Create Course Content That Actually Sells!

For many small business owners and entrepreneurs developing an online course can help showcase expertise and knowledge and leave no doubt in your customer’s minds as to why they should work with you. Moreover, it’s a great revenue generating tool to have in your toolkit.

But where to start?

In this article I’ll talk you through the key actionable steps you can take to write your first online course!

1. Choose your topic

It seems simple enough, but this is where I’ve seen so many online courses fall flat. The key is to think about some of the challenges your audience has and then get very specific with what you’d like to focus on. So, while you might want to create a course that helps people improve digital marketing for their business as a whole, this is far too broad and, most importantly, wouldn’t provide any real targetable value to your customers.

Instead, think about this challenge: ‘I need sell more of my products/services’. A better strategy might be to show your customers how to generate leads through different marketing platforms or sell their products through social media.

Perhaps:

• LinkedIn - How to build your sales pipeline through LinkedIn

• Facebook - How to increase your sales through Facebook Marketplace

• Instagram - How to increase sales through Instagram shopping

• Email Marketing - How to create effective sales funnels

It’s also important to focus on a topic you love and are truly passionate about as this will come across in your content.

2. Create your course structure

Before thinking about platform, processes and design it’s a great idea to put pen to paper and map out the skeleton of your course. Your course will be made up of modules, which will in turn be made up of lessons.

Each module should focus on a subtopic within the topic your course is focusing on and each lesson should be a key learning point related to the subtopic.

• COURSE TITLE

• Module:

• Lesson 1: Learning point

• Lesson 2: Learning point

• Lesson 3: Learning point

• Lesson 4: Learning point

Remember, each module doesn’t have to be the same length; you may have some with 2 to 3 lessons and some with 5 or 6.

3. It’s all about your assets!

Now that you’ve created your online course structure, it’s time to think about the how you want to deliver this and all of the resources you’ll need to develop.

It’s important to remember that remote learning can be challenging for some so having a great set of resources to hand is crucial to keep your students and customers as engaged as possible and create an overall fantastic user experience.

Some great resources and assets you could use include:

• High quality images

• Presentations with audio and captions

• Short 'how to' videos or animations to deliver key messages

• Interviews or live workshops

• Downloadable guides, PDFs or workbooks

• Completion certificates or badges

• Community forums

Have you ever considered creating an online course? Comment below!

I hope you picked up some tips to help you create your online course. Don't forget to follow us on social media and if you're seriously interested in unleashing your inner online course creator, get in touch to register for our upcoming 'I Can Teach You How to Teach Online' course.