How to choose and create your first online course
Since the pandemic the growth of online courses and learning has grown exponentially, and nearly every established business has either thought about running one, or has already got their first online course decided, created and delivered. But how do you know it it’s the right path for you, or even if you have anything you think is worth teaching?
Do you want to teach?
One of the first things I ask my coaching clients when they ask me about this topic is ‘do you really want to teach a course?’. It seems obvious, but all too often we think because so many others are doing it then we should too, without examining if we actually really want to do it or just have a case of FOMO. Or worse because it might be seen as an easy way to passive income (I promise you it’s not, but if done right can be a valuable additional income stream).
Questions to ask yourself before CREATING YOUR ONLINE COURSE
1. Do I enjoy teaching already, ie on live workshops?
2. Do I have existing customers or an audience who regularly ask me for help about a particular topic that could be turned into a course (or a live workshop that could be reimagined online to reach more people)?
3. What topic am I really passionate about and could give real value to my students on?
4. How will I structure the course, am I good at writing and communicating, or do I need help there?
5. What extra value can I bring to the course that would make it better than anything else similar out there?
6. Am I comfortable in front of the camera (nearly all courses require you to be in front of the camera at least some of the time)?
7. Do I have some money to invest in equipment (eg video equipment and software, a new website, or a subscription platform to deliver my course)?
8. Do I have the technical skills to be able to deliver my vision (or will I need to outsource them)?
9. Do I have time in my schedule to devote to helping students as well as creating the content for the course?
10. Do I have an audience primed and ready to buy the course, or do I need to think about how I might market this (organically and/or through paid advertising)?
11. Will I create one-off courses, subscription, or evergreen ones, will there be live elements or just recorded videos and content?
12. What sort of course(s) do I want to create? Short bite-size low-cost ones, medium sized month-long ones for example, or more advanced in depth courses over many months, or even a subscription based model with continuous content?
13. Do I want to support students outside of the course, eg with a Facebook Group or community platform?
14. Do I want to partner with anyone else to create something I couldn’t do alone?
15. Do I want to create regular, on-going weekly or monthly content, or just a one-off course that can run multiple times throughout the year or perhaps on an annual basis?
There’s a lot to consider other than just deciding your content, I would always begin with asking your existing audience what they’d love from you – creating a course around what people want (rather than say what you’d thought you might like to create!) is an easier path to sales.
I’ve run quite a few different courses over the years, some short, some longer, some subscription based, and they all have different types of audience, have required different skills to implement, different platforms to work, and differing levels of commitment in terms of student feedback and marketing.
Deciding your set up budget is really important, including any marketing costs and teaching platforms you might need. It could be as simple as creating an email sequence with links, or it might be something more in depth (for instance a Patreon site (see my previous blog post on Patreon here), setting up a new website, or creating accounts on Teachable, Udemy, Thinkific or Skillshare for example).
If you’d like help answering all these big questions, developing a course that truly helps your potential students as well as provides a solid additional income stream for your business, then do get in touch by booking a free discovery call below to see how I might be able to help you bring it all to life.
