We are all good at something, although sometimes we do not know what, but definitely there is always some skill that we have and that is given to us naturally, why not reflect on our skills and translate it into some course or tutorial and make a little extra money? Take advantage of your ability to sell a course online, here we will show you the best approach and how to create an online course.
Nowadays, thanks to the internet, it is possible to use your knowledge of almost any subject to have a secondary income through the creation of online courses. It may sound difficult or you may think that you have no vocation as a teacher but that is the best part of these courses, that you do not necessarily have to interact and “teach” the students, when you create an online course, you will only document the material and they will learn by themselves, today we have a little more about it!
Online courses – easy to make
As we mentioned before, we all have a special ability that although it is something common, it will probably be difficult for some people and it is likely that a group of these people who do not have your ability, want to learn it. Of course, maybe you are not an expert in your ability but you just need to know a little more than the people you are going to teach.
Thus, any knowledge can be organized, shaped and priced. The really important thing is that you use a great tool to create an online course and give body to that information.
The best part is that you can even make your own course or sell your tutorial using very basic and offline formats such as PDF, PowerPoint, videos and the like. It is important that once you upload your course to vTutor, you take very seriously the description and information that you enter. The course description is the first impression that your potential buyers will see, so it is important to have a good design, as it is already known, an image is sometimes worth more than a thousand words.
Promote your online course
The best thing about selling courses online is that you have thousands of free or very cheap ways to promote it to reach the right audience and therefore, it is easier to earn money with them. You have to make them known, vTutor helps you with the promotion of your course!
We recommend promoting your courses through social networks, the reach capacity of the networks is great and dedicating a little time yourself you can make your own personalized campaigns for very little money, or you can also hire a community manager to do that propagating work .
In addition, the advantage of promoting your course online is that it has a global reach so if you do the job well, your earnings could be great and you could gain enough fame to be asked for more jobs or some type of service related to your knowledge.
Social networks offer a huge advantage when it comes to promotion: advertising by segmentation. This type of advertising is a very specific way to target the people who will receive an announcement of your course. It allows you to reach people you know are more likely to be interested.
vTutor gives you also great tools for offering promotions, discounts, coupons and similar tools to sell your course online or for influential people to make good reviews and give positive opinions, generating greater authority to your course and thus greater visibility.
Advantages of selling and creating courses online
- Minimum or no investment: just write on your pc or a camera (webcam, smart device, camcorder, etc ) in case you want to record.
- You only have to work once: depending on the size of the course, its creation may take a while but you only have to do it once, and from then on, it will be profit.
- Almost free reproduction: duplicating information on the internet is almost negligible if you already have a computer with connection.
- Cheap to distribute: through the internet and vTutor you can reach anywhere in the world without the need for licenses or printing.
- It is very useful for busy people: they can learn at their own pace and we all know that today’s life is always busy.
Tips on how to create an online course – and how to sell it
- The payment methods that vTutor offer the students are very convenient. This is important because it means the students won’t have a headache when paying, or that they will run away. vTutor offers credit, debit card PayPal as payment methods.
- The courses that have a big market already exist, but competition is a good sign. It is very difficult for you to discover a holy grail of the courses that nobody has done before. If you want to create an online course on a subject and you see that there is not a single competitor, the most likely thing is that the course has no market.
- Do not be too hard on yourself with the first course: all work requires experience and practice, this is no different, so unless you are a teacher already consecrated, do not worry about the pedagogy or sophistication of the course, little by little you will improve. Of course, always give your best.
- If you have trouble finding the perfect subject for your course, make a research on Google about topics of interest and identify the problems that most commonly arise, then find the solution. And that’s it! You will have the theme for your next course.
- Although there are thousands of free courses, selling courses online is profitable because it guarantees users that they will have the information they need without having to spend hours searching the internet, do not be intimidated by the vastness of the web resource.
Why do you need to create an online course ?
Creating and selling an online course positions you as an expert in your niche. And, if you are a reference, I assure you that your students will trust you more.
With an online course in your portfolio, scaling up the business is infinitely easier and, moreover, without having to make a large investment.
The great advantage of selling online courses is that, as with any digital product, you do not need to worry about logistics or maintenance costs that physical products do.
E-learning is living an explosion.
How to create an online course step by step
That said, it’s time to get to the point.
I’m going to give you some tips to create an online course with which you can then sell on autopilot.
