How to Create an Online Course That Will Sell

The first step is always the hardest! Knowing where to start to get moving on your first course can seem a little daunting.. Don’t worry! I have your first step below…

How do I get started?

Figure out exactly who you want to sell your course to and then ask them what they want. What is the their number 1 struggle, what do they wish they could change or improve? Listen carefully to the language they use. I didn’t do that. I used dry business language like gross margins, cash flow and return on investment (not words that are attractive to my tribe!).

Don’t create one piece of content without knowing who you are creating it for and why they need you to create it.

Test your idea before you jump in (by creating a freebie offer)

When I put Create Your First Online Course together the first thing I did was pop into some Facebook Groups where my tribe hangs out and post on my own business page to ask if anyone had thought about creating an online course and if so why they hadn’t done it yet.

The response was an overwhelmingly … “I don’t know where to start”. I then created a very simple PDF download, The 7 Steps to Creating Your First Online Course, to answer that exact question. It was a super simple one page download that I created using Canva. Nothing fancy at all!  I ran some cheap facebook ads ($20 worth) to see if anyone was interested in receiving a copy of my one page download and the response was fantastic.

I knew my course idea had legs so I got started on the content.

What if no one wants my freebie offer?

If no one responds that does not mean your course idea isn’t any good and that no one will ever buy it. It just means you have missed the mark a little. It might be your targeting is a little off, or it isn’t clear what problem you’re trying to solve. Your opt in page might be turning people off or perhaps you’re using the wrong imagery.

The one thing I didn’t have when I started out was a support system, so when I was missing the mark and couldn’t figure out why there was no one to brainstorm with. It is really important to have that feedback. Just recently one of the Create Your First Online Course gals could not figure out why her freebie offer wasn’t being grabbed by her tribe. We could all see that she had used fancy language and her font was teeny tiny. She made a few tweaks and voila! Her tribe
flocked to her grab her freebie offer.

P.S If you’re a member of Create Your First Online Course you can share your lead magnet/opt in in the group for feedback.