how to make a digital online course

by Nathanial Paucek 3 min read

How to create an online course
  1. Choose the right subject matter.
  2. Test your idea.
  3. Research the topic extensively.
  4. Write a course outline.
  5. Create the course content.
  6. Bring your course online.
  7. Sell your online course.
  8. Market your content.
Jun 23, 2021

Full Answer

How do I make an online course?

How to Create and Sell Profitable Online Courses: Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Think Positive and Avoid Mental Blocks. “I don’t have enough money to start online courses.” “I am not a subject matter expert.” “What if this doesn’t work?”
  2. Come up with a Profitable Course Subject. If you have an idea, a skill, a passion, an audience, or some content you want other people to see, then ...
  3. Choose the Type of Course you Want to Sell. ...

More items...

How to create and sell an online course?

Selling your online course is a process. While there is a degree of creativity required to produce compelling sales messaging, that too can be accomplished. But you must have a plan before you go to market. Design a funnel by identifying your ideal customer, building a sales page, identifying your traffic sources, and driving traffic to your ...

How to design your online course?

Why should you sell clothes online?

  • Earn money. The most obvious answer is that it's good for your bank balance. ...
  • It's good for the environment. The fewer clothes that end up in landfills the better. ...
  • Gain more space. Got a crammed closet? ...
  • Donate to charity. A number of platforms, such as eBay and Cudoni have made it super easy to directly donate to charity from any of your clothing sales.

How to create an online course on a budget?

Tips To Create An Amazing Online Training Course On A Tight eLearning Budget

  • Narrow the scope of your online content. ...
  • Repurpose existing online training materials. ...
  • Find the perfect eLearning tools. ...
  • Rely on eLearning templates and online media libraries. ...
  • Create bite-sized online training experiences. ...
  • Invest in needs analysis and audience research. ...

How much does it cost to create an online course?

It can cost anywhere from $200 to $10,000 to create an online course. The main source of expenses is the labor involved, followed by the equipment and software. If you are creating the online course yourself and not paying someone else to do it, this means that other than your time there are very few expenses involved.

What software do I use to create an online course?

Top Software for Creating Online CoursesLearnDash.LearnWorlds.Teachable.Thinkific.Podia.iSpring Suite.Kajabi.

How do I create a course content?

Four Steps to Create Course Content that FlowsConsider your goals in teaching this course. Decide what you would like your students to accomplish from taking this course. ... Develop topics and subtopics, then narrow down further. ... Structure the course with what you have finalized. ... Plan your content types.

How do you create a successful online course?

5 Tips for Designing Effective Online Courses in 2022Know Your Audience. ... Create Well-Organized Courses / Micro-Learning. ... Make Your Lessons Interactive. ... Incorporate Synchronous and Asynchronous e-Learning Styles. ... Make Content Accessible.

How do I create a free online course?

How to create an online course for freeThinkific: Software to create an online course for free. ... Canva: Free and low-cost design tool. ... Beaver Builder: affordable WordPress page builder. ... Camtasia: Cheap software for editing online course videos, with a free trial. ... Vimeo: Free video hosting.More items...•

How do I create a PDF course?

Go to Manage Learning Content.Select Courses.Click on a specific course in the Course Overview.You will now be in the Course Curriculum area of the Course Builder.On the left-hand side, click Add Lesson.Select PDF.Name the Lesson Title as desired.More items...

What is a digital course?

[05:41] Digital courses are online educational programs that you work through on an online platform.

Can you make money creating online courses?

Are Online Courses Profitable? Yes, they are. Online courses offer one of the best business models to digital entrepreneurs. The demand is rising and people are more than willing to pay for them, and they are one of the top ways to make money online.

Is selling online courses profitable?

Are online courses profitable? Yes. They're actually one of the best business models you can adopt as a digital business because they're in demand and more and more people are willing to pay top dollar for them.

How many modules should an online course have?

For a shorter course, you probably only want 3 to 5 main steps or modules that will comprise the bulk of your course. Every module contains several lessons that teach the actual course.

Which online platform is best?

10 Best Online Learning Platforms In 2022 To Jumpstart Your CareerSkillshare.Mindvalley.Coursera.Udemy.Brilliant.org.Edx.org.Udacity.LinkedIn Learning (Ex Lynda)More items...

Who can create online courses?

Anyone with knowledge in a particular area can create online courses. You don’t need a formal qualification or a degree to teach an online course....

