Latest / Online Business Uncovered: Simple Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs / 6: How to create a successful online course

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6: How to create a successful online course · Online Business Uncovered: Simple Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: In today's episode, I'm going to be talking about how to create a successful online course.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in and get started.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host Karen and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: With my award-winning approach to marketing and expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energized, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know-how, along with actionable step-by-step strategies to help you accelerate your business's growth.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes, which drop every Wednesday.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to episode six of the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in today because today I am talking all about how to create a successful online course.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now I thought I would use this episode to just start at the beginning because a question I get asked an awful lot is what is an online digital course?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now it can be very easy to overlook the basics when talking about subjects that we feel really passionate about because we get guilty of assuming that people know about our area of expertise.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: But this can, of course, be tricky because not everybody lives in our world, not everybody is used to hearing the things that we talk about or understand what's involved.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to use this episode to break it down and just dive into what an online course is, why someone would create an online course, the benefits of an online course for an entrepreneur or a business owner, and then I'm going to give you sort of seven things to think about if you are considering creating an online course for your business.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So today's going to be a little bit of an informative, but hopefully by the end of this episode, you'll have a really good idea what a course is, why you want one, and what you can do to get started.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is an online digital course?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, an online course is a type of learning that uses digital technology.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you may have seen this already.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you use the LinkedIn platform, you may have seen LinkedIn Learning, and then you've got the Linda platform, you've got Coursera, Udemy, I think there's various other ones as well out there on the web as well.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're kind of marketplaces for courses, but essentially what they do is they enable people to learn skills.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So students can take courses online through using the internet, and they can learn.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It might be through watching videos, it might be through filling in resources, but essentially, there'll be a teacher, there'll be a platform, and then there'll be a curriculum that the students then work through.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So those days of kind of trekking to adult education centers to learn how to do something, the popularity of that most likely dropped just because of how accessible online courses are now available to us.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: We can literally buy a course on anything and we can learn from the comfort of our own home.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And with smartphones, it makes it so easy to enhance learning experiences, especially in the digital learning market.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's just made the accessibility so much more easier so that we really do have everything that we need at our fingertips.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the digital learning market is growing exponentially.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is one of those markets that, especially post-pandemic, it has really grown, and it's because more and more people are turning to their devices to access content so that they can learn.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think the e-learning market is projected it's going to be worth over$325 billion by 2025.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is amazing.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's absolutely huge.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really booming market, and it just goes to show the popularity of the online course space.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think thanks to the rise of technology and the widespread availability of the internet, the barriers to learning are now almost a thing of the past, which is amazing because again, it's all about this accessibility, it's all about getting hold of the things that we need in order to support our own growth.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, why would somebody create an online course?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, if you are an entrepreneur or a business owner and you're thinking, Oh, I think this could be good for me, but I'm not sure, why would you even think about going down the road of maybe considering to create an online course?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is that quite simply, it is a great way to just leverage your skills and your expertise and make money from it.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably the best way I could say, because it enables you to sort of use what you know and help more people, but ultimately build a brand new revenue stream to your business.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: The likelihood is people need what you have to offer, and therefore, digital courses provide a massive opportunity, which is absolutely fantastic because it means that you could be really strategic with how you use your course.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Entrepreneurs use their courses in so many different ways, it could be used in a very strategic way to bring people into your business, or it could just simply be used to attract different people, a different audience to your business.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're a service-based provider and you sell services at a more premium price, of course, not everybody can afford that.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, what online courses do is they make what you have to offer more accessible to the potential student because they get to learn from you, but they don't have to pay necessarily a high price point for that, especially if you're creating sort of a smaller course, such as a mini course.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you're creating courses that obviously have everything in the kitchen sink, then of course that that's a whole different ball game because then you may be looking at creating something that does have a higher price point to it.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are starting out, then I would absolutely recommend start small and build up and build your confidence, get some quick wins and then go from there.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: But like I say, the brilliant thing about online courses is that you don't need to physically attend classes now, you don't need to go somewhere to actually be in that environment to learn.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I spent eight years of my career learning, and I spent five years where I attended night school because I wanted to change direction in my life, and I wanted to establish myself in the creative industry, and to do so, I needed certain skills, knowledge, insights to be able to do that, and so I went over five years in person to adult education centres, and I spent three years going to a university, five years, like I say, at the London College of Communication, I did fine art, I did so many different courses to help me to build my skill base up, but I had to physically attend, and it was so exhausting because I was running a career as well, and I was working full-time, but I recognized that in order to really go into the direction that I wanted to go in, I needed to upskill, I needed to learn the things that I didn't know so that I could make that change.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, I mean, we're talking, you know, I was in my 20s at the time, so online learning wasn't really a thing.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: We had not long been introduced to email, and we were still getting used to the internet, and it wasn't as advanced as what it is today.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: But when I look back on that period of time, the amount of time I would have saved had I been able to do some of the courses online, it would have made a massive difference.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the power of being able to create online courses, is that you're saving people time as well, and you're supporting them in a way that's never really been available before now.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, e-learning has is rapidly growing, but I think the pandemic has really helped that, and whilst it was around before the pandemic, I think there's been a really big shift in the past sort of four or five years.