online course creation

7 Seven Course Creation Tips You Need to Know

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Welcome to the Course Consultant Show, a show dedicated to help you launch your online course with a get ready to hear from successful course creators who ditch the nine to five, gain passive income on their couch, and took charge of their dreams. Here’s your host Melody Johnson, professional online course designer, and lover of all things chocolate.

How I Started Creating Online Courses

You’re listening to Episode One of the Course Consultant show. Welcome, everybody. My name is Melody. I’ll be your host. I am so excited today to talk to you about seven online course creation tips that you need to know. A little bit about me is that I started in traditional education. I was a teacher. I taught preschool kindergarten, and then I moved on to corporate training. I was able to work with leadership development programs. I worked with large scale companies, including finance companies, mortgage lenders. I eventually decided to move on to start my own business. Now, I work with small business owners to scale their companies by developing online course curriculum. The first thing that I highly recommend if you’re ever thinking about creating a course is to have a strategy behind your course launch. Before you even begin to develop your online course content, it’s so important to think about each of the steps and plan them out into your schedule. I know if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking about the million things that you need to get done on your to-do list. So I’m going to make this easy and quick for you today to give you those seven tips. So the number one thing before you sell your online course is that you need to choose a course platform. Now, many different kinds of platforms are currently available.

Choose The Right Course Platform

I’m specifically going to speak about stand-alone course platforms for the content creator, online coach, or small business owner. So the specific course platforms that I’ve worked within the past include Thinkific. Now, Thinkific is a great platform. If you’re looking for something that’s easy to set up, that has a professional look and feel and is also something that gives you advanced customization options. If you’re like me and want to have a lot of control and say over how your course looks, such as video, text, quizzes, online assessments, or even downloadable files, then Thinkific is a great option.

Why I Love Thinkific

Thinkific is a great platform. I also want to point out that there are so many different types of course platforms out there, that it just depends on what your course needs. Now for many people think epic is something that they have heard about, and there are some other competitors out there that have similar features. But in my personal opinion, as a professional course designer, I actually recommend Thinkific as my top choice. For course creators that want advanced customization options. For example, one feature I like about Thinkific is the fact that you can actually drip content out over time. In addition, you can actually have students upload their assignments and homework directly onto the platform versus having you sending an email. There is a workaround that I include in the Course Designers Toolkit that I talk more in-depth about this. I speak about how you can work around this assignment upload option with different course platforms. But today I just want to share with you that again, my personal opinion is Thinkific is pretty great.

Teachable

The second course platform that is common amongst online entrepreneurs is teachable. Teachable is a fantastic program that allows you to access online course content via your phone for mobile applications. And so if your primary course avatar or your key demographic are people who are on the go or busy bloggers, Teachable is a pretty fantastic program. I like that Teachable has some great other features, including some customizations of colors on their sales pages, as well as their online course platform. But I do think that some things could be developed even further, specifically around receiving assignment uploads. Teachable is really great if you want to make short, quick, simple courses. They do have some other advanced optimization, but not as much as think of it in my personal opinion.

Kajabi

Another platform I get many questions about is Kajabi. And Kajabi is probably on the more expensive side. If you’re looking for an all in one platform for online course creation Kajabi does have a lot of great features. It includes the ability to integrate your website, sell your products, as well as integrate your email marketing. Now Kajabi, again, like I said, tends to be on the expensive side. And so if you’re creating an online course for the first time, I highly recommend thinking about choosing a bundle of other software that can complement your course launch. But for advanced course creators, Kajabi is a great program. If you have more revenue behind you, and you believe that you just want to simplify your overall digital business, Kajabi is a great choice.

Podia

One thing that I feel like a lot of new course creators don’t consider is a newer course platform, and that’s called podia. Podia is an online course platform that allows you to customize fonts, colors on their sales page, host images, and video files. It is also reasonably affordable as well, especially for a new course creators that don’t have a ton of cash behind them. So podia also, in my personal opinion, has a great feature for their sales page customization. So I think that’s also another great option for people who are just starting out in their course creation journey.

Why I don’t Like Self Hosted Courses

Another thing to consider is WordPress themes or specific plugins that allow you to integrate, learn dash or course creation content on the website. I have heard of a few people hosting their material on their website. Still, I believe in my opinion, it’s best just to keep all of your content on a separate website unless you’re doing an online membership where people get paid to access that information directly on your site. The reason why I say that it’s better to think about it on an external platform is that your students will have a better experience. Now, if your website is functioning primarily as a marketing platform as an information zone, that’s a great way to share the marketing content.

If you’re looking at your website in terms of hosting educational content, you’re asking a lot more out of your website. And so you have to think about what is the customers experience going through the platform? Are they able to understand the instructions clearly? Is there a way to navigate through the sections or modules simply? What’s the experience of the completion of each specific lesson or unit? So again, thinking about the overall customer experience is important. Not just for the sake of the customer, but also for you.

Create a Cart Checkout

The other thing that I wanted to point out as number two tip for online course creators is to cute choose a cart checkout. The reality is that choosing a PayPal Buy button or something similar to that, such as WooCommerce, requires the user to log in to their PayPal, enter their information, and then check out. Most people will click on the Buy Now button. Then, they’ll want to see what they get out of it. And so you want to have your cart optimized for a checkout experience that’s quick and efficient. I believe that the two recommendations I have are SamCart or a Thrivecart.

ThriveCart

ThriveCart is great because there is a great option for you to allow something called bump offers. If you’ve ever been to an online website that you’ve seen, you choose to purchase something and offer an additional small price upgrade. Let’s say you know seven $8 to add onto the car for a limited time discount offer when you bundle a package together. That’s a bump offer. ThriveCart also allows you to discount based off of a coupon code from an affiliate or maybe something you just created specifically for a digital product launch. I love that about Thrivecart. They also have some really beautiful ways for you to integrate your images and create a unique experience for the customer from start to finish.

SamCart

SamCart is another great option. For checkout optimization. SamCart allows you to host digital files. And it also allows you to redirect to a specific URL. Let’s say that you do have a website and you want to host content. You will want to redirect your students to a specific page on your website that’s not navigatable on your website, meaning it’s not really on your menu. So, kind of like a private page. So if you want an option like that, I think SamCart a great way for you to offset the additional costs that do come with having to pay for these kinds of software and a smaller monthly fee. Thrivecart and Samcart are relatively similar in price. But again, you really want to think of what is it that you want to get out of them. Do you want that simple, sleek design experience where people can easily check out once they click on the Buy Now button? If that is the case, I would select smaller payment options such as Samcart. They do offer a smaller fee for about $45 or $47. It’s going to range depending on where you when you hear this podcast, but it’s a great option if you’re looking for a way to integrate it onto your website. Thrivecart does also offer a higher payment one-time payment plan currently for a promotion that they’re running right now. It’s a great tool if you have a lot of money upfront and you want to have those long term savings. So again, either of these cart checkout optimizations are great.

Leadpages

Another consideration is to bundle your sales page and your checkout experience with something called lead pages. lead pages are our standalone course platform selling page, and essentially if you have a digital product or service or some sort of program, you can sell your programs or services using lead pages, and there is an option in their specific pricing point where you can select the checkout option they’ll integrate with your bank so that you can receive payments. Personally, I like to customize it on a WordPress website. The only reason why I would suggest Leadpages is if you have a Squarespace website, and you’re not interested in doing advanced customization or coding. Or you’re not willing to pay for somebody to do that kind of coding on your website.

The only reason why is because Squarespace does require a lot of high-end customization in terms of code when you’re creating sales pages. Elementor doesn’t require a lot of customization in terms of coding if you’re using a WordPress plugin, like BeaverBuilder, or many different kinds of website builders.

Create A Sales Page

Speaking of sales pages, another tip I have for online course creation is to create a sales page. The things you need to include in a sales page is to identify what that problem is, create a clear solution, and then provide social proof with testimonials. Have people experienced some sort of transformation by using your product? What problem are they solving by looking at this sales page? If it’s really clear, and you have a lot of great testimonials, that’s great. I feel like I’m more likely to purchase anytime I see clear social proof.

Call to Action Button

Number four is that you want to include within your sales page, a call to action button. This is the most important thing. So again, that call to action button is going to integrate with your button for your cart. The cart checkout integration is not that difficult to learn if you have somebody walking you through it. So what you want to do is create a call to action button that links directly to a cart checkout, such as Samcart or Thrivecart.

Create An FAQ

The other things that sometimes people also include are FAQ or frequently asked questions. These include questions such as Who is this product for? What are the primary benefits? Do I have lifetime access? Do I have the commercial use to use this product or template for selling or changing something within this template?

Another thing is that people sometimes will ask about refund policies. What are your refund policies? What’s the timeframe? Are there any conditions for a refund? How much can you receive back is it 100% those are the kinds of things that you want to think through before you make your sales page. So I’ve already talked about three different tips.

Have a Social Media Marketing Strategy

The fifth tip on online course creation is social media strategy. This is important because before you develop everything, you want to start to think about what are the key features in this product that I’m trying to share with other people? What are some things that you want to learn from, so that you can share that information with your ideal clients, customers, or people who would like to support you as affiliates? So creating that social media strategy, and one great way to do that is to create an affiliate content based off of ease of use.

Create an Affiliate Marketing Dashboard

When your affiliates need to share information, they don’t have to stop and think hard about it. Affiliates can share information like graphics or content to whatever platform like email marketing, social media, or you name it. So create some Pinterest graphics, some Instagram graphics, perhaps create some content for your email marketing strategy for your affiliates. And by creating these free resources, you’re not only going to be able to repurpose content from your course, but you can share information easily.

Share Free Resources

Another thing you can do is to share free resources that you’ve created that align with your course. So if you already have content that’s free and downloadable, such as templates, more trainings, guides, other resources, like those go really popular, share them. Also, do some SEO research on what’s the key things that people are looking for. If you need some examples, don’t hesitate to review some of my lead magnets in my portfolio. Once you do that, you’ll be able to see that people will be more likely to purchase your course if they get some samples of it before they even try it. I don’t know about you, but I like going to. I like going to Sam’s Club to try all of those free sorts of food. And so when I try them out, I want to see it is even good before I try something and I purchase it. So a great way to do that is to share those free resources. You can also connect with other podcasters bloggers or business hosts that might be able to benefit from your valuable information.

Create a Bonus Offering

And then the last thing I have to share since we jam-packed this whole episode with much great content is to create a bonus offer. So another great sales tactic is to create a bonus offer, which includes other types of resources that your ideal client would benefit from. So let’s say that you’re selling an online course, and you have the five tips that podcasters need to know in order to monetize their online business. If your ideal client struggles with creating online marketing material, perhaps you could share some resources for scripts that they can share to their ideal customers or listener base. If you’re on Instagram, or a digital media strategist, perhaps that you can create some Instagram graphic templates that you can actually share using the templates link in Canva. Bonus offers helps people see value in with each of these specific trainings. You’ll be able to create helpful resources and true value to your customers by bundling all that useful information together.

Conclusion

Okay. Wow, we did so much today. And I feel like I was talking a mile a minute. So make sure that you get your pen and paper out because I’m going to be sharing some great tips again on the course consultant show. And if this seems like a lot of information and you don’t know where to start on your course creation journey, don’t forget to download the course creator starter outline. It’s a free resource that I give to all of my friendly email subscribers and I love sharing free trainings with you as well. In addition to that outline, you’ll also get a free PDF printable on how to align course objectives to plan and develop your course with ease without having to worry about where to start. I hope this was helpful, and it can’t wait to see what you create on your next online course
How to Create an Online Course in 2020
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This post may include affiliate links. For more
information, please review our disclaimers and privacy
policy.

