7 Steps To Creating A Successful Online Course..

I have been helping coaches build, market and sell premium online courses for over 3 years now and it's my obsession and passion, so I wanted to share some useful tips on how to approach online courses if you are thinking about adding one to your repertoire.

So here are my 7 steps to creating a successful online course, hope it helps...

1. Figure out WHY you are trying to create an online course.

Are you trying to share something? Test an Idea? Is this your main product? Are you trying to add passive income streams to your business?

This is an important first step because it will guide you in the right direction from the beginning so you can design and build your course with the end in mind.

If you are using a mini course to help current clients or as a freebie you can keep it really simple.

But if you are trying to build a significant income stream then you will need to put some time into the planning process and build a course with modules and extra resources.

If you want to see huge results with your course it's really important to offer action items and downloadable resources to after each video or module.

2. Select your topic.

If you want to sell the course and make money then you will need to do your research first.

Do market research using social media groups relevant to your target market and find out what your audience are talking about and the problems they are experiencing.

What do they want/need to learn about?

What kind of problems are they having, and what keeps them awake at night?

What kind of language do they use when discussing the problem? All of these are important questions in selecting the right topic for your course.

If you already have a blog/ a loyal fan-base then you can get through this step much quicker and easier

3. Research your topic.

You really should be an expert at what you do before you even think about building an online course.

However you should always be doing what you can to top up your skill level and always be at the top of your game.

You can do this through regular research, reading books on the topic, reading blog posts, looking other online courses on the same topic.

The internet is your friend.

Also do not be afraid to take inspiration from other courses and experts in your niche, providing the information is legit.

4. Map & Organize

This is one of the most important aspects of building an online course. It's vitally important to map out each module and video using a pen and paper or an organization software such as Trello.

By mapping out your course you have the means to work on your course step by step. You can see the parts that you know fairly well and fill in the parts that you don’t.

This will allow you work on the course step by step and stop you from getting overwhelmed. I cannot tell you how indispensable a course map is when it comes to motivation and organization!

It also gives you a good long term plan if you want to stretch the course out into a series.

5. Decide what platform is best for your course

There are a lot of course platforms out there and each platform has advantages and disadvantages depending on what your goals are.

My advice would be to build your course within your own members area on somewhere like Kajabi (my go to platform)

This means you have total control over the price, layout and marketing. If you use something like Udemy or Lynda you have very little control over the longterm success of your business.

6. Record the course.

This part is the often the scariest and the most fun.

Once you have done all of this prep work and you have mapped out your entire program, it's time to start creating the content.

This doesn't need to be overly complicated and can simply be voice over a powerpoint or Keynote presentation.

If you don't want to put your face on camera that's fine, as long as the content that you are covering in the videos is valuable and actually helps your clients go from A to B.

7. Bypass steps 1-6 and get help from an expert

All of this can sound daunting I totally get it, but like anything in life, working with an expert is always the most effective short cut to success.

So you could choose to partner with or hire someone to help and guide you though the process, but make sure you work with someone that has a track record of getting results in the past and has significant experience building successful courses.

It is also best to work with someone that can help you through ever step of the process. Because building a course is one thing, being able to effectively market and sell it consistently is something else!

So ideally you should work with someone who can help you to map and build your course, but also help you set up the right marketing systems so you can make sales consistently.

If you would like to have a chat to discuss whether now is the right time for you to add a course to your business you can schedule a call and we can have a chat

Book A Call HERE

I hope you got value from this article, please feel free to give feedback and ask questions below, I'm here to help.

Sam