Hi Guys,

I need a favour! I have begun a new marketing campaign to attract new recruits to my dojo. Could you have a look at my site and give me some feedback? www.aka.com.au

You may or may not know that I am now working full time in the music industry and am turning over the running of the dojo to my son. I will of course continue to teach classes but my work load will be reduced and I do plan to travel to other States and plan to rebuild the AKA back to a National Organisation.

My marketing approach is going to be simple, quality karate at a cheap price. I plan to enter into a partnership with instructors who may want to train in the AKA and teach classes. They keep the training fees and pay for the dojo costs, the AKA charges a membership fee to cover insurance and communication costs.

Any advice and or suggestions are very welcome. I have one last goal to achieve in karate and that is to create a national organisation that I would have liked to be a part of when I was a student. Just for interest sake my initial goals were to become a Black Belt, then to win a national title, then to be a 5th Dan, then to be the instructor I always wanted to have and now this final goal before turning it all over to my son when I eventually hang up the belt

cheers,
Boz McReflective

Hi Bob,

Looks good!
Informative, positive, eyecatching and definately builds your school up as a desirable place to train in. Nothing worse than a site that doesnt have the info you need and that one seems to have it all covered.

I'd probably get rid of the picture of that nasty looking man with the stick however.

Maybe remove the shoto journal link.... unless you're starting it up again

Hi Bob

At that price you must be paying Cheyne at Korean rates.

Hi Boz, like Mat said, its eye catching and does look good. I like the picture of the hall/dojo. If thats where the training is done, it looks a good building to train in. One redeeming quality about the site is the navigation, its easy to get around. Nothing worse than sites where you cant find whats supposidly there.

I`m impressed with the site Boz,
I have a question - In your BB course that you`re offering, would this be more intensive than the regular classes?
I`m not suggesting that this is a "fast-track Black Belt" programme, but was just wondering about the differences thats all.

I like the site, easy to navigate, no glaring colours, the links go to the right places, and no “Under Constructions”. It works just as well in Firefox and the pages load quick. I like that the front page as all the info an links and I don’t have to spend time searching. Well done.

So when will you be opening in Perth ??

$5 a class looks like a good strategy, Boz-dude, although it may be worth mentioning average fees in other classes? For the sake of comparison for those who don't currently train?
And maybe some more smiley faces on the site
Kidding. It looks good. I hope it works well. And... when are you coming to visit here?

Hi Matt,

Cheyne has plans for removing the nasty b@stard

Yeah, I do need to get rid of a couple of outdated stuff.. thanks.

Boz

Hey,

I'm the one that doesn't get paid anymore

Cheers,
Boz

Hi Tom,

Rather than running the same format everytime, I run the classes with a view to getting the students through to BB. Its a difference in planning.. and in fact mate I did run a 'fast track ;BB' course a decade ago and the results were stunning. It can be done with good results with the right ingredients.

Cheers,
Boz

Thanks,

I'm working on opening in every capital city

Cheers,
Boz

Hi Kath,

Good idea, I'll do that. One day soon

Cheers,
boz

I would have it so that people can click the pic of the dojo to get a better view of it (it is too small).

Also make sure you use all the same font down the left frame - it seems you are using both Arial and Times New Roman.

Other than that it looks really good.

So about halfway through the month... how is the offer going, Bozley? Did you get a lot of interest so far?!

Too soon to tell..

Cheers,
Boz

Hi Boz

Finally got round to looking at your site. Hope all's going well with your new programme. I've actually looked at a lot of club sites in my part of the UK recently, so yours is just the latest in a long line of club/association websites that I've glanced at. A lot of those I've looked at are obviously teaching complete dross. The one ciriticism I have of your site is that, at a first glance of the home page, I can't tell your not a McDojo!

Obviously I know you're not teaching dross, but I can't tell that from your home page. You make some good points, like $5 a lesson and no contracts, but I reckon that (without knowing anything about you beforehand) I'd just be thinking 'so what's their angle then?'. Looking at the home page, for all I know you could be really going for the 'pile it high and sell it cheap' approach.

I think you need something on the homepage to give a clearer indication of what it is you teach. More reference to the years of experience all the teachers have perhaps? Assurance that you'll only ever receive instruction from highly graded teachers? Something to indicate the difference between old and new style karate and that you can teach both to a high level - remember, I know what you're talking about but Joe Public hasn't got a clue.

Just some musings anyway. Hope they're of some use.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm trying to look like a McDojo They get all the students, don't they?

Bob

You little tinker!

I must admit, I'm taking a small leaf out of their book myself, ie. I'm doing some door to door leafleting. Not door-knocking you understand, just dropping leaflets through doors. Only been doing it a couple of weeks but the results are looking promising so far.

Mike

Hi Jane,

I fixed up the font but I need new picies as I've put new mats down and made a few changes. Cheyne plans to build a shop/office between the waiting room and the training area so it should look pretty cool. We will hold a working bee soon and do a little more painting of the building inside and out and then I'll take some pics.

Cheers,
Boz

Hi BG,

We are getting a lot more enquiries now.. more so since I published the cost structure yesterday. I still have a bit to do on the site and it will soon be revamped once the information is finished. New templates and that sort of thing.

Cheers,
Boz

Heh Boz... I've only just realised who you are! D'oh!