Creating an online course is a fantastic way to share your knowledge and generate income, and at gmonline.net, we’re here to guide you through the process of building a successful online learning platform. By focusing on valuable content, effective marketing, and community engagement, you can create a course that stands out. We’ll explore how to choose the right tools, create engaging content, and build a thriving online community.
1. Select Your Course Topic
The online education market is booming, so you’ll face competition when launching your online course. To stand out, concentrate on a topic where you possess unique insights, credibility, expertise, and a genuine passion. Identify a niche where your knowledge can truly shine.
When narrowing down your topics, explore those with the highest market demand.
Niche course topics like “making authentic maple syrup” or “producing ska music” might attract fewer students, but they present an opportunity to establish yourself as a leading educator in that specific space. On the other hand, highly popular topics like “novel writing” or “golf” will ensure a steady stream of students but are likely more competitive for newcomers. Be cautious of competing directly with well-established courses.
Your online courses don’t need to appeal to the masses, but they should cater to topics with consistent interest and offer a unique value proposition—something students can’t find elsewhere. This unique angle is crucial for attracting and retaining students.
Finding Your Course Topic: The Ikigai Exercise
This exercise, inspired by the Japanese concept of Ikigai, can help you identify the right course topic by aligning your skills, passions, and market needs.
Ikigai represents your personal source of inspiration, purpose, and joy. Use an Ikigai diagram to uncover subjects that will motivate you as a teacher.
Draw Four Circles
On a piece of paper, draw four overlapping circles, labeling them:
- “What you love”
- “What you’re good at”
- “What the world needs”
- “What you can be paid for”
Fill In Each Circle
In “What you love,” list your passions. In “What you’re good at,” write down your skills and expertise.
Under “What the world needs,” consider current trends, challenges, and knowledge gaps. User research will help here.
Finally, note down topics or skills people pay to learn in “What you can be paid for.”
Identify Overlaps
Look for intersections between your circles—areas applying to all four categories.
This overlap represents a course topic aligning with your passion, expertise, market demand, and earning potential. This clarity helps you create a fulfilling and attractive course.
2. Conduct Comprehensive User Research
After selecting a topic, identify the skills, knowledge, or experiences students are most eager to learn. This involves thorough user research to understand your target audience and define your ideal student, enabling you to design irresistible course content.
Techniques for Understanding Your Audience
- Step into a Beginner’s Shoes: Experts often lose touch with the beginner’s perspective. Speaking with prospective users helps you regain this mindset.
- Identify Customer Pain Points: Your course should solve a problem, provide hard-to-find knowledge, or offer faster, more efficient learning.
- Understand Desired Outcomes: Focus on the transformation students seek after completing your course.
User Research Tools
Approach defining your ideal student like a market researcher, use these tools for insights:
- Google Trends: Check if your topic’s popularity is rising or falling.
- Keyword Tools: Semrush, Ahrefs, and AnswerThePublic reveal what people search for.
- Reddit, Quora, and Forums: Explore community questions and discussions related to your topic.
- Social Media Scavenging: Follow industry leaders on X and LinkedIn, noting relevant conversations.
Primary Research
Connect directly with potential customers and survey them. Aim for at least 10 interviews, keeping them short and focusing on course format and pricing. Consider offering the course for free upon completion as an incentive.
Develop survey questions addressing:
- Problems your course solves
- Reasons for taking the course
- Expected outcomes
Use a script like this to invite prospective customers to a user research interview:
“Hi. I’m creating a course on _____ and want to ensure it’s valuable for learners. Would you spare 15 minutes for a video call to discuss how my course can help you reach your goals? I’d love to offer you the course for free once launched, as a thank you.”
Learning Outcomes
After user research, define your online course’s learning outcomes—the skills, experiences, or knowledge learners gain.
Well-defined outcomes serve as a roadmap, highlighting the benefits of enrolling. When crafting outcomes, consider what learners will be able to do, know, and feel after completion.
A popular method is the ABCD approach:
- Audience: Who is taking the course
- Behavior: The skills or knowledge they acquire
- Condition: The course requirements
- Degree: The level of expertise they achieve
Adapt the ABCD elements to reflect your learners’ priorities. If your course leads to accreditation, start with the degree. If your audience is hobbyists, emphasize the behaviors they’ll master.
