How do you get started creating and selling online
If you're looking to begin your online course, however, you don't know where to start you can go about it, check out our step-by-step instructions for creating a successful online course. It's easy to follow in 7 steps.
For years now, you've heard about the wonderful passive income entrepreneurs who start their own businesses earn through successful online courses.
and the growing online course trend is only heading upwards.
With an expected CAGR in the range of 3% as well as a potential market size of $6.71 billion in 2024, we anticipate the global market for self-paced e-learning to flourish alongside its creators of courses.
Ready to hop on the learning online wave but don't know where to start?
The right spot is here.
This week, we'll show you how to verify your course idea, organize course content, course creation techniques, and the most effective methods to make course sales.
There's a lot of land to fill, so let's start digging deep.
7 steps for creating your very first online course
#1. Validate your course topic
If you're unfamiliar with this creating courses process, if you're building your online company and you have the potential to reach a large audience, you've already got a solid basis for our initial stage -- proving the idea of your course.
One of the most vital aspects of your online business (and all businesses for that matter) is the target market.
Naturally it's logical to ask them first concerning your plans for the course.
Do you have an email address? Golden.
Send a survey link to your readers asking them about their pain points and what they need help to solve.
Survey tools that are popular among marketers include SurveyMonkey , Typeform or Google Forms can accomplish the task.
Another option is reaching out on social media for information.
Check out his Tweet thread , where John discusses how he engages his students in the course creation process.
This process of validating the subject matter of your class to your students first is a success. a charm.
It's pretty impressive, don't you think?
In order to reach this lucrative date, confirming the idea of your online course is an important first stage.
The next one is to outline.
#2. Outline your course content with beta customers
Contrary to what many believe, you don't require to be an expert instructor, or acquire the latest skills to design an online class.
There's also no training that you need to complete before starting the online course of your choice.
When you're focused on providing a particular result to your target audience -and especially one that's validated as a course idea they want and need to be successful, then creating a lucrative course naturally falls into place.
Especially if you ask participants to be beta customers.
You might be thinking -- Wow I don't have an outline of my course yet, and you're suggesting I sign up beta participants?
It is a good idea to involve your intended group as much in the process of creating your courses as you can.
Unfortunately, 53% of shoppers don't think their feedback gets to someone who responds to it. So your beta students who see their feedback integrated into your products will be thrilled.
Here's another affirmative -- invite beta users prior to when you even begin to create the online content for your course (including all worksheets PowerPoint slides, class pages, video content, et cetera).
The best part about registering beta clients is that it comes with three benefits:
You can test the real-world application of your online course syllabus and content
There is a chance for you to tweak and refine your product based on beta users' comments
A solid group of people to include as beta students are those who have responded to your inquiries while verifying your idea for the course.
They've shown an interest in your course topic as well as provided insight into the areas they'd like assistance in. This makes them a great fit as beta testers.
Instead of offering free classes to them (although this is an option) instead, you might consider offering them a big discount on your course the day it launches.
In other words, pre-sell your course online to your beta students. When you take into consideration the fact that your students' feedback is directly informing your course contents The final product must be exactly like what they're looking for.
It's also John D. Saunders's method of pre-selling his profitable courses, like his Learn to Design Standard Operating Procedures online class that pulled in over $100,000 using .
Makes beta-launching seem attractive, doesn't it?
The summation:
Ask for beta students to help in the development of your course. Utilize their feedback and opinions in shaping your content to suit their needs.
After your students from beta inform your course content and you're ready for the fun part of creating the course.
#3. Create your course content using relevant formats and tools
While this step may seem to be the most difficult at first, in reality, course creation is a breeze by breaking it down into course formats first before integrating it with the lessons you have outlined.
Three easy ways to categorize the different media formats used in courses are:
Audio
Video
Text or PDF
You can simply match the ideal media format to your course topics of study.
Open Studio's jazz music online courses , for example, comprise video and audio classes.
Students who take courses that use the written format will benefit from lessons that rely heavily on PDFs or text, like Blog Biz School's How To Add 100+ Subscribers to Your Email List in just 30 days .
You can also check out The Friedman Archives High-Impact Photography Seminars , which feature visual material in the form PDFs with text and images, as well as video lessons.
No matter the topic, it'll lend itself to a suitable media format.
If you're still undecided on the best media format it is highly recommended to incorporate video. It's not the easiest format to use, but it does require the largest amount of effort to record and edit video footage It's also becoming more popular and effective.
In fact, it's not just marketers who prioritize using video. Nowadays, multiple departments across the board have embraced video as an effective media format.
Below is a list of relevant tools for the various formats:
Audio -- A quality mic and set of headphones
Video-- Screen recording tools such as the Camtasia as well as Loom with a professional camera or your iPhone camera and editing software. You will also need an appropriate tripod, and lighting
Text, or PDFText or PDF Google Docs to Text, as well as designs tools such as Canva as well as Venngage for PDFs
If you find additional tools, make sure to place them in one of these categories in order to make sure your course design is simple.
All in all, there's no need to get overwhelmed by all the possibilities for course design if you stay focused only on a handful of methods and formats.
There's one more tool choice you have to consider, and it's an equally important one -- the training platform.
#4. Select an online course platform and upload your course content
The next step is to choose an online course platform for housing the online course.
Software like WizIQ On the other hand, enable users to incorporate the learning management software (LMS) on your site using APIs and/or a plugins for WordPress or Joomla like.
Other tools, such as Ruzuku provide the LMS platform that lets you create an online course that is interactive with a student-centered community which you may want to think about if live participation is a big part of your online class.
You can see that you have your pick of platforms from. Which platform is best is one that will allow you to create a top-tier learning experience for your students while enabling you to easily manage your business on the side.