How much money can you make selling online courses?

While some course creators make $50k+ month, most successful ones make between $1k-$10k per month. However, your actual course revenue depends on v...

How long does it take to create an online course?

As you might expect, there is no set-in-stone amount of time to create an online course. Generally speaking, it can take anywhere between 20 and 50...

What is the cost of creating an online course?

Generally speaking, it can cost you anywhere between $140 and $10,770 to create your own online course. But, of course, it could even be more, as m...

Can I create an online course for free?

Yes, it is possible to create an online course for free, but for that, you’ll need to do all the work yourself. Plus, you should use your smartphon...

How long should an online course be?

An online course should be as long or short as it needs to deliver value to your target audience and cover the information thoroughly. Overall, it...

What technical skills do I need to create an online course?

In most cases, you don’t need any technical skills. You’ll have to learn about a few things, such as video creation and setting up your course webs...

Where can I host my online course?

There are several options for hosting your online course, but the two best platforms are Thinkific and Kajabi. These platforms allow you to build y...

How much should you charge for your online course?

There is no definite answer to this, and you need to evaluate your competition, the value your course provides to students, and the niche you’re in...

What should the topic of an online course be?

The topic for your online course should be either a subject that you’re already knowledgeable about or are willing to invest in learning thoroughly. Either way, you need to be passionate about the subject.

Why is online education important?

Therefore, fostering a community of learners around your course will greatly improve their experience, contributing to the overall success of your course. An active online community can help users share their learning process with a group of peers.

What does competition mean in a course?

Having competition means that people find the topic relevant and helpful for them. It’s also a good idea to create content that can comfortably fit into an existing, tried-and-tested space. Once you have a clear target audience in mind, you are best equipped for later creating and marketing the course.

What to do after a video is filmed?

After you’ve filmed your content, invest some time editing your raw footage. There are many free video editing software available, from iMovie, to Lightworks, and the Wix Video Maker. Try to craft a nice rhythm to your video by breaking it up into digestible bites.

How to teach a lesson?

Go in a logical order and try to make your ideas evolve naturally from one to the other , to ensure a smooth and frictionless learning process. Remember that teaching is about guiding your audience through an idea, step by step. To make this clear in your course outline, define an objective for each of your lessons.

Do you need to run a test before starting an online course?

Creating an online course requires a lot of hard work and effort on your part, so running a test before you begin will allow you to validate this online business idea as one that will pay itself off down the line.

Can you rent a lesson on a video by video basis?

Individual lessons for rent or purchase: Allow users to rent or purchase your online course on a video-by-video basis. When purchasing a video, users will enjoy unlimited streaming of the lesson they’ve purchased, so that they can go back and rewatch the content at all times.

How to come up with a course outline?

The best way to come up with a solid course outline is to start tailoring existing content you have for your course. You can create everything from the ground up, but if you have content that’s already created and relevant to your course, you can save a massive amount of time by repurposing it for your course.

Why do people want to use courses?

People want to use courses to better themselves. They want to transform by learning some new things. And so the goal of any course is to help them in this process. So think about why your audience wants to transform.

Is an idea a good fit for an online course?

Your idea may be a great one, but the fact of the matter is that your idea may not be a good fit for an online course. You don’t want to jump straight in and spend hours upon hours creating something that people won’t actually want.

Is it rewarding to create an online course?

Creating an online course can be challenging work. But it can also be extremely rewarding. When you’ve created something that your audience engages with, learns from, and grows as a person, it’s a great feeling knowing that you helped that happen. So, take this guide and get to teaching.

How to Create Your Online Course Fast

The fastest method for building Version 01 of your online course is to use slide-based video. You'll record one video for each module of each section. So, 3-4 videos per section.

How to Create an Online Course FAQ

No, I wouldn't recommend using Udemy. There are a lot of downsides, most of which involves the inability to control pricing and the fact that they take a hefty cut of every sale.

How Do You Actually Make Money with Online Courses?

People go online for information, social engagement, and entertainment. People love to learn things about an astonishing number of topics that hold their interest. For example, a designer might want to learn a programming language to expand his or her skills.

Choosing the Best Course-Building Platform to Rock the World of Your Target Audience

Your course subject matter and target audience must align if you want the greatest possible business success. Bypassing startup costs by using an online course platform makes good sense for most aspiring educational entrepreneurs. Choosing the right platform is the devil in the details.

