The number of educators looking to create an online course is increasing year by year, considering its potential to reach a broad audience and generate revenue.
Imparting knowledge and expertise via an online course will help you position yourself as an expert in your field, foster a community of like-minded individuals around your online courses business and make money- all from the comfort of your home.
Creating an Online Course- The 10 Steps to Follow
Selling an online course involves more than having great expertise and knowing how to draft good content. Yes, these are all essential for a successful online course. But this isn’t just enough.
In this blog, we will take you through 10 steps on how to create an online course. Let’s begin.
Choose a topic
Before you begin creating an online course, determine the subject you want to teach and ensure it is something you are knowledgeable about and passionate about. To decide on a course topic, analyze your interests or passion. Selecting a topic in which you are genuinely interested will help you stay motivated during the course creation. Select a topic you are great at. Consider your educational background, your practical skills, and knowledge.
Define your target audience
Decide who your ideal students are and what they want to learn from your course. If you are beginning from scratch, define your target audience. It is important to know who you are creating your online course to support their goals and address their challenges.
When identifying your target audience when creating an online course, consider the following:
- Learning goals of your audience when enrolling in your online course.
- What are the point points they face, and how can your online course solve them?
- What are their skill levels?
- What is the age range of your target audience?
- The similarities and differences do your target audience have?
Consider building a specific community that could give an advantage from your specialized knowledge, especially if you are a part of it.
Conduct market research
Analyze the competition and the existing courses on the topic. Understand what makes your course unique and valuable to your target audience. Make sure the topic you have selected has high market demand.
The best way to find the audience’s interest is through keyword research. By doing keyword analysis, you can measure the popularity of search queries related to the topic by checking out the search volume. For example, you can use tools like Google Trends, Google Keyword planner, Ahrefs, etc.
Determine the course format
When attempting to create an online course, decide on the course format, such as video lectures, written content, or interactive modules. It is important to think about how you will present the online course. You must define the scope of the online course, learn about its profitability, and plan marketing strategies.
The length of your online course will depend on the complexity of the subject. For example, a short one will take only several hours to complete. Generally, mini-courses are provided by course creators either for free or at a low price.
Whereas long courses like masterclasses can take up to several months to complete. Such online courses that target professionals can cost around a hundred to thousand dollars.
Create a course outline
Map out the content and structure of your course. Defining a course outline helps you understand how to present the content, guiding the learners to expand their knowledge and achieve their learning goals.
A course outline must contain the following:
- All lessons.
- Lessons are broken down into subtopics or models.
- Activities, supporting materials, and assets.
Create learning materials
Create and record the course content, such as videos, slides, and written materials. When creating course content, make sure you have the learning outcome in mind. You can even repurpose the learning material if you have created some content around the same topic. The information you use for your online course can be from your blogs, podcasts, or even your previous YouTube videos.
For educators who are creating an online course from scratch, consider your course outline and reach each lesson and subtopics thoroughly to gather information.
Once you gather all information, consider how you are going to present the information.
For example, an online course can include the following:
- Text-based content which suits detailed descriptions and elaborate explanations.
- Videos to boost audience engagement.
- Downloadables to enrich the learning process.
- Workbooks to practice the concepts learners have already grasped.
Choose a platform to host your online course
If you are looking forhow to create an online course, the choice of platform to host is also important. Select a platform to host and deliver your course, such as Udemy, Teachable, or Coursera. If you are determined to build an online course business and establish yourself as an authority in the industry, you can also consider creating an online course website to host your online courses.
Hosting your online courses on your own website has the following advantages:
- Have control over the course content.
- Gain information about your learners and get their contacts.
- Generate more money by excluding commissions spent on third-party platforms.
Put a price tag for your online course
When you are ready with everything, it’s time to price your online course. Deciding how much you must charge for your online course is important.
Finding which price to adopt can be a challenging task.
When finding the right pricing for your online course, consider the following things:
- Value of your course.
- Competitor pricing.
- Production cost.
- Cost of the software used.
- The revenue you want to generate.
Promote the course
Use social media, email marketing, and other channels to promote the course and attract potential students. Find social media platforms your target audience engages in so that you can effectively promote your online course.
You can also leverage email marketing to let your contacts know that you are launching a new online course. You must also collect feedback from students and continuously improve the course based on feedback and performance metrics.
Conclusion
Creating online courses is a great way to make money by selling your expertise while helping others succeed personally and professionally.
Since there are no geographical barriers, selling courses is a scalable business model that comes with affordable start-up costs. This is the right time to take the leap and enter the lucrative online course business.