Marketing trainer Tee Johnson created an online course in 48 hours. Robert Bruce, an instructor and author on Skillshare, launched his first course in two days. Pat Flynn from his blog Smart Passive Income created an online course in three days. How did they do it and what exactly do they have in common? First of all, they are all experts in their niche and have known and worked with their audience for years. Secondly, they all created their courses so quickly based on their existing work. This article will be useful if you want to create an online course but have neither the experience nor the materials to do so. We don’t promise that you will launch them as quickly as the experts mentioned above. But after reading this, you will definitely have a step-by-step development guide.
Define your target audience
Before you rush into the maelstrom of creating an online course, you need to know the main thing – who your audience is and what typical characteristics they have. Are they students, housewives, retirees, or professionals? Based on this data, you can then develop the course.
You need to conduct research to get answers to a number of questions:
- What is the age of your audience?
- What does it do?
- How does it rest?
- How does it study information?
- What is their level of knowledge or professional experience?
- What problems do they face, etc.
The age of the audience is important, as younger students may prefer interactive content, while older ones will appreciate traditional teaching methods. Professional experience will tell you what level of complexity the future course should have: beginners need basic information, professionals need to deepen their knowledge. It is also important to assess the level of knowledge of the audience to adapt the course to their needs. You can study the needs of the audience through interviews, market analysis, feedback on previous courses or similar courses from competitors. You need to find out what problems your potential students face and what motivation they have to offer solutions in the course. In general, a successful course is one that meets the needs and benefits of the audience.
Identifying the target audience, as well as further stages of course development, should be included in the plan or divided into stages with responsible persons. This can be done in online spreadsheets, but it is more convenient to work with project management tools. For example, the free Trello system will help you organize the course development process and track progress.
Choose a course topic
This is an important step in the course development process. To choose a topic and understand the demand for it, you need to analyze the market and competitors’ offers. To do this, you need to research popular topics on learning platforms, forums, and social media. You should pay attention to keywords in search engines. Researching competitors will help you see what courses already exist, their structure, content, and pricing, as well as identify strengths and weaknesses. Feedback from course graduates and ratings of popular courses will help determine demand. You should also consider the relevance of the topics to the target audience and its needs. To determine the topic of the course, you should focus on the following features:
- meets the interests of the audience
- will be useful for the audience
- can meet the professional needs of the audience
In addition, you can stand out from the competition with a special approach to the topic, unique experience, and the format of information presentation. We’ll talk about the latter next.
Course structure
When the target audience and topic of the course are already known, you should move on to developing the structure. This is the foundation of effective learning, so it should be carefully considered. Content planning consists of dividing a topic into modules and lessons.
A module is a thematically structured part of the learning material that covers a certain aspect or section of the course. A module typically contains lectures, practical exercises, tests, or other learning elements that help students learn specific knowledge or skills within the overall course program.
A lesson is a structured unit of instruction that presents a certain amount of material on a specific topic or issue. A lesson may include explanations, practical exercises, discussions, and assessments to ensure that students learn and develop skills.
A structured course helps to organize the material and ensure a logical transition between topics. Each module should cover a specific aspect and consist of lessons on a particular subtopic. When structuring a course, it is important to follow the sequence of material presentation so that students can gradually acquire knowledge. The following approaches are used for this purpose:
- from simple to complex
- from theory to practice
It is also necessary to define learning objectives for each module, i.e., what exactly students should know or be able to do after completing it. Clear learning objectives help keep the focus on the results and ensure that the material is understood. The outcomes should be easy to measure so that it is simple to assess student progress. The course itself should be flexible in its structure and adaptable to different students. At the same time, it should maintain logic and consistency to promote effective learning.
Udemy has a whole course on course creation called “How to Create an Online Course: The Official Udemy Course“ where you can learn useful information about all stages of course development from content planning to promotion.
Content development
Content for online courses should consist of materials in various formats. This will increase students’ interest in learning. The main types of learning materials are:
- Textual materials – lectures, articles, e-books, instructions.
- Video tutorials – training videos, webinars, presentations with comments ( Zoom – a platform for conducting webinars, online meetings and live classes with participants – may be suitable).
- Audio materials – podcasts, audio lectures, interviews.
- Interactive exercises – tests, quizzes, simulations.
- Visual materials – infographics, diagrams, slides, animations (you will need, for example, Canva – a tool for creating graphic materials, presentations, illustrations for the course without the need for professional design skills)
- Practical assignments – projects, cases, exercises to practice skills.
- Forums and chats – discussion platforms for interaction with other participants or teachers.
- Documents for download – PDFs, templates, presentations (for example, they can be created in Canva, Vista Create, Google Slides).
Video tutorials help to convey information in a comprehensive manner and engage students in learning. They should be short, informative, dynamic, and hold attention well.
Textual materials are useful for a detailed presentation of the material and help to delve deeper into the topic. They should be clearly structured, contain headings, subheadings, lists, definitions, notes, etc. Anything that makes it easier to work with information and perceive it.
