The American education system has gone far beyond the shackles of textbooks and manuscripts. With the internet at disposal, an 8-year-old can learn rocket science while a 75-year-old can learn ballet from scratch.
Online education is more than a $100 billion dollar industry and it is set to grow even further into a giant sector where people splash the cash. The question is—are we ready to reap the money that other people are sowing out there?
Many individuals and groups of people are learning how to create an online course. While some are creating online courses that teach how to create an online course, many hosting websites give you the opportunity to upscale your online course empire.
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Do you fancy yourself teaching someone through an online course? People are raking $5,000 a month by selling their courses online. If you have an idea in mind, then here’s a handy guide to teach you how to create an online course.
But first—why do people prefer online courses?
The answer to this question is simple—human needs are limitless. A wise person’s desire to learn only stops when s/he stops breathing. Online courses quench the thirst of learning for many avid learners—just like brain food.
There is a world outside textbooks that people want to learn about and everything cannot be learned from textbooks. That’s what online courses do, they teach what people want to learn but they can’t because the information on the internet is just not enough.
There’s a lot of knowledge in an online course that can’t be obtained from anywhere. Out of tonnes of other reasons, here are some reasons why online courses sell like hotcakes.
- They are online: This might sound rather dumb, but an online course’s utility of being online attracts learners more than anything. In a world which is connected to the www 24/7, students love the flexibility factor of online courses.
- There’s a lot to learn: If you think of something as simple as Search Engine Optimization, everyone knows its touch and feel from the outside. But to play in the major leagues, you have to know a topic through and through. Online courses delve into the intricacies for there’s a lot to learn in each and every topic.
- They’re worth paying for: Most of the online courses carry a legit certification with them. When students agree to pay for learning that bit, then it is the teacher’s responsibility to certify students as experts in the given course.
Am I qualified enough to create & sell an online course?
Learning how to create an online course and selling it later is one story while crafting an online course from scratch is another. Anyone can sell an online course if they know what they are selling and they believe in what they are selling.
If you are wondering what does ‘belief’ in one’s own course means, it is all about thinking from students’ point of view.
- Does your course actually help students to become better than what they are?
- Will they earn more money from what they’ll learn?
- Is your content good enough to develop the students’ acumen in the given area of expertise?
- Is the course really worth it?
As we highlighted it before, anyone can learn how to create and sell an online course if they believe in their service. All it takes is the learner’s expertise and eagerness to learn more about the subject being taught.
If you ask the question “am I qualified enough?” before even trying to research on your area of expertise, you won’t be able to succeed in creating and selling your online course. It won’t be a surprise if there’s no online course as well.
Keep the positivity intact and research on your topic of interest. The best way to go about it is by looking into the existing online courses on the internet and studying them in detail. That has to be the step one. If you feel that there’s more to offer then learn how to create an online course and start selling it.
How to create an online course—the 7-step guide
Down below are seven steps for you to follow if you wish to create your own online course, and by that we mean creating a course which sells like hotcakes. Here’s how you can make your online course irresistible by showing off that wisdom of yours.
I. Ask yourself—what do I know best?
When you are planning to craft an online course for students beyond the borders of your own country, you can choose anything you like. Are you good at tossing Frisbees? Do you consider yourself a klutz in EA Sports FIFA? Have you discovered a new budgeting method that can save hundreds of dollars?
Anything and everything can be converted and sold as an online course if there is an audience for it. Before researching the audience though, you’d have to figure out what do you have to offer.
A very trending approach to online courses is outward to inward one—where curators prepare courses keeping in mind what students are looking for. For instance, courses on Gender Studies didn’t just come up because someone was very intrigued about it, but because people wanted to learn more about it.
II. Learn more about it
Since you are learning how to create an online course, remember that more than half the part is about learning more than what you know. When students subscribe to online courses, they want to learn what they haven’t already.
To teach students something that doesn’t exist on the internet (or that it’s too hard to find) requires intense research. A good online course is one that teaches something new—that’s what learners will pay for.
PRO TIP: When we, as authors, write stuff, we try to find things that might not be easily available to the readers and portray it through our blogs. Keep a “customer first” approach—for it’ll take you places.
III. Is there a market for it?
Best online courses are ones that offer a solution to problems. It is your responsibility to discover that sore spot in learners’ minds and act on time. There is not a single online course on the internet that doesn’t have a target market (you too, meme science).
Discover your target audience and if possible, contact them via email and social media to understand what they are looking for. Not only are you getting valuable inputs for your course, but you might also woo a few loyal customers here and there.
IV. Time to build on it!
Creating an online course is a cakewalk once you have gathered all the information. Sure, it’d take some efforts from you to sketch out a blueprint of your multi-stage course, but it’s very much necessary to ensure that things run smoothly.
V. Rehearse it out
A good online course isn’t complete without audio input, video lectures and interactive sessions. You’d almost feel like a professor while prepping up the notes, but it is crucial to rehearse it all out. Once you are done with this, it is time to host your course.
VI. Host it Online
WARNING: This might turn out to be the breakthrough step in your pursuit of creating an online course. Make this choice wisely, for you don’t want all that toil to go down the drain.
It is very crucial to host your online course at the right place. Building an online course can be a toughie if you think of it, but this one platform makes it as easy as teaching your students on a virtual blackboard.
We are talking about Teachable—the all-in-one platform to create and sell your online courses. It doesn’t get easier than this, people.
Create your course the way you want, host it on Teachable and watch the students swarm into your virtual classroom! Teachable takes care of everything from hosting your course online to processing all those payments.
Create multiple courses and showcase them all on your homepage aka Teachable School. If it is good enough, then your course will start selling like hotdogs on a match day.
If you feel that there are changes to be made, you can simply customize your course and website according to your whims and fancies. Teachable offers full flexibility for it.
Now you know where to host an online course—get on Teachable and give wings to your online course empire.
Create & Sell your course on Teachable>>
VII. Your Course-Empire is ready!
Congratulations, you’ve made it! You started it as an attempt to learn how to create an online course will now pan out to be the most kick-ass gurukul on many platforms. Do keep in mind that you have to update your course whenever you find new bits of information.
Market your course on multiple platforms and use social media to your advantage. You now know how to create and sell an online course. Gather your textbooks and watch your course scale new heights!
