examples for a dose of inspiration.
14 course landing page examples to inspire you
1. Alec Soth Magnum Course
Alec Soth’s course landing page is—unsurprisingly, considering it’s a photography course—beautiful. But aesthetics alone aren’t enough, since the Magnum team is asking users to invest their hard-earned money in the course. So what helps move the needle?
Takeaway: Feature a strong instructor bio
The main pull of this course is the instructor’s wealth of experience, and the landing page does an excellent job laying this out for users. Hearing about Alec and his credentials (and his twenty-five books!) assures us that our photography education is in safe hands. If you have a strong instructor, don’t forget to highlight their bio as well, so users know that they can be trusted to lead students through the course with ease.
2. Ahrefs’ SEO Training Course
Ahrefs’ SEO training course isn’t necessarily trying to capture bottom-of-funnel leads for their services; instead, it’s aimed at top-of-funnel leads who may not already be aware of Ahrefs and what they do. This complete beginner’s guide to the principles of SEO helps bring their brand to the attention of people who may, one day, be ready to invest.
Takeaway: If it’s free, advertise it
If there’s one thing that people love, it’s free stuff. For visitors on the fence, headlining that $0 price tag on your landing page might be the thing that converts them. If you’re also offering a course for free, take a cue from Ahrefs and give them the final nudge they need to sign up with a shiny “free” tag.
3. brunchwork’s Online Business Course
Image courtesy of brunchwork
brunchwork’s flagship offering, their intensive business education course, is a sizeable investment at four figures—so their landing page has to do some heavy lifting. Luckily, they know what they’re doing! The page creates an attractive, value-packed package by clearly highlighting the course structure, expected outcomes, famous speakers, social proof, and more.
Takeaway: Use simple and clear copy
When in doubt: Keep It Simple, Silly. brunchwork adheres to the rule of KISS with clean and unfussy copy, distilling the key info for the course into just three sentences. When writing for your own landing page, follow a similar approach by keeping your copy short and to the point.
4. Code Academy’s Learn Javascript
Image courtesy of Code Academy
For a topic as technical as coding, Code Academy does a great job of building a landing page that’s both easy to understand and visually appealing. Not only do they display a neat example of social proof in the number of students that have enrolled in this particular course (over 2.6 million as of when this post was published), but they also deliver their copy in layman’s language that makes it crystal clear what potential students will be getting into.
Takeaway: Include a course outline
You’ll notice that every good course landing page has a course outline (aka syllabus). Code Academy is no different, breaking down its outline into lessons, projects, articles, and even the topic of the quizzes in each module. No surprises here—they make it very clear exactly what users are signing up for. The reason is simple: Visitors want to know what they’re getting when they invest either time or money into your course.
5. Building a Second Brain
Image courtesy of Building a Second Brain Foundation
The Building a Second Brain course landing page takes you on a journey: It presents the problem (dwindling attention spans and being overwhelmed in the digital age), it offers you a solution (their productivity-focused course), and it provides social proof (glowing testimonials). But where this landing page really shines is in its frictionless payment process.
Takeaway: Simplify the payment process
Rather than lead users through a series of pages to reach payment, Building a Second Brain makes the process effortless: Payment is possible directly from the landing page, either through a form or by the click of a button via Link or Google Pay. One of the keys to a good landing page is to make conversion as easy and frictionless as possible. A pain-free process will help get users across the finish line, and get them onto your course.
6. How to Write a Novel
The How to Write a Novel course hits a lot of the points on our great landing page list. It offers a clear overview of what to expect, gives all the facts that prospective students need to know, and cleans up any queries with a comprehensive FAQ. Bonus points for the call to action button literally glowing.
Takeaway: Video can set your landing page apart
The copy on your page is incredibly important, but you should also consider adding multimedia elements to really elevate your landing page. The How to Write a Novel page features multiple videos, introducing the course host Tom and summarizing the course prospectus. It’s a simple, interactive way of giving users a sample of what to expect.
7. Double Your Freelancing
Image courtesy of Double Your Freelancing
Double Your Freelancing’s free email course is a taster of the business’ wider offerings, including their paid freelancing courses. The landing page is a no-nonsense intro to the course’s key themes and the outlets that have featured it, and encourages users to just get started to find out more.
Takeaway: Use simple and clear design
The rule of KISS doesn’t just apply to copy! It’s important to keep your design simple, too. An uncluttered and clean design minimizes distraction so visitors are focused on your offerings, rather than being distracted by overly snazzy graphics. The Double Your Freelancing landing page is a good example of a straightforward design that doesn’t overwhelm the copy.
8. TikTok Academy
Image courtesy of TikTok Academy
TikTok’s creator course, TikTok Academy, is designed to educate users on how to create engaging content (and, of course, keep them using the platform). TikTok uses the landing page to cleverly segment users so they know how far along they are in their creator journey—and how to market to them best.
Takeaway: Embed your product into the page
Your landing page isn’t just an opportunity to advertise your course—it’s also an opportunity to show off everything else that you do. TikTok does an excellent job of this, peppering snippets of their platform throughout the landing page to illustrate.
9. Content OS
Image courtesy of ContentOS
The landing page for ContentOS, a social media marketing course, leads with one specific proposition: It’ll provide you with a system for creating a subscriber-worthy newsletter and 6-12 pieces of content a week. By laying out exactly what a user can expect, visitors instantly understand if this product is for them. And if they need a little more convincing…
Takeaway: Don’t forget the customer testimonials
ContentOS lets its reputation do the talking, using the course landing page to highlight an incredible 7,000+ user reviews. Using a similar combination of video and text reviews can also make your landing page stand out.
