The first goal in developing an online course is finding a clearly defined problem and promise of a result. This needs to be the forefront of what you are trying to achieve. Look at creating videos and pdfs to guide through lessons.
Table of Contents
Creating The Online Course
Video Lessons
The most important aspect of your online course is the content. Make sure that the content is valuable. Having short videos with clear step by step instructions are the best types of videos.
Each video should have a titles and a short description on what it’s about. You can also include products and services that you recommend in your videos in the description.
The videos should be organized. It can be in different categories. Each section should have a linear step by step guide.
Pdf or Doc Files
If you have content already, you can repurpose documents into a pdf. It can include step by step instructions in the video. This can be very helpful for learners that like to read.
Quizzes
Quizzes are more of an optional feature. The best part of a quiz is that it will sum up for the student if they understood the material. This can be helpful for engagement.
What Should I Teach?
The most important part is providing some kind of value. Usually you are selling one of the three options: money, relationships, and health. Every niche can be adjusted to target one of these core values.
Read: 200 Different Niches That You Can Build A Business Around
Teach about Money
Money is one of the biggest things to sell. Every niche can be adjusted to talk about money.
For example, home and décor is a niche that can be adjusted to talk about money. New cabinets, bathrooms, and curtains can lead to an increase in the value of money of a property.
I’ve personally gotten into the land investing niche. I sell an online course showing how my wife was able to quit her job. I promote a land investing webinar for people to get a free training on how to do it, and sell my course afterwards.
Art and crafts is another example. You can teach how to earn money by selling paintings or how to make money by teaching others to create paintings.
Each niche has a way of being positioned. Money is one of the best ways to talk about your course.
Teach about Relationships
Relationships is a huge market.
Look at the clothing industry. If you are in the men’s clothing niche, you can teach others how to dress. You can emphasize different brands and ways to dress to catch the ladies or big clients.
Read: How a Teacher Quit Her Job By Creating a Clothing Line
Another example is the gaming industry. There are people that want to get into competitive gaming. There are teams, top players, and a whole world of gaming leaders that will help them get into and excel in competitive gaming.
There is specific way to build followers and sponsors that people have used to get into the industry. The course can be labeled: “How to Build Partnerships That Will Help You Become the Ultimate Competitive Gamer.”
Who you know is important. Relationships can be in the form of marriage, dating, and business relationships.
Teach about Health
Keto Diets, Adkins Diet, weight lifting, healthy eating, supplements, and other parts are easy to identify in regards to health. These are great online courses.
Health is not only Emotional support is a real thing. Meditation and trying to breaking addictions are big industries.
Think about public speaking. An online course can be sold as a way to get higher income. It can also be used as a way to build relationships at a conference. In a health perspective, people are deadly afraid of public speaking. This is a different type of course than the other ones.
Platforms For Hosting Your Course
One of the things you will have to decide is what platform you will put your online course. Each platform has benefits.
Thinkific
Thinkific is the platform that I recommend. They have a free option to put your course in. It also allows you to grow into the business without extra transactional fees.
I’m a cost efficient person. At least I try. It has a way for you to get started without having to pay anything. There aren’t limits to how many people can try your course.
Teachable
Teachable is a very popular platform. A lot of bloggers use their service. It’s a popular platform to host your course. It has some advanced metrics as you go into bigger plans. There is a free option for a trial phase. It has a limit of 10 people that you can have for your course. This can be a deal breaker.
You’ll be able to start doing integrated affiliate marketing at a Pro level. This can be helpful if you want other people to advertise your course.
Clickfunnels
I found out about marketing funnels from this platform. It’s more about getting higher conversions for your business. A lot of users that do well use paid advertising and create sources of organic traffic.
The benefit is that you can host your online course right on Clickfunnels. They have a good system. There are business owners that have made millions of dollars on their platform.
Kajabi
Kajabi came in after Clickfunnels. They have a more integrated system than Clickfunnels , but there is a higher initial cost.
If you are looking at a all in one system, Kajabi can be a great resource. This includes your email marketing, funnels, and online course hosting all in one place.
Udemy
Udemy has an already built audience. This is the only reason you should consider Udemy. If you get a couple people to check out your site and give reviews, it can give you a steady stream of income.
