7 Steps For Course Creators
Even though creating an online course may seem overwhelming, it is relatively simple with the proper steps. This guide cares about those with limited experience or no idea how to start the process and will talk about the essential steps for course creators!
Identify and Understand Your Ideal Student
Choose a Course Topic and Titles
Plan Your Course Syllabus
Create Your Course Content
Set Up Your Website
Sell Your Course
Launch Your Online Course
Identify and Understand Your Ideal Student
Identify Your Students
In this first step of the course creation process, it is essential to identify who you are teaching and why. Whether your online course is for people who want to build a business, lose weight or learn how to run a marathon, you must first understand who will be taking your course.
It is important that you get very specific and detailed here. First and foremost, understanding your target audience helps you tailor the content of your online course specific to your students’ needs. If you don’t know whom you’re creating content for, you could end up with many materials that don’t help solve their problem, which means they won’t finish your course or will be dissatisfied that it wasn’t what they were looking for in the first place.
Get to Know Them
The reason knowing who your target audience is matters is because when it comes time to market and sell your online course, you can speak directly to them through your writing and use the language they use. When people read something that speaks directly to them, they are more likely to engage with it, which means they’re more likely to buy!
One of the biggest problems with course creators is that they don’t know their target audience well enough. They tend to create courses that try to appeal to everyone when this happens. They think they do, but they don’t.
For example, if you’re an SEO expert, you may think that it’s obvious who your target audience is: “Everyone who wants to learn SEO!” right? This approach is a recipe for disaster because it causes your course content to lack focus, feel unfocused and appear unprofessional.
The truth is that there are many different subcategories within the SEO world. For example, do you want to teach people to optimize their websites? Or maybe you want to teach people how to improve their ranking on Google? Or perhaps your goal is to teach people how they can create content that ranks high on Google.
Here’s a quick tip: Make sure your course has a narrow focus.
The more specific you get with your course topic, the better off you’ll be in the long run.
To narrow your focus, start with identifying your ideal student and make sure you truly understand them.
Here are some things to consider as you create your profile:
- What is their age?
- Where do they live?
- What are their interests and hobbies?
- Where do they spend most of their time online?
- Why do they want to learn what you’re teaching?
- What are your ideal student’s desires and goals?
- Are there any other products or services that might distract them from buying yours?
- How much money can they afford to spend on your course?
Asking these questions will help you get inside their minds and better understand what your ideal student wants from your course. It will also help you better understand why they should buy your course vs someone else’s. For example, you can make a difference by using certificate maker software.
Choose a Course Topic and Titles
It’s essential to know your audience, but it’s equally important to know your purpose and topic.
Know Your Purpose
The first step to building a course is figuring out what you will teach. This sounds like it should be easy, but it can be surprisingly challenging. A good rule of thumb is to start with the thing you know best or do well. It doesn’t have to be an official area of expertise, and it doesn’t have to be something you’ve taught in a classroom. If you’ve been playing the guitar for ten years, write a course on playing the guitar. You speak five languages, and write a lesson on how you learned them! You’re an executive assistant, who’s been working in the same office for 20 years, write a course on how to navigate office politics!
Find a Title for Your Course
The title of your course is significant for several reasons. It’s the first thing people see when they come across your course, and it can make or break whether they decide to click through to check it out. It has to communicate what the course will do for your students, and it has to be compelling enough that potential students would want to buy it. It’s like a book title. You need a strong title that grabs attention and makes people want to buy your course.
For example, “How to Play the Guitar” sounds better than “Guitar for Absolute Beginners”. The second title includes too many words that do not tell any information about what the course will be about.
Your title should be clear and concise yet descriptive enough that students know what to expect from your course. And if you’re going to rank in search engines, you’ll need keywords in your title.
Don’t use vague or misleading titles that force the user to read the description to figure out what the course is about. A good example will include the word “Beginner” for beginners or “Advanced” if it’s for advanced students.
If you’re still not sure what your course topic should be, here are some tips:
- Brainstorm your areas of expertise
- Think about which topics people ask you questions about
- Imagine yourself as the student
The good news is that there is a scientific formula behind creating great titles that turn into sales. This process is called positioning, and it’s what professional copywriters use to sell product after product.
I know what you’re thinking: “Easier said than done!”. But if you’re struggling with this, take a look at your existing client base or your target audience and ask them.
