In this blog post, I’m sharing with you how to create an online course that sells. I’ll go through some of the basics to guide you and provide a simple checklist to get you started.
You’ve got a skill and you got a desire to help people but you want to be well paid for the knowledge that you have. Some people wonder if it’s too late to get started creating online courses while others wonder how to actually do it.
Let’s dive into the first question. I can see why you would wonder if it’s too late to start your own online course. After all, the internet has been around for a while and there does seem to be a TON of people already making money online. This is just a mindset, one that you’ll need to shift because I’m flat out telling you it is NOT too late to get started creating a business online and creating online courses is a smart way to either make money on the side or even as a full-time living.
You are without a doubt living in the digital age and with the recent global crisis, more people than ever are shopping online and getting their education online. It’s actually a GREAT time to create an online course!
The other question that I get a lot is, how to actually create an online course that SELLS. I get it, we’ve heard about the flops but that’s part of entrepreneurship but that doesn’t mean that it’ll happen to you. If you follow the basics, you’ll be fine in fact, you’ll be able to build a financial future that allows you to have more freedom AND fulfillment just by starting an online business including the business model of selling online courses to the masses
Who should create online courses?
Anyone, that’s the straight-shooter answer. If you’ve got a skill or some knowledge that people will pay for, then you should learn how to create an online course and get it out to the world and impact lives. That’s truly how I feel. We live in an information-hungry world so why not make money with your skill?
I work with a lot of online entrepreneurs and to be specific, I work with service-based coaches, consultants and freelancers. These professionals tend to work in a one-on-one capacity with their clients. This means that they can get tired of working a lot of hours and why they look for other ways to scale their businesses.
One of the best ways to scale your income as a coach, consultant, or freelancer online is to package your expertise and sell it in the form of an online course.
As a service provider, you’re all too familiar with the fact that there’s only so much you can accomplish in a one-on-one setting. There’s only one you, so your earning potential is limited by how many clients you can feasibly work with.
That’s why creating an online course is a no-brainer. You’ll be able to sell your expertise to the masses, and you’ll finally be able to stop trading your time for dollars.
This article contains some of the best tips for how to create an online course that actually sells. If you’re ready to start creating your course, check out my book, The Million Dollar Course Creation Formula for a complete, step-by-step guide to creating a profitable online course.
Here are the best practices to help you get started.
The First Step With Your Online Course Creation – Choose the Right Topic
These days, people are creating online courses about all sorts of topics, from knitting to website design. Your topic is entirely up to you, but if you want your course to be successful, it’s important to choose one that people are willing to pay for.
When deciding on your course topic, think about the most common struggles your clients have. What information are you consistently sharing with clients that you could turn into your online course modules?
The topic you choose should be something you enjoy teaching and are already knowledgeable about. This will make the course creation process smoother and quicker.
Develop a Course Outline
After you’ve decided on a topic, it’s time to create a course outline to structure the information in your course.
Decide on the main topics you want to cover. Then, break down each topic into smaller chunks. Be sure your outline flows in a logical order, so your students will be able to easily understand the information you’re presenting to them.
Designing an online course may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! My book includes a free planner that will help you map out all of the lessons included in your course.
How Will Your Online Course Be Facilitated
You’ll need to decide some of the specifics of how your course materials will be available to your students. This means you’ll have to think what your strengths are as it relates to videos, writing, live classes or even if you’ll include PowerPoint slides.
Deciding how best to organize the information in the modules and if you’ll allow the students to take more than one module at a time are all considerations for you as you’re working through the course.
Sometimes course creators will decide to incorporate a Facebook group as an added bonus. This is a valuable component and allows a group concept for those students who enjoy the interaction between others in the course.
Course Creation Technology
An often overlooked aspect of learning how to create an online course is what tools you’ll need to look into that may help your course flow better and look more professional. You’ll want to consider what types of equipment you need in the course creation process.
You’ll even want to take it a step further if your students are required to have specific technology in order to participate in the course. Equipment such as headphones, microphone, some specific software installed, will be important to discuss on your sales page so your students know what they’re getting into.
Where will you host your course anyway? This is a pretty important question. There are a lot of online course platforms for you to choose from. I’ve tried them all. Even Udemy is a great idea the only aspect that I don’t like is the low price you’re forced to sell it for.
For me personally, I like having more options and control. That’s why I like using Teachable for my courses aside from the fact that they’re easy to organize my courses. I really like that it’s an all-in-one system. They take care of the credit card processing too. What can I say, it’s so easy to get up and running quickly with a course on that platform.
Pricing Your Course Accurately
One of the issues so many entrepreneurs have is the conundrum of pricing their online course. I suggest your starting point be surrounding the value that your students will get. Think about the cost of the supporting material. Once you begin adding up all of the value that your online course has, it suddenly begins to be easy to price it.
I offer a free planner when you buy my book which helps you through all of these considerations so that you can actually get your online course up and running quicker.
Think about how will you prefer to be charged by any tool you’re using for your course as well as how you’d like to be paid by your students. What means of payment are available to? As I was mentioning before, when you use Teachable, it’s all done for you and they simply take the processing fee and send you the balance of your course fee.
Create and Launch Your Online Course
You know what you want to teach, and you have an action plan for how you’re going to teach it. Now, all that’s left to do is to actually film and launch your online course.
There are a variety of different tools and platforms you can use to help you develop your online course. I cover these options in more detail in my book.
At a minimum, you’ll need a way to film yourself or to record your computer screen and a way to record voiceovers. You’ll also need an online platform where people can sign up for your course.
Now that you know the basics of how to create an online course, are you ready to get started? Get my book, The Million Dollar Online Course Creation Formula for a no fluff, step-by-step guide for creating your online course from idea to launch.
This is the only resource you need to stop dreaming about launching your online course and actually do it! This book includes a free planner/worksheet that gives you everything you need to launch your first online course in just one weekend.
The Million Dollar Online Course Creation Formula comes with a FREE planner to help you create your online course in ONE weekend. Click here to buy it today so you can finally learn how to create an online course that sells!