Wondering how to create a course and share your expertise with others? This simple guide will walk you through the steps from conception to profit.
One of the best things about living in an era fueled by digital connectivity is the opportunity to access a world of information without spending a fortune on education to gain actionable work skills. I credit online course content on topics like search engine optimization (SEO) and web content creation for my own transition from on-site worker to full-time remote freelancer.
These days, it’s easier than ever for content creators to earn passive income by channeling their expertise into affordable self-paced learning opportunities, downloadable resources, and webinars. For those of us out here living the work from home dream, this type of passive income is essential because it frees us up to focus on other revenue streams.
To help you get started, here’s how to create a course, based on my years spent working in a hybrid learning adult education environment and as an online creator.
Step 1: Start By Brainstorming Course Ideas
No matter how flashy an online course looks in terms of technology, the best high-quality course content begins with a strong understanding of your subject matter and a passion for sharing it with others.
If you’re not sure what you have to offer, sit down with your resume and start brainstorming course topic ideas the old-fashioned way. Think about things you’ve learned in your career, not from college textbooks or on-the-job training, but through real-world experience and mentorship. Consider the knowledge you’ve found most valuable along the way.
Step 2: Conduct Market Research
Once you’ve come up with an online course idea, you’ll want to hop on the internet and conduct some basic market research before diving into the development phase of the course creation process.
I always like to start with social media to get a sense of market demand and feel out the target audience. I’ve had a lot of success by asking general questions about how helpful my proposed niche would be in Facebook groups, subReddits, and other discussion forums for students, writers, and professional affiliations relevant to the specific topic at hand. This can be a great way to generate feedback that helps you narrow or shift your focus ever so slightly to better meet learners’ needs.
At the same time, it’s important to get a good sense of what’s already out there on the web. This is a chance to check out the competition and consider what you could offer that would make your content worth the investment.
Step 3: Choose an Online Course Platform
Now that you’ve narrowed your focus and checked out the competition, it’s time to start the fun part: creating the course! And this starts with choosing a format to present your content in. These days, course creators can choose from a fairly long list of learning management system (LMS) platforms and marketplaces to build a course.
Some types of course platforms are set up as online marketplaces that host and promote your content but take a cut of the earnings, while others allow you to create the content for use on your own site. The former tends to be a better fit for folks who are just getting their feet wet in the online learning world, while the latter can work better for creators who already have a following and just want to generate a little more passive revenue and add to their followers’ engagement opportunities.
These are just a few of the popular online learning marketplaces and platforms you might want to check out:
Some platforms offer cohort-based courses where learners can connect with other students and engage in discussion forums, while others allow users to work individually at their own pace. The best platforms for another creator’s successful online course content might not be right for your desired learning outcomes and course structure, so I recommend checking out what some of the major LMS platforms have to offer before spending money on a subscription.
A few important considerations when choosing a platform:
- Whether a platform offers opportunities to market future content to your students
- Whether you prefer an online marketplace or a course-building platform
- How easy is it to sell a course from your own website
- How their payment structure works
- How customizable a platform is
- What tools are included in the platform
- Content creator reviews
Most sites tend to offer a variety of plans for creators, so be sure to spend some time delving into your options before settling on a winner.
Step 4: The Basics of Course Content Creation
As you’re choosing your platform, you should already be thinking about how you’d like to set up your new course structure so you can get a sense of whether a platform works well for what you’re hoping to accomplish.
Breaking up content into smaller modules is standard and helps learners interact with new ideas without feeling inundated and overwhelmed. Start by outlining the learning objectives for your course, a process that should naturally lead to a basic course outline for your learning modules.
Depending on the topic you’re covering, it’s generally a good idea to present content through a range of different mediums. One thing I learned when I was designing course content for a fairly large and diverse student body at a community college writing center is that it’s important to present learning in various modes since everyone has a unique learning style.