10. 10X Emails
Image courtesy of Copyhackers
Just like ContentOS, this 10x Emails landing page from Copyhackers capitalizes on its glowing user testimonials, highlighting both their experiences of taking the course and hard results. Especially when advertising a paid course, social proof in the form of reviews and testimonials is invaluable in gaining user trust and making them feel confident hitting “buy.”
Takeaway: Provide pricing details
But it’s not just testimonials that will sway potential users. Another pressure point for users is the price of the course, and that’s information that they’ll expect your landing page to answer. The landing page for the 10x Email course goes one step further by showcasing its flexible payment plans. Subscribers can either pay a lump sum, or split their payments over twelve months—an extremely important piece of information for deliberating customers.
11. Instagram Growth
Foundr’s Instagram growth course is another video-led landing page, which also makes strong use of user testimonials. Rather than waiting until the end of their course description to show off their happy customers, Foundr places them front and center on the landing page.
Takeaway: Hard numbers can boost your case
Social proof and general happy testimonials are helpful, but sometimes what you need are cold, hard facts to inspire confidence in your customers. Foundr makes use of some impressive stats to show just how successful their success stories are. If you have statistics to back up how your course can help users grow, don’t hesitate to display them on your landing page.
12. The Graphic Design School
Image courtesy of Graphic Design School
The GDS’ Design for Social Media Course is, unsurprisingly, housed on a slick-looking landing page. Bonus points for their “cool tools” bar at the side of the page! It also hits all our key requirements with sections for frequently asked questions, user testimonials, and the course outline.
Takeaway: Make the course description results-focused
Although you’d expect a graphic design course’s landing page to be visuals first, what’s most impressive here is actually the written copy. Their copy, which focuses on the results a student can expect, is particularly effective. Bonus points for the assertive and aspirational use of the future tense: “You will audit a client’s social media accounts.”
13. HobSpace’s Online Chess Classes
Image courtesy of HobSpace
Not all courses are self-led. A course landing page is still important for traditional, class-based courses, like the ones HobSpace offers. The landing page for HobSpace’s online chess classes encourages parents to sign up for a free demo session, to get a taste for the course before committing further.
Takeaway: Answer questions with a comprehensive FAQ section
If your potential customer has a burning question they can’t find the answer to, they’re naturally going to be hesitant about signing up. Adding a comprehensive FAQ section like HobSpace does helps customers decide whether the course is a good fit before making a commitment. If users can screen themselves and the course for suitability before signing up, it might prevent the need for refunds down the line.
14. ToKini Andy’s Japanese Online Course
Image courtesy of ToKini Andy
Colorful, eye-catching, and fun, ToKini Andy’s online Japanese course might stray away from our previous best practice of the KISS principle when it comes to design. But there’s a good reason for that—it’s his brand, and the design captures the bold energy of the course’s offerings, while providing all the key information required. It shows what you’ll get, how much you can expect to pay, and a sneak peek into the course interface for curious users.
Takeaway: Embed your brand into the landing page
Probably the most playful of all our landing pages, this isn’t as aesthetically stripped back as some of our other examples, but it gets across a clear sense of the course’s brand and tone. It’s an approachable and gamified course, and the landing page shows that.
How to create a landing page to sell your course
Okay, now that you’ve seen some steal-worthy examples of kick-butt course landing pages, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of building one of your own. (We also have a post that does a deep dive into everything you need to know about how to craft an awesome landing page.)
What’s your course’s superpower?
Kick things off by pinpointing what sets your course apart, the unique selling proposition (USP). Is it your expertise, dripping with more insights gained over years of experience? Or perhaps it’s the interactive, bite-sized lessons that students can devour at their own pace? Whatever your unique flavor, it should shine throughout your landing page and inspire prospective students to want to pick up what you’re puttin’ down.
Choose your tools
Picking the right tool for the job can streamline the process of building a landing page and save you a lot of headaches along the way. Unbounce offers two powerful, easy-to-use tools that are known (and loved) by thousands of page builders:
- Smart Builder is an AI-driven landing page builder that offers insights and suggestions backed by reams of conversion data. It features an intuitive interface that enables you to efficiently craft numerous pages, even if you don’t have a lick of design or copywriting experience.
- Classic Builder is a drag-and-drop landing page builder that’s complete with a suite of sophisticated customization and coding features. Ideal for those with a knack for page design, it provides the flexibility to meticulously adjust and perfect every element of your landing pages.
Use captivating visuals
People are visual creatures, so the overall design of the page is crucial in creating the right impression—even before visitors read any copy. Work with a designer to make the page appealing, or choose from a wide selection of templates to get the perfect look.
Include images or videos that satisfy visitors’ natural desire to see what your course looks like. It could be a clip from a lecture, a glimpse of interactive sessions, or even testimonials from past students who loved the course—make it a visual feast that’s too enticing to resist.
Create copy that entices
Write copy that’s as engaging as a good story. Your headline should be the hook—think “Transform your career in 30 days” instead of “Online marketing course.” Each word should lead your visitors down a path, with your course as the pot of gold at the end. And don’t forget a dash of personality—this isn’t a textbook, it’s a conversation.
Include an irresistible call to action
Your call-to-action (CTA) is the nudge that transforms casual browsers into enrolled students. Make it bold, make it big, and make it irresistible—think “Start your journey today” over “Click here”. It’s the doorway to their learning adventure.
Add a dash of social proof
Just like diners trust a restaurant their friends have been raving about, potential students trust a course with positive reviews. Pepper your landing page with testimonials, endorsements, and success stories. It’s about building trust and showcasing the value of your course.
