Nowadays, people are looking for quality content to explore online especially when it comes to learning new skills. One best way to cater to this rising demand and also generate revenue is to create and sell online courses.
Creating the best online course takes time and effort.
So, if you are someone with skills that you think people would like to learn, creating an online course is the best way to create profit while sharing your knowledge with the world.
After you’re done creating the course, the next step is promoting it. Promoting & selling is the most difficult part yet the most important too. Most course creators are not sure how to market their courses on profit.
But it’s actually not as intimidating as it seems especially if you know the best practices and have the right tools for marketing online courses.
This blog will help you with a step-by-step guide on how to create an online course and how to market it to make some profits.
So let’s get right into it.
How to create an online course – Tips & tricks
Creating an online course is the first step towards this business idea. You must know how to create an online course for it to function successfully and give you desired results. Knowing the basic do’s and don’ts are crucial before stepping into the world of online learning.
Here are some tips and tricks that will guide you while creating an online course:
1. Find your interest area
Before you even plan out the idea, you must know what it is that you want to teach. Find out the skill that you are going to share on that platform. See if you need any special certification, license, or degree to create an online course on that subject matter.
While trying to find out your interest area, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I have enough knowledge that could benefit other people?
- Have I ever created any online content to help people solve problems?
- Can I share my experiences so that people can learn from them?
- Do I know how to create something that others might try?
- Do I have a special skill that others don’t possess?
If you can answer positively to these questions, you are good to go. This is the first step towards creating an online course, now you can share your passion and expertise with others while earning money and fame.
2. Test your idea
After you decide on the topic, you must test it out to see if it’s the right fit. Creating an online course requires a lot of hard work, so running a test before you begin will allow you to validate this online business idea and make you sure about your decision.
To do this, use a landing page builder to create a page for your upcoming online course.
Include a concise description of the course and explain what people can expect to learn. After promoting your website on various channels, you’ll be able to look over the data you collected and see if you have enough attendees.
3. Learn how to design the learning materials
After the topic is tested and approved by you, you need to get busy with a plan. A plan is needed when it comes to online teaching. You must know how to develop teaching materials, add pictures, questionnaires, videos pdfs, etc.
Whatever you find important, there must be a proper step-by-step plan. You must practice your lessons, and regulate timing and impact. Create an outline and stick to it, and see if it works. Make it interesting and full of knowledge.
4. Dive deep into the topic
Whether you’re already an expert or are looking forward to learning it for your online course, you need to deep dive until you know everything there is to know about the topic.
Remember- Your course needs to provide all the information that your students need to become an expert in that subject.
You need to go beyond what is easily accessible and what your course attendees may find on a simple search. Find different sources of information on the topic and try different varieties. Perform keyword research to see what type of queries people are looking for.
Get an idea about the kinds of questions that your audience might be interested in. Good and strong research can create a great base for your study plan.
5. Find the correct medium for your material
Knowing which tools are the right to convey your lessons and how you want to present your course material is important. Here are some options for creative combinations:
- Share text-based content that instructs your students
- Create a video or image tutorial
- Create tests and provide badges
- Record a podcast and speak directly to your students
- Host a live webinar so students can freely ask you questions
There is no fixed answer when it comes to course-creation medium and its selection. However, you must decide based on your competencies and the subject matter. Research it and see which medium is most suitable.
6. Make sure your content is engaging
Engaging the students who will go for your online course is very crucial for your success in this industry. To make engaging online course content, you should:
- Focus on what’s important
- Be relevant
- Try not to be repetitive
- Provide early results
- Keep it light
- Set measurable goals
- Engage more in communication
- Increase retention rates
7. Identify the target audience
After all the research, you can easily identify your target audience. The target audience is the group who need your skills and for whom you are writing your course.
Don’t be too generic, try to be specific and make sure that this pool is larger. If more people will desire your skill, you will get more students and more publicity.
8. Choose the perfect platform for your online course
After this, a good platform is all you need to finally establish your course and start with the process of marketing. Remember that the right platform can make or break your course. When choosing an online course platform, make sure that it offers all that you need.
It must have the following features:
- Must be cost effective
- Different types of templates
- Language freedom
- Easy payment system
- Good communication portal
- Cost-efficient
- Built-in marketing tools
- Multiple content options
- Flexibility
- In-built plugins
There are various online course platforms available in the market but the only platform that includes all the above-mentioned features is CourseFunnels.
9. Price your online course
Now you’ve decided on the process of creating your online course and have picked a platform. So now it’s time to decide what to charge. Remember to not undervalue your content.
