Create and sell your own online training in 7 steps!
From determining your expertise to testing market demand: the journey to creating your own course.
Great to see you here. You’re probably wondering: "How do I create and sell an online course myself?"
We understand that curiosity. With e-learning, you enrich the lives of your students by teaching them something new! Plus, you can earn 'mountains' of passive income yourself. Although... that sounds about as realistic as losing 10 kilos in a week. Or winning a million in the lottery.
Yet, this is often promised. Ads on Facebook and Instagram lead you to believe that entrepreneurs generate mountains of money after launching their online program. I can hear you thinking: if it’s that easy, why isn’t everyone doing it?
The reality is a bit different. Creating a successful online course is actually hard work!
You really need to create a strong online training if you want to be able to buy a swimming pool with it. And that Hummer won't just appear out of thin air either... So, you’d be wise to dive into a solid step-by-step plan before you get started yourself. That makes the chance of earning 'a mountain' of passive income much greater ;-) So, by all means, keep reading!
Is it not entirely clear to you what e-learning is exactly? Then read: What is e-learning?
Create and sell an online course yourself in 7 steps!
Step 1 - Your expertise
If you are going to create an online training, you can compare it to starting a new business. If you want to make a profit, your idea has to be damn good. Without a good idea, you cannot create a successful online training. It makes sense, then, that you first start by thinking about the business plan for your online training.
This step is very simple if you already have an offline training course. You can simply convert it into an online learning intervention. But even if you start without a clear starting point, you can generate income by developing e-learning. You just need to get clear on where you truly have something to add.
So, grab a piece of paper and answer the following questions:
- What part of your work makes you incredibly happy?
- What are you truly good at?
- What are you already doing that you could create an online training about?
- Can you call yourself an 'expert' in a certain field?
In step 2, you will translate your answers into a specific topic for your e-learning.
Step 2 - The topic of your online training
It is advisable to focus on the sales strategy for your training very early in the development process. Selling e-learning requires quite a bit of thought, and that starts the moment you begin brainstorming the topic. You should determine which course topic is likely to sell best. Your training needs actual product-market fit. But how do you find that out?
Take another look at the list of topics you made in step 1. Now write down 3 specific topics you could create an online course about. Ensure that the topic for your online training meets the following criteria:
- You know a lot about this topic
- There are very few others who know as much about this topic
- There are many people who want to learn more about this
Ready? Great. Time to test if your idea will actually catch on.
Be sure to check out our latest free tool: the E-learning Needs Scan. Answer the questions in under 10 minutes and receive a personalized advice report, written by our own e-learning experts.
Step 3 - Selling an online course? Test the possibilities!
Don't let developing a training course cost you blood, sweat, and tears only to yield nothing. Before you start, implement a few growth hacking tactics! These techniques allow you to test whether there is a market for your e-learning.
- Trigger test
In a hypothetical scenario, you create three different Facebook ads about potential topics for an online training. Let's say:
- one about cuddling spiders
- one about cuddling puppies
- one about cuddling alpacas
Each ad focuses on a different course topic. You select the same target audience and the same budget for each ad (this is crucial!). You run the ads and, after half a month, look back to see how they performed. Which ad received the highest CTR (click-through rate)? In other words, the highest frequency of clicks.
It is important never to rely solely on your gut feeling. No two people are the same, and you cannot decide for others what they might or might not be interested in.
Did you expect a training course on cuddling spiders to be the most popular?
- Smoke test
The next step is to create a landing page with a form where interested people can sign up. This is similar to a pre-registration for your online training. This allows you to verify whether there is actual interest in your course.
- High Hurdle
Still having doubts? Does it seem too unlikely that people would want an e-learning course about spiders? Test whether this training is truly marketable by creating a landing page with a very long survey.
Are interested people willing to put in the effort to fill out the entire form?
Then they can't wait to receive information about cuddling spiders!
Step 4 - Choosing e-learning software
Building your online training can begin! But not without the right e-learning software... We recommend taking your time to discover which learning environment best suits your online training.
In this blog, we tell you exactly how to make an informed choice for e-learning software.
Our LMS, Pluvo, is packed with features. You can start for free and easily create an online course yourself. We offer subscriptions for both large and small users, so you never pay too much. This is ideal if you prefer to start slowly and first test the waters to see how your online training performs in the market.
Choose a Learning Management System combined with an authoring tool. This allows you to create the online training and analyze the results in the same place!