This strategy requires a lot of volume for it to be effective. Udemy always has sales and they usually go for around $10.
Google Drive/ YouTube
I’ve paid for courses that were hosted on Google Drive and unlisted in Youtube. Is this recommended? Not really, but if you are looking for the bare bones it can be an option.
Google Drive allows you to share your files. If you share your whole folder with viewer access, if can be a quick way for your clients to get your information.
Suggestion: I recommend just trying Thinkific if you are looking for a free option. The layout is better and you can always upgrade for more features.
Finding a Traffic Source to Sell Your Course
If you don’t have a traffic source, you will not sell your online course. If you can find a consistent way to get leads, you will do really well. This is why you should think about your traffic source.
Free Traffic Organic Source
This is the golden grail of traffic. You need to be able to find free organic traffic. The benefit of free traffic is that it will help you sell your course with warm leads.
Blogging
Blogging is my preferred medium. I enjoy writing my thoughts. The best part about a blog is that it is searchable. You can find more and more viewers for your content.
I recommend using wordpress.org for your platform. This allows you to control your content. It has your branding and you can create an audience based off of this group.
You’ll need hosting to set up your WordPress website. A lot of bloggers start with Bluehost. They have an affordable option and a quick and easy set up.
Read: 10 Ways to Make Money with Blogging
YouTube
YouTube is one of the best platforms. It has one of the biggest search engines and it’s only behind Google. People go on YouTube for tutorials and just entertainment.
An alternative to YouTube is Facebook videos. Facebook videos are getting increasingly popular. It’s okay for building up an audience. The problem is that as time increases the Facebook videos gets harder to be found.
I suggest that you stick with YouTube. The benefit is that as time increases, you will be able to find more viewers and subscribers.
Podcasts
I love listening to podcasts. It’s now taken over a lot of the radio. People are able to listen to what they want on their trips to work.
People generally listen to only 5 podcasts regularly. This means that you will need to get into that inner circle to be of influence to them. Your podcasts are searchable, but the easiest way to get followers is by going on other podcasts.
The podcast is a good way to talk about results and testimonials. It can be a good way to get a glimpse into your online course.
Social Media
Social Media is another way to get leads. If you have followers or friends, you can introduce your course to clients. It can be through a post and following up with responses.
You can look at posts and send private messages. This can be a good way to focus on the right people.
Paid Traffic Source
Paid traffic is a great way to bring in clients. There is an additional cost that can run a lot of money. You can hire someone to walk through the process or try it on your own.
The problem with paid traffic sources is that the cost may increase because you don’t own the traffic. This means that you will have to constantly look to optimize everything and watch over your data.
Google Ads
Google Ads is based off of Pay Per Clicks (PPC). You only pay if they click on your website link. Google has an auction set up. They charge based on what the competition will pay.
The benefit of Google Ads is in the intent. This is important for the state of mind of a person. Whenever someone is searching for something, they want a solution to their search.
Facebook Ads
Facebook has PPC and also CPM. They mainly charge with CPM. CPM is the Cost per 1000 impressions. This just means that as long as they show your ad, they will charge you. This can be cheaper than paying by the click, but it doesn’t guarantee any results.
Platforms for Creating a Landing Page
You need to create a highly converting landing page. This is one of the most important parts about paid tracking. It’s hard to know for sure what is highly converting.
I’ve used Thrive Themes to build out my landing pages. They have a plugin on WordPress called Thrive Architect. It’s been a good way to create a page builder.
You will want to test the results. Some platforms allow for A/B testing. This just means that you can run two different landing pages to see people’s response.
Clickfunnels and Kajabi are popular platforms that you can try. They have the funnels to test results from paid ads.
Know that deciding to go with paid traffic can be expensive. If you aren’t careful it can quickly hit your wallet and jaded over online courses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest way to build my online course?
Thinkific has a free plan and it allows for unlimited students. You can always upgrade your plan.
What is the most important part about developing an online course?
The most important part is understanding who you are selling the course to and how you are going to sell to them profitably. It’s a question on traffic. You need a traffic source.
What should I teach for my online course?
At some level, you should be teaching how to get more money, better health, or deeper relationships. Every niche should relate to one of these values.
