5 Tips for Merchandising Your Skillshare Class

A few small updates to how you merchandise your class can make a big impact on how many students discover it.

Class merchandising is a small but important step in creating a successful class. A few details on how you package up your class can go a long way in ensuring Skillshare students discover it on the platform and feel excited to watch your class. Get your class discovered by following these five simple tips on merchandising:

1. Add a Clear and Creative Title

Your title is the first thing students see when they discover your class on the trending page. With a quick glance, they should be able to understand what it is you’re teaching and feel excited to click onto your class. Keep your title clear, concise, and very specific to your class topic and project, but don’t be afraid to add a little flair! Here are some examples of how to take a class title from good to great:

How to Make a Perfect Grilled Cheese → The Perfect Grilled Cheese: A Mini Class to Master the Sandwich

Introduction to GIF Animation → The Beginner’s Guide to Animating Custom GIFs

Basics of Design-Thinking → Unlock Your Creativity: Learn to Think Like a Designer

Pro tip: Don’t forget to capitalize your title so it looks polished and professional. Enter your title at TitleCap, and let their grammar guides tell you which words should be capitalized (set to “Chicago Manual of Style”).

2. Use an Eye-Catching Cover Image

Make your class stand out in our listings with a clear and captivating cover image. Paired with your class title, your cover image should paint a picture of what you’re teaching. Here are some of the types of cover images that we love:

Action Shot: 

Title Card: 

Head Shot:

Pro tip: Avoid including a lot of icons or too much text. If you’re stuck on what image to use, the best rule of thumb is to keep it simple!  

3. Fill out Your Skillshare Profile

Who are you, and why are you qualified to teach this class? Your teacher bio is your chance to build credibility for yourself and give students the opportunity to get to know you. Keep it brief (no longer than 6-7 sentences), but don’t be afraid to brag about your accomplishments and include links to your website, portfolio, articles, or awards. A short teacher headline (i.e. Graphic Designer, Baker, Writer) and a clear profile photo can also go a long way. Here are some examples of stellar teacher profiles:

Jake Bartlett

Elizabeth Olwen

Leitha Matz

Pro tip: Sync your profile to Facebook and Twitter before you publish your class. Your followers on those platforms will automatically become your followers on Skillshare, which means they’ll get notified by email when your class goes live!

4. Write a Short and Sweet Class Description

The most important question to answer in your class description is: why should students watch your class? Keep your description as concise as possible so that students can get a quick snapshot of what they’ll learn. Touch on the key skills you’ll be teaching, the project students will create, and what kind of background or experience is necessary (if any). Check out how Elizabeth Olwen keeps her description to just a few fun sentences but covers everything students need to know.

Pro tip: If you’re having trouble organizing your thoughts, try using bullet points to list out the 3-5 key concepts or skills you’ll cover in your class. Here’s a great example.

5. Add 5 Class Skills

To ensure your class is discoverable through our search feature, add five class skills in the “Class Info” section of your class draft. Use descriptive keywords that relate to your topic and that you could imagine students searching for when looking for classes within your category.

Pro tip: Check out what skills are used in classes at the top of your category, and add those to your own class where applicable. If you cover any softwares in your class (i.e. Photoshop, Snapseed, After Effects), be sure to add those as skills as well.

Looking for more tips on class merchandising? Head to the Teacher Handbook or take our free class on building your student following for all the tools you need to get your class discovered by the Skillshare community!