Consider the level of detail resonating with your audience. A one-line outcome may suffice for some, while others need a full document.
Example Learning Outcome: “By the end of this mouthwatering, two-part online course (C), bakers of all levels (A) will elevate their Sunday mornings with buttery, flaky croissants (B) that meet the exacting standards of traditional French pâtissiers (D).”
3. Select Your Course Format
Online courses vary in format and medium, including live classes and asynchronous content. Structure and delivery impact how you market to learners and your pricing.
Consider the delivery method—will students access materials on an e-learning platform and complete assignments independently, or will they learn via live webinars?
Self-paced courses offer flexibility, while cohort-based courses bring students through the material together with set start and end dates.
There are three main types of courses:
- Mini-course
- Multiday course
- Master class
Mini-Course
Typically requiring an hour or two, a mini-course can be a series of emails or short videos.
Priced under $100 (or even free), it serves as a marketing tool or lead magnet for a more extensive course. It’s an excellent way for new creators to test the market.
Multiday Course
These intermediate courses take students several days to complete.
They might include pre-recorded videos with modules and supplementary materials like worksheets. Live check-ins and social meet-ups can resolve challenges and enhance the experience.
These courses often range from $250 to $2,000. They’re ideal if you’ve validated your idea with a mini-course.
Master Class
Master classes last weeks to months and aim to provide a complete system for success.
Typically for professionals, they range from $300 to $5,000. New creators should start with mini-courses and multiday courses first.
For example, Jean-Martin Fortier and Suleyka Montpetit of The Market Gardener Institute offer a range of courses, including a master class.
The master class takes 40 to 60 hours, includes over 40 modules, 50 videos, and 45 technical sheets, plus a community component.
4. Test Your Course’s Market Demand
Before investing time and money, test if enough people will buy your course to make it profitable.
Use a minimum viable product (MVP), releasing a product with just enough features to validate your assumptions. For an online course, an MVP could be a mini-course or a free webinar.
Mini-Courses
Mini-courses focus on a specific topic rather than covering a broad range.
| Multiday Course Topic | Mini-course Idea |
|---|---|
| Marketing for startups | Organic social media strategies with $0 |
| Email marketing 101 | Email segmentation in Mailchimp |
| How to write a nonfiction essay | Crafting the perfect opening hook |
| Photography basics | Photography lighting and shadows |
| Leadership and people management | How to run an effective 1:1 meeting |
Mini-courses allow you to leverage your expertise or repackage existing material into a format like an email course, which also captures leads for a larger course.
High signup rates validate the market demand for your course.
Create a Free Webinar
Another MVP strategy is creating a webinar with an upsell.
Spend the webinar providing valuable information, and gather feedback on what participants found most valuable and what else they want to learn.
Validate Your Idea
Validating your online course idea will prevent you from creating a course no one buys.
5. Pre-Sell Your Course
Pre-selling involves selling your course before its creation, mitigating the risk of creating an unwanted course.
Additional benefits include stress-testing your concept, tailoring content to early feedback, and raising funds. Early sign-ups can motivate you to finish and launch your course.
Attract your first cohort by creating a pre-sale landing page with a discount.
To pre-sell your course:
- Share the course title, topic, and outline
- Set a goal for what a successful pre-sale looks like
If you don’t meet your goal, consider refunding customers and reevaluating your course.
6. Outline Your Course Content
Creating your course’s contents and logically dividing it into lessons requires careful work. You’ll need to step into a student’s shoes, starting from the desired end state and working backward in manageable segments.
Break Content into Modules and Lessons
The amount of content and lessons depends on the course type (mini-course, multiday course, master class), completion time, and cost.
