For several years now, e-learning has become an increasingly popular form used by entrepreneurs who want to earn money remotely, and now, in the context of the pandemic and its consequences, it has become the only option for many to earn money.
Creating and selling online courses for beginners is one of the best ways to share expert knowledge and scale your business without leaving home and using only two tools: a smartphone and the Internet.
This strategy works well as a primary source of income for an expert, an additional branch of the company, and the initial stage of the funnel, where the customer educates themselves before deciding on the next steps (e.g. in the SaaS industry). Once prepared, the materials can serve for years and attract new customers from all over the world.
Online Course – Where to Start?
Before you start designing an online course program, think about what the primary goal is for participants to achieve? What do they need to learn? What exactly do they need to know and be able to do after completing the course?
Then, write out the student’s path – from where they are now (problem) to where they should be after completing the entire course (success, new reality). The next step is to divide this path into specific skills and issues that they need to acquire in order to achieve the set goal.
How to Create An Online Course – Technical Aspects
How to make an online course? Just planning and creative action is not enough. You have to turn to the technical aspects and with the help of tools and equipment create a product worth buying.
There are various tools (which we outline below) as well as agencies and freelancers who are happy to help you master the technical side. Support within the course support can be extremely useful. After all, there are so many questions: How do I record audio and video narrations? How do I create a PDF of an online course? What is the best software for creating online training? Getting help from professionals in these matters can be a lifesaver.
Why is It Worth Creating An Online Course?
- You will reach your target group;
- You will establish your position as an expert;
- You will gain new knowledge;
- You will receive passive income from selling the course.
Tools to Create An Online Course
If courses are starting your online career, you probably don’t have a ready-made platform, which can take many forms, from a ready-made tool in a subscription version, to a WordPress plugin or completely independent software.
You can base your activities on generally available, useful tools:
- WordPress – the most popular and most dynamically developed CMS on the market. Almost 2/3 of websites on the web operate on the basis of this system. It works great as a base for all kinds of online activities, including creating a course. Without an online tool in the form of a website or blog, there is no point in thinking about building a community.
- PDF Creator – The term “online course” does not mean any specific form, and the current market offers many solutions. There are email courses, which involve sending daily e-mails with a task to do, and there are also courses based on filling out PDF documents, i.e. processing dedicated workbooks, and in this case, a PDF creator program such as SwifDoo PDF lends you a great hand in PDF possessing.
- Platform/course system – if you want to get in smoothly and use a ready-to-use tool, you can choose a subscription solution. With technical support and everything you need to create your course. There are several such noteworthy offers on the market, including our platform – a platform for creating courses.
- Newsletter system – you will also collect your recipients’ emails on the website, both before the course starts, to gather potentially interested people, and after it is sold, to be able to communicate efficiently with your students.
- Video/material hosting – on our course platform, we provide hosting for the price – both video and other materials available for download by students. If you decide on a solution that does not have this option, it is worth choosing Vimeo for video files.
- Screencast – If you want to record a video of what you’re doing on your desktop (a common form of tutorials), a screen capture app will come in handy. Some of them has a built-in video editor that will make your videos much more interesting.
Who Will Benefit the Most from the Course?
Creating an online course takes time, tools, an idea, and much, much more. So is it worth creating a course? Or is it not worth the effort?
The answer is simple – it’s worth creating online courses. You might think that your students will benefit the most from the materials you’ve prepared, but… you’re wrong!
Yes, you need to design an online experience that will make your customers happy, educated, and ready for new challenges, but ultimately, you’ll be the one who wins. Why?
- Consolidate your knowledge
- Gain passive income
- Become an expert in the field in the eyes of others
- Gain new skills
- Achieve another goal in your life
- Take your brand to new levels
Not to mention the sheer satisfaction you will get from preparing materials, creating a course, and promoting your course online!
Summary
We already know what an online course is and how to create one. However, before we start working, it is worth considering what online courses are worth creating for our target group, because without market research we can burn through finances and not see the effects. Only then let’s start creating a schedule and lessons.