Creating Online Courses To Sell – Mistakes To Avoid
Creating online courses to sell requires meticulous planning and this is where many creators fail. Discover the mistakes to avoid when you are creating online courses.
Hi Trish Davies, here, founder of Build Your AU, online coach and mentor. Usually, I write articles and posts telling what to do when starting an online business and building your brand.
Today I am flipping things on their head by telling you what not to do when creating online courses to sell. I am going to turn a negative into a positive to help reduce your learning curve when it comes to selling online courses.
Right now, you may have a great idea for a course, it may be in the early stages of planning. You may be further down the line in your course creation. Whatever stage you are at what I am going to share today will help you in many ways.
It could help you launching successfully if you are at the start of your journey. If you are at those early stages of development the information I share will help you refine and tweak things.
If, however you are a bit further down the track you may need to take a few steps back and rethink. That’s not a bad thing to do as it will help you create something that has massive impact on people.
The last thing you want to do is get to launch pad and have things set up incorrectly. That is time you will never get back. Therefore, the purpose of this post is to help you avoid common mistakes that course creators make. Mistakes that can unfortunately lead to failure.
Creating Online Courses To Sell
Not Validating The Idea For Your Course
As a course creator you will be naturally imaginative and innovative. You have an idea for a course which you think is what people want to learn. One of the most common mistakes course creators make though is going ahead with that idea without doing market research.
Just because you think it is a great idea doesn’t mean it will sell. Now that is not to dampen your enthusiasm, it is just a stark reality to life. So, what is the answer? Well, I have mentioned market research and that is the answer to validate your course idea.
You can do your market research in a number of ways. The first is to turn to the search engines and research what people are searching for online. Keywords that people enter into the search engines are invariably questions relating to existing problems.
You will in all probability at some point gone onto a search engine and typed in “how to” followed by your problem. Installing a browser extension called Keywords Everywhere will tell you the search volume for any keyword/phrase that you enter.
The next step is to look at your competitors within your niche or industry. What are they offering, how are they delivering the information, how are they communicating with their potential audience.
Also check out social media groups and forums. Analyse what is being asked and then ascertain whether your course idea solves their problems.
Failure To Deliver Your Students Desired Outcome
When you are creating an online course, you must deliver the desired outcome for the people taking your course. Many creators fail with this basic element which leads to returns and accumulating a bad reputation.
By creating online courses to sell you are making a promise to solve a problem. The people taking your course want to learn the knowledge or skill sets they need to move forward.
Therefore, your course must deliver what you promise. It must be of high quality and it must be a step by step program and deliver the desired outcome at the end.
Within my Build Your AU membership program I show you how to create this step by step process. It is usually 9 steps that compliment each other and then deliver on your promise. To learn more about this process click here.
This process gives you a learning structure to share with your students. It is far more than a bunch of eBooks and videos. This delivers a transformational experience for the students taking your courses. Always have this as your focal point otherwise you will break your promise.
Not Building Your Audience From the Beginning
Many course creators have their course in place before they think about who they are going to sell it to. If you have decided to teach people then this is the point where you must start building your audience. Before any training material has been created.
Therefore, you must create awareness within your audience. Make them aware of who you are and how you can help them. Create high quality content such as videos, blogs and podcasts that deliver value to your audience.
Connect with them, engage with them and build a relationship with them. Then offer what is called a lead magnet in return for their email address. When you have their email address you start to build your database of potential customers.
They have shown interest in what you have to offer by subscribing so they are likely to be interested in your online course. Combine your videos, blogs, podcasts and social media posts to promote your lead magnet. Make sure you include the link to the page where you offer your lead magnet.
Marketing On Too Many Platforms
Now I have mentioned some marketing strategies already in video, blogging, podcasting and social media. There are countless others, and it is easy to try and spread yourself too thin when it comes to marketing.
Many course creators think that they must attack every marketing channel, but this only dilutes their efforts. By doing your market research as mentioned earlier you will have a good idea where your audience hangs out.
That place, or possibly places, must be your focus. The medium of your promotion will rely heavily on what platform you choose, and this should be your focus on content creation.
My recommendation is to pick one marketing channel to start with, master it and scale it when you see traction. Then move onto another and so on. Don’t get overwhelmed, try and keep things simple.
If you like video as I do then create engaging and valuable videos and publish them on YouTube along with your link to your lead magnet page. Alternatively, if you like writing create valuable blog posts such as this one you are reading now and promote your lead magnet.
I am sure you understand the methodology and point I am making here. Keep it simple, find out what works, master it and then move onto another platform.
Not Having A Marketing Funnel
Many course creators don’t have a marketing funnel in place, and this is a mistake you want to avoid. Now the nature of a funnel in general is that it is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.
As your students go through your marketing funnel they become more valuable. The top of your funnel starts with your lead magnet and your content creation promoting that lead magnet.
Then your marketing funnel is an automated system that offers other products and services to your students. Now I have written a post that explains what a great sales funnel for online course looks like. To learn more, click here. That tells you the structure to put into place and is something that you definitely need to succeed as an online course creator.
Getting The Price Structure Wrong
Sometimes course creators fail creating online courses to sell because they don’t have a pricing strategy in place. Now this is a fluid topic when it comes to selling online courses, but the simple fact is that you must set a price.
When it comes to pricing though there are different pricing models that you can incorporate into your sales funnel. Again, I have previously covered this in another post which I think will be valuable for you to read. You can do just that by clicking here.
When it comes to creating online course to sell these are fundamental aspects that you must get right. Don’t make these mistakes as you will find it hard to position yourself as a leader within your industry. To learn more about online course creation along with creating a strong personal brand check out my free 9-week program here.
Helping you build your authenticity, authority and audience.
Trish Davies
Build Your AU
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