Tips On How To Sell Online Courses If you want to sell online courses that are ready to go and properly formatted for Learning Management Systems, you can skip the parts about creating and formatting them (though there are some useful tips there as well) and go to the marketing and selling sections of this article.
So let’s get to it.
Creating Content
If you are making them yourself, start by thinking of some of the great and memorable textbooks, classes, presentations, or eLearning courses you’ve come across in the past. Why do you remember them? They were presented in an accessible, attractive format that drew you in and carried you from one point to the next. You can do the same with your online courses by designing them with quality images and graphics, and using an appropriate format to convey the information.
Unless you are using one of the industry-standard authoring platforms, an easy way to achieve good formatting is by using PDF or PowerPoint. It’s possible to create quality courses using just these everyday tools.
With PDF, you can make files read-only or read-write with areas that learners can edit. This makes for a basic level of interactivity – they can take notes or answer quiz questions within the PDF.
PowerPoint can also work well if you are careful about keeping the layout consistent and accessible. PowerPoint now has a free plugin called Office Mix which enables direct export in SCORM format, which is recognized by most Learning Management Systems.
Which brings us to SCORM. Short for Shareable Content Object reference Model, SCORM is a set of standards created for web-based educational technology. You need to make your course content SCORM-compatible to make it work on all applicable Learning Management Systems. That way, your courses will have a greater reach and be useful to a wider audience. There’s more about SCORM here.
Discover the best LMS Software to Sell your Online Courses
Compare the Top Learning Management Systems with Shopping Cart Functionality!
FIND THE RIGHT LMS FOR YOUR NEEDSOffer Your Courses On The Right PlatformsWith formats that conform to SCORM standards, there are a lot of choices for platforms to offer your courses on. One of the most widely used of these is Moodle, which is a free open-source Learning Management System (eLearning platform). Moodle has a large community of users, so getting help is easy, and it has a very robust set of learning tools to draw from when creating new courses, too.
If you want to add more functionality to your courses, you may want to consider Totara, which is another free eLearning platform that builds on Moodle’s core functions. It’s more for corporate learning environments, but has features that might become more appealing as your business grows:
Now for arguably the most important thing you need to sell online courses:
Marketing
For more on shopping carts and eCommerce, read these essential tips on what to look for when choosing an eCommerce system for your eLearning courses.
Good luck!
eLearning Course Marketing eLearning Course Sales eLearning Marketing Online Courses
Write or read Comments
READ ALSO
By Panos Siozos
Nick Malekos
Joseph Tsouvalas
March 31, 2018
6 minutes to read
Write a comment
ELEARNING MARKETSelling Online Courses, Part 3: How To Write To SellMaking your online course ready for sales can take up a considerable amount of time, but with the right plan and a visually-promising platform, you can sell just about any course on the spot. Here are some great copywriting tips for online course sellers.
GaudiLab/Shutterstock.comCopywriting Tips For Selling Online CoursesTo sell your eLearning courses successfully, adopting a well-rounded effective marketing strategy can guarantee that you are in the right direction guiding you to success. In this article, we’ll see how copywriting can be the ultimate key to creating such a strategy.
The Ultimate Guide To Selling Online Courses
Discover how to make your online courses ready for sales and, most importantly, profitable.
GET THE EBOOK1. Prepare Your Course/DescriptionWhen editing your landing page you need to take certain factors into consideration so as to make sure that no visitor will turn their back on your services, but they would rather stick to it and find out more about what your school has to offer:
Use Brief But To-The-Point HeadlinesA good landing page should have a heading at the beginning of it with large and bold text that gives visitors an idea of what they will find on your page. For a course sales page, using just the title of the course won’t suffice. A better approach would be to briefly state significant benefits that the potential learner can receive when joining the course. A catchy title on your landing page is most likely to stimulate the customers’ interest into wanting to find out more about your services. Your headline must predispose the reader positively based on their needs and wants, as well as promise them an intriguing result if they stick around and read what comes next.
Put The Important Stuff At The Beginning Of Your PageInternet users have the tendency to focus on what they see first on a page and to skim the rest of the page's content. In that sense, your best shot is to put every important aspect of your course and services on the top of your landing page for everyone to see it right upon loading.