The importance of online course creation cannot be overstated. More than ever before, small business owners are looking for ways to skip traditional learning and find location independent options. Without the requirement of having to take time off of paying work, adult learners have the convenience of working on courses at their own pace in any location. Even established universities cannot ignore the growing desire for adult learners to have access to quality online tutorials. According to Forbes, the eLearning industry is expected to grow to over $325 billion by 2025. Needless to say, the monetary incentive to make and sell an online course continues to grow.

How Much Can You Make With An Online Course?

Successful online course creators like Sunny Lenarduzzi, Pat Flynn, Amy Porterfield, Marie Forleo, and Jenna Kutcher are proof that online course creation is profitable and scalable for business owners. According to Foundr, Pat Flynn made over $167k in passive income with over $40k made from course sales in 2017 in under one month. Jenna Kutcher reported over $330k after her successful course launch. It just goes to show that these online marketing gurus make their message clear. An online course is the result of a full-scale online marketing strategy. Successful courses take time, effort, and persistence.

How to Choose a Profitable Course Topic

A profitable course idea can make the difference between selling out and selling zilch. Before you even begin to make and sell an online course, evaluate topics that have the highest interest with your audience. Just because you THINK someone is interested in a topic, does not always mean that a course topic will be lucrative. Consider what a specific audience is willing to pay for by creating market research surveys, polls, and asking questions in online groups. Research competitors that might offer similar services or digital products that are being offered. It may not be a bad thing that you have competitors.

Identifying Your Course Avatar

Who is your course designed for? I find that the deeper you understand your audience, the more likely you’ll be able to provide a real solution. People need reassurance that you’re not only knowledgeable, but you are also trustworthy and likable. Whenever I meet a person face-to-face, I try to understand more about them by asking them to share more about their hobbies and favorite foods. The same thing applies to understanding your audience. While it’s much harder to do online, it is very possible to develop real and meaningful relationships through their network and digital marketing.

Understanding the problem

If you’re a small business owner, content creator, or freelancer you probably receive similar questions. Start with these commonly asked questions, then use the answers to create your online course curriculum. Related questions can then turn into a module organized by a single topic. What keeps your client or customer up at night? Think about how your service or product can solve those problems. Will you help your client or customer save valuable time, money, or make more money? Based on your market research, you can then continue to develop your course outline on these powerful foundations.

Creating Your Unique Solution

Everyone has a unique advantage, but not everyone is aware of how to use it. Your personal story or experience can help someone see the benefits of working with you or purchasing your products. For example, at one time, I made and sold artisanal soaps! I enjoyed creating crafts so much that I sold several lotions and soaps to my friends and family. Each time I shared a product image on my website, I told people about the story of how I made each product by hand. It became so popular; I didn’t have enough time to keep up! My friends and family could have chosen to purchase soap for much cheaper at a local store, but what made the difference was my relationship with them. Find out what your advantage is in your course creation journey and then use your story to help others achieve their goals.

Your unique selling proposition is comprised of what you are good at, what people will pay for, and what competitors are not offering. Understanding how to create an online course isn’t all that difficult, but why you created your course matters. Secondly, it’s your process or method that will help people chart their success.

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How to Create a Course Outline

But how do you create an online course curriculum? You could pull together a string of ideas on a word document, but that will only give you a limited idea of how to bring it all together. A successful course requires quality content. Start by employing these strategies to make and sell your online course. Think about the key takeaways that you want your students to learn. This is often known as backward design. Using this approach, develop the key lessons for each series of learning topics also known as modules.

What is a learning objective?

Learning objectives are the basic building blocks from which a great course curriculum is developed. A Learning objective is a statement that is specific and measurable. A learning objective helps you and your students realize how much of the content they have mastered and what they are still struggling with. Learning objectives can be dissected into smaller components or conditions. Each learning objective typically includes a specific audience, behavior, condition, and degree.

For example, “In this video, you’ll learn how to publish a blog post using WordPress including properly formatted H1 and H2 headings.”

