Create Your First Online Course
Turn your skills into profits!
It’s no secret that we’re fans of e-courses over here.
They are incredibly powerful tools for both teachers and students, and they make education a lot more flexible than it is in a traditional classroom. Students can micro-focus in on the specific topics they’re interested in and learn them at their own pace. Teachers can share the same lessons over and over without having to physically give the lectures and reach students anywhere in the world. That’s a win-win if I’ve ever heard of one.
What Should You Teach
Okay, we’re not going to sit here and spend more time selling you on the perks of online courses, cause the odds are...you already know the perks, and you’re in!
So now the question is...where do you start? Welp, it probably makes the most sense to start by deciding what it is you want to teach! Here’s a couple of things you should think through when you’re figuring this part out… (Write down all the ideas that these questions bring up on a piece of paper.)
What skills do I have that I enjoy?
What do people regularly ask me for help with?
What topics did I have questions about earlier in my career that I’ve figured out now?
Do I have a unique process or way of doing something that no one else does?
What’s something I’ve struggled with in the past but gotten better at?
What’s my existing audience struggling with (if you have one)?
What do people often compliment me on?
Now, let’s zero in on the ideas that have promise.
X out anything you just don’t feel excited about teaching. Next, X out anything that feels too broad—more specific topics are usually easier to market and create content around, and they usually have less competition. Then, do some google searches around the remaining topics to see what courses are already out there. Just because a course already exists on a topic doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t also teach that topic—but it’s important to know what has been done so you can find a unique differentiation point.
Another idea—just ask people what they want to learn from you! If you have a social following or an email list, there’s so much value in just going directly to your audience. You don’t have to try to read their minds when they’re right there and excited to engage with you!
Testing Your Idea
Want to give your topic a test run before you create a whole giant e-course on it? Great idea!
Try writing a blog post on it first and see how it’s received! Mention it in a caption or in your stories and take note of the response. Try a live video. You can even try dipping your toes into the topic with a mini version of the course that you post on Skillshare, or host a webinar.
It’s always a good idea to validate your course idea before you dive in and make sure there’s some demand around what you’re planning to teach.
Creating Your Content
Once you feel confident in your choice of topic, it’s time to plan your course!
We always start with an outline that helps organize the course into distinct sections and reminds us of all the various subtopics we want to cover. Your course can be split up however you like, but remember, humans learn best when information is broken up and segmented into bite-sized pieces. A good rule of thumb is: if you’d need more than about 10 minutes to cover one subtopic, it might need to be broken up into multiple lessons. Learn more about suggested video length here.
After creating a top-level outline, we usually dive deeper into each subtopic, writing down notes, resources, examples, and key points we want to make. If you feel very uncomfortable doing any on-the-spot talking, you might feel tempted to write a script for your class. You are welcome to do whatever you want, but as someone who has tried it both ways—I 100% recommend avoiding the script. It does feel more comfortable for you as the teacher, but it almost always sounds dull, flat, and boring to your students. Going “off-script” is a great way to better internalize your teaching material, and it helps you become a better speaker and teacher going forward. Lean into the discomfort, people! It’s worth it! (PS. If you say something you didn’t mean to, you can ALWAYS edit it out. Yay, online courses!!!)
Producing Your Class
Let’s start thinking about the visual format you want your class to have.
The most popular way to handle this is to record your screen while you give a presentation that includes slides and a voice over. You can create slides in a program like Keynote and use something like Zoom or even Quicktime to record your screen while you talk. Some people also like to include videos of themselves at their desks or in a classroom or doing close up demonstrations.
Our main advice when it comes to recording is: don’t stress too much about it. Sure, thousand dollar camera equipment and professional lighting set-ups are great, but if you don’t have access to those things, don’t let that stop you! Do your best to record quality video and audio, don’t film when it’s too dark or too loud, and you’ll probably be just fine! Your content is THE most important thing here, so that should always be the #1 priority.
Hosting Your Class
We looked into a LOT of different course-hosting platforms before we settled on Thinkific. We loved the streamlined look of the sales page and class templates, all the awesome customer support features, and the ability to offer different payment plans. We’ve been very happy with Thinkific for the most part (email platform integrations could be better) and would definitely recommend it, although it is one of the higher-priced platforms out there.
Other options you could look into to host your course are Skillshare, Udemy, Teachable, or even your own website if it has the capabilities you need.
One big thing to note is that hosting on your own or with a site like Thinkific means you have to drive all the traffic by yourself. Udemy and Skillshare, for example, can help drive their existing users to your course (although the amount of traffic you get is up to how you do within their algorithm).
Marketing & Selling
There are whole courses on marketing and selling your e-course (e-courses on e-courses—what a world!), so we won’t claim to be able to tell you all you need to know right here. However, we CAN cover some basics!
First off, let’s talk about launches. Your launch, or when you put your course out into the world, can be a huge success, or it can be a flop. A great launch happens because you put a ton of work into marketing your course BEFORE its debut. There’s a lot you can do to promote and get the hype going—from releasing sneak peeks and free content to doing an email series to offering pre-orders and early bird discounts. The best thing you can do for yourself is to make a plan long before you launch around how you can get the word out and get people excited!
Another thing we’ve got to touch on is the sales page. Your sales page needs to guide the customer through the decision making process, answering their questions and giving them confidence that they can and should buy from you. If you’re hung up on this, study the sales pages of your competitors. And make SURE to include reviews or testimonials. Buying from people you don’t know on the internet is scary, so social proof is important in helping customers trust you. A great way to get reviews is to reach out to friends, influencers, or potential customers before you launch and give them free access to your class in return for their feedback.
Finally, let’s talk about open & close courses vs. evergreen courses. An evergreen course is open for enrollment all the time. Open & close courses have set time periods when students can enroll, and then during close periods they typically collect emails for a waitlist.
Evergreen courses can be great because they can provide passive income sales at all times of the year. However, you have no idea until you get into the course biz how freakin’ much people need a deadline or an expiration date to decide to buy something. If you want to do an evergreen course, you’ll want to look into ways to consistently generate leads, and you’ll definitely want to do some digging into automation and funnels. Mariah Coz has some great info for you on that fun stuff.
Open & close courses are awesome for a quick influx of cash, because the close date fuels people to act and make the purchase. However, constantly launching and closing classes is TIRING and it requires a ton of time. Also, you may miss out on sales from people who want to buy during your close period.
Evergreen Courses
• Provide passive income sales at all times of the year.
• No urgency to get customers to purchase
• Need automation & funnels to generate sales
Open & Close Courses
• Good for quick influx of cash
• Close cart date drives customers to purchase
• Tiring & time-intensive to constantly do live launches
Go Forth
We’re strong believers in the importance of sharing knowledge, and we KNOW you’ve got something awesome to share. Creating a course can feel like a big commitment, and it certainly can be. But truthfully, the hardest part of the whole process is simply starting. Once you decide what you want to teach and just put your head down and get to work—you’ll see just how within reach your e-course really is!