How to Set up an Online Course Business as a Start up Online Business
One of The Most Successful Online Businesses is Online Learning and Education
If you are budding entrepreneur, but are not interested in entering emerging businesses (eg: Crypto, Technology), the education industry is a tried and tested industry that we cannot get enough of.
This is a perfect balance for the curious-minded to share their expertise with the world. Plus, it’s a great way to learn how to create your online business. Starting an online course business is very much like any other online business.
This guide will walk you through how to start a successful online course business from scratch, including how to create your first online course, your business plan, and how to keep your business going.
How to Build a Successful and Profitable Online Courses Business
Course Creation Steps Overview
Before you jump in to create online courses, it’s a good idea to get to have a plan before you start. This is an overview on the process on the creation of your new class or course.
Decide Your Online Course Topic
Brainstorm a couple of topics or areas you want to teach. It can be something that you love (such as a hobby), or it can be an area that you know you can profit from. However, make sure that it’s something you have interest in.
Consider incorporating the skills, talents, and life experiences that you don’t mind sharing with others – they can be valuable lessons for them. Finally, don’t feel like you have to teach a university-level profession to make money selling courses.
Research the Competition
Identify and Validate Your Target Market
Create a Compelling and Unique Brand
Decide on a Course Price
Launch Your Courses
Focus on customer success
Scale your business
How to Create An Online Course Business Website
Build Your Course Website
Building your own course website can be a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with others. By creating a website, you can provide an easy way for people to find and access your courses. Additionally, having a website can help you promote your courses and attract new students.
There are a few things to keep in mind when building your course website. First, consider what you want your website to achieve. Do you want to provide information about your courses? Sell courses online? Provide resources for students? Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can start planning your website’s design and content.
Next, think about who your target audience is. What kind of information will they be looking for? What kind of design will appeal to them? Keep these factors in mind as you create your website.
Finally, don’t forget to promote your website! Make sure to include it in your marketing efforts and tell your students and followers about it. By promoting your site, you’ll ensure that people can find and use it.
What are the best online course creator software?
How to Start Selling Online Courses
Marketing Your First Course
There are a number of ways to market your online course. What you have to keep in mind when thinking about are:
You can use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to promote your course. You can also use online advertising tools such as Google AdWords. You can also create a website for your course and use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to help people find your course when they search for it online.
There are many ways to market your new course. You can start by creating a landing page for your course and driving traffic to it through social media, email marketing, and paid advertising. You can also reach out to influencers in your field and offer them a free trial of your course in exchange for a review or testimonial. Another great way to market your course is to create a video trailer or preview that potential students can watch to learn more about what your course has to offer. Whatever marketing strategy you choose, make sure you are consistent and put in the time and effort needed to get your course in front of as many people as possible.
Here are a few tips to get initial customers and market your new course.
- Offer small free courses as a sample for your new customers
Successful Business Tips to Help to Make More Sales
Validate market demand
Here are a few ways to validate the market demand for your online course:
1. Look at your competitors
If there are other courses out there on your topic, that’s a good sign that there’s a market for it. Take a look at their sales numbers and reviews to get an idea of how popular the courses are and what people are saying about them.
2. Do some market research
Talk to people in your target market and ask them if they would be interested in taking an online course on your topic. You can do this through surveys, social media, or even just by talking to people in person.
3. Look at trends
Is your topic something that’s trending right now? If so, that’s another good sign that there’s a market for your course. You can use Google Trends to research this.
4. Check out online forums
See if there are any online forums or communities dedicated to your topic. If so, that’s a good sign that people are interested in learning more about it.
5. Ask your network
Talk to people you know who might be interested in taking your course. Ask them if they would be willing to promote it to their networks.
Create a compelling and unique brand
Is there a gap in online courses that the competition is offering?
