The internet has provided many benefits over the years, and one of them is the ability for anyone, anywhere, to learn a new skill. As traditional education methods continue to lose relevance in this technology-driven world, it’s evident that online courses offer a vast opportunity for many business owners and entrepreneurs. In fact, according to Statista, the worldwide e-learning market is forecasted to surpass $243 billion by 2022!

Creating an online course can offer a targeted solution to customers desperate for content to solve their problems or answer their questions. With the right course and approach, you have the opportunity to position yourself as an industry leader, generate passive income for your business and deliver more value to your customers than ever before.

If you’re ready to capitalise on this growing opportunity but aren’t sure where to start, I’m here to help. I’ve outlined 10 steps to creating and launching a successful online course. Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Choose your course topic

Ready for a truth bomb? It doesn’t matter how good your online course is; if your audience isn’t interested in your topic or is unwilling to pay for it, you won’t see much success. Align your course topic with your customer’s needs. Start by thinking about how you can solve a problem for your customer or provide additional value. Your social media, blog and website analytics can help you determine what topics resonate with your audience.

Step 2: Conduct market research

Before pouring time, energy and money into creating an online course, you want to ensure there is sufficient demand for what you’re offering. The greatest online course in the world will be a failure without a strong market. Create a course based on what your audience wants. Send a survey to your mailing list or put up a series of polls on social media to gauge interest and invite any questions. These questions will identify any potential sticking points or barriers and help inform your course content and structure.

Step 3: Establish clear learning outcomes

Want to know what makes an online course successful? The number of signups? The 5-star reviews? Nope! It’s the value that your audience gets when they reach the end of your online course. Learning outcomes provide a solid idea of what your audience should achieve after each stage of your online course. If your customer cannot see how your course content is relevant to them or don’t have a vision for what they can do with it, they will not be motivated to sign up. Remove this barrier by clearly defining what’s in it for them, ensuring that the learning outcomes are results-driven and value-focused.

Step 4: Decide on your course content

With access to the diverse range of technology we have today, people expect more from the content they consume online. Gone are the days of monotonous slideshows and one-note teaching. Instead, customers want an engaging and interactive experience. Consider adding interactive elements such as quizzes, video tutorials and worksheets to add some pizzazz and keep your customer motivated throughout the course. It’s also important to remember that we all have different ways of learning, some like video, some prefer audio, and others prefer to read. Appeal to a broader audience and provide different content formats for your online course.

Step 5: Create a plan and course structure

When designing your online course, you want to ensure that it is structured logically and purposefully to support your customer’s understanding and learning outcomes. When people feel empowered as opposed to confused, completion rates increase. To provide a friction-free and rewarding experience for your customer, put yourself in their shoes. Map out their journey with your online course. Are you covering all of the learning objectives? Is any of the information vague or unclear? Is there a natural flow between modules or sections?

Step 6: Determine your delivery method

PDF online courses, video courses, live or recorded webinars or dedicated Facebook groups. The options are limitless when it comes to online course delivery methods. Unfortunately, this can often make it harder to muddle through and find what is suitable for you and your course. If it’s your first time launching an online course, I recommend keeping it simple. Choose a delivery method that you feel comfortable using and will offer your customer the best user experience. If your customer needs to go through a complicated signup process to access your course, this can negatively impact their experience and, in some cases, even deter them from starting the course.

Step 7: Lights, Camera, Action!

It’s time to produce your online course and transfer your knowledge into digital content. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Not necessarily. Producing an online course can be an overwhelming and daunting experience for the technically challenged or adverse among us. To reduce stress and make the process as streamlined as possible, find an online tool that offers filming, recording and editing capabilities or consider outsourcing to a freelancer or agency with experience in online course creation.

Step 8: Set up the tech

With your freshly produced online course waiting, you now need to decide on where to host it. Will you use an online course marketplace such as Udemy? A learning management system like Kajabi? Or perhaps you want to keep everything under one roof and self-host via your website? Whatever method you choose, I recommend signing up for a free trial to test out all of the features and if you have questions, set up a call with the support team. Make a list of your non-negotiables and ensure that you know the pricing before settling on any option.

Step 9: Define your pricing

Eeek! The step everybody dreads. Pricing your online course can be a minefield. But, it doesn’t have to be. The first step to pricing online content is to conduct research. Analyse and benchmark your course against competing or similar courses within the marketplace. Look at what they are offering and what they are charging for it. Consider how your course can provide something extra. Think about your online course’s USP and what that USP is worth to your customer. Remember that people are willing to pay for value so resist the urge to undersell yourself.

Step 10: Market & sell your course (the tricky bit)

Once you’ve created an online course, you can’t just plop it on your website and hope for the best. You need to have a strategy in place to promote and sell it. The aim is to create hype and excitement and get your customers thinking, “I NEED this course!”. You can do this with blogs, a dedicated sales page on your website, an email campaign, free webinars to give people a taster of what they will learn on the course and of course social media. Email campaigns are going to be your number one source of students, so it is important to plan for this and start building your email list well in advance of your launch. You can learn more about email marketing here.

Setting up an online course isn’t easy, but with the proper groundwork and planning, it can deliver tremendous results for your business. If you’re ready to launch your online course but need some help along the way, let me be your support system! I have experience working with small business owners and entrepreneurs just like you who want to monetise their expertise, expand their offering and generate passive income- all with an online course. Ready to make the first step and start selling online courses?

I'd like to talk more about this with you