After seeing a lot of covers and noticing some common areas for improvement, here are 20 Dos & Don'ts For Your Skool Covers. Please consider as helpful guidelines, not strict rules 🙅‍♀️ (even though my list sounds very bossy) DOs 👍 ✅ Do the 7 second scroll test. When we scroll Discovery, is it obvious in under 7 secs what you do? ✅ Do focus on your niche topic and who you serve ✅ Do focus on the outcome, result and benefit ✅ Do focus on the problem, pain or struggle you solve ✅ Do portray your unique personality, style and vibe ✅ Do include a headshot if you're the face of your community ✅ Do generate curiosity and make people want to click ✅ Do use BIG TEXT that stands out and is easy to skim & scan ✅ Do use colors that stand out, especially for your text ✅ Do use your own words and human touch, not just AI DON'Ts 👎 ❌ Don't make the focus your community name if the name doesn't explain what it's about ❌ Don't make the focus a brand name or logo that has no context or meaning to anyone ❌ Don't include fluff or meaningless words that serve no purpose ❌ Don't use industry jargon or abbreviations people don't know ❌ Don't include too much small text that we can't read ❌ Don't make your cover too cluttered and busy ❌ Don't let your text get lost on busy backgrounds ❌ Don't rely on your bio to explain your community. People don't see your bio on ads. ❌ Don't forget your cover image is SMALL! So test readability where it actually gets seen ❌ Don't forget your cover image doesn't show on your About Page on mobile (so make a version for your about page too) 🎁 Overall, there's a good reason why Sam & Kirby call it "packaging". Packaging is on the OUTSIDE of your community and should be designed for outsiders who know NOTHING about you yet. Yes, the cover image is also displayed inside our community, but don't approach it as a pretty brand banner. It has a much bigger job to do on the outside 👉 usher the right people inside. Hope you find this useful. Here for you if you have any questions 🤗

Should your community name be the focus point of your cover image? It DEPENDS 🙃 If your community name explains how you help and makes it instantly clear you teach "niche topic", it makes sense to lead with your name. Examples (made-up) of when I would make the name the focus point: 🟡 Magic Trick Mastery 🟡 Learn The Cello 🟡 Dating App School 🟡 Scrapbooking Skool 🟡 Gluten-Free Baking Club 🟡 Lawn Business Academy 🟡 Food Truck Business Skool 🟡 Food Canning For Beginners 🟡 Vegan Cooking Club 🟡 Teach Your Cat Tricks 🟡 Social Media For Grandparents 🟡 Veteran Support Brotherhood 🟡 ADHD Mothers Club 🟡 Girls Who Skate Gang 🟡 Gentle Parenting Society The WHO and WHAT is instantly obvious and the benefit is you're going to LEARN that skill from an expert. Without having to say it in a long-winded wordy sentence. In contrast, these are examples of when I would NOT lead with the name (again made-up examples) 🟣 Calm And Collected 🟣 She Rises 🟣 Strong And Successful 🟣 Grow And Bloom 🟣 Happy And Healthy 🟣 Lead With Purpose 🟣 Sassy And Fearless 🟣 Unstoppable Mission 🟣 Frantic To Freedom Although they are outcome focused, they're wishy washy and not clear who/what for. You can still include it in the cover, just not focus point or top of content hierarchy. Just raising this, because I want to highlight the importance of using templates (and AI for that matter) as a guide only. If you simply "fill in the blank"... it will sound like it. Yes, the templates say "Offer Statement".... but there's no single cookie-cutter statement structure that works for everyone. That's why I include lots of options to demonstrate. Context and human judgement is key 🔑 And feedback! If you're unsure whether your name is obvious, drop it below and give each other feedback 💬 P.S. 🍞🥖🥐 Example attached. I had the pleasure of helping a lovely Skooler with their cover, and this is absolutely a case when the name should lead ✅