Guide to Create and Sell Online Courses For Free: First of all, the steps to the guides in creating and selling online courses start with what audiences you’re requiring and the topic engagement. Performing a simple Google search around your intended topic and paying attention to the questions that people are already asking is a great way to find out what people need. The data on Google is quite extensive; it cannot be overlooked in market research.
If you are trying to create a course on “How To Bake Wedding Cakes” for example, simply searching the topic on Google will populate results that include the most frequently asked questions from people around the world.
GROW A COMMUNITY
One of the most important digital assets you have is your online community and it will be the reason that your other digital assets like Courses and Digital products will continue to earn you consistent income month after month. You need people you can sell to, and while advertising is great, it is even better when you have an organic online audience listening to you.
It doesn’t matter what platform you choose: You blog, Youtube, Instagram, Clubhouse, Twitter, Email marketing: The most important thing is that you have an audience listening to you online. You can easily learn How To Grow and Engaged Audience fast on Instagram and Create content that attracts your ideal audience. This isn’t rocket science when you have a step by step blueprint to follow. Having an online community that looks to you for your knowledge and expertise is vital and cannot be overlooked.
FIND A PROBLEM
To begin you need a problem worth solving. Just because you know something doesn’t mean it solves a real problem for people. All of business is about problem-solving. The bigger the problem you solve for people, the more money you can potentially earn. When thinking about online courses, you must remember that the people who are in need of this information, do not just need it because they are information hoarders.
They have real problems. Your job as a coach, online educator, and course creator is to figure out the real problems people have in relation to what you know- but not only that, the problems they are willing to pay for. Because you have to understand that just because people have problems doesn’t mean they want to pay for it. This is why I say, “Find a problem worth solving”.
MARKET RESEARCH
Conducting early research is vital. You must know what people are already asking about in your industry and niche and you must be able to validate that this is infact a real problem for people beyond a simple Google search.
An easy way to conduct market research is to ask your direct audience by posing a simple question. This can be in a Linkedin post, a Tweet, on Instagram- it doesn’t matter as long as you are speaking to real people.
CREATE YOUR OFFER
The mistake I have seen a lot of people make is thinking that the product they create (online course, Ebook) is the offer. Your offer is not the product. You must have a clear understanding of this so that you can price your course accurately and present a solid argument for why anyone should invest in your course. Your offer is the specific transformation or result that you are promising, while your product is the medium through which you deliver that transformation.
In our cake baking example, your offer is that the student will learn in How to Bake a beautiful wedding cake in 3 Days even if they have never baked a cake in their life. Your product is your online course which will guide them step by step on how to achieve this. The reason people will pay for your course is that you have packaged the information and solution in an organized, easy to follow the sequence.
BRAINSTORM AND ORGANIZE YOUR COURSE CONTENT
Once you have validated your offer, the next step is to organize your course content in a step by step flow. Think about your topic and how your student needs to be taught, from the first step to the next and the next. To see a well-detailed explanation of this, watch this Free Web class on Course creation. I also share with you my course creation process and how I brainstorm the entire course content. Remember, people want organization. This is what they are paying for above all else.
RECORD YOUR COURSE – $0
Recording your course is a very simple process and is possibly the easiest thing you’d do. Once your course content is organized in simple steps or modules, it is time to create and record it for digital access by your students. There are so many options to choose from when recording your course. You’ll need simple software for creating your slides and presentation. My favorite ones to use are Powerpoint, Google Presentation, Keynote and Canva. Next you are going to have to decide how you want to present your course.
Some people like to present the course Live to an actual audience before hosting it on course platforms like Kobocourse for example. Other people prefer to record the course and upload it to the course hosting platform. I enjoy teaching Live so I’d usually teach the actual course content to a live audience via Zoom or WebinarJam, then download that live vide, cut it up and edit it into modules for my courses on Kobocourse.com
There are so many options available to you and the only limitation is your own mind and creativity. To record your screen and present your course, you can use apps like Loom, Canva or OBS Screen recorder. These apps will generally allow you to record for completely Free! Again, no excuses here.
HOST YOUR COURSE ON A RELIABLE COURSE HOSTING PLATFORM – $0
There are so many course hosting platforms to choose from today and if you are on a budget, then finding a course host that can support you as a growing business is key. But just because you can start for Free doesn’t mean that they are built to serve you.
I am a Course creator and coach from Nigeria. Unfortunately for myself and many Africans around the world, most of the existing course platforms did not cater to Africans. Even if you could create an account, there was no way to get paid in the absence of Paypal or Stripe. This is where a lot of Africans unfortunately get stuck in their quest to build a thriving Online business.
Then I found Kobocourse and all of that changed. Kobocourse is Africa’s premier online course hosting platform now serving content creators, coaches, and course creators from Nigeria, Africa, South Africa, and Kenya- so if you are from any of these African countries then you are in luck cause you can get started with a free account right away and begin selling your own online courses.
Kobocourse is also an All-in-one platform, offering services like Ebook Hosting, Video Courses, Email Marketing, Ticket sales, Pre-Order sales, Coupons, Coaching gig schedule, and an optimized reporting system on your sales and course stats. This saves you money on other platforms and you would not need to patch together so many different applications and software to get your online business up and running.
SUCCESSFUL SALES – $0
Once set up, you must continue to drive consistent traffic to your courses and Ebooks online. I have coached so many course creators who are flat out lazy and never get past the brainstorm phase or give up when it is time to Market their courses.
The easiest way to drive free traffic to your courses is by creating free content. Content marketing is possibly the next best thing to paid advertising in today’s digital world. And because so few people are creating great, valuable content, it is increasingly easier to disrupt the industry when you give value to your audience.
Having a course is one thing, but treating your course like a product that deserves to be seen is the difference that separates successful course creators from those who never break the bank with their courses.
Remember, your course is a real digital asset. It doesn’t expire and it doesn’t die. This is a digital product that is created once and all you have to do is continue to let people know that it exists. No matter how good your product is, people cannot buy it if they do not know about it. So ensure that you are driving traffic to your courses using content marketing or advertising.
You can learn more about How to create and sell online courses by watching this Free Web class that walks you through this entire process step by step. Don’t create an online course until you have watched this free training on course creation for beginners and experts.