Step 5 - Create the structure of your online training
After all the preparatory steps, it is now time to actually start building your online training. Time to celebrate! 🥳 Start by determining the structure. This will make it much easier to fill your e-learning with content later on. Follow these steps to do so.
- Write down everything a student should be able to do after completing your online training. Make this as concrete as possible, such as "being able to write a cover letter" or "understanding the basics of SEO." You can think of these as learning objectives.
- Write down all the steps someone needs to take to achieve the learning objectives. These are your sub-goals.
- Divide the steps into sections. Sections make your course material easier for students to follow because they allow you to group related topics together.
- Fill the sections with lessons. This could be, for example, "structure of the letter" or "having your cover letter proofread."
- Check whether the sections are in a logical order.
Done! You can now get started with populating your e-learning.
Step 6 - Write content for your online training
Now that your structure is in place, you can start developing the content. You’re probably eager to get your knowledge down on digital paper, but keep the following points in mind!
- The student's level
Always consider the current level of your students. If you make your course material too easy, students won't feel challenged. However, if you make your modules too difficult, they may become demotivated.
As a result, they won't finish the online training and may regret their purchase.
Therefore, always start your online training with the easiest part. Align the level of this section with the current level of your students. Ensure that someone can jump right into the training. You can gradually increase the difficulty in the following chapters.
- The didactics of an online training
From a didactic perspective, it is wise to consider the 4 different learning preferences. Don't get me wrong, every student uses all of them, but not everyone has the same dominant preference.
- Visual learners are the visual thinkers among us. They learn best when you include videos, photos, GIFs, and other visual elements in your online training.
- Auditory learners retain information best by listening to explanations. Think, for example, of podcasts.
- Read/write learners are the group of people who remember things by reading or writing. You will need to incorporate this into your online training as well.
- Kinesthetic learners learn by doing and applying things themselves. Quizzes, tests, and games are ideal for them!
The perfect online training alternates between these methods so that everyone stays engaged.
- Writing your own e-learning text
Wanneer je nog geen content hebt, zul je zelf moeten beginnen met schrijven. Dit lijkt soms een erg lang proces. Dat komt doordat schrijvers vaak perfectionistisch zijn. Niet doen!
Gebruik je structuur en begin gewoon met het opschrijven van alles wat in je opkomt over het bepaalde onderwerp.
Zinnen schrappen of herschrijven kan altijd nog. Je zult zien dat een les of hoofdstuk zo stukken sneller geschreven is.
Zorg er wel voor dat deze lappen tekst niet té lang zijn. Je loopt dan kans dat je cursisten snel gedemotiveerd raken. Facebook, Tweakers of NU.nl zijn maar een paar muisklikken verwijderd van je leeromgeving. Wissel daarom verschillende soorten content (tekst, video, plaatjes) af.
Lees ook ons blog over webteksten schrijven, voor meer tips over het schrijven van online content.
Geen tijd/geld/zin om professionele video’s te maken, maar wil je toch iets laten zien aan je cursisten? Neem je scherm op met bijvoorbeeld Camtasias of Quicktime en spreek in wat je aan het doen bent. En/of neem je gezicht op. Heel persoonlijk en toch laagdrempelig!
Stap 7 - Test je online training
Jouw online training is gemaakt. Toch zullen mensen deze niet zomaar aanschaffen, hoe mooi het eindresultaat mag zijn. Je moet ze eerst zien te overtuigen van de meerwaarde van je training. Dit kun je doen door ervoor te zorgen dat toekomstige klanten een stukje van je cursus gratis kunnen volgen! De kans op ontevredenheid wordt hierdoor ook stukken kleiner. Ze weten immers wat ze kunnen verwachten van de e-learning.
Een gratis cursus loopt trouwens ook niet vanzelf vol: ook hier moet je zorgen voor een gedegen marketingplan.
Zelf je online training maken en verkopen
Nu je die bak met echte geïnteresseerden hebt, is het tijd om ze te converteren tot klanten! Schrijf meerdere mails en plan deze in met een mailtool zoals Campaign Monitor of Mailchimp.
Vertel in deze mail waarom ze zich moeten inschrijven voor je fantastische trainingen.
Voeg ook een stukje social proof toe: een quote van iemand die jouw training al gevolgd heeft bijvoorbeeld. Of iemand die positief was over je bedrijf.
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