Find out how simple the procedure is for creating an online class with . You simply log into your dashboard, click to open the "Create" dropdown menu at the top, and select "Product".
From there, a modal pops up. Enter the course's name and click "Online Course".
Then, add your course content. Anything is possible, from links and text to videos and quizzes.
In the "Settings" tab, you'll see a place to begin and finish your enrollment dates.
Add your pricing to The "Pricing" tab (and add a payment plan If you'd like). There is also the option to include product upsells from this same tab.
Once these details are filled in and uploaded, choose "Published" on the "Draft" drop-down menu in the upper right, and then -you're done! voilà --your online class is ready to start.
See for yourself and sign up for to get your account free now! .
Profits are yours to keep (no profits sharing, or other charges)
You are in complete control over and control of your relationship with your customers and your contacts
Your own brand can be branded on your site to match the online presence of your company
After you have uploaded your content onto the platform of your preference The next step is setting up for marketbeginning with pricing.
#5. Choose your price
One of them is price-based that allows you to charge an amount that is higher than the cost of your course and also markup. If your online courses have a high perceived value it's a good strategy to use.
Another strategy is price-based , where you charge your online course fee according to your costs and profit margin goals.
Alternatively, you can use price transparency to set the price for your online course. This is when you make the costs and earnings of your course public to the customers of your course.
The perk to using price transparency is the fact that it creates confidence among your customers. Since a staggering 80 percent customers need to trust the brand they shop with Price transparency is a not a bad way to go.
Course prices vary widely all over the board, regardless of the pricing strategy.
Take, for instance, Signature Edits' SEO for Photographers course. It's available with a $97 payment or three payments of $37.
On the higher end, Nick's Real Estate Masterclass costs the one-time cost of $2,500 or three payments of $870.
The most important thing to remember is to choose a pricing level that is in line with the customers' perception of worth. This is dependent on the particular online course, your the audience you are targeting, as well as your business.
When you've finalized an appropriate course cost and you're now ready to post it alongside your course benefits on your sales page.
#6. Create a sales page
One very key ingredient to incorporate on the landing page for your course opt-in is social proof. It includes reviews, testimonials and cases studies.
In essence, if they see the other students who've enrolled in your online course and gotten outcomes that they'll be more likely to believe in your product and buy.
However, even if you are running a high-ticket online course, testimonials will help your conversions. Indeed, testimonials from customers when placed alongside more costly items can increase conversion rates by 380 percentage .
The other important element of your sales page is to clearly outline the benefits you can reap. This isn't easy, especially when you consider the fact that it's the largest obstacle to growing memberships.
Sure, you're not necessarily growing a membership program, but it's the same principle to grow your student base. It must be an underlying reason (or reasons) to enroll into your class.
For a clear explanation of the advantages of online courses Try using both explicit language and a clean style.
Daniele Catalanotto's 100 Service Design Principles sales page is a great example, as the author provides a brief description for each benefit in bullet points.
Daniele will also outline what the students will be learning and explains who the class was designed for. Both are effective sales page techniques.
We have a final item we highly recommend including on your course sales page.
You know how we mentioned previously the benefits of using video in your classes? The same applies to your sales page, too.
If you are able attempt to make an animated version of your sales web page. It gives people a great opportunity to get acquainted with, love, and trust your business.
It also gives it an attractive, clean appearance similar to Fraser McCulloch's First 1,000 Visits sales page.
Also, Daniele's 100 Service Design Principles sales page.
Both sales pages have videos that are friendly and prominently displayed on the front of their course page.
Let's recap:
Including social proof, clear benefits, and video content on your course's sales page will boost your participation.
This isn't to say merely having these components is enough to bring people in by thousands -- that's where promotion can help, however, it will reduce the time between the moment they arrive on your site and the time they become a customer dramatically.
Our last tip for you today also boosts your enrollment numbers. Head over to our last section of advertising.
#7. Follow a trusty marketing strategy and begin your online training
Regardless of the marketing strategy you choose to sell online courses, email marketing is the catch-all strategy where pretty much all of your nurturing should end up.
In the case of example, if you are using webinars to promote your digital goods It is crucial to record the email addresses of your attendees as well as continue to send nurturing messages after they attend your webinar.
This is a no-brainer as it's a requirement to register to attend webinars by using the email addresses of attendees.
Do you have a podcast or YouTube channel?
This is the way YouTube celebrity Evan Carmichael features his Change Your Life in 30 Days lead magnet on the show's interview with Marie Forleo.
If you click on Evan's YouTube card You will be taken to his home page where you can enter your email to download his deal.
However, even if you send messages to influential people on social networks, or join discussions within Facebook Groups, or send emails directly for the people you've added to your LinkedIn contacts, as an example It's still important to get an email.
Why is email marketing such a popular practice? It's simple -- it works.
So much so that over recent times, the ROI has only gone up. Nowadays, for each dollar spent on emails, $42 in ROI comes back to you.
The simplest way to summarize:
No matter the channel, be sure to capture the email address of your readers whenever you can.
So, you'll have the ability to nurture your email list through an appropriate sales funnel and eventually convert them -- whether it takes a few days or a few months.
Follow our seven ways to get started with your online training
Is starting your online class going to be some time? Yes.
Will it be worth your blood, sweat, and tears? Absolutely.
There's a reason the market for elearning is set to head upwards.
You can start the online program in seven steps:
Validate your online course idea among your audience first.
Outline iterations of your course content and make them available to beta testers.
Create your course lessons by using some streamlined formats and software.
Select an online platform for your course and add your course material.
Set your course pricing and take into consideration the perceived value.
Create a sales page which has social proof clear benefits, and video to allow students to register.
Incorporate email marketing into your promotional campaigns.
Are you eager to begin? Good, we're here to assist you on the way.