Select a topic
Select a topic for which there is a real need to cover or you want to give a different approach to the existing offer. Preferably speaking of something that you master, if you don’t, you can also learn it before creating the course.
Define the learning objectives
Set objectives that your students must reach at the end of the course. You should keep them in mind throughout the construction process.
Divide the course in modules and these in classes
Going from the simplest to the most complex. Establishing a good curriculum will help to understand the subject well and will motivate the student as he progresses and covers stages. Keep in mind that the classes should not be too long to facilitate the monitoring of them, in any case the duration should not exceed 20 minutes.
Select the media format for each class.
There are countless of digital media formats: presentations, images, albums, videos, audio, text, etc … decide which one to use depending on what you are going to explain. Keep in mind that visual media is more explanatory and entertaining, an image is worth more than 1000 words. At least 70% of your online course should be in video format.
Plan your own objectives
Set your own objectives for the realisation of the course and make a comprehensive monitoring of compliance, this will improve your productivity.
Develop
It’s time to create the contents, translate your knowledge into the format that you have selected for each class. Try that the explanations are clear, the content is consistent, the design is attractive and all this with the best possible quality. Create challenges for the students, this allows them to measure their degree of progress, and will increase their motivation.
Choose the course hosting
This point is essential, now you have to choose the platform to host the course, make sure it is intuitive, that online courses are accessible 365 × 24, that is designed to facilitate the work to the student. vTutor offers all of that and much more, it facilitates the navigability in the courses, provides a platform to communicate with the tutor and even issues certificates and the end of each course, with which to recognize the effort and to prove that the student has acquired some knowledge or abilities.
Promote
Market he content because a course without students is like a tree without flowers, use social networks to make it known, encourage your students to enroll in it, give away tuition or take out coupons with irresistible discounts if you are marketing it, tell them in Every moment in which way you will help them, what benefit they will get. vTutor has a very convenien coupon and discounts platform, very easy to set up.
Measure results
For this it is essential that you have set goals of number of enrolments, students who complete the course, etc … Track your students’ progress, urge them to continue if they leave temporarily, conduct quality surveys to know what points you should to get better.
Listen and update
You must be attentive to what the students are saying, this can give you the guidelines of those points that have not been clear and need a reinforcement. Try to keep your online courses updated with the latest developments.
How to create a course online in a nutshell
Now that you have gone through this step by step guide on how to create a course online, let’s sum up the process in these macro tasks:
1. Define your audience
If you do not know your potential client it is impossible for you to get very far.
2. Find a need
Your audience has problems and look for solutions.
It’s that simple, Customers buy answers to their problems.
And it is true that there is already a lot of free content. But it is dispersed content, which makes the user loose hours unnecessarily.
Your client looks for an easy solution. And your goal is to solve it with your online course. If you hit the target, sales will come.
You have to research your audience well, ask them and, above all, validate your idea before getting down to work.
3. Works the materials
Once you have the subject clear and you have validated your idea, it will be time to shape the course.
How many modules will it have? And the duration? Will it be with or without support? What price will it have?
At this point, you will find dozens of questions. Sit and analyze well the decisions you make.
My recommendation: keep in mind that the format of your online course and the price should always be in line.
You do this to help your customers, but also to earn money, so make sure you’re profitable. Selling courses online is one effective way to generate passive income.
4. Check, but not in excess
You have to do a quality control of the materials of your course, but do not over do it. Get the course out there!
Please, do not create an online course and leave it in the closet for months.
Remember: better done than perfect.
Your product is always going to be evolving and, in fact, your responsibility is to correct it so that each time it has higher quality.
5. Choose the platform
As mentioned above with vTutor you can forget completely about the technological part and this will avoid you some headaches.
Conclusion
Online education is one of the best option for many people, it allows to achieve success in education and training. With an online course tutors and students have many advantages, such as:
Freedom of choice: online education allows you to choose courses and trainings no matter where you are, without distance or geography limitations. Students can learn what they want, anywhere they are and at the time they want.
Flexibility: online courses offer flexibility so that students can fulfil other occupations and responsibilities, without leaving aside education.
Own rhythm: online courses allow to study at every student’s own pace, without pressure, with calm to understand all the concepts.
Savings: online education is generally less expensive than face-to-face courses.
Avoid travel and transportation costs: students and entrepreneurs who choose online education do not have to waste hours and hours of travel and transportation money to take their courses.
Do you know already how to create a course online? please share your thoughts bellow!