Marketing Alchemy 101 for Promoting Your Online Course

Marketing online is different than traditional advertising. People often spend only a few seconds waiting for a page to load or to get answers to their questions. That’s why you have to be proactive about curating your leads. The competition for online course sales is fierce.

Videos Will Command 80 Percent of Internet Traffic by the End of 2019

You might want to produce a series of videos for your course and marketing purposes. Videos will make up 80 percent of internet traffic by the end of 2019, and YouTube reports that mobile video watching doubles each year.

Introduction

As you may already know, I’m pretty big on online courses. I started my first online course in 2001 and transitioned it to online around 2004. Over all the time I’ve run that online course, I’ve helped thousands of people reach their goal of passing an exam so that’s a pretty successful course.

Further Benefits of Offering Online Courses

Online courses fit under the category of info products (or at least that’s what we used to call them before watching videos online was even possible). Back then, you could choose from ebooks, big-box items, or live seminars.

MARKET RESEARCH

In this first section, you’re going to conduct some market research to help you with your course topic. You’ll do it from the perspective of finding the unique angle for your online course in the marketplace.

Validation

First, you need your online course idea. Then you need to validate it as best you can.

Format of Course

The next step is to figure out the format of your online course. If you spent the time researching your competition, then this will be easier to do. There are three ways to go about this.

Medium

When it comes to your medium you want to be clear on how your online course materials will be delivered. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

TOPIC RESEARCH

You may already know enough about the topic for your online course that you don’t need to do any research. If so, then that’s great. But after reviewing the boundaries of your course, you may find that you have gaps you need to fill. You may need to research specific topics.

How many modules should a course outline have?

From my experience, I recommend courses have no more than four modules/units.

How to start a successful business?

Gathering resources is one of the keys to starting a successful business. By making yourself and your knowledge available as a resource in an easy to access form such as an online course, helps position you as the go-to for entrepreneurs.

Do online courses create more value?

Many business owners look at online courses created by their competition and think if they have more modules it will create more value and, in turn, more buyers. That’s not the approach that will get your students results in a timely manner -- and it’s the results that will grow your course into a profitable stream.

Should emails link to sales page?

The emails should link to the sales page of your web site, but don’t be concerned if you’ve never written a sales page. Focus on the course: what your students will get, what’s included in it and why you’re the best solution to their problem.

What is digital learning?

Digital courses offer a convenient learning experience that students of all walks of life desire. Similarly, instructors can create content from the comfort of their own homes, sell it, and enjoy a passive stream of income – freeing up their time to do more.

How much do online courses make?

According to data from Teachable, instructors that make an income with them earn an average of $5,000 selling their courses.

What is an alternative to an online marketplace?

The alternative to an online marketplace is investing in an online course building SaaS. These services typically provide a full set of tools for building and customizing your online school and sales funnel. Usually, you can host your e-course on their servers, while using your own domain name. Plus, many providers also offer marketing tools to boot!

Can you make passive income from online courses?

As we've already said, yes, online courses are excellent for generating passive income for years to come, but this only works if your course remains valid and up-to-date. Things in your field may change, the pain points of your audience may evolve, or your students might outgrow your course.

Do you need a certificate to complete a course?

Depending on your field of instruction, you may wish to offer students a certificate for completing your course. This often goes hand in hand with ‘compliance standards,' i.e., any prerequisites students need to demonstrate before or during your course.

Can you use content marketing to find blog topics?

If you're familiar with content marketing, you can adopt the same process you use for finding and validating potential blog topics, as you do for the subject matter of your course.

Is it cheaper to take an online course than in person?

Professionals and hobbyists alike are taking advantage of e-courses. Not only are they more convenient, but they're (usually) cheaper than in-person classes. Online courses are flexible, can typically be completed at your own pace, and often provide content that's easier to digest than traditional spoken lectures.

How to create an eLearning course

Before we get to the free tools, if you’re ready to create eLearning content for your team, there are a few basic steps any project will follow.

25 free eLearning authoring tools

You’ll notice that, in those six steps, we identified a few key areas of development, namely:

Get help with your employee training

For some, DIYing your own eLearning course won’t be worth the time or effort. Or, you may want an expert to jump on board to help you create a large-scale strategy or pick up certain development tasks. At EdgePoint Learning, we know that creating effective and remarkable eLearning programs takes work.

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