This is especially helpful if you have a list of email subscribers. Send out an email asking your subscribers to fill out a quick, anonymous survey about the most frustrating problems they face in your industry or niche.
You’ll get tons of ideas for new course topics that way. And if you’ve already been working with clients who have problems and challenges like the ones your ideal clients will have, then create a course based on what you’ve learned from working with them.
The following tips will help you create a course title that gets attention:
- Use the word “how” in the title. Titles with “how” in them get the most views and clicks. Think about it from the perspective of your audience. They’re looking for a course that teaches them how to achieve something. How to find a job, make money online, and speak Spanish are all examples of courses that use this technique effectively.
- Don’t use vague words or buzzwords. Don’t say “learn” anything unless you teach a specific skill. Please make sure you’re clear on what people will learn when they take your course. The best titles describe what someone will learn in the course without being too long or too vague.
- Your title should be as descriptive as possible. To do this, you need to think about your target audience. What are they looking for? What will they type into Google?
Here’s an example: “How to Speak Spanish in 30 Days?”
Plan Your Course Syllabus
You need to think about the general course structure before getting into the course content.
Create a course syllabus that sells
If you’re planning to publish an entire course, your first step is to plan out the curriculum. This is a crucial step that you should not skip.
Your curriculum will be the skeleton of your course, and the lessons must be organized logically. You don’t want to confuse your students by jumping from one topic to another with no clear thread connecting them.
Many teachers start by writing out all the topics they want to cover and then organizing them into sections and modules. This can be a good starting point, but if you’re not careful, you can end up with a jumbled mess without a clear plan on your desk.
It is also a great idea to create a more appealing syllabus by using multimedia and creative formats to deliver the outline of the course to your potential students.
A few examples of these resources include:
- PDFs of printed worksheets
- Downloadable cheat sheets of information
- Watchable videos created exclusively for the course
- A downloadable eBook if there is an associated book that goes with the course material
Create an outline for each lesson in the course
Before you start writing, create an outline for each lesson in your online course. This will help you write faster and ensure that all parts are well-structured.
Create a detailed outline of what’s covered in your online course. Think of it as a table of contents that you can use to guide your audience through your entire course.
A well-structured online course will help you engage your students and keep them interested in learning.
Here’s a list of sections to consider including in your outline:
- A title introducing the lesson topic
- An introduction to the topic, including its importance or relevance
- An explanation of the topic, with examples and discussion
- A summary or recap of what will be discussed
- Resources or references to be used
Write Your Course Script
Once you’ve got an outline of each lesson in the course, it’s time to write! You can do this yourself or hire someone to write the script for your course (you can find quality writers on sites like Upwork).
A well-written script is an integral part of any video course. It guides the presenter, but it also serves as a tool to ensure that all points are covered logically. When writing a script, it’s essential to keep the following points in mind:
- Research additional content to supplement the script.
- Edit and revise the script until it’s perfect.
- Include multimedia elements in your lessons.
- Add quizzes, worksheets, or other assets to course lessons.
- Be sure that the script flows smoothly and naturally, without sounding “canned.”
- Avoid using jargon or technical terms with which viewers might not be familiar.
- Try to write conversationally. Don’t be afraid to use contractions (such as “don’t” instead of “do not”).
- Have someone else read the script aloud to you, and make changes as needed until you are satisfied with how it sounds.
Create Your Course Content
You want learners to get the best experience possible and learn as much as possible. As a trainer and creator of online courses, you already know what a good course looks like. But how do you make sure that your learners are getting the most out of your course?
Creating a course online is not as easy as making a video and posting it on YouTube. For instance, if you are teaching a course on something, you need to make sure that you know what the audience wants to learn and how they will benefit from it. Also, you have to make sure that the content is well-researched and the video has been edited so that it retains their interest throughout the course. Thus, in this article, we have outlined some tips that will help you create engaging course content for your audience.
Decide What Type of Course To Create
When you start to create an online course, it’s important that you first decide what type of course to make. There are two main types of courses that we think you might be interested in:
1- Video courses – In this case, the course content is presented in video format. Video courses allow your students to experience the same level of interaction they would receive in a classroom or seminar. This is great for teachers and coaches who want to deliver their expertise more personally.
2- Slide presentation – This course uses a PowerPoint presentation or other similar software. The teacher/coach will have a voice-over recording with the slides.
