After quite a bit of deliberation, I’ve decided to start planning out online courses. Between the frequent inquiries and suggestions from those around me, I thought it might be a logical progression. The hardest part is figuring out the logistics of the process.
Creating a proper course is more involved than just hammering out a few pages of educational material and making a video or two. Well, at least if you want it to be successful.
After all, you want the online course to be worth the price. You need to find a balance between the materials and what someone is willing to pay.
What’s Involved In Setting Up These Courses?
A great deal of planning is needed to create a course that people want to pay for and learn from. It’s not quite as simple as “experts” lead you to believe when writing up ways you can make money from a blog. The entire process can take weeks or even months to develop.
That is as long as you’re focusing on providing a quality experience and have enough time to set up a good course. And I always try to provide the best information I can regardless of the medium.
Although this post is more of me than anything, all of the elements I am highlighting may be useful for someone interested in creating their own online course. By following my line of thought, perhaps you can get a few ideas of your own.
So, what’s involved with setting up online courses for WriterSanctuary?
The Curriculum
The first step is to find a topic people are willing to pay for to learn. In my case, my expertise centers around the technical aspects of WordPress, blogging, and self-publishing. I’ve had a few people express interest in the blogging information, but is it enough to warrant spending time building a course?
The best way to begin is to brainstorm all of the things I am able to teach with confidence. What can I offer that would be of benefit to my audience?
Perhaps a good way to gauge popularity might be to visit sites like Udemy. When browsing courses, you can see the number of “learners,” ratings, the breakdown of the curriculum for the course, and how much they charge.
Another idea I had was to create courses based on the classes I’m taking to get my master’s degree in creative writing. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
A Fair Pricing Scheme
Deciding on a fair pricing scheme is often the most difficult when setting up any kind of platform. What is going to be worth someone’s money?
You don’t want to overcharge for the materials, but you don’t want to short-change yourself, either. It’s along the same lines of setting a price for your skills as a freelancer. Charging too little just to make a sale undercuts yourself as a professional.
There’s nothing wrong with changing the price should no one pay for the course. Your target market is going to be your biggest indicator of how much to charge. If no one pays, you might want to decrease the price.
Location – This Blog Or a New Website?
The WriterSanctuary website is on a shared hosting plan at GreenGeeks. I’m already sharing resources with all of my other sites, which reduces performance. Do I keep the courses connected to this website or start a completely new hosting account?
The problem with starting a whole new account is the cost. For just the one site, I would have to invest about $130 upfront to pay for the next three years. Then, I would essentially have to start from scratch to build up another domain to gain traffic.
Since the courses are related to WriterSanctuary, I could keep them on this website and market them to visitors.
Another option would be to post the classes on Udemy and split the income with them. However, I like the idea of having complete control over the courses and materials.
Time to Create Courses
The biggest hurdle for creating online courses is time. Depending on the depth of the curriculum, it can take quite a long time to create a good course that can tempt people to join. And time is something I do not have in abundance.
Initially, I was thinking about spending a bit of time on Saturdays to start building the first course. But I often use that time to play a bit of catch-up of the things I missed during the week.
Realistically, I’ll probably have to schedule some time throughout the week. That means cutting something out of an already packed schedule. I suppose I could do one update per week and use the other 2-hour block of time to work on the courses.
It’s all about deciding the priority of projects.
The Equipment Needs
The most successful courses are those with lots of video content. One of the marketing courses on Udemy has 79 hours of on-demand video in addition to 41 articles.
Currently, I’m using a webcam for the videos on the YouTube channel, which doesn’t have the best quality. If I’m going to get serious about creating courses, I’m going to need a better camera and possibly a good lapel mic.
I’m not overly concerned about the microphone, as I’m using an Elgato Wave 3, which has some excellent quality. It’s the video recordings that concern me most.
The problem is that I don’t have the $800 to buy a decent camera for video content if I want it to look professional.
Marketing On Various Platforms
If you want to really attract a large number of potential students, marketing is a necessary component. Sure, you can rely on search results, social links, or word-of-mouth. But to get more eyes on the course, an advertising budget is necessary.
I’m not overly concerned with marketing at the beginning. This is something that can develop over time once the courses are complete and I have a few positive reviews under my belt. Still, a few ads here and there on Facebook or various writing websites would definitely help.
That’s one of the biggest reasons why so many people put courses on Udemy and other platforms. Udemy is already known as an online learning center, and the courses appear in search criteria.
It would be like setting up a classroom at Harvard and then using Harvard as the anchor brand.
The Bells & Whistles
What about adding a few extras to make the course stand out? Online chat, professionally printed certificates, free course materials, gamification…there are plugins galore to turn any learning site into something grand. But most of the best features are locked behind paywalls.
That means I’ll also have to invest in a slew of plugins and tools to make the courses worthwhile. Depending on the number of extras I decide to add, the overall investment could easily be in the thousands.
Of course, some of the extras aren’t necessary to start publishing online courses. They can be added later on as an upgraded feature once you get a few students. But the initial costs are still quite high, especially when you’re broke folk.
Why Haven’t I Built Courses Yet?
The two biggest hurdles to creating courses, in my opinion, are time and money. And I’ve never really had either in plentiful supply. Or, I would have one but not the other.
For instance, there were plenty of times over the last 10 years when I had more than enough money to build a decent online course. But I also didn’t have the time to put into planning or building one. Then, there were moments when I had time to build the course, but not enough money for the tools.
Unfortunately, some of the inquiries I’ve had over the years centered around succeeding at Textbroker and other content mills or as a freelance writer. These have become few and far between as more businesses use generative AI as a cheaper solution. The interest just isn’t there nowadays.
Still, I do get a few questions about WordPress, blogging, and self-publishing. So, I suppose I’ll see if I can make any of those work before AI takes those away as well.
Anyway, I’ve decided recently to see if I can at least squeeze in a small course just to test the waters. I just don’t know how long it’ll take to set it up.
Creating Online Courses is Quite Involved…
Yes, if you have knowledge about a certain topic, courses can be quite lucrative. However, they take an awful lot to set up and market, especially if you’re looking for any kind of significant income.
That’s not to mention that a lot of folks prefer to learn something from someone who has identifiable credentials.
The best courses are full of videos, assignments, informational articles, downloadable resources, and more. And a lot of those take time and money to produce. But if the success of online courses on Udemy is any indicator, there is potential for a lot of money to be made.
Just don’t go into the process thinking you’ll replace a full-time income. There are too many variables for any kind of guarantee for that.
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