Working remotely has motivated many to engage in online learning. By offering a course that compliments your business, you can teach your audience valuable skills and continue to build your brand.
Have you been thinking about starting a course but wondering how to get started? Get immediate traction with some how to’s and tips from entrepreneur David Young, founder of Drone Launch Academy and Online Course Lab. In a recent Zoom training, David shared with Catapult Members about starting a successful online course, and a few of the takeaways are shared below.
1. FIND THE AUDIENCE YOU WERE BUILT TO SERVE
Start with a mind dump session. Cover a whiteboard with all of your ideas on stickie notes, or use Mindmeister for virtual mapping. It is often helpful to have 2 or more people, and to keep these things in mind when brainstorming:
- Sell what people already want to buy and solve a real problem that your customer is having.
- When creating a course, everything must point back to a course promise. What is your course going to deliver? What value does it provide?
- Keep asking yourself, “how is this course making my customers lives better?”
An audience will emerge in this discovery process.
2. KEEP VIDEOS SHORT
- Use videos with descriptive text.
- Keep videos short, 2-5 minutes, this helps viewers to stay engaged.
- Expensive equipment is not required, use an iPhone + ring light
- Avoid light from behind and low camera angles
- Remember that video editing can be outsourced through something like Upwork
- David uses a DSLR camera, cheap teleprompter, + soft box lighting
For better copywriting, David recommends the book “How to Write Copy That Sells” By Ray Edwards.
This acronym helps with course planning:
P – Person, Problem, Pain
A – Amplify and Aspirations
S – Story, Solution, System
T – Transformation and Testimony
O – Offer
R – Response
3. FIND THE TOOLS THAT WORK FOR YOU
- Break up monologues with Videohive, and Moovly
- Screen capture is free and available through Loom
- Camtasia is an advanced (and expensive) alternative to this.
- Imovie for Apple Device or DaVinci Resolve is also recommended for video editing
- Use Rev.com for transcriptions and captions, Teachable.com for course hosting, and Proprofs.com for quizzes.
4. GENERATE SALES
- Testimonials build trust.
- Go to Piano in 21 Days for a great online example, testimonials literally pop up right there.
- Sales pages should clearly demonstrate value.
- Be sure to have a page with clear and detailed information about the course.
- Seek to remove any friction, and reduce risk for the customer; for example, Drone Launch offers a refund if not satisfied.
More detailed information about starting an online course can be found here: Online Course Lab
This blog was written by the team at Catapult Lakeland, an entrepreneur center in Lakeland Florida that exists to foster the growth of startups by providing education, resources, community and space.
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