Things to Keep in Mind Before Launching an Online Course

Within the last few years, the paradigm of traditional education has shifted radically. Being physically present in a classroom is no longer the only way to learn.

Now with the advent of the internet and new technology, you can get an excellent education wherever and anywhere you choose — as long as you have access to the internet.

In education, we are in the midst of a new era: the internet revolution

So if one wants to build a successful online course, one should keep certain things in mind.

Mining yourself

First, you need to be educated in the field you want to teach. Get validated in that field. What have you determined to teach and where is your stronghold? For that, you have to make a note of certain things that would form the foundation in designing your course, such as :

• Find your area of interest. Your course should be dedicated to something you love. Your content will be less engaging if you fail to connect with it. And due to a lack of interest, your way of content delivery might be too dull for your students. So, find the area in which you are keen to work.
• List your skills. Make a list of the skills you possess. This gives you a clear idea of your area of expertise.
• Experience and achievements. One’s experience and achievements reflect how well they have practiced the skills and how good they are in applying them.

Now you can filter out the courses you can provide and then find the audience for it. The next step is talking about the audience. But before moving on to your course, keep in mind that the audience might not want the things you like or the area in which you are good.

Identify your target audience and their needs

No one will purchase a course just because you have an interest in making it. One would only buy it if and only if it could add value to their life. So, find who is the target audience for your content and is. Is there enough market demand for it? You must study who would want your course because finding a way to make your course profitable to you matters and will motivate you to do better and provide finer materials for your students.

Now, in order to find if there is market demand for your product, you can make use of your computer and Google research and use the Google analytical tools. These include:

• Google keyword planner.
• Google Trends

Also, you can use sites like Reddit and Quora for the same type of research. Using these two sites gives you a detailed view of how many searches are made for your topics. From this research, you can estimate your current market demand and the level of competition in the market.

Competitor analysis

Before designing your product, it is crucial to conduct a competitor analysis. Checking out your competitors will help you to identify the ins and outs of your competition. And never underestimate where you can find some additional ideas to add to your own course. Competition provides that little extra info.

You can research the competition by going through the marketplace and identifying what your competitors offer, and trying some of their products. Put yourself in the shoes of customers and find out what are the strengths as well as the flaws of their product. Also, capture the reviews of their customers. By checking out the reviews, you can design your product in such a way that it eliminates the gap between your competition.

Design your course

Now that you have done a complete evaluation of your competition and the product offered by them, it is time to design your product. Keep in mind that your course should create differentiation, and it should have a unique value proposition. Looking for the things that the audience is unable to find in your competitor’s course will help you cover those areas in your course.

Create your course and make it compelling and engaging for your audience. Although your course might be full of information, if your audience gets bored, they might shift to other courses. Contextualize your course and weave cohesiveness with your audience.

Your audience should find your course practical and applicable in their life. Observe your course through how your audience will perceive it. Some tips to make your content engaging are:

• Make your lessons more pictorial
• Add storytelling methods to deliver content
• Create learning groups
• Conduct live Q/A sessions
• Add more practical examples and applications to your course.
• Add a reward-based learning system, i.e., award rewards for students who complete certain tasks in the course

Before you launch your course, go for product testing within a small group and collect their reviews. Then evaluate the areas and make improvements. This decreases the chances of product failure.

Launching your course

You should launch your course as soon as possible — others might be thinking of doing the same thing you are. Strategize a pricing model for your online course. Your course should not be seen as a cheap product as that will create a bad perception.

Make your course accessible to a wide range of audiences by making it available on relevant platforms. Create a launch trigger so as to create a buzz among your target that something interesting is coming. Amplify your audience enrollment by offering various redeemable vouchers and coupons.

Many creators think that once their content is launched, it will sell on its own. But the best product in the world does not launch itself. If your product does not reach your customer and they don’t get aware of it — you will not have a course to sell.

Generate the leads for your course through:

• Ads
• Influencers
• Backlinks in blogs
• Early bird discount promotion.

Post-launch

Your course has been launched — but it is not over yet. Do not resist changes in your course module — just do what has to be done to make your course a success. Gather feedback from your audience regularly and work on making your course what your customers/students will like.

Revise your course within a certain time interval. It is important to make these valuable changes in order to retain your existing audience and stay ahead of your competition.

Final thoughts

Online education is typically less expensive than in-person education. Online, there is frequent access to a wide range of material such as videos, photos, eBooks, and tutors. These platforms can also incorporate other formats, such as forums or discussions, to improve lessons.

You can study or teach from anywhere in the world with online education. This means that there is no need to commute or adhere to a strict schedule. And current online enrollment in professional courses is around 1.38 Billion, and the number is increasing in rapidly.

Muvi Live is an end-to-end streaming platform that provides on-demand and live-streaming solutions for the educational sector, including institutions, universities, and ed-tech companies.

Equipped with a range of services in a virtual classroom, you can create, upload, and monetize online course content with ease. You will want to be mobile optimized and have a chat feature and collaboration features.

You will also want to smoothly integrate with LMS (learning management system) through API and SDKs for real-time assignments, tools, PowerPoint, etc., and provides an intuitive learning experience in one place.

Use analytics within your course so that you can evaluate the performance of students as they move through your course materials.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Katerina Holmes; Pexels; Thank you!

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