8 Ways to Create an Online Course

Are you ready to create an online course? Wondering where to start, how to structure it, what to include or how to price it?

There are lots of different ways you can create an online course–from simple live online delivery to more leveraged, fully recorded courses. Let’s walk through how you can design an experience to share your expertise online with others.

4 Reasons Why You Should Create an Online Course

First, let’s talk about why creating an online course is such a powerful way to grow your business:

Reason 1:  The fastest way to attract your audience and grow your list. If you don’t have a “big list” or systematic way to find your people and engage them, an online course is one of the fastest ways to grow your community while you create revenue.

Reason 2:  You create it once and it works for you forever. You create your online  course content once and you can either automate the delivery or redeliver the same content over and over.

Reason 3: You can serve your people at different pricing points. If you are looking for a way to serve more people or to serve people who can’t afford your one-on-one services (yet), an online course is the answer.

Reason 4: You can create revenue while you create content. You can methodically create your content and deliver it to your first paying course clients.

8 Different Ways To Create An Online Course Experience

It is helpful to think of creating your online course as assembling different “building blocks” into a cohesive learning experience for your ideal clients. You can create a really simple experience with one component (like a one-hour webinar) or you can assemble multiple components together and create a rich, high-value (and higher price point) online course.

Take a look at some of the different ways you can create an online course learning experience for your ideal clients:

1. Stand-Alone Webinar

A stand-alone webinar is typically the format chosen to create an online course that is free. You can also package a series of webinars into a fee-based online learning experience.

2.  Teleclass/Conference Call

A teleclass is a low tech way to deliver your content. Think of it as an alternative to a webinar that does not require the creation of visual elements like Powerpoint slides.

Side note: For that reason, I’m not a huge fan of teleclasses. Visuals are a really important part of creating learning experiences that engage your audience.

3. QA Sessions delivered via webinar or conference call

You can host live question and answer sessions for your audience.  You can invite your audience to submit questions in advance of or during the call.

4. Email Course (weekly or daily)

If you need to generate revenue fast or want to create an evergreen list-building tool, an email challenge may be a fast way to create your content. Your ideal clients opt-in for a series of emails from you that guide them through a learning experience. Your emails can be copy-only or you can kick it up a notch with a video, downloadable tools and/or links to your private Facebook forum.

Think of an email challenge as a series of mini-lessons delivered via email.

5. Online Webinar Retreat (offered in a 1 or multi-day format)

Almost anything you can deliver in a live setting can be delivered in an online environment. It just takes a bit of creativity to think about how you interact and engage with your audience. I’ve led 3-hour interactive workshops for small groups and full-day retreat-style, hands-on sessions for hundreds delivered entirely online. The experiences can be deep and can generate a great deal of interaction between your attendees when you strategically use the chat function or add in a private Facebook forum as part of the retreat.

6. Livestream Event

A livestream event allows your audience to see you delivering the content live. Your audience can even interact with you via chat. During many of my livestream events I am often working with a live audience and then streaming the content out to our virtual attendees. Periscope and Facebook Live are now making this technology available to anyone with a smartphone.

7. Virtual Series of Workshop-Style Lessons or “Bootcamp”

This type of experience is a combination of multiple components that are delivered over time. Typically 4 to 7 modules of content that can be delivered once per week or all at once. These typically  include live calls, QA sessions a Facebook forum, etc.

A big advantage in this type of online course is that it allows you to develop community, support your folks in implementation and get deeper results for your clients.

One of my most popular programs, Create 6-Figure Courses Virtual Bootcamp, is an example of a 7-week intensive bootcamp-style course that combines self-paced video training, live QA calls, private Facebook forum for feedback and live event bonuses.

You can assemble the different components to deliver an experience that is as close to live learning as possible using this type of course creation approach.

8. Package Series or “Bundle”

You can package any of the previous offers into a bundle with private or small group access to you. For example, you could offer:

• your virtual bootcamp
• private 1, 2- or x many hours of private coaching with you
• small group coaching
• done-for-you services
• critique of your course participants’ work

Here’s the fun part: You can assemble these components together to create different offers. This is how you easily re-purpose your content into higher level offers (without creating a whole new program).

 Focusing on what you find valuable and engaging is a great way to design experiences that engage your audience. What most appeals to you as a learner? Share your thoughts in the comments below: