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Are you looking to start teaching courses or classes at some point? If yes, then creating a course might be exactly what you want. In this article, I’ll show you how to create a course using online course platforms like Udemy, Thinkific, and others.
These online course platforms are global marketplaces for learning where students from around the world can access over 20 million courses taught by expert instructors.
Creating a course is super simple. All you need is a course name, description, and price. Then, you can add images, links, and other information to help promote your course. Once you’ve created your course, you can share it with anyone who wants to take it and allows you to earn a passive income.
Online course creation
The internet offers endless resources for anyone looking to learn something new. But it doesn’t come without challenges. There are many different types of courses you could offer, each requiring a unique approach.
For example, if you want to teach people how to play guitar, creating a video tutorial might be enough. On the other hand, if you want to help students build a career in music marketing, offering a live webinar might be better.
Or perhaps you want to teach people about making money online. In this case, you’ll probably need to provide step-by-step instructions, like those found in a guidebook.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at what makes up a successful online course, and how to make sure yours stands out from the crowd.
Choose the right subject matter
The topic you choose is entirely up to you. You don’t have to stick to one specific niche, nor do you need to write about something you know nothing about. A good way to start is to think about what topics you’re passionate about.
If you love writing, maybe you’d like to teach others how to use WordPress. Or perhaps you enjoy cooking and want to offer advice on how to make healthier meals. Whatever you decide, make sure you choose a topic that interests you and that you feel confident teaching.
The main criteria in evaluating your course’s topic are whether the online course content appeals to both you and the people you plan to reach. For example, let’s say you’ve been wanting to learn how to bake bread ever since you discovered that gluten-free diets are now popular.
There are plenty of sites out there that cover the basics of baking. But what makes your site special is that you’ll take things a step further and provide helpful information on how to make healthy recipes. This type of content will appeal to both you and your readers because it covers a topic that everyone wants to know about, but you’re able to add value by providing additional insight into the process.
Choose something you want to teach
A few months ago I had been thinking about how I could help others learn better. There are many ways to go about teaching someone else, but one thing stood out to me. When I look at my life, there are things that I’m good at, and things that I’m not.
I’m good at being myself and helping others connect with themselves. But there are other areas where I feel like I lack knowledge and experience. So I thought about what I wanted to learn more about. And I realized that I didn’t really know much about anything.
I’ve always enjoyed learning, and I’ve always loved sharing information, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was good at. What did I love doing? What did I enjoy talking about? What was important to me?
So I asked myself those questions, and I came across a list of subjects that I felt comfortable enough with to start teaching. I chose three things that I was interested in and knew that I could easily teach.
I picked photography because I took pictures throughout high school and college, and I picked writing because I’m a writer. Finally, I chose meditation because I needed to learn more about self-awareness and mindfulness.
And now I’m excited to dive into each of these topics and share what I’ve learned with everyone.
Choose something others want to learn
Before you start the online course creation process, identify the audience and the demand for your topic at hand. This includes identifying whether there are already plenty of resources available on the internet.
If so, why do people still need your information? What problem does your topic solve? How could you help your audience?
Once you’ve answered those questions, ask a group of friends, along with your existing audience, what topics they’d like to see covered. This will give you a good idea about what types of things you might cover.
You’ll also want to test out a few different lesson plans on your topic. A great way to do this is to write a short lesson plan first, then monitor how many views each one gets.
Follow up on the tutorial on Facebook or Twitter, asking your audience if they found the tutorial useful. Conducting online research into your topic will give you even better insight into what people are looking for and help you create a successful online course.
Test your idea
Creating an online course doesn’t require a lot of money, but it does take a lot of hard work. Before you start your online course, make sure you’ve thought it over thoroughly and validated it enough to see whether it will actually be profitable. This way, you won’t waste precious resources on something that isn’t working.
Start by creating a landing page for your online course. Make sure you include a brief description of what people can expect to find inside, along with some compelling images to help convey the concept. If you’re looking for inspiration. Using a landing page also helps you build an email list which is key to building a successful online course business
Next, ask yourself “What am I selling?” Then answer that question with a short blurb describing why someone should buy your product. For example, if you’re offering an e-book, explain how it’ll benefit readers. You don’t want to sell anything without knowing exactly what you’re selling.
