So, You Want to Create an Online Course? Read This First.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, everyone suddenly had an online course. Some worked brilliantly and are still successful businesses to this day, turning over huge revenues while the creators seemingly work a few hours a month to maintain it and live their best life. This ideal became so attractive, seemed so easy, that ‘course creator’ became a common term in everyone’s vocabulary. It’s easy to see how creating an evergreen course (i.e. a course that was made once, now repeatedly being sold on your website 24 hours a day) sounds appealing. The reality though is many people spent a lot of their time and money creating a course that nobody invested in. How utterly disheartening.

So, what is the difference between the course that succeeds and the one that doesn’t? Was it the topic? How long the course was? What about where the audience were able to find it? Could it be video quality? The presenter? Was it too complicated or too easy? 

The truth is, it's most likely in the course's overall design. I've seen 'dry' content become engaging and interesting topics making people yawn, so it's not to do with the topic itself. However, all the other aspects could be playing a role in its success.

If you’re considering putting together an online course or coaching program, here’s a few short tips to get you started:

A longer course ≠ value for money

If you want your course to be dull, add in extra unnecessary components. However, doing this is precisely what many course creators do, with the intention of adding move value. The learner ends up getting lost, bored, and frustrated with the content, often not even finishing it. The ultimate backfire is that now, the learner feels it was a waste of time and money, not a good investment.

If you have a surplus of topics you’d really like to include, that’s not a bad thing. You can always create follow-up courses with the help of feedback, but more on that later.

Give information and what the learner should do with it.

I see this all the time. A course creator has a great idea, puts some great training course together with a wealth of knowledge to share… then that’s it. For example, I could coach clients about what helps adults learn, but it would fail them if I didn’t follow up with what to do with that information.

Once you’ve created a plan for a course, ask yourself ‘now what?’ For instance, can a person who has taken a course as a nail technician know how to find a job in the field or start their own business? Or can a person that has learned the importance of including protein in their diet with a fitness regime know where to source protein-rich foods and how to best prepare them?

Asking yourself what the learner is meant to do with the information is where transformation happens.

Don’t assume the learner’s prior knowledge

There are two quick things you can do to avoid this pitfall:

1. Ask the learner’s prior knowledge. I do this myself, asking for some basic information presented as prework. I can then understand the client better and when we meet live, we can get straight into the necessary business, getting the most out of our time together.
2. Be absolutely, utterly, and in no uncertain terms, thorough. This takes more time and practice to get it right, especially if you’re unlikely to meet the learner, such as creating an evergreen course or writing a book.

Allow me to offer great analogy I once saw of a dad asking his children to write down the steps for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (yes, it was American where jam is called jelly, but I highly recommend Googling it!)

The children came back with their handwritten notes saying things like ‘grab the bread and put peanut butter on it’, whereby the dad grabbed a loaf of bread, still in its plastic, and then placed an unopened jar of peanut butter directly on the loaf of bread. Giggles ensued (and a little frustration) but slowly the children refined their instructions so there was no room for error.

If you’re going to assume anything, make sure it’s that your learner doesn’t know anything!

Break the learning into chunks – then present it as a story

I’ll explain this with an example of what I mean by chunks:

• Write down 3-5 key points and have a solid focus on just those.
• Start with the end in mind – what’s the ultimate goal or outcome? Write this ending down.
• Now, start from the beginning – what is the initial problem? Give an overview of how this problem is going to be solved so you, and later the learner, knows where the story is going.
• Keep the flow between the topics logical, using a segue from one topic to the next. This is how you write the story, which helps your audience to relate to you and what you offer.
• Use fictional characters to tell the story, or better still, real-life anecdotes where possible. Either way be transparent and ethical. This helps your learner relate to the story you’re telling.
• Keep everything concise – don’t be tempted to blow it up bigger than Ben Hur as you go along.

It’s not unusual to start creating a course and have other ideas begin to flow. For example, a baker might be teaching how to make bread, but as they’re writing their course plan, they realise there is room to discuss items such as history of bread, nutritional benefits, allergy alternatives, flavour options and so on. However, not all ideas are worth investigating, which is why you need to put the feelers out, challenging what you want to build, and what your audience actually wants. Which is now my segue into the next topic…

Gain feedback and keep testing

See if there’s interest in it before going to market. Write something simple, an outline or plan, ask family and friends what they think, modify it, and ask again. Once you’ve refined it, pilot it and see where the interest lies.

If you’re tempted to create an evergreen course, I strongly advise you to present it to a live audience a few times first. This will help you refine the details and elevate an okay course, to one that people want to pay for and complete. A patient course creator is far more likely to succeed than the one that jumps straight in head-first.

So, before you spend months creating your course, take a step back. Ask yourself: What does my learner need to know, what do they need to do, and how can I make the learner's journey enjoyable? If you can answer all of these, you're ready for the exciting part - start planning!