Do you want to create an online course but don't know where to start? You're not alone! Creating and launching a successful online course can be a daunting task, but it's definitely doable if you follow these simple steps. In fact, it's easier than you think! In this article, we will walk you through the entire process of creating an online course, from choosing a topic to marketing your finished product. Let's get started!
The first step in creating an online course is to choose a topic. What are you passionate about? What do you have expertise in? What is it you want to teach people, or more importantly, what do they want to learn from you? These are all great places to start when choosing a topic for your course. Once you've decided on a general topic, it's time to start doing some research. See what other courses are out there on the same or similar topics. What are those topics missing? What angle can you provide that will be more helpful? What can you add to the conversation that will make your course unique?
After you've done your research and have a better idea of what your course will entail, it's time to start putting together an outline. This doesn't need to be anything fancy, but having a general idea of the topics you'll cover and the order in which you'll cover them will be helpful as you start putting your course together. We have a course creation planner in our membership that's new this week, if you want to check it out, join the membership here!
Now it's time to start recording your course! You'll need a few things for this: a microphone, some sort of recording software (like GarageBand or Audacity), and a quiet place to record. If you want to do video, you'll need to use something that records your screen as well. I liked using ScreenFlow in the past, but you can record in Zoom, you can use Prezi, or even your Screen Grab app on a Mac.
Once you have all of that set up, simply hit record and start talking!
Once you've recorded all of your course content, it's time to choose a format. Will you release it as a series of audio files? A video course? A PDF ebook? There are lots of options here, so choose the one that makes the most sense for your content and your audience. How do they already consume your content? If it's a podcast, the answer is audio. Is that the best answer for your course though? What if they want to see your face? I'm a fan of releasing audio, video AND transcript, because people LEARN in different ways than they entertain themselves. Elsie likes audio. Jess likes to skim a transcript.
Now that you have all of your content recorded and formatted, it's time to choose where your course will live online. There are a lot of great platforms out there that will host your course content, like Teachable, MemberVault, Mighty Networks. Choose the one that you're most comfortable with and that offers the features you need.
The last step in creating your online course is to market it! Get the word out there about your new course by promoting it on social media, sending emails to your list, or even running ads. You can also reach out to influencers in your space and see if they'll promote your course to their audiences.
Creating an online course may seem like a daunting task, but following these simple steps will help you get started and guide you through the process from start to finish. Good luck!