Once you’ve answered that question, think about how you plan to deliver the product. Do you offer it through a subscription model? Or do you give it away for free? If you plan on giving it away for free, this is a great way to build that email list and promote future products to your list. Either option works well, but there are pros and cons to each approach.
You might consider charging for access to premium features or additional training materials. Whatever you decide, make sure you’ve tested the pricing structure, because it could play a big role in determining whether or not your online course becomes successful.
Finally, figure out how you’re going to promote your online course content. There are plenty of ways to go about doing this, including social media ads, paid advertising, email marketing campaigns, etc.
However, before you spend too much time and money on promoting your online course, make a simple test run.
Create a single landing page for your course, and try to convince five friends to purchase it. Ask them questions like “Why did you choose to buy my course?” and “How many hours did you put into learning everything I teach?”
If they say yes, great! Now you know you’re onto something. If they say no, you probably shouldn’t bother trying to market your online course. Research the topic extensively
Whether you’re already an expert in your domain or are starting out from scratch, now is the time for you to learn everything there is to know.
If you want to become an expert in your field, you need to do some serious digging into the subject matter. You don’t just want to read the same books everyone else does; you want to dig deeper and look for alternative resources.
As part of your thorough learning experience, go beyond what course participants will easily find on search engines. Instead, find a variety of different resources on the topic, including literature, competitor classes, and webinars. This way, you’ll gain a broader perspective on the topic, and you’ll be able to answer potential questions that come up during interviews.
Perform keyword research in order to determine what types of keywords people use when searching for information on your topic. From here, you can identify keywords that are popular among customers and competitors. These terms will help you build a list of topics to cover in your course.
From this, you can also understand what types of questions your audience might ask. For example, if you sell products online, you might notice that people tend to search for things like “best e-commerce platforms,” “how to choose a payment processor,” etc.
Go one step further and check out subcategories within your industry. Many times, people aren’t aware that certain subjects exist within their marketplace. They simply assume that there isn’t enough demand for something. However, if you take the time to explore those niches, you could find a whole host of new opportunities.
Write a course outline
Now is the time to develop your online course. You know what you want to teach, but how do you get there? In this section, we’ll walk you through the steps to developing an effective online course outline.
On a piece of paper, go ahead and write down a list of all the different lessons you plan to teach online. Within each lesson, break down the main topics you want students to learn.
Go in a logical order and start with the most important topic. Try to make sure that the next lesson builds off the previous one, and that your ideas evolve naturally from lesson to lesson. This way, your students won’t feel lost along the way.
Remember that teaching is about guiding people through an idea, step-by-step. Make sure to define objectives for every single lesson. These objectives are very important because they help your students understand where they’re supposed to be at certain points during the lesson.
They also give you a reference point for grading your students’ progress. Always keep in mind what the learning goals of your customer are, not only looking at it from your point of view.
How to price your online course
After creating your content you might ask yourself how to set the prices and rates for your course. You could start by looking at competitor prices.
Start by doing a quick audit of courses on your subject. Then take a look at what others charge for similar products. This will give you an idea of where your product stands relative to others in your industry.
Another way to figure out pricing is to consider the creation time. How long did it take you to put together the course? If you had to spend several weeks working on it, then you probably spent quite a lot of money creating it.
On the flip side, you could have been able to knock something up in less than an hour, and therefore save a ton of cash.
The third factor to consider is the amount of effort required to produce the course. If you have to do hours upon hours of research, writing, and the editing process, then you’ll want to make sure you’re getting paid accordingly. However, if you just need to throw some videos together, then you don’t necessarily need to charge as much.
What’s Your Audience Like?
If you’re planning on offering your course via video, then you’ve got to know exactly who you’re targeting. Are they technical people, or are they more interested in self-help topics?
This information will help you decide whether you should offer different levels of training based on the type of person who wants to sign up.
For example, if you’re selling a course about web design, then you’d likely target those who are already familiar with HTML, for example. But if you’re teaching a beginners class, then you’re more likely to attract people who aren’t familiar with coding.
Bring your course online
Once you’ve got your course content ready, you’ll want to put it online. You could use a free website builder like Squarespace or WordPress, or you could go the extra mile and build your own custom e-learning platform. Either way, there are plenty of tools and resources to help you get started quickly.
If you already have a professional web presence, you can add your course as a section there—either as a stand-alone module or embedded in one of your existing pages. If not, start building your new website today.
You’ll want to include video, images, text, and interactive elements to help keep your learners engaged.
You can use Wix Video, YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia to name just a few to host your videos, giving you the ability to embed them directly onto your website and connect with audiences across social media platforms.
To organize your courses, consider creating a library where you can upload individual lessons and group them into categories.
Sell your online course
There are four different options for offering your online courses.
– Individual lessons that are sold individually
– Lessons sold via monthly subscriptions
– Courses offered under paid plans
– Live one-on-one classes where instructors teach directly to students
One of the things to consider when deciding on how to sell your course is again keeping the learning goals of your customers in mind.
Market your content
You’ve invested a lot of time and effort into creating an online course and now you want to make sure everyone knows about it.
But how do you go about promoting your course? There are many different options, ranging from free methods like posting on Facebook and Twitter, to more expensive ones like advertising on YouTube.
To market your online course, there are three main categories of strategies:
Email Marketing: Send email marketing campaigns, including promotional emails and discount offers.
Social Media: Promote your course on social networks and in relevant groups.
Online Advertising: Use paid ads to reach potential customers.
Whatever way you promote your course, take the time to make sure you target the right audience. This can also be used as your market testing phase.
Many people run ads or post on social networks but don’t study the results. Marketing is more than just running ads. It’s studying trends and paying attention to who clicks and closing rates and then adjusting until you dial in your money-making machine that will continue to provide passive income for years.
Do not rush this stage of the marketing process.
Gather feedback
In recent years we’ve moved toward conducting a lot more of our work and learning online. We’re able to make a number of data-driven decisions, tap into rich analytic tools and scale our reach to listen to more customer voices.
When it comes to your digital course, you should take full advantage of the digital opportunities available to improve your curriculum by creating surveys with the help of form builders and asking for feedback throughout and after the class.
To gather feedback, create surveys with help from a form builder and ask questions like what worked well, what could use some improvement and anything else you hope to learn from the experiences of your learners.
Then, once you collect responses, analyze the information to find areas where you can improve your course design and delivery. You’ll be surprised how much insight you can gain from analyzing student responses and adjusting accordingly.
Cultivate a learning community
Online education is largely a solo endeavor. Students are often alone while taking classes, working out, eating lunch, etc. This isolation can lead to feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem.
An online community of learners can provide support and encouragement throughout the entire learning journey. By encouraging students to interact with each other, you can foster a sense of belonging and connection, both of which contribute to a positive student experience.
In addition, you can use your online community to build relationships with prospective students, alumni, donors, and others. These connections can help you market your program to potential supporters and increase enrollment.
Finally, a strong online community can serve as a resource for students seeking advice on how to succeed in school. You can reach out to members of your community to answer questions, offer guidance, and even give tips on how to make the most of your college experience.
This is the time to make sure that whatever platform you decide to host your courses on, provides some sort of community portal that you can set for your students to gather.
Another simple solution is to set up a Facebook Group and invite everyone who buys your products to join the group and introduce themselves. This is also a great way for you to keep an eye on what people are saying and the questions they are asking.
Finally, it gives you a chance to reach out to your students and build your tribe and show them that they like, know, and can trust you.
Final Thoughts
Now that you have a better idea of what you need to do to create your course, just do it. Don’t overthink the first course or get stuck on the perfect website or landing page to promote your course. Just do the research to make sure people are looking for what you have to teach and start with something small and simple.
People aren’t always attracted to fancy websites, they just want to get the most for their money and feel as if they learned something.
No matter how you deliver your course, make sure the sound is good. If people can’t hear you, they will jump ship. They will be ok with less than studio quality video but the sound is key.
Good luck with your journey in course creation and if you want to learn more about how to create your course, check out my course by clicking here.