Keep It Short And SimpleWhen creating your course description, it is important to remember to keep it straightforward, short and concise. It is a window for you to relate to your audience by letting them know how the information in your product will help them achieve their potential goals. Above all, it should not only explain who your product is for and what they’ll learn or receive from it, but should also act as a promise, that you need to communicate towards potential online courses customers.
Use Action Words And PhrasesWhen visitors enter your landing page, they need to be engaged, excited, and drawn into your courses, otherwise it’s “arrivederci”. Your best friends in such occasion are action words and phrases that can build their motivation to learn. Words like “discover”, “emerge” and “explore” are bound to make them feel like they are part of the eLearning experience you are offering.
Present Social ProofSince what you are selling is in digital form (and not a physical object), you need to provide social proof that you are a trustworthy authority on your topic. Your testimonials can really come from anywhere — emails, tweets, Instagram posts or comments, blog posts, etc. Whenever a customer talks positively about your courses you definitely want to add that commentary on your landing page.
2. Write As An Expert MarketerAttracting more potential customers is a challenging task. Some people find it hard to convey the message when it comes to promoting a product or a course in the written form. Writing a marketing copy can make this a lot easier and effective provided that you follow the three phases of writing: Pre-Writing, In-Writing, and Post-Writing.
Pre-WritingBefore writing your marketing copy you should practice and eventually improve your writing skills in the prospect to get a better outcome. The pre-writing phase involves the following:
eLearning Course Sales eLearning eBooks eLearning Marketing Writing In eLearning
By Jeanine O’Neill-Blackwell
March 9, 2014
3 minutes to read
Write a comment
ELEARNING DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTHow To Create Courses That Sell OnlineAre you creating and marketing courses teaching others your expertise? Are you helping your clients to design courses they will market and leverage to grow their business? The “teaching others” business has expanded into a 7 billion industry and the opportunity to apply your e-learning design skills in this market is enormous.
The Difference Between Creating Courses and Creating Courses That Sell OnlineI have experienced courses, (some good and a lot of them not-so-good), interviewed the creators of courses generating 6 –figure+ revenue, created 6- and 7-figure courses myself, and in the process identified the universal patterns of success.
Find and compare the Top LMSs to Create Custom Online Courses
Discover the Top LMSs with built-in Authoring tool and choose the right one for your needs!
FIND THE RIGHT LMSWhat The Experts Who Generate 6 - and 7 - Figures in Online Course Revenue Do Differently
eLearning Course Sales
So let’s get to it.
Creating Content
- Create valuable course content.
- Identify your audience.
Get as detailed a vision as you can of who your target customers are. What do they want to learn? Why do they need to learn it? Is it to gain a certification to advance their careers, learn an essential skill that will improve their prospects or achieve compliance in their industry? That’s the kind of course content people will pay for. It has value to them because it helps them to achieve their goals. - Hang out on forums where your target learners are.
Get to know their likes, desires and gripes. Find out about the challenges they face. That will help you to mould your course offer to address their inner motivations more directly and thus create real value. Talk to a few of them – it can’t hurt, and you can get valuable insights. - Pitch your material appropriately.
What level of education do your target learners have? What knowledge are they likely to have already about the field? Knowing this will help you to make the courses just right – not too hard, not too easy.
- Identify your audience.
- Differentiate your offer.
- Do one thing and do it well.
Focus on a niche and aim to build a brand in it. Unless you have a substantial budget and plan to run a whole online university, you’ll need to have a specialty. Build a loyal following first - you can diversify later when you’ve got a good number of learners on board. - Try to offer a special hook.
What makes your courses different from the rest? Could you target a particular demographic with an approach that appeals to them? Microsoft Office skills for silver surfers would be one example. Or use enticing titles like “Time-Saving Tips & Tricks” in your subject area. Those are just two ideas. Get creative with this and shape your offer to draw people in and get them reading the course description. - Put a learning path before them.
