How to launch an online course (that makes money)
Want to know how to launch an online course? We may be in lockdown but that doesn’t mean you’re all sat at home bingeing box sets.
Nope, you’re working harder than ever, finding new ways to do business, learning how to do more online, and maybe even thinking about launching a new online course.
Now, obviously we’re big fans of scalable offerings like online courses and memberships — they’re a game changer. Especially right now. But they can also be a humongous waste of time.
So in the first instalment of our ‘Lockdown Series’, we’re going to show you the 4 main pitfalls that’ll cause your online course launches to tank, and help you overcome them so that YOUR course becomes one of our lockdown success stories 💪
👉 Watch the video
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We may be in lockdown but that doesn’t mean you’re all sat at home bingeing box sets.
Nope, you’re working harder than ever, finding new ways to do business, learning how to do more online, and maybe even thinking about launching a new online course.
Now, obviously we’re big fans of scalable offerings like online courses and memberships — they’re a game changer. Especially right now. But they can also be a humongous waste of time.
So in the first instalment of our ‘Lockdown Series’, we’re going to show you the 4 main pitfalls that’ll cause your online course launches to tank, and help you overcome them so that YOUR course becomes one of our lockdown success stories 💪
1. Validate your course by proving the concept first
This is probably THE biggest mistake we see course creators make. They have an idea they think will work, or a course that they want to launch so they jump right in without checking if it’s something that people actually want. In fact, if you’ve launched a course before and it flopped, we bet this is why!
So instead of just running with your idea and hoping everything will work out, take the time to validate your course before you spend a ton of time working on it. Here are 5 sure fire ways to make sure you’re onto a winner:
- Do your keyword research. Are people actually searching for this thing you’re about to launch? Is there a demand? Make sure you go and check in the search engines to find out if people are actually using these search terms right now.
- Social listening. Are people actually asking relevant questions or asking for a course like yours in Facebook groups, on other social media channels, or even via email?
- Talk to your audience. Actually go and have a word with them, do a survey, talk to them on social. Even better, get on the phone with them and find out if they want this thing or not.
- Competitor research. Does your course already exist? Are people already doing this kind of thing? If so, that might not actually be a bad thing, because it shows that the demand is there.
- Pre-selling and wait lists. This is the absolute best way to make sure there is demand because if people are willing to let go of their precious money and actually buy this thing before it’s even launched, then you know for certain that you’ve got something that people really really want. That’s when you can be 100% confident you’ve proven your concept.
2. Don’t go cheap if you don’t have a big audience
Courses rely on you having built some kind of audience. If you don’t have an audience, it’s really hard for you to sell your course at high volumes and going too cheap means it’s going to be really hard to make decent money.
But don’t worry, you can still create a profitable course, even if you have a smaller audience — you just have to make sure it’s a higher value course.
Say you want to make £5000, but don’t have a big online audience. It’ll be far easier for you to sell 10 courses at £500 rather than selling 100 courses at £50. So what you have to do is work backwards. Work out the overall amount of money you want to make, how many you think you can sell and how much your course will have to be worth to hit your target 🎯 Then design a course that provides £500 of value rather than £50.
And don’t let the higher figures put you off: you have the expertise so you absolutely deserve to charge that amount. Besides, trying to sell a rubbish, cheap course is not fun for you, it’s not fun to sell, and it’s definitely not fun for the people taking part.
3. Stop faffing around with technology
Yes, the next biggest pitfall is tech. Of course figuring out how to use new tech takes time but we’ve seen so many people use the tech learning curve as a bit of an excuse to put off actually launching their course.
So, yeah, do a bit of research to make sure you’re choosing the right tech for what you want to do, but don’t take too long over it. Make that decision quickly so you can get going and get something launched.
Our two favourite course hosting platforms are Thinkific and Hotmart, because they are both super powerful, incredibly intuitive to use, and offer outstanding support. So anybody from advanced to beginner can use them (even idiots like us!😜)
The beauty of Thinkific is that it offers a flat fee and gives you an incredible amount of awesome features. In fact, if you want to check them out, use our link because we’ve organised some amazing bonus extras, just for you.
Hotmart is awesome too. These guys actually profit share with you so if you don’t make any money, then they don’t make any money. You don’t have to pay them, there is no risk, and they are incentivized to help you. And, yup, we have some bonus offers available with them too so be sure to check them out.
4. Launch with a bang💥 (not a whimper)
We know launching feels like a big deal and the temptation is to go pretty softly until you feel more confident. But if you don’t give it your all from the start, chances are it’s not going to work.
But, if you’ve done step 1 and validated your course idea then you already know that people want what you’re offering so let that give you the confidence you need to really go for it.
Put together a proper launch plan and go all out. Do everything you possibly can to get people to buy that course. So we’re talking sales emails, ads, webinars, live videos, behind the scenes shows, FAQs, sharing success stories, and basically telling everybody and their dog about your all-round awesomeness. And you’re going to want to ask everyone and their dog to start talking about your all-round awesomeness too. Okay?
So, guys, there you have it. And if you want more info on what should go into a launch plan, let us know in the comments. We may be apart right now, but we’re going to keep hitting you with as much help as we can to get us all through the lockdown!