It’s up to you which one you choose. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it depends on your style and preference, your niche and expertise, and the type of material you want to teach.
Both require time and effort, but the result will be an online course that is engaging and inspiring for your students!
Have You Considered the Length of Your Course?
When it comes to online course creation, the length of your course matters. It can dictate how much money you make from your course, who will be interested in purchasing it, and how much time it will take for you to create it. This means you need to decide on a length before you start creating your online course.
If not, keep in mind that shorter courses (15 minutes) tend to be more popular and successful than longer courses (more than 2 hours). As a new instructor, it might be best to start with a shorter course so that you can test out various strategies to set yourself up for success.
So if you have decided on these two main points, it’s time to create the content for your course and make it ready to serve!
Creating a course is challenging. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. The planning, recording, editing and publishing are all time-consuming tasks that require focus and effort. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re reading this, it means you’re up to the challenge
To help you create your first course in the best possible way, here are some tips for you to consider:
Create Lessons That are Easy to Follow
The first thing you need to do is make sure your lessons are easy for people to follow and understand. This means having clear objectives for each lesson and using the same layout throughout the course. For example, if you have a 10-week course on playing the guitar, you might start each lesson with a video showing how to play the chords for that week’s song. Then you could include a few practice exercises and an audio recording of the songs so that students can listen as they play along on their guitars at home.
• You can give students a heads up on what they will learn in the course,
• It must be a solid introduction to let them know what they will gain from it,
• Keeping the introduction as short as possible but long enough to get the information across is important. You will want to make sure it is not too long as this will bore them and possibly cause them to lose interest in continuing with the course.
Start Recording or Slide Presentation
Once you’ve decided what type of content will go into your online course, you can start recording or editing slides!
If you’re teaching creative skills, you’ll need to create a video course, recording yourself as you teach the course material. If you’re creating a slide presentation, make it look professional. Your images should be high resolution, and your text should be easy to read and not too small.
• Make your videos short and sweet – keep them under 5 minutes if possible. This way, you can have multiple lessons each day instead of one long one!
• Have a clear outline for each video – use bullets, so people know what’s coming next! The shorter your videos, the more likely people will stay engaged with them instead of getting bored after 10 minutes into a 45-minute lecture!
• Record your lessons – This is the most time-consuming step in the entire process, but it is also the most important. You want your lessons to be easy for students to follow along with and understand what they are doing when they reach each new level of mastery. The clearer and more concise you are in your videos, the easier it will be for students who don’t know anything about the topic to learn from them!
• Edit everything into one video format that can be uploaded onto any online platform or downloaded directly onto any desktop computer or smartphone device so that anyone with access to an internet connection can view it whenever they want!
• Upload all video content onto YouTube and other video sharing sites like Vimeo, etcetera, making sure people watch these videos and follow up with some contact information such as an email address (optional) so there is no loss.
Set Up Your Website
The road to success as an online course creator is paved with caution. It’s easy to get lost in the technical details of setting up a website and sending out your first email. There’s too much information out there, and it can be challenging to know what each piece is or how they relate. Luckily, we’ve done the dirty work for you.
What do you need?
- A website where you can sell your course.
- A platform where you can host your online course videos.
- A sales page where you can tell people about your online course.
- An email list to tell people about your new launch or send free resources to your audience. You will be surprised at how many people will sign up for it!
Set up your website:
The school of thought that says you either have a website or not is a thing of the past. There’s no shame in having a beautiful website in today’s Internet age, especially if it’s a platform for your online courses. It’s essential.
If you want to host the site yourself, there’s an easy process for finding a web host that fits your needs. You’ll need to decide on a domain name (e.g., yoyocoursesite.com), which should be short and easy to remember (and type). Once you’ve made that decision, you’ll need to create an account with the hosting company. You can do this with various payment options, including PayPal (it’s quick and easy) or credit cards.
You have to have a solid online presence. You’ll face technical issues and user-experience problems, but you can overcome that by taking the proper steps while setting up your site.
- Navigation Menu: A navigation menu should be easy to use. When people are looking for an explanation of how to use the site, they often need the most frequently used features listed first, or they may get lost in the menu. If you sell products via multiple channels — online and offline — make sure there’s a link to find each type of product you offer quickly.
- Content Pages: It’s important to have content pages that explain what your business is about, what it does for customers, how it can help them and more information about your company and its products. Your content pages should also include links that direct visitors to further information about your company or its services.
