In this blog, we will show you step by step guide to launch your first course in 2022.

Create, market, and sell online course

In the world of online courses, the crucial step is knowing your audience before you launch your online course. Building and launching may look challenging, but with time it is possible. But similarly, along with your system, you need a well-thought launch protocol that can make your process much easier. Before you launch your course, make sure you’ve got a pool of audience who are inquisitive about knowing the product. Engage with your audience and see their interest in what they are looking for in your course.  

Here, is the guide to launch your course, and we will dive deep into the process that encourages you to launch your course.

Let’s get started.

Step by step guide to launch your first course

Guide to launch your first course

1) Create an email list

Ideally, you want to start creating an email list before you start planning for your online course. This process will help you and give you confidence, even if you’re scheduling to launch your course in a few weeks. You can create a lead magnet by delivering people something for free – like a mini-course, a short ebook, or even a PDF with checklists in exchange for email addresses. Later on, learn how to use an email sequence using Graphy to build urgency and trust with your list and provide some initial course sales.

In general, if you inform your email list about your course, about 2% may buy your class. It will give you a good idea of how many people you should seek to get on your email list.

There are lots of different ways to build your email list – ​How long it takes to build up your list depends on your existing traffic and the number of subscribers you want before launching your course. The important thing is to start creating your email list and continue to grow it. 

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2) Drive traffic to your lead magnet

There are different ways to generate traffic to help you build your email list.

Make relevant blog content

​One of the best ways to draw new audiences to your website and email list is to create blog content that is directly related to the topic of your upcoming course. Don’t share everything about the class at the beginning. Perhaps build excitement about your course curriculum by sharing related content. That will allow people to think if they wish to ​sign up for your email list. Meantime, create relevant blog content that is free content to send to your email list. It creates a great connection on providing value before you pitch your course.

​Run paid ads

Running ads is not essential, but you can use them to offer a shortcut to building your email list if you have the budget. If you wish to choose one kind of paid advertising to run your online course, we recommend using Facebook ads. The reason is that they’re adaptable and customizable. You can narrow down your demographic as your Facebook advertisement. And most significantly, you can target ads to individuals with specific interests.

Social media

The unique thing about social media is that you can re-purpose content and add it to your work. For example, you can link to a blog post relating to the course on any social media platform like Linkedin or Instagram. Just be careful not to spend too much time on this. As when we start scrolling social media, it has a habit of sucking up a lot of time. We hope this guide to launch your first course will be beneficial. 

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3) Engage with your audience

When you have an existing audience following you, it can become a valuable help. If you engage with your audience, they will tell you exactly what like to learn. That will help you in curating your content. That helps to tailor your course instead of just guessing what audiences want. Your audience can tell you if your course is a good idea and the necessary lessons they wish to see in the course. If you have a good connection with your audience and deliver useful content for free, they will provide feedback and tell you what they’d like or dislike.

4) Pre-selling your online course

In pre-selling, you give restricted access to only the first few lessons in the course and later by a certain date promise the rest of the course. The big downside about pre-selling courses is that – it creates huge pressure to meet your course deadline. If this is your first time, this can be a rough and stressful experience.  

However, instead of pre-selling your course, you can aim to hit a specific deadline, and this guide to launch your first course is recommended for first-time sellers.

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​5) Make a launch strategy

You are already started with pre-selling and have created some noise on social media. Now it is time to plan your launch strategy for your complete launch. Your launch strategy should be creative and must be unique. Throughout your launch process, keep creating your email list with Graphy, and launch your course once fully completed.  

You need to notify your audiences that the course is launching on one particular date and generate a buzz with some valuable free content beforehand. You can create a mini-course in a video series or ​a 5-day course, in such a way you can plan your launch strategy and target your valuable customers.

Now, plan what to write inside the emails and show everyone what a power-packed course you will be launching. 

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​​6) Your course launch email sequence

These are the sample email sequence that you can use to launch your online course.

Email 1 – Teaser

In this email, you should inform people that you plan to create a course and secretly working on this course for weeks. Let your email list know that they should pay attention to their email because more information will be coming. Write an email that shows and builds excitement and interest in your course. Use this message for email pre-launch content also.

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Email 2 – What’s in the course

In this email write and describes what’s in your course and show the breakdown of your course. Or even you might give benefits that they can wish to take away from the lessons. This email will display the value of your classes and what they can take away from them. It’s a good idea and let your email list know when your course will be available to buy. But if your course launch date is away from the launch date, you can write and tell them to wait and send out a separate email closer to the actual launch date. Also, you can use Graphy’s automated email to send your audiences and inform them about the big launch.

Related: 7 ways to validate your online course idea

Email 3 – Open registration

It is your final and the most important email, as it is the launch and registration email. In this email, you make your course available for sale. By now, your email list customers should view you as someone who delivers value and quality content for them. And they should be excited about the course based on your previous couple of emails. Make sure to use the navigation to the right page, where audiences can view the lessons and see them before they finally invest money in the course.

Therefore, this is the most crucial email sequence that you will send. So, take some time to craft it well and indicate that your course is ready to sell.

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Time to conclude

We hope, you have understood the step-by-step guide to launch your first course. No doubt that launching your online course is challenging and hectic. It requires long time investments, patience, and a lot of research before creating and launching an online course. But, if done well, you can build a 5 or 6 figure launch with your first course. Focus on creating high-quality free content, choose a trending course topic, and use it to build an email list. Then, engage with your audiences, build trust, and show the value that can bring value before you pitch. Consider pre-selling or running a beta launch with a small section of audiences to gather feedback and early sales.

We hope this guide to launch your course helps you generate good sales. You can use Graphy’s platform also to host your online course, and if you still need help, talk to Graphy experts, who will guide you and show you easy steps to follow.