Audience = the viewer or “you”

Behavior = publish a blog post

Condition = in WordPress

Degree = using properly formatted H1 and H2 headings

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Learning objectives are tied together using different verbs. These verbs are organized in categories by comprehension level. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a learning taxonomy used for developing curriculum. It’s based on the idea that comprehension comes at different stages or levels. By using verbs that align with higher levels of understanding, you strengthen your student’s knowledge and skills.

What is a learning goal?

A learning goal is a statement that reflects the knowledge, skills, or abilities that the student will learn. Think of a learning goal is a target and a learning objective as the bull’s eye. Learning goals are different from learning objectives because they are based on a larger educational purpose. So if your course is based on Instagram Marketing, a learning goal could provide students with the fundamental awareness of how to use Instagram for marketing their business. If your target audience is more advanced, your learning goal would be targeted to support a deep understanding of online marketing.

How to Make Your Course Interactive

Interactive courses are growing in number. From my experience as an Instructional Designer at publicly traded companies, interactivity is a must for adult learners. But what is an interactive course? As technology advances with virtual reality and gamification, online learning must follow suit or get left behind. Interactive courses can be made through the use of applications like H5P which provides students with the ability to drag and drop objects, use interactive flashcards, and even create lessons in a complex 3D environment. Another great way to create interactivity is to develop templates, worksheets, or live video conferences. Online challenges such as a “5-day email challenge” or a “30 day SEO challenge” are popular incentives for both online course students and potential customers.

Selecting Your Course Platform

Course platforms are abundant, yet many lack the necessary tools that online course creator’s need to launch a successful course. One issue I find that small business owners need is assignment review. Instead of creating assignments without any accountability from your students, you need to create a way in which students can easily upload their documents for you or your virtual assistant’s review. One solution is to use Dropbox’s “file request” feature. This method allows you to create a link in which files can be received. Teachable does not offer an assignment review option, however, Thinkific’s paid plan does offer this as a solution.

How to Record and Edit Your Course Video

Videos are often used as the primary means of instruction. While videos have their place in online courses, they aren’t the only way to provide information. Use text, video, audio, workbooks, and worksheets to help students achieve their learning goals. You can record and edit your videos with many different screen recording options including Camtasia, Screencastify, or Screen-cast-o-matic. Quick tutorials can also be recorded including a talking head with a screen with programs like Loom.

Recording Audio

It goes without saying that recording quality audio is an
absolute must. One major issue I find with online courses is a lack of quality audio which can be perceived as unprofessional. In fact, background noises can distract students from the lessons you are sharing ultimately leading to poor student results. I recommend using the ATR USB Microphone which is easy to set up and doesn’t require a degree in audio engineering to record quality audio.

How to record great audio

Here is some step by step tips on recording great audio to make and sell your online course.

Find a quiet room with lots of padded space such

as a bedroom, office, or closet.

Close your windows and make sure any pets are

not within a close distance.

Setup your microphone at a close distance from

your mouth.

Use a pop filter to help catch any “plosives”

that can make a spike in your audio. Plosives are constants that make hard

sounds in your microphone such as “p’s” “k’s” or “s’s.”

Recording Your Screen

If your online course will incorporate any software-based tutorials, you’ll need to record your screen. Mac-based users might immediately choose Quicktime as one option, however, I find that the processing time for these types of videos is long and tedious. My personal preference is to use a low-cost and affordable application called “Screen-cast-o-matic.” This web-based application allows you to record both audio, screen, and your personal webcam. The paid upgrade is well worth it and is less than most advanced video editors with features that include captioning, zooming, basic editing, and even markups. Videos are quickly processed and saved directly to your hard-drive instead of being saved on any cloud-based servers. It’s one of the easiest ways to record and edit videos without taking hours of time.

Conclusion

Online course creation is one of the best ways to make passive income. Learning the step by step strategy to make and sell an online course requires the right team. Don’t forget to stay tuned for more weekly tips and plans to help you prepare to launch your digital course. If you’re not sure how to get started, make sure to set up a free 1:1 consultation!