For a multiday course on content marketing, breaking it into five modules might look like this:
MODULE 1: Setting a Content Strategy
MODULE 2: Writing Content that Converts
MODULE 3: Search Engine Optimization
MODULE 4: Managing a Content Calendar
MODULE 5: Content Distribution
From there, break modules into specific lessons. Here’s how you might break down the above modules:
MODULE 1: Setting a Content Strategy
- Lesson 1: Determine your editorial objectives and goals
- Lesson 2: Define your target customer and reader personas
- Lesson 3: Outline your customer content journey
- Lesson 4: Conduct competitor content research
- Lesson 5: Decide on content formats
MODULE 2: Writing Content that Converts
- Lesson 1: Choosing the right topics
- Lesson 2: Researching and outlining
- Lesson 3: Crafting the perfect lede
- Lesson 4: Drafting compelling content
- Lesson 5: Efficient editing
MODULE 3: Search Engine Optimization
- Lesson 1: Keyword research
- Lesson 2: On-page SEO
- Lesson 3: Technical SEO
- Lesson 4: Offsite SEO and building backlinks
- Lesson 5: SEO tools and measurement
MODULE 4: Managing a Content Calendar
- Lesson 1: Selecting your content calendar tool
- Lesson 2: Categorizing content on the calendar
- Lesson 3: Setting a regular content meeting
- Lesson 4: Keeping your content calendar organized
- Lesson 5: Maintaining an idea bank and content queue
MODULE 5: Content Distribution
- Lesson 1: Promoting content on owned channels
- Lesson 2: Content refreshing and repurposing
- Lesson 3: Pitching to publications and newsletters
- Lesson 4: Syndicating your content
- Lesson 5: Paid advertising and sponsorships
Determine Lesson Formats
The medium of your course can vary. For a free or low-priced mini-course, use an email format with text and illustrative images.
For higher-priced courses, use multiple formats to keep students engaged. Mix text, video, and downloadable content.
Here are popular course formats and their benefits:
- Video Content: Great for portraying ideas simply and effectively.
- Screencasts and Walkthroughs: Ideal for processes needing exact steps.
- Text Content: Best for detailed explanations and linking to resources.
- Downloadable Content: Excellent for cheat sheets and templates.
- Workbooks: Valuable for helping learners internalize concepts.
Keep videos under 10 minutes and focus on actionable content. Research competitor formats and ask students about their preferences.
Recording Video Classes
High-quality video keeps courses engaging.
Setup
- Space: Choose a quiet location with a clean background.
- Lighting: Use natural light or invest in softbox lights at 45-degree angles.
- Equipment: Use a tripod-mounted smartphone or DSLR camera, and an external microphone.
Shooting
- Framing: Position the camera at eye level, using the rule of thirds.
- Delivery: Speak clearly and reference visual aids.
- Breaks: Record in short segments for an energetic tone.
Editing
- Software: Use free editing tools for transitions and cuts.
- Trimming: Cut pauses and mistakes to keep videos concise.
- Enhancements: Add text overlays and background music.
- Captions: Include captions for accessibility.
7. Set Course Pricing and Sales Goals
The price is limited by the course type and format. Factors include:
- Niche and Topic: Consider industry pricing and customer sensitivity.
- Marketing: Reflect marketing costs in your pricing.
- Authority of the Course Creator: Proven leaders can charge more.
Conduct competitor pricing research. Avoid underselling yourself or overpricing.
Set a sales goal to inform pricing and marketing. For example, to reach $50,000:
Scenario 1:
- Goal: $50,000 in course sales
- Course price: $20
- Buyers needed: 2,500
Scenario 2:
- Goal: $50,000 in course sales
- Course price: $250
- Buyers needed: 200
Scenario 2 is generally better. Lower prices require more aggressive marketing. Aim for a price that reflects your course’s worth.
8. Choose the Right Online Course Platform
Decide where to host your course content. Options include standalone, all-in-one, and marketplace platforms.
Standalone Course Platforms
These platforms offer control over content and data. Examples include Thinkific and Teachable.
All-In-One Course Platforms
These platforms combine marketing tools, website builder, and content delivery.
Generally more expensive, they consolidate tools. Options include:
Online Course Marketplaces
Marketplaces offer a built-in audience, but you have less control over pricing and data. Examples include:
Evaluate platforms on:
- Intuitive use for you and students
- Support for your content types
- Student engagement features
- Customization options
- Costs (setup, monthly, and transaction fees)
- Built-in marketing tools
- Scalability
- Mobile app availability
- Level of support
The content matters more than the platform. You can always switch platforms later.
9. Launch and Advertise Your Course
Launching and marketing your course is just as important as creating it.
After perfecting your course, make it visible with these strategies:
Run a Weekly Webinar
Webinars are low-cost lead generators. Attendees are more likely to purchase your course.
Prioritize Email Marketing
Build an email list to share updates, information, and discounts. An email marketing funnel can convert leads into buyers.
Appear on Podcasts
Podcasts increase your authority by showcasing your expertise. Pitch yourself to relevant podcasters.
