If you want to make money online and leave your full-time job behind, the best way to do it is to teach others how to do what you do.
In this article, I’ll walk you through how to create an online course that helps people achieve their goals and earn you some cash in the process!
We’ll cover 10 steps that will allow you to design an online course that generates revenue, offers value, and helps people solve problems they might have. By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to create your own successful course!
Let’s get started!
1) Write out goals
Before you begin, it’s important to map out your goals for creating your online course.
- Are you trying to build a more profitable business?
- Do you want to offer more value to your customers?
- Does teaching inspire you?
Making sure that you have a clear understanding of why you want to design an online course will help guide each step in the process and keep your motivations clear.
2) Understand Your Niche
Ask yourself,
- What does my ideal customer look like?
- What industry are they in? How old are they?
- Do they have kids or pets? What kind of vacation do they take?
This type of information will help you determine which industry your target audience belongs to.
Let’s assume that your perfect customer is a 20-something pet owner who loves to travel. They would be interested in dog training courses or scuba lessons—not accounting software. In fact, there’s no need for them to buy online accounting software!
Once you can clearly picture your perfect client, don’t just think about what they need...think about what they want! Give them more than they imagined possible (yes, offer more than they could ever use!) and watch as their loyalty grows over time.
3) Choose a topic
The first step is to choose a topic for your course. This should be something you have a passion for and that you know enough about to teach others.
You want it to be related to your skillset but different enough that it doesn’t duplicate what you do at work every day (unless, of course, your job relates directly).
Start by looking at things you like doing outside of work, like knitting or photography.
- What kind of classes would you take if they were available?
- What might make those classes better?
- Are there other people interested in taking classes on those topics?
Those are all good questions to ask yourself when considering potential topics. Take some time to really think about what skills you have and where you see room for improvement.
4) Choose the format of your content
Decide whether you want to create a video course, a text-based course, or a combination of both.
Each option has its pros and cons; for example, video courses may be more expensive (and thus more difficult) to produce but are better suited for people who learn best by watching.
On the other hand, combining text with video can be overwhelming for some learners—but it’s also popular because it provides a lot of visual information.
5) Find an illustrator or photographer
The key to building a truly immersive online course is connecting with your audience on an emotional level.
One way you can do that is by using relevant illustrations or photos. And even if you aren’t a designer, finding one who can create those assets for you doesn’t have to be expensive. Sites like Fiverr, Upwork, and People Per Hour make it easy to find affordable freelancers.
Post a job on these sites, talk through what you need (this will tell you whether they’re worth hiring), and negotiate a rate—it might take some time before someone agrees to work with you at it, but it’ll be worth it when someone does because of how much cheaper than hiring a professional in-house artist or photographer it will be.
6) Use royalty-free images
Royalty-free images are often more visually engaging than stock photos, as they are created by professional photographers.
However, free doesn’t mean cheap. A good royalty-free image is well worth its cost in saved time.
If you don’t want to spend too much on your visuals, hunt for open source images that you can use without violating copyright laws.
You can find a large variety of these online or purchase a royalty-free collection from a reliable website like BigStockPhoto or Shutterstock .
7) Brainstorm ideas
If you want your course to be successful, you need a topic that people will want to learn about. If you can’t come up with a topic that’s both popular and meaningful, it might be time for some brainstorming.
In one study, researchers asked employees at three U.S.-based Fortune 500 companies to come up with ideas for online courses.
Some groups were given instructions on how to generate ideas (think unusual uses for things around us), while others were left to their own devices.
People who engaged in idea generation produced twice as many ideas as those in other groups, and more than twice as many of their suggestions led to actual business opportunities (76% versus 31%).
The result?
Generating ideas is good for business. For example, Google does annual brainstorming sessions before launching new products—including its highly profitable AdSense product in 2002.
So get out there and start making lists!
First, make a list of 20 different ways you could use your skills or knowledge to teach something to someone else.
Once you have 20 ideas listed, start ranking them from most intriguing to least intriguing.
You’ll probably find that only one or two topics stand out from all the rest—these are probably what customers would pay money for!
8) Establish credibility
Before launching your course, it’s critical that you get some attention in your field.
This may be through your own marketing efforts or possibly by building relationships with influencers in your field.
Whatever it is, you need to establish credibility before people will take what you have to say seriously.
There are many ways to do so: blogging, writing a book, creating case studies. Anything, where you can demonstrate knowledge in your niche, should suffice.
9) Plan the production of your content material
Before you get into designing a course, it is essential to determine its content.
- What are your learning objectives?
- How many hours of material do you need?
- Is there a workbook or other additional materials you might want to include?
Creating a realistic budget for your product is equally important. If you are working with a production company, make sure they understand exactly what your needs are so that they can price accordingly.
It’s also wise to have some sort of schedule planned out before moving forward.
10) Put it all together
Why should your customers buy?
Here are a few questions to answer about your target audience that will help you figure out what problems you can solve for them:
- What are their goals?
- What is preventing them from achieving those goals?
- How much value does it provide?
- Why should they care about that value?
- Does anyone else already offer something similar for free, or do competitors charge money for it?
Be specific about what problems you can solve for people in your field.
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