Creating an online course is a great opportunity to generate a substantial income. Not only that, it is one of the fastest ways that you can make a global impact as the expert in your field (writing a book is another way).

Why leave all that knowledge dormant in your head, when all you have to do is download it into a course structure and turn it into a money making venture. Just as importantly, you get to help others while you do it.

Let’s face it, the traditional learning method of rote learning followed by a degree is becoming fast outdated. Today’s students understand that hands on learning and relevant practical industry training are far more valuable in building a successful career than just theory. The internet has opened up new doors, where students can learn from the best in their field. With the development of new software, teachers can now teach to millions at a time, as oppose to one on one or to the size of a classroom or lecture hall.

Online education now includes intensive bootcamps, mastery programs to basic courses on any topics you can imagine, all with different price points, so there is something for everyone.

Ready to take your Piece of the Pie? Now more than ever people are investing in online education with its numerous benefits, such as, flexibility, accessibility, its vast range of course topics, and its cost-effectiveness. In fact, the latest research shows that online education industry is projected to reach $325 billion by 2025.

Fuelling this growth is the rise in internet access and new software innovations. An equalling contributing factor is the number of professionals and students looking to upskill themselves in order to thrive in the new-age business landscape.

What about COVID-19? While other industries have been hugely negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is safe to say that the opposite is true for the online education industry. So now more than ever is the time to get aboard to claim your piece of the pie!

So how does one create an online course?

There are a number of approaches to course creation however these 10 EASY Steps that we have outlined below will give you a solid foundation in creating your Ultimate Online Course.

    1. Choose the Perfect Course Topic

Everyone has a message, or something to share with the world. What talents or specialized knowledge do you have? Think about your skills, talents and life experiences that you have been through, maybe is it cooking your favourite dishes, singing, dancing, interior design, fitness, photography, Instagram blogger, gardening. The topics are endless.

The other way to choose a course topic, is to think about what problems you can help solve, that is, the outcome your audience is looking for. Think about how people want to transform, whether they are a beginner or an intermediate level, and how your online course can help guide them through that transformation process.

Still stuck for course creation ideas? The easiest thing for you to do is to ask your audience. You can send out a quick survey to your email list. Or if you don’t have an email list, you can talk to people in online forums and places where your specific target group are and ask them. You can create super easy polls through tools like twtpoll or Google Forms.

Here is an example for you.

You can also jump on something like Buzzsumo and check out the level of interest for your topic you plan on teaching. Research people’s conversation on your topic such as if people have shared any how-to articles, videos, or infographics.

The other thing you can do is simply type “how-to” into the search bar and see what comes up.

Other great sites worth visiting is sites like Quora where you can engage with the online community. Find out what sorts of questions people are asking in your niche. Does the same questions keep popping up? This is a good way to gauge topics of interest and to see what problems need to be solved.

You don’t have to be a university professor to teach something. You may have a specific skillset, something you know people want to learn about and you can start teaching with some pretty basic tools. There are a number of course platforms such as Teachable, Katra, Clickfunnels, that could help someone who is not tech savvy and who would like to just focus on course creation without having to worry about having the backend or a website.

    2. Validate Your Idea

Now that you have come up with a great idea for a course, the next step is to test and validate it. Time is money, and you don’t want to spend months creating an online course that nobody wants to buy. 

What we advise our students to do is to create a framework of about six to eight modules and then only fill in the course materials for one, or two modules at the very most. Once you’ve tested it and there has been enough demand, you can then create and drip feed the rest of the course materials.

    3. Create Clear Learning Outcomes

In preparing your course, it’s important to create clear learning outcomes, so that your students know:

• What new knowledge they will obtain;
• What new skillsets they will be able to demonstrate; and
• How this new knowledge and skillset is going to help solve their problems.

The additional benefit is that it enables you to attract the RIGHT students to your course. Creating this match, that is, the match between what students are after and what you are delivering, will result in a higher completion and satisfaction rates, and lower refund requests.

    4. Create Course Content

Now that you have selected your course topic and learning outcomes, it is time to create your course content. This is when you can refer back to your initial feedback from your polls and surveys or from the online forums you participated in. Creating content that answers your audience’s burning questions.

It’s also good to think about whether your audience are beginners wanting to get to an intermediatory level or become experts in their field. And lastly remember to write your course content with the transformative process in mind, so outline and think about what journey you are taking your students on.

By taking these factors into consideration, you can tailor your research, writing to create the perfect course that your students are going to love!

    5. Structure Your Content into Modules and Lessons

The next step is to map out the framework of your modules and lessons. Start by grouping similar themes, tips and ideas into modules and then breaking that information down into lesson plans. 

 Ensuring that your modules and lessons, progress in a logical order and each module and lesson flows into the next.

    6. Choose the Delivery Method for Your Content

Now it’s time to work out the best way to deliver your course. To do this effectively, it is important to take into consideration adult learning principles and learning styles. Having a variety of learning formats such as videos, reading content, activities, audio content will tick these boxes and make sure that your training is engaging and interesting. Some people are better visual learners, some are best hands on (kinaesthetic) and some are more auditory. What sort of visual aid would you have PowerPoint slides? Workbooks? Webinars?

Think about what would give your students a great user experience while giving them the opportunity for optimal learning. Will you provide them with any tests or assessment pieces to ensure they have achieved the key learning objectives? Especially if there are various levels from beginners to immediate to advanced (depending on your classification system).

What sort of support are you going to provide your students? This is when community forums and learning areas would be good practice.

    7. Film, Record and Edit your Online Course

Now that you have prepared your course plan, your content and know how you’re going to deliver your online course, it is time for the production phase.

Now it’s time for the fun part – getting on camera if you are delivering videos, which is highly recommended as it is a popular format. However, don’t forget to take into account how your audience prefers to engage and what learning methods provides the most effective learning outcomes.

You can talk to the camera on a topic, or you might set up an interview. You could always have a green screen background when you talk as this will enable you to put any background you want in the editing stage.

     8. Set up Your Online School

Now it’s time to decide what platform you’re going to offer your course on. There are a number to choose from and the list is continuously growing. Work out the pros and cons of each and decide what would suit you and your business the best.

We personally use the plugin ‘Learndash’ to our wordpress site. This is a membership based learning platform which allows us to control access to courses and course content.

With a membership plugin, you can arrange different access levels in order to control who can see what content. For instance, what courses you get access to and the levels within each course.

Another popular online delivery platform is the Learning management system (LMS). This is particularly good for large institutions and corporations, and for businesses that need to monitor the progress of their students or learners in real time.

With an LMS plugin, it allows you to ask questions like how many lessons has a learner attended, how many did they complete, how long it took for them to do that, all of which are instantly answered in the admin panel.

    9. Find the Perfect Pricing Model

The first step in determining how much you should price your course for, is to research what your competitors are selling their courses for and use that as a benchmark.

What we do is provide more quality content and bonuses than our competitors (so we are confident that we are providing awesome value) and then we price it at similar price or a little higher. Our preference is to give more and charge the same or higher, than give less and charge less – it just makes your course look like an inferior product or service.

Remember there are no hard and fast rules to pricing an online course as it depends very much on what it is that you are delivering.

    10. Launch and Market Your Course

Marketing is an absolutely critical and an ongoing part of creating a long term successful online course.

We would recommend preparing a strategic social media and digital marketing plan. That you can measure and adjust your strategy as you go.

If you want to stay ahead of the game, it’s really important to continually monitor this.

Using the steps above will provide a solid foundation In building your successful online course. The trick of course is to continual test your online marketing strategies, and with the valuable feedback from your students test and improve your course content, so that your business can improve and grow as fast as your students.

Remember if you can create a transformative pathway that achieves the outcome that your students want to go through, you can practically create a course on anything.