Many people today are always in the search of new information and things to learn. And with everything that is happening in the world, there is no better time to learn new skills than now.
It can be a new DIY or craft to do during your spare time or it can be a lesson to further master your current skillset. With this, the need for information and instruction has opened a great opportunity for those who already have the following knowledge to teach other people while generating income!
Online learning and training have now become an essential part of online businesses. Creating and selling online courses is an excellent strategy to earn passive income that can generate up to 6 or 7 figures!
If you are good at crochet, then you can teach the basics of crocheting. The possibilities are endless as long as you have the creativity and determination to. And if you already have an online business, then you can create an online course and use it as a part of a funnel system to lead your students to your coaching program or to your website.
Convinced yet? If you are, then here is a step-by-step guide on how to create an effective and profitable online course this year.
How to Create Online Courses in 2023
What to write or teach
If you have knowledge or experience on a certain topic that could help others, or if you have a solution to a problem, then you are in the perfect place to create a course. Thinking of a topic to teach is quite simple: you just need to find something you are passionate or knowledgeable about and go from there. Now that you have a topic in mind, you will now have to determine if the course topic is profitable.
Determine your Goals and Objectives
You may now want to ask yourself: What do I want my students to learn? How do I want them to learn? And Why do I want them to learn this specific topic I am teaching?
These objectives will help you and your students to know whether or not they actually gained knowledge and understood your course. This will also help you improve your lessons in a way that will benefit your students the most.
Do Market Research
If you want to create a profitable course, then you must determine who your audience is. You don’t want to spend a lot of time creating a course that no one will buy. Many people might want to know about your topic, but the question is; are they willing to pay to learn it?
If people see that you are solving a specific problem while gaining new knowledge and skills from you, then there is a high chance that they will want to buy your course. So it is best to research and determine who your best buyer will be and whether or not they are willing and able to buy your course.
Research the topic
Sure, you do have the knowledge on a specific topic but is it enough to make people stay and buy your course? Or can they learn about this specific topic for free by simply searching on Google? You may already think that you are an expert on this specific topic but there is always something new to learn out there. So do your research, compile everything, take down notes, and make sure that your knowledge will be able to cover all of the main topics and sub-topics of your course subject.
Plan the Course Outline
After your research and note takings, you may want to spread this information on your course in a structured manner. Break down each idea even more and divide and arrange them in a logical order that will not confuse your students. An ideal and general outline structure would be:
- The Course Subject
- 1st Main Topic
- Subtopic
- Subtopic
- 2nd Main Topic
- Subtopic
- Subtopic
And so on. Creating a structured course will help your students to learn everything easier since each stage of your course will be connected and will flow systematically instead of being jumbled up and all over the place.
Creating the Course Content
Now, for the creating part. Based on your outline, you will be able to determine what kind of materials or strategies you will need for your course. You can either start from scratch or repurpose your old content if you have some. Your content could include some digital material such as leaflets, infographics, and more with valuable information. Another effective way to engage your students is by providing them with videos, free ebooks or printables, presentations or slides, quizzes, and audio files.
The most important thing here is to encourage your audience by returning to your course over and over again and you can do this by consistently providing them with engaging and new information.
Create and Nurture Your Community
Once you have a number of students in your course, then it is time to make your own community. You must know that even though learning is somewhat of an individual activity, it can also be a social process.
A great way to build a community for your course students is by creating a Facebook group exclusively for your students. This way, you will be able to encourage communication and interaction among the members of your course. Learners love to communicate with people who are on the same journey as them and love to share ideas.
If they have questions, then the answers will not be limited to only you – other students can chime in and share their knowledge.
Create Activities for Your Students
Aside from giving them downloadable freebies and ebooks, you can also keep them engaged by presenting them with a few quizzes or activities per lesson. Providing quizzes can help your students get immediate feedback on their answers and it can also help you determine what topics you need to discuss more on. Your quiz can be in the form of multiple-choice, true or false questions, short polls, and more.
Another way is by providing them with assignments. After each lesson, you can insert a few assignments or activities they can do. They can upload their answers and you can manually grade them and give feedback.
Lastly, you can give them a Certificate of Completion which will be awarded to students after they have finished studying a course. This will encourage them to actually go through and finish your course.
How to Market & Sell Online Courses
Once you have successfully created your course, it is now time to look for students. You should not just stop and wait for students to miraculously appear out of nowhere.
You must always find ways to grow your email list as much as possible. You can market your online course through email marketing by providing them snippets or teasers of your course, and a call to action that will redirect your email subscribers to the purchase link or page of that course.
Another is to promote your course through your blog. You can either create a separate landing page for your course, create a pop-up message of your course each time a user visits your blog, or insert a link of your course on your blog posts.
Choose your Course Hosting Platform
Once you have an idea about the course content, you will need to choose how you want to host your course. You can check here the best online course platforms. And if you are an active WordPress user, you might want to have a look at this LMS solution – here’s my LearnDash Cloud review.
Sell Your Online Course Through Pinterest Marketing
Another way is through Pinterest Marketing. I have several videos on my Youtube that could help you understand and master Pinterest marketing which will help your online business and courses. Furthermore, you can join my own online course – Pinterest SEO Traffics Secrets – wherein I tell you exclusive strategies on how to get free traffic and leads from Pinterest to your website and online course.
But in general, all you have to do is to create beautiful and engaging pins with an attention-grabbing image and call to action that will redirect users to your course landing page. Do know that Pinterest is another search engine website aside from Google so if you have any knowledgeable information you want to share, then Pinterest is a great place to start! And if you go to Pinterest, you can actually see tons of online course pins so you know that online courses have a huge community on the platform.
Get Feedback
Lastly, make sure that you are always improving your course and actually getting feedback from your students. You can receive suggestions and feedback by sending surveys through email or at the end of the course.
With all that said, I highly suggest you start creating your online course and earn money by simply teaching others what you already know!
I’m Anastasia and I’m a full-time blogger, online entrepreneur, and Pinterest marketing strategist. I help digital entrepreneurs and bloggers drive targeted traffic from Pinterest either through my online courses or through Pinterest consultancy.
