How to Enroll more Student Pilots At My Flight School

I recently was browsing through AOPA’s Flight School Business Owner’s group and saw a post from Camilo, the owner at Alpha Aero Academy. I went ahead and drafted a video response to his question of “How do we enroll more student pilots?” and then summarized the video down below as well. Hope it can help any other flight school out there that is struggling to grow their business and train more pilots.

Making Your Website Better for Getting Students

Let’s start off by talking about your website. You want it to be super easy for people to fill out a form. And you want to make sure that your website is framed such that it’s convincing enough to have visitors fill out a form. I suggested to Camilo to add more forms on their site. Like, everywhere you look, there’s a form to fill out if you want to learn to fly. Whether it’s a quiz, or downloadble content.. we want to capture every opportunity to get their contact details.

Also, I suggested to use better pictures. Like genuine photos of Aero Alpha’s team, students, and planes to get people excited about flying instead of relying on stock imagery. Imagine scrolling through a website and seeing awesome images of real pilots in action or stunning aerial views. That’s the kind of stuff that makes people say, “I want to learn to fly too!”

We also advised Alpha Aero to make sure their website is easy to navigate. Like no broken links, and specific pages built for highly searched keywords. You want visitors to find what they need without feeling frustrated.

Plus, (I didn’t mention this on the video.. but) having a section where they can read about the experiences of past students can really help build trust and authority. Reviews and testimonials are key! People want to know they’re in good hands when they’re learning to fly.

Getting Your Flight School to Show Up on Google

Everyone uses Google to find stuff. You want your flight school to show up when someone searches for “flight schools near me.” We told Alpha Aero to make sure their Google listing looks good and is optimized for specific keywords. This means having right info, description, and pictures. It’s all about using the right words in the right places to make sure Google knows what your flight school is all about.

We also suggested something called “geotagging.” Basically, it’s about telling Google exactly where your flight school is located. When students leave reviews and add photos they’ve taken on their cell phone, their cell phone attaches the GPS coordinates to the photo. This way, when someone searches for flight schools in your area, Google knows to show them yours. It’s like putting a big neon sign on Google Maps saying, “Hey, we’re right here, come learn to fly with us!”

What About Google Ads?

This is where you pay Google to show your ad when someone searches for flight schools. We gotta be smart about it, though. We can’t expect to spend just a few hundred bucks and get results. I recommended at least starting off with $1000 a month if any flight school wants to pursue Google Ads. Right now, the market for Google Ads for flight schools is around $7 a click. So with a $1000 a month budget, that’s about $33 a day which equates to up to 5 clicks a day. So in a given month that’s about 150 clicks to your website for $1000. Out of that 150 clicks, I would expect to see around 10-15 form submissions which is about 10%.

But it’s not as simple as just deciding to run ads. I also mentioned something called “keywords.” These are the words people type into Google when they’re searching for something. If someone types in “flight school near me,” you want your ad to show up. This is where keywords come in. By choosing the right keywords for their ads, we can make sure we’re showing up for the right searches and reaching the people who are most likely to want to learn to fly. We make sure we add the right keywords to your website and your ads.

What’s next?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. While these strategies are important, what really sets the top flight schools apart is consistency. This means consistently pushing ads, consistently posting on social media, consistently updating your website and Google business profile… There is no magic bullet and it is a continuous growth process that takes effort, work, and time. Technically anyone can do this! You don’t need to be an expert marketer to get your business off the ground and start ranking.

However..If you want to know more, need some help with this stuff, or would like us to do the work for you… reach out to Right Rudder Marketing. We’re here to help you train more pilots!

🛩️ Don’t let your flight school stay grounded – let’s go flying!