Complete Start To Finish Online Course Launch Checklist
Don’t let the launch of your next online course blow up in your face. Make sure you follow this online course launch checklist to ensure your launch runs smoothly.
Hi Trish Davies, here, founder of Build Your AU, online coach and mentor. I created Build Your AU to help highly talented people share and profit from their knowledge and expertise. Along with creating a strong personal brand to take to the marketplace.
I have done this myself and many occasions and the process just works if you do things correctly. It gives me great satisfaction to see members of my programs take the step to become an online coach and mentor to their audience.
I work with them throughout the process of course topic inception, development and marketing. It is my objective to help them start processing payments through an automated system which creates a lifestyle business.
If you would like to get a taste of what Build Your Au is all about then I invite you to enrol into my free 9-week program. More details can be found here. The success of any course you create relies on a process to get it ready for launch.
This is something that you must get right or as I said in my introduction it will blow up in your face. That could mean going back to the drawing board and starting again, at the very least a major overhaul of your strategy.
It goes without saying that this is something you don’t want to deal with so what do you need to do? What steps do you need to put in place when you position your online course on the launchpad?
Online Course Launch Checklist
I thought it would be valuable to you to share some insights into successful course creation and launching. You want a plan in place that is well thought out and easy to take action on.
The old saying of “failing to plan is planning to fail” is so apt when it comes to online course creation. When you do it correctly you have the potential to create a sustainable coaching and mentoring business from the comfort of your home.
Online coaching is a booming business, and you have the potential to position yourself as an expert in your field. That expertise and knowledge can be packaged up into a powerful online coach and coaching program. With that said here is a checklist for you to follow when launching your first and subsequent online courses.
Detailed Course Information
What is the topic for your course? Invariably that will be based upon what you are good at, your natural talents and gifts along with your experience and achievements. This is a critical element that you must have total clarity on and something that I help you define within Build Your AU.
Who are your target audience? You must spend time defining who is going to buy your course. Who is your perfect customer? What does their avatar look like?
Information about you. Your students want to know who you are so you must incorporate your story into any sales or promotional content that you create. This helps your potential students relate to you and form a connection.
What is the desired outcome for your students? Your course curriculum must be a step by step process that delivers the desired outcome for your students. They are with you to learn something specific. What is that?
Course duration. How long will your course be to deliver the desired outcome. Many students want to know how long it is going to take, many are impatient but that will be appeased if they know.
How much will you charge? This is sometimes a tricky one but to help you on that I have created an article about pricing online courses. Read more here.
Delivery Of Your Training Material
What formats and mediums will you be using for your online course? Videos, workbooks, power point slides, audio files and live classes are the most popular.
How will you structure your course? Will you create modules with lessons contained within those modules. Maybe you will hold live masterminds as I do within Build Your AU. I find these very effective to deliver my material and emphasise the points I am making.
You may want to drip feed your content which means your course is delivered over a certain amount of time. This is a good option to help prevent overwhelm on the behalf of the students.
How will your students interact with you? You must make yourself accessible to your students so how will you do that? The easiest way I find is through my live weekly masterminds, but you may want to offer one on one coaching for an additional fee.
How will you evaluate your students? Students want to know how they are progressing so are you going to offer modular tests? Maybe they have to reach a certain level to then move forward. Is there a certification at the end of the course which represents a pass?
Course Creation Costs
The great thing about online course creation is that the majority of your training material will be digital. Videos, eBooks and audio files are digital files that are delivered instantly online. Therefore, there is no tangible production costs as there is for physical products.
However, there will be costs that you will incur. Maybe you need to get product graphics created and if you can’t do them yourself you will need to hire someone.
If you are creating training videos then you will probably need some kind of video editing software. You will need a platform to host and then deliver all your training material such as Kajabi which is what I use. More information on Kajabi can be found here.
Finally, and probably most important is that you must value your time and how long it will take you to create your course. Many course creators overlook this, but it must be factored into the equation.
Can some of the tasks be outsourced at a cheaper rate? By doing this it is freeing up your time and your course could be created a lot quicker. It is an investment on your behalf, but it could mean that financial reward comes a lot quicker!
Marketing Your Course
The final part of this online course launch checklist is marketing your course. Now I say marketing but really it is all about creating awareness, engagement and creating an audience before you launch.
This is something that I focus on heavily with my Build Your AU members and it is done through content creation. You want to be creating high value content and publishing that content on various different platforms.
Videos on YouTube, articles on your website, creating a podcast and social media posting. All of this content will be focused on providing value to people, pinpointing and addressing pain points. You want people to make a connection with you, so they begin to know like and trust you.
This gives you a firm foundation to, when you are ready, launch your course. You will have people waiting to buy it right from the word go. I have seen this with many of my members who have gone through Build Your AU.
They have created a following who are just waiting to buy what they have to offer. Selling to a cold audience is always hard but when you warm them up it becomes much easier.
Everything that I have shared with you in this online course launch checklist works. I have seen my Build Your AU members go through this process and then go onto launch successful courses. To learn more about how Build Your AU can help you go through this process check out my free 9-week program. More details can be found here.
Helping you build your authenticity, authority and audience.
Trish Davies
Build Your AU
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