Plan a series of courses that have a straightforward progression and take them on a learning journey. Make the learning outcomes clear for each stage of the journey. That way you won’t only sell one course to them, but a series of courses. Keep them coming back for more.
- Do one thing and do it well.
- Write compelling content.
- Make it clear why they need to learn this.
List learning objectives and outcomes. - Make it as interactive as possible.
Get learners to do active tasks frequently, like checklists and worksheets. - Prune your materials to get rid of any content that is not essential.
This gives it more impact and makes it more memorable. - Split it into chunks that are easily absorbed and roughly equal in length.
- Use short paragraphs and bullet points.
- Stimulate more than one sense.
Use video, audio and images to convey knowledge as well as text. - Make sure key learning points are repeated often.
Set quizzes to test their knowledge along the way.
- Make it clear why they need to learn this.
If you are making them yourself, start by thinking of some of the great and memorable textbooks, classes, presentations, or eLearning courses you’ve come across in the past. Why do you remember them? They were presented in an accessible, attractive format that drew you in and carried you from one point to the next. You can do the same with your online courses by designing them with quality images and graphics, and using an appropriate format to convey the information.
Unless you are using one of the industry-standard authoring platforms, an easy way to achieve good formatting is by using PDF or PowerPoint. It’s possible to create quality courses using just these everyday tools.
With PDF, you can make files read-only or read-write with areas that learners can edit. This makes for a basic level of interactivity – they can take notes or answer quiz questions within the PDF.
PowerPoint can also work well if you are careful about keeping the layout consistent and accessible. PowerPoint now has a free plugin called Office Mix which enables direct export in SCORM format, which is recognized by most Learning Management Systems.
Which brings us to SCORM. Short for Shareable Content Object reference Model, SCORM is a set of standards created for web-based educational technology. You need to make your course content SCORM-compatible to make it work on all applicable Learning Management Systems. That way, your courses will have a greater reach and be useful to a wider audience. There’s more about SCORM here.
Discover the best LMS Software to Sell your Online Courses
Compare the Top Learning Management Systems with Shopping Cart Functionality!
FIND THE RIGHT LMS FOR YOUR NEEDSOffer Your Courses On The Right PlatformsWith formats that conform to SCORM standards, there are a lot of choices for platforms to offer your courses on. One of the most widely used of these is Moodle, which is a free open-source Learning Management System (eLearning platform). Moodle has a large community of users, so getting help is easy, and it has a very robust set of learning tools to draw from when creating new courses, too.
If you want to add more functionality to your courses, you may want to consider Totara, which is another free eLearning platform that builds on Moodle’s core functions. It’s more for corporate learning environments, but has features that might become more appealing as your business grows:
- Performance management.
- Team learning management.
- Personal development plans.
- Accreditation management.
Now for arguably the most important thing you need to sell online courses:
Marketing
- A dedicated website is a must.
Even if your catalog and shopping cart are elsewhere, you’ll want a place that features information about you and your courses, as well as where to buy them. This gives you the opportunity for Search Engine Optimization to drive buyers to your courses, as some catalog solutions don’t do much of that for you. - Blog about topics relevant to your field, making sure to use relevant keywords naturally.
Share and curate relevant content. - Build a social media presence for even better search engine rankings.
Start a fan page on Facebook, and create dedicated LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram accounts for your online school. Post regularly, but not just adverts for your products. Share content that’s of interest to your target learners and post your opinions on your niche in the elearning industry. Encourage people to comment and interact with you and build conversations. Do everything you can to get them engaged and keep them engaged. - Consider adding your courses to a course search engine.
An example is Courseindex.com. These sites aggregate courses from around the web and offer affiliate marketing channels to get your courses noticed. - Stay in touch with your learners after the sale.
Encourage them to write reviews of your courses – this not only gives you feedback, but keeps you sharp with your course offer. A negative review should be a great motivator to do better! Keep a mailing list of your learners to let them know about new courses or offers you bring out. Connect with them on social media. Use a learner management platform like CourseCRM to generate engagement reports and stay in touch with your learners.
For more on shopping carts and eCommerce, read these essential tips on what to look for when choosing an eCommerce system for your eLearning courses.
Good luck!
eLearning Course Marketing eLearning Course Sales eLearning Marketing Online Courses
Write or read Comments
READ ALSO
- Selling Online Courses, Part 3: How To Write To Sell
- How To Create Courses That Sell Online
- Essential Tools To Help You Start Creating And Selling Online Courses
- A Proven Model For Selling Online Courses
- The Definitive Guide To Selling Online Courses And Training By Webinar
By Panos Siozos
Nick Malekos
Joseph Tsouvalas
March 31, 2018
6 minutes to read
Write a comment
ELEARNING MARKETSelling Online Courses, Part 3: How To Write To SellMaking your online course ready for sales can take up a considerable amount of time, but with the right plan and a visually-promising platform, you can sell just about any course on the spot. Here are some great copywriting tips for online course sellers.
GaudiLab/Shutterstock.comCopywriting Tips For Selling Online CoursesTo sell your eLearning courses successfully, adopting a well-rounded effective marketing strategy can guarantee that you are in the right direction guiding you to success. In this article, we’ll see how copywriting can be the ultimate key to creating such a strategy.
The Ultimate Guide To Selling Online Courses
Discover how to make your online courses ready for sales and, most importantly, profitable.
GET THE EBOOK1. Prepare Your Course/DescriptionWhen editing your landing page you need to take certain factors into consideration so as to make sure that no visitor will turn their back on your services, but they would rather stick to it and find out more about what your school has to offer:
Use Brief But To-The-Point HeadlinesA good landing page should have a heading at the beginning of it with large and bold text that gives visitors an idea of what they will find on your page. For a course sales page, using just the title of the course won’t suffice. A better approach would be to briefly state significant benefits that the potential learner can receive when joining the course. A catchy title on your landing page is most likely to stimulate the customers’ interest into wanting to find out more about your services. Your headline must predispose the reader positively based on their needs and wants, as well as promise them an intriguing result if they stick around and read what comes next.
Put The Important Stuff At The Beginning Of Your PageInternet users have the tendency to focus on what they see first on a page and to skim the rest of the page's content. In that sense, your best shot is to put every important aspect of your course and services on the top of your landing page for everyone to see it right upon loading.
Keep It Short And SimpleWhen creating your course description, it is important to remember to keep it straightforward, short and concise. It is a window for you to relate to your audience by letting them know how the information in your product will help them achieve their potential goals. Above all, it should not only explain who your product is for and what they’ll learn or receive from it, but should also act as a promise, that you need to communicate towards potential online courses customers.
Use Action Words And PhrasesWhen visitors enter your landing page, they need to be engaged, excited, and drawn into your courses, otherwise it’s “arrivederci”. Your best friends in such occasion are action words and phrases that can build their motivation to learn. Words like “discover”, “emerge” and “explore” are bound to make them feel like they are part of the eLearning experience you are offering.
Present Social ProofSince what you are selling is in digital form (and not a physical object), you need to provide social proof that you are a trustworthy authority on your topic. Your testimonials can really come from anywhere — emails, tweets, Instagram posts or comments, blog posts, etc. Whenever a customer talks positively about your courses you definitely want to add that commentary on your landing page.
2. Write As An Expert MarketerAttracting more potential customers is a challenging task. Some people find it hard to convey the message when it comes to promoting a product or a course in the written form. Writing a marketing copy can make this a lot easier and effective provided that you follow the three phases of writing: Pre-Writing, In-Writing, and Post-Writing.
Pre-WritingBefore writing your marketing copy you should practice and eventually improve your writing skills in the prospect to get a better outcome. The pre-writing phase involves the following:
- Research
Always be on the lookout for new ideas and resources which you can store to inspire on later. - Planning
Plan a marketing writing strategy using a diagram of the content’s roadmap so as to always be aware of your work’s progress. - Reading
Get exposed, on a daily basis, to other material and content relevant to your services and keep a backup for future use. - Writing
Commit to regular writing so as to not only loosen up your hand and mind but to also be able to connect your thoughts with your words and with ways to express them. - Knowing What To Write
Focus on a key idea and make your proposition prospect-centered to address the needs of your readers. Write about something you love so that your readers will love it too. Collecting insight about your audience can increase customer attention, inspire action encouraging more sales on courses.
