How To Launch An Online Course Without Complicated Technology

Looking to launch an online course? Don’t get caught up in complicated technology tools.

In this article I’m talking about one of the big myths that I see out there in the entrepreneurial space around building and launching digital products.

And the myth is that you need lots of complicated technology in order to launch something new to your audience.

Do you have a validated digital product?

If you’ve launched an online group program, or you’ve got an online course that you’ve already sold, and you’re ready to ramp up your marketing to scale how you’re selling that – then yes…you need to get some things in place.

That’s when you need the technology pieces to get those funnels up and running.

Or are you launching something new?

But if we’re going back a step and it’s something new – for example, you’re taking your one-on-one service and trying to productivise it in some way.

Then don’t get caught in the trap of getting caught up in the weeds of doing research around the technology, like a membership platform or how to host the content.

And don’t worry right now about how it all comes together, or how do you create the funnel.

The truth is, if you’re at the point where it’s a new thing for your business, you don’t need all that technology. It’s just going to slow you down.

You need to keep it simple and chances are, you’ve got everything you need already.

There might be a few small things that you might need to add to your to your arsenal, but probably most of it you’ve

got already.

The Easy Way to Launch a New Digital Product

The easiest way to launch something new – after you’ve pre-sold it and validated it – is to just deliver it.

To drip-feed it out.

Create it as you go along and send it out via email.

If you don’t have an email autoresponder account setup, then yes – that’s something you need to look into.

Many people like to start with Mailchimp – it’s free to start off with. Or you could look into ConvertKit – it’s a bit more expensive but it does grow with you.

Whichever you choose, don’t worry about setting up complicated templates to make it look a certain way. Just send out text emails – that’s all you need. So it’s really cheap and easy to set up and to then deliver.

Drip Feed Your Content

So what you’re doing is, you’re drip-feeding the content for your product out to the people who have signed up for this first round of validation. All you need to do is write the content in the email and send it out to them.

If you need to create a worksheet or something that you want people to fill out – a Google document is fine. Google Docs free and you can send them a link.

If you need to create any slides you can do that through Google slides, or if you’ve got PowerPoint or Keynote on your

laptop and you need to create a video – you can do that straight from your laptop as well.

You’ll have some sort of inbuilt recording system to be able to create your own video. There are other free technology for videos such as Loom, if you want to do screen shares and that’s also free. It’s really easy to use, it gives you a link that you then share with people.

So, you can create all your content that you need in all these different formats, using tools that are simple to use, and – mostly – free.

At this point, you don’t have to worry about over-designing your content. You just need to get your content in front of your paid audience, so they can get results, give feedback and you gather the testimonials.

Then, when it’s all finished – you’ve just completed your course!

You’ve got that first round of your product created, without setting up anything complicated and without doing anything more than just

sending out a regular email to the people who have signed up and for it.

You haven’t spent hours and days struggling with technology.

Because here’s the thing.

By going through this process of selling it before creating it, and then creating that first round on the fly – it means that you’ve got money now to outsource the next stage.

Leaving you to focus on your message and focus on your marketing and focus on serving your clients. You know…doing the thing that you want to do!

This lean approach to product development allows you to reinvest – get money for

your idea and then reinvest that money, so that you get get things ready to scale up and to build them in a much quicker and more efficient way than just doing it all yourself.

And avoid getting bogged down in all the complicated technology.

Want more help? I’ve got a free online training that can help to walk you through this process:

This article was first published on Your Web Toolkit