Table of Contents
The first step of creating an online course
…Is to pick a profitable course topic. Before you start an online course, you should make sure it will be profitable. To ensure your idea will sell, there are three things you can do which are niche-specific transformation or result, establish what you want to be known for, and validate it by your audience. With all three of these things, that’s where you should overlap them and see where it can be a profitable topic.
We always hear the word niche and it’s so important, especially when creating a course, you should “niche down.” You may ask What’s the specific result or outcome someone will have by taking your course? The answer is, it can be a transformation, a skill you’ve mastered, a problem you’ve solved, a quicker/more efficient way to do something, or an obstacle you’ve overcome.
If you’re thinking you want to create the course How to have a better life, that’s great! But it’s not specific enough. You need to specify the topic a lot more and create a tighter niche for the subject such as How to access the mindset that will allow you to reach an ultimate level of happiness. Do you see the difference? Putting “better life” could mean so many things to an individual person but by specifying “happiness” you know the results will be the ultimate level of happiness.
Another example is How to understand social media. Did you see what was wrong with this title? What could you change it into?
Try Social media strategies for businesses so you can grow online and reach new customers. That is a lot more specific and talks about the outcome, touching on who it’s for, what it is, and the results they will see which is growing online and reaching new customers.
You want to make sure your course establishes authority and to do that, you need to answer what do you want to be known for? Ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years time and see if what your course is about aligned with that. Make sure it is relevant to who you are and what you want to teach that is ongoing – if you are a fashion influencer and teaching people how to ride a bike, it doesn’t fit with the image you’re putting out there for yourself. Separate what you want to be known for and your hobbies or passions as they are different and will confuse your audience.
Now you need to validate your course topic. Here, answer the question is the transformation your course offers something people are searching for and actually want? To validate your course topic, you can do it with a simple search on your niche and see if people are asking questions or creating content on it. Even if you’re looking at people that have a course similar to yours, that is a good thing – don’t look at it as being oversaturated but that you can create it your own way and that competition isn’t bad.
Talk to your audience and ask them what they’re looking for through polls, calls with your audience, live, and offer free coaching to test your methods, and see if it’s working. Carry out a lot of market research as it’s all validation.
How to create your course
Start with the MVP which is the Minimum Viable Product- it is the release of a new product that is used to validate customer goods and demands prior to developing a more fully featured product. This is the bare minimum product with low effort, and low tech before you flesh out your course.
You can create a form on Google forms for whoever would like to join your course. Once people are on the call, you can get a lot of information from them like the questions they are asking etc so you can use it for the proper course. This call is what we mean by “low budget” as there are no teachings or slideshow presentations, it is just a casual conversation between you and those who have signed up to join the call. When creating your course, make sure you have a call, then go through the payment process and record the full zoom call so you can distribute it afterward if that’s what you have included.
After your MVP, we then create an MMP which is the Minimum Marketable Product – a more developed version of the MVP that is ready to be sold to customers. You start to package everything together in a course format that is more developed and formatted. It might not be there exactly but it’s the transition to the next phase. Your MMP journey can consist of 7-8 modules, of pre-recorded videos, mid-ticket of lifetime access, and a feedback questionnaire at the end. Remember, done is better than perfect!
Put everything together so you can create the final product that can be sold continuously. After getting all of the feedback you need, you can create a product that you can continue to evolve over time but you know what journey you’re on and where it’s going with the help of all of the research you have collated.
Your final product can be made up of 10 modules, 100+ worksheets/downloadables, lifetime access, and updated at least once a year.
Build a course that is simple to follow. Let your audience design the course with you, then do a sticky-note brain dump and get organised from the very beginning.
How to have a successful course launch
The first thing you need to do is to create a waitlist prior to the launch. Again, you can easily create this on Google forms and allow people to sign-up for Christmas – this creates hype around it and all you need is their name and email – done! Put a link in bio on social media/Instagram and get sign-ups. Maybe it’s a few weeks or a few months but keep it in your bio for when you do launch your course so create a waiting list before you create your course.
The next step is to teach a free 1-hour masterclass that relates to your course and at the end, you sell your course to the attendees. The key is to create a webinar that offers a specific transformational result alone. Someone can take that webinar and see tangible results – they walk away feeling like they learned so much and used the information to see results which will ultimately make them come back for more. A taste of success! Even if they don’t buy your course, they will follow you and you’ll see results that way.
Make sure you then create a 6-week launch plan which consists of a calendar and content. Fill your calendar up with content that you will be sharing with your attendees so you are organised and know exactly what you are going through without getting confused or stuttering.
3 ways to guarantee sales
Three way that you can guarantee sales is to offer pre-sales at a great price. For example, if you are launching a course in April and it’s January, you can tell your audience that they can get your course at a pre-sale price. If you get 10 people to sign-up at the lower price, that is money in your pocket before you have even launched the course and guaranteed sales.
You can create exclusivity by saying there are only 10 spots available and the cart will open at XX date. This will help someone buy as well as offer sign-up bonuses so anyone that joins today will get a GIFT. Who doesn’t love a gift? It will help increase sales dramatically.
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