From Unfinished Site to New Students Each Month

Yama-Kan School was a really fun project for me. They came to me looking for a site overhaul and help bringing in more students, but they didn’t have a large budget. I was able to deliver a professional website that has brought in new customers each month for over 2 years now! Here’s how I did it:

When I met the owners of Yama-Kan, they still had a site with latin filler text on it! A student had promised to help, but never completed the project. The site was getting no leads at all in August of 2019. Now they get 200+ organic search hits a month and are page 1 for their top keywords.

With an average lifetime revenue of $750 per each new customer, they started making a profit from their investment within just a few months. Our one-time intervention will keep bringing in new customers year after year. 

1. Building a Working Site

The first goal of this project was to come up with a new site that would be the foundation of all future marketing efforts. I built a simple, but effective site on WordPress. One of the most important parts of a new site is to make sure it’s ultra-fast and mobile friendly. Google rewards sites that users can access easily on their phone. 

I built a site designed to convert visitors into leads. Visitors now browse through instructors and class videos before they decide to book a free trial session. 

2. Developing an SEO strategy

I met with the owner to discuss his most profitable classes. We focused on highlighting the self defense class. We also realized that the studio was on the outskirts of Austin, so we targeted surrounding smaller cities that had fewer martial arts options. 

3. Off Site SEO and Reviews

The owner had great students who were happy, but only had a handful of online reviews. I coached him on why reviews are so important. He started his own campaign to get 2-3 great reviews each month. 

At the same time, I improved the presence off the site. I updated their Yelp listing and Google Business listings specifically adding the term “Mixed Martial Arts” which was not used before. 

Results

Yama-Kan is now getting an average of 10 new leads each month from their site and 200+ new visitors as well. The owner is happy with the new business and early success. Even with a one-time intervention, their studio continues to see the fruits of our labor.