One trick is to include multiple pricing options. Give a free trial first to gain some insight. Students can then start with the free trial, then move to the basic content, and later upgrade when they realize how fantastic your course is.
10. Market your online course
This is the final step. Once you’ve created your online course and set your pricing, get on with its marketing. The more effort you put in here, the more success you’ll gain.
The process of marketing is highly specific to you and your product. Your marketing strategy will depend on your personal preferences and current network. If you want the best possible results, you’ll need to create a diverse marketing strategy.
Stay tuned to know more about the marketing of online courses.
How to create an online course with CourseFunnels
Creating an online course is not easy. At one time, you need to deal with multiple service providers- various plugins, email marketing tools, website builder, content management system, and many more. But with CourseFunnels, it’s been even easier to create effective online courses.
CourseFunnels offers everything you need to create, promote, and manage your online courses. Just get CourseFunnels now at only $67 yearly and start designing your courses.
Wondering why CourseFunnels?
CourseFunnels is the only platform that will not only help you to build engaging courses, but also help you to sell them profitably with its dozens of profit boosting plugins.
It also offers various other plugins and integrates with all the major payment gateways. You don’t need to buy any email marketing tools as CourseFunnels has them in-built. It’s a great platform for newbies as it has got an easy to use interface and detailed tutorials.
How to market an online course – Best ways
Now that you know how to create an online course, you must know how to market it after your course is finally ready. Here are ways that will guide you through the process of marketing your online course:
1. Email marketing
You can start by sending emails along with early-bird discounts and promotions. Email marketing is one of the most used forms of marketing available.
Make sure to have a good email list for this. This is a really good and effective strategy to get the word out there. If you can build an email list, or incorporate email directly into your course, you will be much more successful.
2. Rely on Social media
Promote your course on the social media of your choice. Social media marketing is a really fast and effective way to create a buzz. You can create promotions, and discounts and advertise them on the social media of your choice.
Try to be up to the point and relevant. You must know your target audience to get this right. If possible try out different ways to go viral on social media and attract more eyes to your course.
3. Create blog posts and landing pages
Create a blog about the course and its relevance to boost your SEO and show your knowledge. Along with this, create a designated landing page on your website. This will let the new visitors and returning customers know about the upcoming release.
You will be able to build hype around your course and secure more pre-order sales. Remember that your landing page should focus on the value proposition of your class.
4. YouTube and promo videos
YouTube is now the second most popular search engine after Google. So, imagine the huge audience you can target with your videos.
Start a YouTube channel for your course and launch video promotions. The best way to promote your course is to make a short course video and publish it on YouTube. It will attract students to you and your courses. Short courses will give an insight into what you have to offer.
5. Go multilingual
Translate your course into another language. That way you will be able to reach a wider international audience and enter new markets. Go for captions and subtitles if required. Try to cover a wide range of audiences once you figure out your target students.
6. Go for Paid ads
Paid Promotions are a great way to target the super charged audiences. Using paid ads, you can reach a better audience who are actually interested in the topic your course is about.
Try to start with a small budget and later increase as you understand which ads work the best for your courses.
7. Collaborate with Influencers
Nowadays, influencer marketing is quite prevalent. Research for the influencers who belong to your niche and form a good relationship with them.
Social media has given influencers a lot of power to influence people. Collaborating with such public personalities will help to get the word out faster.
8. Try affiliate programs
To spread your reach across everywhere, affiliate marketing is the best strategy. Start an affiliate program and work with ambassadors. Let others promote the course on your behalf. Try to arrange a good team and handsomely pay them so that more people come to your services.
Affiliate marketing mostly works on commission. Strategize a proper plan for your affiliates and attract more people to your courses.
9. Referrals and reviews
Before paying money for a particular product, have you ever tried to check for reviews & testimonials of that product?
I have! It’s the best way to determine trustworthiness.
Get referrals, positive testimonials, and reviews from past students. A great way of promoting your business is to give referral commissions to customers. Give your students a chance to earn something while studying. In this way, they will get a certain amount when they acn suggest your course to anyone.
10. Webinars and live events
Host a webinar to get the masses excited about all they can learn. With such live events, it will be easier to talk eye to eye. Likely, your target audience is out there waiting to hear from you. This free demo will help you get people invested in your brand, which could lead to more signups for the complete course.
Conclusion
Online courses are in trend right now. So, if you are someone with skills and interests you must give it a try.
It is easy and fun, enhances your knowledge, and gives you a chance to help out others as well. It is a win-win situation, so you must go for it. All that you need to know about online courses has already been explained in this blog. So you must try it out.
What kind of online courses are you planning to create? Tell us in the comments below!
Thanks for reading.