Have you been thinking about creating an online course? I’m excited about this topic because I think it’s such a huge opportunity for most yoga and wellness entrepreneurs. You have the chance to increase your income and invite more freedom and flexibility in your life and you also get the chance to step up and make a bigger impact.
But you might feel a bit intimidated by the whole process of creating an online course, and that’s perfectly understandable. I’ve learned that organization is the name of the game when it comes to creating and launching your course. You really wanna have a plan!
And if there’s one thing that I know really well, it’s to keep things organized. That’s why I created this step-by-step roadmap to create an online course for you to check things off.
Are you ready? So, let’s dive in.
#1 Decide on your course idea
Step #1 is to decide on the big picture. You want to come up with a course idea that’s aligned with your goals and what your audience needs.
Here are 3 questions to help you get started:
- What does your audience need? Think about all the struggles, problems, blocks, frustrations and desires that your students or clients have told you about.
- What’s your expertise? What are you an expert in and are you able to deliver solutions?
- And finally, what are your passions? Do certain ideas make your heart race with excitement? Do others make you feel blah?
Whichever idea makes you go, “YEEEEEEEEAH! I can totally help out with that!” more than any of the others. THAT is going to be the topic of your online course.
#2 Create your course outline and decide on the name and price
In your course outline you decide on what will be included in your course. It’s important to remember that people buy online courses because they want a clear plan, someone to show them the way. Your job is to come up with a system, or a process, that gets your student to the finish line, which is the result you’re promising, as quickly as possible.
When it comes to your course name, I recommend keeping it simple. Your course name should describe the course itself, what people can expect from it. Choose clarity over cleverness; you want people to easily understand what your course is about.
Next you want to decide on a price for your course. Online courses come in a variety of prices, often ranging from $100 to $1000 or more. When you choose a price, focus on the value you’re giving, not on the amount of content you’re delivering. You want your course to be affordable to your ideal audience, but the price high enough that it conveys value and of course that it’s worth it for you putting in all the time and effort to create it.
#3 List building
A lot of people think you need a big email list to launch an online course. And while that is helpful, I’ve seen many examples of people who launched to a very small list and got great results.
I recommend that you have at least between 250 and 500 subscribers on your email list. To build your list, create a freebie (also called a lead magnet), something that people get for free in exchange for their email address. Your freebie should be aligned
Your freebie could be for example a mini course, a guide, or a workbook. It should be aligned with your course idea, for example the first step someone needs to take to see the transformation you are promising with your course
#4 Create a content calendar
Now that you’re starting to get people signing up for your freebie, you want to keep them interested and engaged.
That’s why you have to share free, valuable content consistently with your audience, for example blog posts or a podcast.
I recommend that you create a content calendar and plan out every piece of content you want to create each week, leading up to your launch. The goal is to help you build momentum and to build trust and establish you as the expert.
#5 Craft your course package
Decide on everything that needs to go into your course package. The goal is to make your audience think “I have to have that!” This means title, description, bonuses, payment options and guarantee terms.
#6 Create your course content
Shoot and edit your course videos, write your scripts and design your workbooks. Don’t get hang up on the quality of your recordings or editing, it’s really about the content and the transformation. You can film great videos with any iPhone these days. You don’t even need an expensive microphone, though I sound quality is probably more important than the video quality.
Remember, it’s not about creating tons of content and sharing everything you know, it’s about getting your students results in the fastest way possible.
Depending on how much content you have to create, this step could take between 2 and 4 weeks. But you don’t have to finish creating all your content before you move on if that feels overwhelming. You can start with creating the content for your first module, and then pre-sell the course and finish creating the content afterwards.
#7 Decide on your course platform
Your goal when choosing a course platform is to appear professional and provide the best experience for your students possible, and you also want it to be easy for yourself to set everything up.
I use Teachable (this is an affiliate link, so if you decide to sign up for it through this link, I get a small commission, without any additional costs for you), and I highly recommend it.
Other options are:
Memberpress (WordPress plugin)
There are a lot more to choose from and it’s easy to fall into a rabbit hole here. When you sign up for trials for every course platform there is, search hundreds of Facebook posts and basically spend the majority of your time making this decision, you, my friend, are procrastinating! You are stepping back from taking massive action, which is really creating your content. Here’s what I recommend. Take a few hours, up to a day, to educate yourself and then make a decision!
#8 Create your sales page
Many platforms have page builders to build your sales page, for example Kajabi or Teachable. You can also build your sales page in WordPress or Squarespace and link to the checkout page in Teachable, this is what I’m doing.
The goal of your sales page is to get your customer to take action and to buy. The main point to remember is that people won’t buy your course because of what’s included, like the number of videos. They buy because they want the results. It’s important that you start with emphasizing the benefits of your course and not just the features.
#9 Set-up your course in your course platform
Upload the course videos and all other documents into your chosen course platform. Don’t forget to add things like a welcome page with information for your new students, so they don’t feel overwhelmed but excited to get started.
#10 Plan your launch
Write your sales emails and social media posts for your launch and create scripts or notes for going live.
#11 Launch!
And finally, the last step, launch your online course like a boss! You could do a webinar for your launch, a free challenge, or just send some strategic emails and do a few Facebook lives.
And that’s it – that’s how you create and launch an online course in 11 steps!
Now, if all this sounds like a lot, you’re right, it is!
But the amazing thing about online courses is that once you’ve created your course, you can sell it again, and again and make money for months or even years to come.
This could be your answer to free up your time personally, so you work smarter, not harder, so you have more freedom and flexibility in your life.
KEEP LISTENING:
