Online courses are one of the more common types of digital informational products that are a great monetization option for bloggers and marketers going after a specific niche segment. Of course, there are online course marketplaces like Udemy and Lynda, but they don’t give you as much control as hosting your own course on your own website.
There are three parts to building a successful online course. 1: You must have great content 2: You must have the right technology platform for your website 3: You must have a marketing strategy.
We’re going to cover those three stages in this blog post. Before we get started, take a second to leave a comment and let me know what kind of course you’re looking to create!
Step 1: Outlining Great Content
Creating great content is easier said than done. An effective online course not only provides an in-depth training program for customers that want to learn something new, but it also covers the topics they care about and need to know to be successful.
If you already have an established blog, it’s likely that you know your audience pretty well by now and the kinds of questions and problems that they struggle with on a daily basis. However, if you’re an expert in the space but don’t have a blog or other type of online presence, then it might take some market research to figure out the questions/problems that your target market is plagued with.
The best way to discover what content your course should cover is to talk directly to your future users! By gaining an intimate knowledge of their pain, aspirations, and problems, you’ll create a course that is more likely to help them accomplish whatever it is they’ve set out to do.
You might be an expert in a particular topic, but the questions that you might think of typing into google are likely to be a lot different than those of someone new to the discipline. For example, you might type in “content marketing tips” and they might type in “how it content marketing different than blogging?”
For those of us who are well acquainted with content marketing, the answer is obvious, but for those of us who have only heard of blogging and are now learning about this new thing called content marketing, the answer is less obvious.
Step 2: Creating the Content
The first question that I had when I learned about online courses is, “what does that entail?” Basically, an online course is a package of videos, download documents, and in some cases worksheets that will get the student up to speed in an organized manner.
These videos are sometimes voiceover powerpoint presentations and other times are screen-capture videos, particularly if you were doing a programming tutorial or something that required the student to see the screen. In addition, the videos could also feature your face with accompanying images or motion graphics to illustrate points.
At first, like you may have, I wondered how this was different than youtube videos or blog posts. However, once I actually took an online course, I had an “aha” moment. For the level of helpfulness and detail that the teacher put into this particular online course, I’m glad it costed money and I felt like a got a good return on the investment.
Once you eventually set down to actually create the content, it’s important to keep your customer’s attention span at the forefront of your mind. In general, most people tune out around 20 minutes into a lecture and shorter videos or presentations are always appreciated. Longer does not always mean better (this is something I also struggle with)!
I would also check out some of the competitor online courses (if they exist) on marketplaces like Udemy to see the type of content that they are offering their students, the duration of the videos, and their unique selling point, or what you’re going to get out of the course.
For my course, I initially planned to have 6-8 modules, but eventually brought the number of modules down to 4 with ~5 lessons each for a total of 6 hours worth of content.
Step 3: Recording The Content & Putting it Together
This part just takes discipline and grind. I’d recommend committing to a schedule of at least one completed lesson per day. This includes the video that you’ve recorded, notes, and any other elements.
I also found it helpful to schedule each lesson as if I was giving a mini-talk each day. I set aside a particular time, made sure it was quiet and that I was not bothered, and I had rehearsed the material a bit the previous day. This proved to be a good way to make consistent progress on the course.
Finally, I can’t say this enough, but don’t be boring! I also continually am working on this also. In college, you might remember the boring math or philosophy professor who droned on and on about a particular topic. No matter how important that topic was, how much your grade mattered, or how much you wanted to pay attention, it was impossible. Don’t be that professor!
Modulating your voice, adding industry jokes, and being enthusiastic in general will help maintain the attention of your students and keep them wanting to progress through the course.
Step 4: Use the right technology
Step 5: Develop a marketing strategy