Your Complete Guide to Creating and Selling Courses Online
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This week, Chelsy with Mama Needs Coffee is sharing her awesome insight on how to leverage a course for profit (and fun!). She has some great tips, enjoy!
Out of all the ways you can make money at home as a mom, you’ve probably never considered selling an online course.
It may seem like a concept way out of your league but, the truth is, many moms are doing it and making good money.
Creating and selling courses online is not a complicated process. As long as you have an idea and passion, you can sell a course!
Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about creating and selling online courses:
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Step One: Find a Topic
The most crucial step in creating an online course is figuring out exactly what kind of course to sell.
You may already have an idea, or perhaps you are still trying to find the perfect topic to base your course on.
If you’re not sure what topic to choose for your online course, here are some tips for discovering your course idea:
- How are you making money? Look at what you are already being paid for. If you’re a freelance writer, you could leverage that into a course for people who want to get into that business. If you’re a teacher, you may want to sell a course to help parents teach their children time management and homework skills. The possibilities are endless!
- Survey your audience. When you already have an established blog, your readers are a wealth of information when it comes to what they want to learn. Use your email list or social media to find out what your audience is interested in.
- Find market gaps. While broader topics may appeal to a wider audience, there are going to be a plethora of courses for them to choose from. Look for more specific topics you can address that solve more specific issues.
Another key aspect of deciding your course topic is to think about what you are passionate about. Passion equals excitement and people are more likely to buy your course if they feel that excitement too.
Lastly, consider profit potential. Are people going to be willing to pay for your information?
Remember, anyone can do a Google search to solve their issues – but your course can save them valuable time by presenting all of the information in one place.
Related Read: How to Be Productive When You’re a Mom Who Works from Home
Step Two: Plan Your Course Content
The ultimate goal of offering an online course is to have your audience reach an end result. You know the starting point is their problem or struggle, but you need to have a clear idea of where you want them to end up.
The best way to do this is to work backwards. Start with that end goal you want them to achieve and look at the steps it will take to get there.
To create an outline for your course, here are some vital components you will need to consider:
- The End Result. What is it you want your learners to achieve?
- The First Module. This section of your course should explain why they will be learning what you’re teaching throughout the course.
- To figure out how the rest of the course should look, break the end result down into the various steps they will need to be taken to achieve it.
Keep in mind that the goal of creating a course is not to teach the learner everything you know – it’s to teach them everything they need to achieve a result.
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Step Three: Build Your Course Content
Online courses come in many shapes and sizes. Some are completely text-based while others offer videos, quizzes and workbooks.
You need to look at the available materials and figure out how to teach each lesson:
- Videos are engaging and multi-sensory. You can choose to show your face or record your screen or slideshow.
- Audio: Audio is great for creating “on-the-go” content learners can listen to at any time.
- PDF: Documents are perfect for information that your learner may want to go back and reference.
It’s also valuable to include a workbook to accompany your course material. You can include exercises, checklists and templates as well as cheat sheets that your learner can refer back to.
Creating the content will take some know-how, but you can easily learn how to use Audacity for audio, Filmora for video and Canva for PDF files.
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Step Four: Figure Out Your Pricing
Pricing your course can be a bit tricky.
You don’t want to ask too much and scare potential learners away. Yet, you also don’t want to ask too little and devalue your course.
Do you sell your course at an average cost? Higher? Lower?
To determine what is “average”, do a Google search for courses on the topic you’ve chosen. Compare pricing to reviews to get an idea of what people are willing to pay for valuable content.
There’s no hard rules on course pricing, since courses come in many different forms and at different lengths. Shorter courses are going to cost less than longer courses with more material.
Ultimately, you can always price your course a little high and gradually reduce the cost if you feel you’re not reaching your sales goal.
Related Read: Mompreneur Series: Become a Freelance Writer
Step Five: Host Your Course
There are many options when it comes to where you can host your course.
You can always host your course through your own site, but this involves setting up the plugins to allow login access to the material as well as a payment system.
It can really cause your site to slow down.
Alternatively, you can upload your course material to one of the following sites:
Each hosting site has its own pros and cons, but they all offer a basic hosting setup for free – and they all offer additional options at a premium cost.
Once you’re signed up, you can begin to upload and set up your course material. Most sites will allow you to customize colors, themes and images for your course.
Related read: Work from Home Mom- Start a Mom Blog
Step Six: Market Your Course
The last step in creating an online course is to get it out into the world so people will start purchasing it!
The best way to market your course is to use your site’s subscriber list. Inform them of the course you are developing as a sort of teaser and get them excited for the release.
You can also use pop-ups and embedded forms on your site to generate an email list of those interested in your course material.
Social media is another good way to get the word out. Use your site’s Facebook page or your personal feed to advertise the course you are offering.
You can even create a Pin for your course and share it on that medium as well.
Don’t forget to also create a landing page for your course on your site. This is a static page that explains what your course is about and the benefits of signing up.
There You Go!
You’re all set to take your beautiful idea and knowledge and share it with the world!
Creating an online course can be daunting, but you have nothing to lose but the time and effort you put into it.
And, ultimately, the more you put in the more you will get back!
