I think it’s time we had a little talk. You know I’m on your side, right? You know I want you to have a wildly profitable business and that online courses definitely be a part of getting you to where you want to be, professionally.
But…
There are a couple of things about the world of online courses in 2023 that you need to know before you dive in to creating an online course.
Hard Truth #1: Online courses in your niche are crowded.
Look, online courses in 2023 are nothing new. If what you teach can be taught online, someone out there is already teaching it. This means competition is fierce, so if you think all you have to do is build the course and people will just magically find it, you’re better off trying to catch a wild unicorn.
The good news is that if you can find a similar course to the one you want to teach, that probably means there are buyers out there interested in handing over their cash to learn more about your topic.
Also, keep in mind that even though online courses on your topic haven’t been created, they haven’t been created by you (yet). You have your own perspective that will resonate with the right people in a way no one else may be able to replicate.
Hard Truth #2: You can’t have an ugly course.
In the early days of online courses, you could get away with a PowerPoint that looked like it was designed by a 12 year old in a middle school computer class. Not so much anymore.
You need to use the aesthetics of your course in a way that aligns with how you want your learners to feel about your course. Our emotional state plays a huge role in our learning experience. An online course on inner harmony and peace should have a different aesthetic from one on how to use social media, for example.
Thankfully, there are plenty of design resources that can make creating a well-designed course much simpler than it was 15 years ago. Tools like Canva and Adobe Express are amazing at helping people create beautiful design.
Hard Truth #3: What “works” for online courses is constantly changing.
The first course I bought outside of formal education wasn’t even fully online! It was a massive folder with a bunch of audio trainings and similar resources, but it was the first program I was able to listen to on-the-go.
eLearning outside of formal education has come a long way since then as demand for flexible learning has skyrocketed. As an industry worth literally billions of dollars, online courses and eLearning aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Because it’s such a booming industry, companies are creating better products and services to enhance elearning capabilities. For learners, this is wonderful. For course creators, it can feel daunting trying to keep up with the latest trends, capabilities, integrations, optimizations, etc.
But that’s okay because there are people like me who focus on creating optimal online courses, so you can focus on staying current in your industry! Want to talk about creating an online course?
Let’s chat! HERE