Preparing your Course Content and Materials
Structure Your Modules and Course Plan
This is the stage where you now take a look at all of your content and start grouping together your similar themes, tips, and ideas into modules and then ordering the lectures within those modules into the most progressive and logical manner so that they form a flowing sequence of lessons.
Plan your Course syllabus
It will help you deliver content to your students in a structured, ordered way, layering skill upon skill until they finish your course feeling like an expert.
Planning individual lessons
Determine the Most Engaging and Effective Delivery Methods for Each Lesson
Designing course content that is engaging
Design your course with different learning styles and abilities in mind
Designing your course with different learning styles and abilities in mind can help to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to learn and succeed.
Some students may prefer visual or hands-on learning, while others may prefer more traditional methods such as lectures and readings.
By catering to a variety of learning styles, you can make sure that everyone in your class has the chance to thrive.
Additionally, keeping different abilities in mind can help you to create a course that is accessible and inclusive for all students.
For example, if you are aware of students who have Dyslexia in your class, you can take steps to accommodate their needs by providing material in multiple formats or allowing extra time for exams. By taking into account the diversity of your students, you can create a course that meets the needs of everyone.
How long should your online course be?
A lot of thought goes into planning an online course; how it’s organized, what type of content is presented, and particularly accessibility issues for students with special needs. This all ties back to Universal Design for Learning- a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on the science of how people learn.
A few factors that may influence the length of your course, and profitability may include:
- The complexity of topic – A course on rocket science will probably be longer than a course on how to start a new business in baking.
- The Scope of the Course – What topics and sub-topcs are you planning to cover in your course, and what prior knowledge you may need students to have.
- The Demand for the Information in the Course
Consider the best way to package your content
A great course comes packaged in a way that’s easily applicable; easy to remember, and understand the concepts. Examples of great course packages include:
- Templates with instructions
- calculators or excel sheets for calculations
- Infographics
- Downloadable Audio Files or Videos
- An video app with offline capabilities
- An accredited certificate upon completion
Consider social elements, like learning communities and Cohort-Based Learning
Learning communities complement online courses perfectly, because they enable social learning, peer-to-peer support, and student-to-instructor support. They also help with accountability, as students can be paired or placed in cohorts to collaborate on activities, and hold each other accountable for learning goals.
Filming, Recording, and Editing your Online Course
To create an online course, you will need to film, record, and edit your lectures and other materials. This can be done with basic equipment and software, or you can hire a professional production company to do it for you. Once your course is complete, you can upload it to a learning management system (LMS) or host it on your own website.
This is one of the most time consuming parts
Setting up your online school
When you are starting your online school, you need to build a website as well as your your course platform for hosting your content.
Check out this post for the best platforms to host and start your online courses
Getting the perfect pricing models and feeding into a bigger education-based business model
It takes just as much effort to sell a low-priced course as it does to sell a high-priced one, so if you are creating
Launch and Ongoing Marketing Activities You Should Consider
Consider pre-selling your online course before you’ve created it
The way to avoid creating an online course that no one buys is to sell your course before you create it. You can do this by creating a shorter version, or sample sized version of the course. Sell it for a fraction of the initial amount you want to sell for the actual course. This approach is often called pre-selling, and it’s one of the best ways to protect yourself from wasting your time creating a course that no one buys.
If you want to encourage students to sign up for your online course early, consider offering a discount for those who pre-register.
Make sure that you have at least an 18-month marketing plan for your online course and remember that the second you stop marketing is the second you stop selling.
Create a sales page for your online course
Creating a sales landing page for your online course is important for selling
Use lead magnets to grow your email list
You may not get students immediately. That’s where creating free content that also acts as a lead magnet (eg: Template Guides, a short Masterclass) is a great way to build up trust and that initial email list for you to keep in touch with potential students.
Creating Exclusive New Content for Current Students
Start Building a Collection of Positive Testimonials from Launch
Find Your First Batch of Students
- To stress-test your course, you can simply give the course out for free to your first-time students and allow them one-on-one interaction with the instructor.