Use Social Media Marketing
Identify your target audience’s preferred channels and build a strategy that consistently adds value.
Run Paid Ads
Target your ideal buyer with ads on Google or Facebook. Ensure your customer acquisition cost is less than the course price.
Adopt SEO Tactics
Optimize your website for search engines to help customers discover your course.
Build a Content Marketing Strategy
Create free educational content to build authority and improve search rankings.
Effective marketing takes experimentation. Focus on what works and ditch ineffective tactics.
10. Collect Feedback and Testimonials
Real student testimonials are powerful endorsements.
Collect feedback and testimonials from satisfied customers. Positive anecdotes can convince potential customers of your course’s value.
Ask customers who provide glowing feedback for a testimonial to feature in your marketing.
Be specific about what you want in the testimonial. Ask targeted questions like:
- “How much new revenue have you generated?”
- “How prepared did you feel before and after taking my course?”
Specific details are more impactful than generalizations. Video testimonials are preferable to text.
Use feedback to improve the course over time and provide the best learning experience.
The Benefits of Creating an Online Course
Selling online courses is an attractive online business idea.
- Scalability: Create one resource and sell it to many people.
- Low Cost: You may only need a few software subscriptions.
- High Margins: Digital courses can have margins as high as 85%.
- Passive Income: Generate income continuously once the course is created.
Common Online Course Creation Mistakes
Avoiding common pitfalls can improve your course’s quality.
- Lack of Clear Objectives: Clear goals keep your course focused.
- Overloading Content: Focus on essential points and break them down.
- Ignoring Engagement Features: Add quizzes and discussions to keep students interested.
- Poor Audio and Video Quality: Invest in basic equipment.
- Neglecting Feedback: Regularly ask students for feedback.
- Inadequate Marketing: Develop a marketing plan.
- Underestimating Time Commitments: Plan realistically to produce quality content.
Start Selling Online Courses Today
Share your unique insights and marketable skills through your first online course.
- If you can create illustrations on an iPad, teach others.
- If you’ve grown social media followings, share your strategies.
- If you’re a product management leader, create a course to help others.
Creating an engaging online course means packaging your passion into a digital product and earning money through your enthusiasm.
For the latest news, detailed guides, and a vibrant community of gamers and esports enthusiasts in the USA, visit gmonline.net today at 10900 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States, or call us at +1 (310) 235-2000.
How to Create an Online Course FAQ
What is an Online Course?
An online course is a series of educational lessons delivered via the internet, allowing students to learn at their own pace. These courses cover a wide range of topics and can be accessed through various platforms.
How Can I Create Online Courses for Free?
Choose a specific topic where you have expertise and market demand. Decide on the course type, content medium, curriculum structure, platform, and pricing.
How Much Does it Cost to Create an Online Course?
A basic course could cost a few hundred dollars, while a high-end professional course might cost thousands for video production and marketing.
Is Creating an Online Course Profitable?
Yes, creating an online course can be profitable if the content is valuable and attracts a large audience. A successful course requires proactive promotion.
Other FAQs
- What equipment do I need to create an online course?
- At a minimum, you’ll need a good quality microphone, a decent camera (your smartphone might suffice), and video editing software.
- How long should my online course be?
- The length depends on the topic and depth, but shorter, focused modules tend to be more engaging.
- How do I protect my online course content from piracy?
- Use DRM (Digital Rights Management) tools, watermarks, and secure hosting platforms. Regularly monitor for unauthorized distribution.
- What are some effective strategies for marketing my online course?
- Content marketing, social media promotion, email marketing, webinars, and collaborations with influencers.
- How important is community engagement in an online course?
- Very important. A community fosters a sense of belonging, encourages interaction, and enhances the learning experience.
- Should I offer a certificate of completion for my online course?
- Yes, a certificate adds value and motivates students to complete the course.
- How often should I update my online course content?
- Regularly update to keep it fresh, relevant, and accurate. At least once a year is recommended.
- How do I handle negative feedback on my online course?
- Address it professionally and constructively. Use it as an opportunity to improve your course.
- Can I create an online course on my phone?
- Yes, there are apps and tools that allow you to record, edit, and manage your course from your smartphone.
- What are the legal considerations for creating and selling online courses?
- Copyright, terms of service, privacy policies, and compliance with data protection regulations.