- Title
Create a headline that emanates interest and also foretells the basic information that the rest of your text encloses. - First Sentence
Both your title and first sentence should guide readers to the main point of your copy as smoothly as possible. Still, you will need to write something eye-catching. - Introduction
Make your introduction captivating but at the same time not too long. - Depth And Length
Find out what your readers want and provide the depth and length that gets them engaged. Some audiences prefer long, in-depth texts to convert to buyers while others prefer the short and sweet version. - Talk About One Thing Only
Having in mind what your bottom-line point is will help you stay on track whilst wandering around can confuse your audience. Each piece of content point should be analyzed in isolation. - Show, Don’t Tell
Readers want specifics, examples, arguments, and stories that back up everything you are presenting. As such, it’s always better to show them rather tell them what you can do for them. - Make It Emotional
Purchases are not driven by logic and this is exactly why you need to spice it up a notch. Your learners’ needs and emotions can coincide well with what you are proposing. - Speak Their Language
Determine which potential learners your marketing copy is addressing to and choose your vocabulary accordingly. - Closing
Summarize your main points and underline the ways in which learners can benefit from the info you have provided. - Have Fun
A strict and dead-serious text creates unnecessary distance between you and your potential learners. The best thing you can do is avoiding a dull text, so try to enjoy what you are doing and channel that through your work
- Edit
Write first and proofread later. Your first go on writing this will most probably end up as a draft because great writing never occurs in the first attempt. - Get Feedback
Collect feedback from friends, family, peers, readers, and people you trust and apply their own writing experience into a document revision.
eLearning Course Sales eLearning eBooks eLearning Marketing Writing In eLearning
By Jeanine O’Neill-Blackwell
March 9, 2014
3 minutes to read
Write a comment
ELEARNING DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTHow To Create Courses That Sell OnlineAre you creating and marketing courses teaching others your expertise? Are you helping your clients to design courses they will market and leverage to grow their business? The “teaching others” business has expanded into a 7 billion industry and the opportunity to apply your e-learning design skills in this market is enormous.
The Difference Between Creating Courses and Creating Courses That Sell OnlineI have experienced courses, (some good and a lot of them not-so-good), interviewed the creators of courses generating 6 –figure+ revenue, created 6- and 7-figure courses myself, and in the process identified the universal patterns of success.
Find and compare the Top LMSs to Create Custom Online Courses
Discover the Top LMSs with built-in Authoring tool and choose the right one for your needs!
FIND THE RIGHT LMSWhat The Experts Who Generate 6 - and 7 - Figures in Online Course Revenue Do Differently
- They solve a very specific problem Instead of “helping people grow their businesses online,” it’s “how to get 10,000 fans of Facebook” Instead of “how to become a better knitter” it’s “learn the best cast-on and bind-off for your lace projects.”Brain Bit: Our attention decreases after 10 minutes of “learning”. You need to grab your learner's attention every 10 minutes by connecting how what you are sharing solves their problem.
- They equip people for creating results Changing behavior isn't easy. Telling is not training. You have to engage people, get them to stick with it and apply the behaviors consistently to get results.Brain Bit: Focus your students on making 1-3 behavior changes to create results and your students’ chance of success is high. Increase that to 4-10 changes and their likelihood of success drops to less than 20%. Go beyond 10 things you want them to do and it is unlikely that they will implement anything.
- They provide a system (blueprint, step-by-step, game plan, framework, model) Call it what you want-it's about helping people go faster with a system for creating success over and over.People invest for speed, structure, solid results and synthesis. Help them go faster, show them how to do it, show them what you know how to do and bring all the things together that they need.Brain Bit: Content organized using a course structure that creates associations between the big ideas will increase retention by 40%.
- They recognize the people learn differentlySuccessful courses provide options for students to get what they need in different ways.Brain Bit: There are 4 primary learning styles. The majority of courses miss including appealing content for one or more of these styles.
eLearning Course Sales