Some students learn best through reading and text input — think informative slides and quizzes. Others might learn best through auditory processing, like audio uploads and video lessons, or prefer the experiential learning of interactive elements. But in my experience, most students tend to have the best results when there’s a combination of learning tools to keep things fresh and engaging. You’ll also want to include additional resources to give learners the opportunity to further explore the topics in each module.
Step 5: Creating the Course
Once you’ve chosen the course that offers the best variety of tools for your course content, it’s time to get into the detailed course creation process. Before you do, I strongly recommend learning some valuable tips from seasoned online course creators, such as the e-course experts who contributed their knowledge to this article, Anatomy of an E-Course.
Most course creation platforms make it easy to design your course with the simple click of a button, and some offer built-in AI tools to help you through the process. The important thing is to just jump in with both feet and spend some time experimenting with the course settings and familiarizing yourself with the site and its tools before you get into the nitty gritty of the course creation process.
Just remember that quality is everything. Create an interesting and engaging course that meets your learning objectives, and you’ll be taking the first step to building your brand as an online learning creator.
Step 6: Marketing Your Online Course
Once you’ve finished designing your online course, it’s time to start generating business. If you don’t already have a strong online presence, start working to build your brand with an active social media presence and marketing strategy.
Here are a few strategies even beginners can fold into your overall course marketing approach:
- Use sites like LinkedIn and Substack to share samples of your content
- Start an email list to generate leads and promote future courses
- Run targeted ads on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram
- Generate social media content that promotes your course and offers opportunities to connect with users
- Consider starting a Facebook group for users who like your content
- Offer a low-cost, high-value course to hook future students
Step 7: Keep Up the Good Work
One of the most important things to know about online course content generation is that business tends to build business if you’re working to cultivate the relationships that come your way and continually deliver high-value content. That means putting in the elbow grease to constantly improve and listening to your users about what works well and what doesn’t. It also means building on your brand and bringing in new leads.
The flip side is that online courses can be a great way to go from bringing in a few hundred dollars each month to generating thousands per course. And once you’ve got the foundation down, building on and improving your brand and course content gets easier as time goes by.
Yes, You Have a Perfectly Good Course Idea!
If you’re thinking, “Gosh, I love the idea of online course creation, but I’m not sure what to teach,” don’t sweat it!
If I’ve learned anything from writing for The Work at Home Woman, it’s that our readers are some of the brightest, hardest-working women out there, and that means you’ve got something to share. I am a firm believer that just as everyone has an unwritten book in them, just about everybody has something to teach in a way that no one else can.
Maybe you’ve transitioned out of the grant writing world, and you’re sitting on a wealth of knowledge that could benefit others looking to get into the field, or maybe you have a serious talent for flipping thrift store merch on Facebook Marketplace.
Here’s a short, and by no means comprehensive, list of ideas just to get the old hamster wheel rolling:
- Parenting: Do you have advice for gentle parenting? Experience advocating for your neurodivergent kiddos? Homeschool strategies?
- Creativity: Share your how-to guide for starting a handcrafted business or elevating your art career to paid opportunities.
- Finances: Teach learners how to manage their finances, work their way out of debt, or start investing with trading apps like Robinhood.
- Career: I’ve helped dozens of students learn effective business communications, from email writing to presentations, and helped many more get started in the world of freelance writing.
- Home Economics (AKA Adulting): You’d be surprised at how many people need help navigating things some folks take for granted, like how to perform basic household maintenance or how to plan and prepare simple, healthy meals.
How to Create a Course Wrapup: Time to Get Started!
One of the great things about online course content creation is that it’s one of the few work at home jobs you can get into without a huge start-up investment, and it’s easy to try it out and then scale up your business once you get a feel for how everything works. There’s also nothing wrong with trying out a few different learning platforms to see which works best for you.
It can be a ton of fun sharing your knowledge and building up a following with students who value your insight. But for me, the best part is always knowing that I’m sharing something that helps improve their lives.
In other words, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!
Drop me a comment to let me know what you’d like to teach, and then challenge yourself to follow through by building a course. Good luck, ladies!