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we're living in a great time now because with that offers a lot of opportunity, both for the student but also for the entrepreneur and the business owner as well.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think now is a great time to create an online course for your business.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is if you do have valuable knowledge and skills and expertise, then you can make money from it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, who does not want to do that?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a really viable option now as a way of building that side of your business.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, if you do facilitate a transformation of any kind, you can create an online course for your business.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: So then why might somebody buy a digital course?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've obviously mentioned about my own experience, but it could be to gain further knowledge to support their career.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it may be that a student is looking to learn from you because they want to enhance what they already know so that they can go for that next promotion or they can go for that job that they want, or whatever it is, to support them in their careers.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: They may want to simply upskill to change careers.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: I recognize this, and this is something that, of course, is personal to me because that's exactly what I did.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I upskilled to change my career, and just taking courses in person, so whether it's in person or online, it's so transformational.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: It can really transform how you move forward in your life and how you feel about yourself.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I always appreciated being able to kind of go and learn my craft for the industry that I wanted to move in, and I was so grateful to be able to be working in London where I had these amazing colleges available to me so that I could simply go and invest and learn what I needed to learn.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it might be that somebody wants to learn from you because they do want to change direction either in their career or in their life.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: They may be starting a business and they need to know a new era of expertise.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Even now, today, I am still taking courses, and I'm taking courses because I'm constantly evolving, I'm learning new stuff, and I need to learn so that I can understand what I'm trying to do, but I can then apply that to my business.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think you ever stop learning.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you ever get to a point where enough is enough, you don't need to know anymore.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think the whole point, especially as an entrepreneur, we are on this journey of discovery, whether it's personal discovery or whether it's business discovery, it's just a journey that we have to embrace and really step into.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And part of that is learning.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are a business at the moment that supports your clients and teaches them how to do stuff, then there's no reason why you cannot package that up, automate it, and sell it through an online course.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now it might be that they simply want to learn more about the subject, it might be the fact that they have a passion for something and they might just want to know more about it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it might be that they have an understanding of mindfulness and they understand the concept, but they want to do a deeper dive into it and they want to learn more about it because they can see the value it will give them in their life.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it might just be that they need what you have to offer because it's relevant to them where they are in their life, or they may simply just want to learn a new skill.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it might just be that they are interested in a subject and therefore want to learn more about it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to necessarily be business, it could just be like a hobby, it could just be something relating to crafting.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't matter, it's what's interesting to that person.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So for an entrepreneur, or even if you are in an employee position and you're wanting to start a business on the side and you have these amazing skills that you know are of real value, then you could just simply create an online course just to teach someone that new skill.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, online courses can really help your businesses to grow.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're at that stage where you're kind of not a startup, but you're kind of not at that place where you're, you know, you're bringing in sort of large sums of money, but you're ready to take that next step on the ladder and you're ready to start scaling what you have, then online courses are great for this because, as I previously mentioned, it enables you to build that onto your business where you can then start generating revenue that doesn't require you to be there.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be there in order to deliver the teaching, it's already done, it's an automated way of teaching somebody, so you don't need to be there.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a case of you build it once and you sell it on repeat, which is fantastic for an entrepreneur that let's face it is most likely to be time poor.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's some real benefits there, and it's a great way to add more value into people's lives.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So have you ever delivered a service where your clients have turned around and said, Oh my god, that was amazing! You've really transformed this side of the business, or you have really made a difference to where I'm at now or how I think, or you know, how I see this thing.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Providing value can really support other people's growth.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think with that is an incredible opportunity because when we help other people to grow, we grow ourselves, and it's that ripple effect as well, you know, making people feel good, supporting other people.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a feel-good thing.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if everybody was to do that, oh my god, this world would be such a different place.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it starts off with providing that value and then building on it.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's of course also a great way to attract leads.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, somebody could take your course and then decide, you know what, I really love this person, I want to work with them.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you can generate business off the back of your course.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't necessarily have to be a one-time thing, it could just be that the course is there to build the no, like, and trust.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then once they've gone through the course, they may decide, you know what, I really want to work with this person because I really like their style.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I like how they break that subject down and I like how they deliver the training, and actually, that's who I want to work with.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it can bring in more leads to your main business, it will showcase your authority because you can't create a course if you don't know what you're talking about.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the fact that you've created a course and the fact that you're putting your heart and soul into it, you clearly are passionate about the subject, and therefore you must know what you're talking about, right?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it does demonstrate your authority when if you're positioning your business in the marketplace and you've got competition, it's a great way to differentiate yourself because you are the authority in what you're talking about, and that really does mean something, especially within the business environment.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: It also fosters discussions, it gives you something to base conversation around.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So even if you're talking about a subject, then being able to then use social media or other platforms to be able to kind of foster those discussions around your topic area is a great way to become visible and to again it leads into showcasing your authority and expertise.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the most important thing, and I think the thing that does tend to get overlooked when talking about online courses, is the fact that you're selling to a global audience.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not location specific, it's not that somebody needs to be in your hometown in order for them to buy.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can sell in across the world, you can sell, you know, in the depths of the Amazon jungle.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to kind of restrict yourself by only selling to people that are in the same country as you, in the same town as you.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: You have the potential to go far and wide with this.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many people in the world, which means there's so many opportunities in the world, and that can be really powerful.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the benefits of creating an online course are massive.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: They're absolutely massive opportunity.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And as technology continues to improve day by day, so does the effectiveness of digital marketing, especially when you're using digital marketing to support your online courses.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so what that means is that it is so much easier now to get in front of so many more people.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and if leveraged correctly, it can really take your business to a whole new level.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're looking at advantages, so if you're sitting there thinking, oh, this sounds great, but what are the real advantages?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you can widen your customer base and you can build strength into your business model.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not just selling services one-to-one, you're not taking on a client one at a time.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can build strength into your business model because you're supporting more people.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And because online courses, you can sell one, you can sell a thousand, you can sell a million, and you're not being there to deliver that learning because it's all pre-done.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, therefore, you have the opportunity to make more money in your business, which is going to strengthen your business model.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to create more impact because ultimately you're going to be impacting more people.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: You are most likely impacting your clients right now.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: But how many clients can you take on?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: You have a capacity.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, what happens when you get full, when you're full to capacity?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: What happens then?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: How do you deal with the clients that come to you?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have to turn them away or do you have to delay your work with them?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Which then runs the risk of them finding somebody else.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it means that you can work with more people and create more impact, but again, you're not having to be there in person to do so.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, you can become the authority in your space.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are on social media and you are looking to build a brand where you are position yourself as the expert, then online courses are a great way to do that as well.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's a great way to also build out passive revenue streams to support our businesses' growth.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because we don't want to be trained to our desk, we don't want to be there 24-7 working away.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: We just don't want that.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be building businesses that really support our dreams, that enable us to create the life that we really want.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's what we need to focus on.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is going to get us there in the quickest and most effective way?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it is a journey and it is going to take time, but but it is about building joy into your business so that you love what you do.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: That has to be at the top of the list.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's no point creating a business when you really dread getting up in the morning because you're just working with clients and you're drained and you're tired and you just don't want to be doing it because it's just too hard.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to be building joy into our businesses and building businesses that we love, that what we're proud of, because it's going to be our legacy.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be the thing that we are ultimately going to be leaving behind at some point.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, one of the things that I also get asked about quite a lot is how do I get started online?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do I get started creating an online course?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you think about it, there is a lot involved and it can be really overwhelming, right?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you have never created anything, whether it's an online course, whether it's a podcast, oh my God, the whole podcast figuring that out was overwhelming.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you're looking to create a website for yourself, because maybe you want to do it yourself first time around, when you don't have the skills or you don't have the knowledge in place to be able to do it yourself, when you're at the start of that journey, it can be really scary.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And really overwhelming, especially if there's a lot of moving parts and you don't know what comes first.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, firstly, what I would say that when it does come to create an online course, first and foremost, you do not want to be spending huge amounts of money on fancy equipment.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you've got a smartphone, then that is more than sufficient.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Start small and build up over time.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because a smartphone now is so advanced, it has everything that you need to do the job that needs to be done.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the great thing about an online course is that it doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be high production, you know, professional video or fit and all of that.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it in the comfort of your own home with the use of a smartphone, and it will most likely be good enough.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: It may need some editing, but I'm sure it will be good enough because the technology that we now have available to us is so advanced.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: But there are a few other items that you will need to help also get you started, and of course, that includes having a computer.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's always good to have a computer, an internet connection, and a really strong one so that you're not going to be halfway through, say, recording and your internet breaks.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you've got a really strong internet connection.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned before, a smartphone and also a microphone.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you can pick microphones up for as little as£10 on Amazon.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: They're little lapel microphones and they're really handy to use because they help the sound quality.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always worth investing in that.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't need to spend huge amounts of money on getting set up and creating a studio and all of this stuff.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: You don't.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: You could probably start from a little as probably£10 with a little lapel mic.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's more about the value and it's more about the content than it is about the equipment that you're going to be using.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing to consider is the hosting platform to host your course.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there are loads of platforms out there.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I use Kunjabi, I love Kunjabi, but it considered the more premium platform.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you can start on other platforms that are so much cheaper.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't matter.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this is a huge market and there's a price to suit everybody.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: All I would sort of probably say on that is choose your hosting platform based on your future aspirations.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think you could potentially be creating lots of courses, then it might be worth investing in the hosting platform that you choose.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And all a hosting platform is, is somewhere to store your online course.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: You can host it via your website.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: There are plugins, especially if you're on a WordPress website, there are plugins to support you.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: But using a standalone hosting platform is quite a good move because if anything was to happen with your website, you're not combining the two, you're not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it means that the thing that you're selling will always be available.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So really do consider your hosting platform and go for the option that's right for you.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to just provide seven things to consider before you dive into creating your online course.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: First and foremost is the topic that you're going to choose.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: My tip is here to choose a topic that you're passionate about, a topic that you love to talk about.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: If I was to say to you, what could you talk for an hour non-stop?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not going to pay you, what would you talk about?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: What would you choose to deliver to your audience?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think start there because you need to have that passion running through because it's the energy that you're going to be sharing with your student.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you want them to be as excited as you are about that topic.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my second tip is about validating your idea.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: So once you've come up with your course topic, you must validate the idea to ensure that there is a demand for it.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you can do this simply by doing an internet search or going on to other platforms like Udemy and Coursera or any course platform out there that provides online courses.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can do a little search and you can find out whether or not your course or a course similar to your topic exists.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Have a look on Google, but just spend some time doing some research.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you work with clients on the subject that you want to teach, then that in itself could be a validation, but it could also be that you reach out to them to find out what they find most valuable because that could influence your content.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my third tip is to understand who your ideal student is and what they need from you.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by that is when we create our businesses, we really need to get a handle on who our ideal client is because they're who we are creating our services for.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's no different with courses.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: You will be creating a course for a particular type of student because they will have a certain need.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to really identify who that person is and what they need from you because your course will again influence what you then deliver to them.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: So by understanding where they are in their journey and what they need from you, you can then integrate content that supports their needs.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: So really understanding who your ideal student is is going to really help you when you come to create the content for your course and also when you come to sell your course.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my fourth tip is about defining your learning outcomes, and what I mean by that is where do you need your students to be at the end of the course?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: What is the transformation that you are delivering?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is the end result?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And where do your students need to be at any given time in your course?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: By identifying your learning outcomes, you will have a really clear indication on the content that you're going to be creating, and also you will have a really clear understanding about what you're teaching your students and the results that you're going to be expecting them to get.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when you understand that, you'll be able to communicate it more effectively to your prospective students.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, tip five is to gather your course content.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: So when you start going into the creation stage of your course, you are going to be creating content of some kind.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my tip here is to consider what you already have that you can repurpose.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: So have you got blog posts that you've already written on the subject matter?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Have you got captions that you've perhaps written on Instagram?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Have you got live videos that you've delivered online that you can turn into transcripts?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Think about your course content and what you already have available and what you can repurpose.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would gather all your course content together so that you know exactly what you have and what you need to create.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: My tip number six is to really define the structure of your course because your framework underpins the students' journey.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: So have a very clear framework and map out what you want your students to gain from your course and the journey you're going to take them on.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that could be simply by breaking your content down into individual modules that your students will work through.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that framework is probably the most key component of your entire course because it's going to underpin your students' journey and their experience of the course.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And my final tip, tip number seven, is consider how you can deliver your content in the most effective way.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: So will you deliver it via video?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Will it be audio?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you're going to be using slides with a voiceover.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: How do your students enjoy learning?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And what style of learning can you deliver to enhance their learning experience?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this again goes into really knowing your ideal student, what they want from you, where they are in their journey, and how they're going to learn in the best way possible.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: So online courses are a really great way to build deep, long-lasting connections with your customers.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: They can really help you to support other people's growth and to really foster those relationships that could end up becoming long-time customers.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what I would say to you, and probably a bonus tip, is that if you decide to create an online course for your business and you go about making a start, then really do consider your student.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Put them at the center of what you're creating and only give them what they need in that course and ensure that their experience of you and your brand is exceptional because then you will be able to convert those students into lifetime customers that become raving fans of your business.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know anybody that would not want that because that is a surefire way to scale your business, to grow your brand, and to create long-lasting success for your business.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found this episode of value, and of course, please feel free to share it with anyone else who you think may benefit from listening to today's episode.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you're feeling inspired and would like to know more about getting started with creating an online digital course, then why not download my free ebook, 10 Steps to Digital Course Success, by visiting my website www.carinavies.com.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Digitally She Does It Show.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday, so why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in today, and I will see you next time.