Looks like you have finally decided to expose your expert knowledge all packed up into a little Online Course bundle. Perfect! Launching an online course is truly the best resource for those in need of them and a fabulous income stream for YOU.
Working with Graphy has exposed me into the dynamics of creating & launching an Online Course, that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. We are literally living the journey of different Course creators & Online institutes.
Read Here: Create your new Course Step by Step Guide
The course creation process is full of new learnings. This blog covers the Top 5 things that no one tells you about launching an Online Course for the first time.
So without further ado, here are the deets:
Table of Contents
5 MUST DO THINGS BEFORE LAUNCHING AN ONLINE COURSE
Identify your Niche & Target Audience before launching an Online Course
Ideally, you shouldn’t be targeting a broad population. Narrowing your scope provides you with the opportunity to be the best at what you do.
By taking over a niche market you stand out from your competitors. It helps you establish a positive reputation, and also boosts your authority as an expert in your field. This ultimately attracts more customers to your product or service.
Now that you know why operating in a niche market is recommended. It’s time to identify it.
I came across a method which has been popularly used by a lot of people, including me, in order to identify our passion.
Make a list of the following:
- What you LOVE
- What the world NEEDS
- What are you GOOD AT
- What you can be PAID FOR
Once you are done with an individual list of all of the above, try to look for something which has been mentioned in all four sections.
You can’t go wrong with this one.
The above 4 combination is deadly & exactly what you need in order to get started.
Once you have identified your niche, you need to identify your Target Audience. The target audience is someone who will be interested in your product. They are your potential customers who will turn into your paying consumers. It takes us to our next step.
Read Here: Step by Step Create your Online Course
Research the Market before launching an Online Course
First things first, you need to make sure there are people out there who are ready to pay for what you will teach. The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make most of the time is that they have their idea and they run with it.
You have this cool title and a way of helping people with your particular skill set. Going through the whole Course creation process without having any idea whether people want or need it, is a big mistake. You will probably find it much harder to sell than you think.
So, you need market research, focused on who your ideal clients are. Find out what they want help with & solve them through your course.
What problems are they facing?
What would be their end Goal through a course like yours?
Find a way to ask them.
- Create a Google Form and circulate among your network to get an insight into the above questions. This process is super easy to implement & extremely convenient.
- Reach out to Quora. Either ask questions or run through the answers of the questions of your course interest.
- If you have an engaged community in the form of YouTube subscribers or social media followers, drop your questions. You will be surprised to see how handy the answers turn out to be.
- If you have any other way to reach out to masses, by all means, do it. Make sure you make the most out of this step as this decides your flow.
Read Here: How to make money online in 2022
You need a Marketing Plan
Once you are assured of what you are going to sell, you need to identify who you are going to sell to & a strategy on how you are going to sell them.
Having a pre-built list of the people who might be interested in your product is a necessity. You should have it before you announce your course launch.
Existing Students’ Data
If you have a physical classroom coaching, promote it within the institutes’ premises. This will surely grab the eyeballs. Begin with your existing students’ data. Once you start propagating the course launch information to them, more people will get interested & sign up.
Social Media Network
If you have developed a personal brand & have a network of Instagram followers, YouTube subscribers, or LinkedIn connections, marketing your course would be easier. Draw a social media strategy to promote your course in front of your audience, pre & post your course launch.
Blog
Having a blog acts as the pinnacle of the online promotion strategy of your E-courses. By writing compelling blogs you prove yourself to be an expert in your field. Start creating unique and engaging content that matches your course subject
Conclusion:
- Through the mediums mentioned above, ask people to sign up for free.
- The goal is to create an email list here.
- Once you have it, you need to send a LOT of E-mails. They would be the foundation of your course launch.
- E-mail should contain valuable content related to your course topic in the beginning.
- Start sending sales E-mail eventually.
- Add an option at the bottom for your subscribers to opt-out of sales emails, if they wish so.
Read Here: Why Branding is Important for my Online Institute?
Choose an all-in-one course hosting platform, that is a WIN-WIN
When you first begin the course creation process, you might consider hosting your course on a WordPress website. However, course building and designing a marketing strategy and then implementing it would be SO much work. Trying to dwell into everything all by yourself would rob you of your energy. Make your life easier by opting for a system to host your course which is specially created for this specific purpose. Like Graphy.
You will thank me later!
Committing to a course hosting platform might not sound persuasive if you have never sold courses online before. But, let’s own it. Integrating Payment Gateways, creating a Student Discussion Forum, adding Live Classes, Online Tests and tons of other things require expertise. Or, a huge amount of investment of time as well as money.
Basically, I vouch for, course hosting platforms. They are intended for that purpose. An economical monthly fee is all you pay for simplicity and making your life easy as an entrepreneur.
Read Here: How to Record Video lectures for your Online Course
Launch before you’re ready
This sounds confusing. Doesn’t it?
Hear me out.
Imagine launching a course with only the initial two chapters. Then you discover that your microphone has an echo. You will have the convenience to rectify it in the upcoming chapters without repeating the same long process.
Since it’s your first course, you will receive a lot of feedback. That would give you a clear idea of how you want to drive the rest of the content. You will have the motivation & energy left to give your best shot to the content, change the strategy if need be.
On the other side, by launching your course this way, you get to enter the market & gauge the interest of the people.
By only creating one-fourth of your content, you can get audience feedback as well as adjust 75% of your content. If you have signed up with Graphy, the “Content Scheduling” feature will help in this case. This is also called dripping.
The best part is, you can notify learners within your platform, every time you publish a new chapter.
Conclusion:
What happens when we are diving into unknown territory or doing something we’re a bit scared of? (Reads: Like launching an Online Course)
We put a heck of unnecessary tasks between us and launch, in order to prolong the process.
I have worked with more than 100 online institutes who have earned more than $100M in revenue. So, I know the grind. The process seems a little daunting. But, with the right things in place, it’s worth it.
You don’t necessarily need an affiliate program or the perfect social media graphics or some wild promo video.
Here’s what you actually need in order to launch:
- A thought-out, well-researched course idea & plan to create it.
- A pre-launch & post-launch marketing plan
- An all in one Course Platform like Graphy (this basically takes care of everything else)