Visual materials help to better explain complex phenomena and concepts, structure information and present it in an easy-to-read format. Interactive exercises are designed to consolidate knowledge through practical application. Practical tasks also help to test the knowledge gained. Forums and chats provide students with the necessary sense of community and support from their classmates and instructors. Audio materials and downloadable documents help to clarify the topic and are useful for students who prefer to hear or see information better.
When developing course content, you should always keep in mind that it should be
- clearly structured – from modules and lessons to headings, lists, tables of contents, etc.
- interactive – it should keep the attention to attract attention and be memorable.
- Accessible – the level of complexity should correspond to the training of the audience (if it is too difficult, students will be demotivated), and the materials themselves should be available for studying using various devices.
- visualized – text with images is much better than just text. And infographics, videos, diagrams help not only to better perceive but also to convey information.
- communicate with students – that is, show progress, assess their level (with tests or homework), or support them in the learning process (forums, chats, and other ways of communication).
When the course content is ready, the question arises: where exactly should it be posted? To do this, you need to look for a convenient platform that meets all the obvious and non-obvious needs of the course owner or online school.
Choosing a platform for your course
Choosing a platform to host a course is an important step that affects the subsequent success of the course itself. After all, the more convenient it is for students to take it, the better impression they get in general.
There are several main types of platforms for hosting an online course:
- popular platforms with courses
- LMS (Learning Management System)
- own website
Popular platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, or edX have certain advantages in their field, but these advantages are accompanied by disadvantages. For example, Udemy offers course creators access to a large audience, but it has strict terms of use and high fees. Coursera opens the way to cooperation with universities and gives courses a high reputation, but the requirements for course content are also high.
Another option for hosting an online course is to create an online school on an LMS. This is a learning management system that helps to conduct and track online training courses. The modern market has dozens of such systems. For example, Teachable helps to create, deliver, and sell courses. However, it doesn’t have its own audience, so you’ll have to invest in promoting the course yourself. LMS Softbook has tools for promoting and selling courses, which makes it easier for online school owners and experts to work with online courses. When choosing an LMS, it is important to consider all the needs for creating, delivering, and selling online courses, as well as the ease of administration and use for students and teachers. Usually, LMSs are available on a subscription basis and offer different conditions and tools at different rates.
The last option for hosting a course is your own website. This is a good choice for those who are ready to invest in the creation and administration. This platform will have unlimited opportunities for advertising and training. However, you will need to have several specialists who can set up and maintain it at all levels – from the availability of the site on the web to the sale of courses and conducting classes for students.
Advertise your course
Once a course is created, it needs to be promoted to attract an audience and ensure its commercial success. Different channels should be included in the marketing strategy:
- Social media – allows you to create posts, videos, and live broadcasts to attract the attention of potential customers.
- targeted advertising on social media – helps to reach a specific target audience based on their interests and behavior.
- Affiliate programs and collaborations with influencers – a way to draw attention to the course and increase audience reach due to subscribers’ trust in recommendations.
- advertising via email – sending an invitation to the course to the subscriber base may interest the audience if the offer is profitable (for example, you can use Mailchimp, an email marketing service)
- Webinars are an effective way to engage stakeholders and convince them of the value of the course.
Before promoting a course, you should also decide on a pricing policy and think it through carefully. The price of the course should correspond to its quality, but at the same time be affordable for the target audience. It is worth researching the market and understanding what prices competitors offer to set a competitive price for your product.
An additional tool for promoting and stimulating course sales is discounts, limited-time offers, and special promotions. To add value to the course, you can create different packages with sets of additional materials or consultations. This can help justify a higher price.
Evaluation of the course efficiency
Evaluating the effectiveness of a course is an important step that helps determine its success and areas for improvement. You can monitor success using various indicators.
The first indicator is the number of students enrolled in the course. This figure will indicate how attractive the course was to the market. The next indicator is the number of students who have completed all the modules and graduated. Another important point is the feedback from the course participants, i.e. their reviews. To get it, it is worth adding questionnaires and surveys to the curriculum to unobtrusively collect data on students’ experiences. This is a valuable source of information that can point out the strengths of the course as well as aspects that need improvement. The data can be used to improve course materials, adapt teaching methods, and refine the course structure.
Analyzing course performance and improving it should become a regular part of the course development process. After all, this information will not only keep the course up-to-date, but also provide ideas for creating the next successful online courses.
So, to create an online course, you need to move from an idea to its implementation. First, identify your target audience and learn about its main characteristics. Next, you need to delve deeper into the topic and research supply and demand in the market. Based on the data obtained, formulate a course topic that meets the interests and needs of the audience. After that, you should start developing training materials: create a course structure and create training materials. The more diverse they are, the more interested students will be in learning. The finished content should be posted on an accessible platform: your own website, a platform with courses, or an LMS. Once the course is posted, it needs to be promoted using various marketing tools to attract the attention of a wider audience. When everything is successful, the audience takes the course and continues to buy it, you need to collect and process feedback and impressions from alumni, as well as general information about student performance, to improve the course and have inspiration for the next one.