Choose a platform:
If you’re creating a course for yourself and selling it directly to students, consider using a platform that lets you set up your website and a course. That way, you can include your blog and other content that complements the course material and helps make it more engaging.
There are several free and paid options available, but you should choose one that best suits your needs. Some platforms specialize in business-to-business (B2B) courses or work better with video, while others have more robust options for integrating social media. For example, WordPress has many features for adding videos and other elements, while Squarespace allows you to build custom layouts and entire sites.
There are two main reasons to use an online course platform. First, your students are paying you, and you need to be able to collect the course fees. Second, you want to connect with your students wherever they are — whether at your home or office computer or on their phones.
There’s no single correct choice here; pick something that fits your needs.
Sell Your Course
It takes a lot of work to launch an online course. But what comes next? You might think tIt takes a lot of work to launch an online course. You might think that creating your course is the hardest part, and you can sit back and watch the money roll in. But what comes next?
But the truth is that while creating your course is challenging, launching and marketing it are more complex still. This guide will show you how to get your course out to the right students, keep them engaged, and earn ongoing income.
In this step of the article, we will take you through a step-by-step guide on selling your course and retaining students while collecting feedback.
Create a marketing strategy
If you want to make your course a success, you need an effective marketing strategy. Without one, it will be difficult to attract students, and you’ll have a hard time selling your course.
You’ll need to get the word out about your course, and if you have no experience with marketing, you might be wondering where to start.
Do marketing research: who is your ideal student, and how can you help them? What problem are you going to solve? What are the main benefits of taking your course?
Research online marketplaces, competitors, and price points. This will give you an idea of what courses are already on the market, who your competitors are, and how much people are willing to pay.
Promote, promote, promote!
One of the most challenging aspects to confront when launching your course is the lack of a marketing budget when you are just starting. With little money to put behind advertisements, getting your course off the ground and in front of your ideal customers can be challenging.
But how do you reach your target audience without spending a penny?
There are many ways to promote your course -content marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing- it’s up to you which method will work best for your business. Do a lot of research and decide which channels are most suitable for reaching out to your target audience. Remember that it takes time to build an audience, so be patient and put a lot of effort into promoting your course.
Don’t forget about PR
It never hurts to reach out to bloggers and media outlets to let the world know what a great teacher/trainer you are! 😊
Launch Your Online Course
Welcome to the final stage of the ultimate guide to follow for course creators! You have probably finished your course and are ready to launch it. However, this is only the beginning.
After a lot of hard work, preparation, and planning, you’ve made it to the first step of your course launch. You have a course that is ready for the public to see and experience, and a sales page (if you’re selling your course) that is ready for people to make their purchases. You now have the opportunity to sell your course to those who need it most.
Luckily, launching a course is fun too! It’s a unique chance to build excitement for your work and share it with friends and fans who have been waiting for this moment. Here are the steps you should follow during this final stage of launching your online course:
Start building an email list
Start building an email list if you don’t already have one. This will allow you to promote your course through email marketing. A great way to grow your email list is by offering something free in return for someone’s email address (sometimes referred to as a “lead magnet”). This could be something like a video series, cheat sheet or PDF. Now you can use those email leads to promote a launch date and early bird pricing.
Promote on social media
To help drive traffic to your website and sales page, make sure you regularly share on social media. Social media can be a great place to promote your course because it allows followers and friends an easy way to share with others if they like what they see. Make sure that you share content consistently and are providing.
The goal of your course is to help your students solve a problem or get a result. To help them, you’ll need to create content that teaches the best way to do this. The course creators can offer a digital reward to people who complete the course using the digital badge maker. So, people can add Linkedin digital badge.
We are not finished yet! You can also check these tips to promote your course after the launch day to keep the students coming:
- Ask your students who already took the course to rate it and write a review. It will help you get more students and more money.
- Create flyers for your next workshop and distribute them in places where you can find people who might need what you teach.
- Create a free online event (webinar) to promote your course and invite people who would like to learn from you.
If you manage to keep that in mind while creating your course, you will have created something truly unique! Sertifier, digital certificate generator, is ready to accompany you on your online cours creating path. Finally, if you have decided to create an online course or are already in this business, check our detailed blog “How To Sell Online Courses From Scratch“!
Comprehensive, and well-detailed. Thank you.