Online learning has become increasingly popular with many people all over the world. There are thousands of courses out there on almost every imaginable subject. If you have a skill in any field, you could create your own online courses and make some money. Using a platform such as Kajabi, you can easily design and market your online course – even if you don’t have the technical skills.
Here are some of the mistakes you should avoid when creating your online course:
1. Not listening to your audience
To create a successful online course, you should first understand who your audience is and what their needs are. Knowing who you are marketing to will shape your course content, marketing materials, social copy and business voice. If you spend hours creating an online course that no one is interested in, you will only waste your valuable money and time.
One of the best ways of getting feedback from your target audience is by carrying out a reader survey. What problems are they dealing with currently? What specifically would they want to learn from you? Such information will help you create an online course that will actually sell.
2. Failing to prepare well
You don’t have to be professionally trained in education to run a successful online course. However, you must prepare well in order to share your knowledge effectively with other people.
Before creating your course content, write down a clear course curriculum or outline. You can get ideas by looking at other successful courses out there. Once you’re outline is ready, create course content that is not only informative, but also actionable. People don’t just want information; they are looking for solutions to problems. However, it is not enough to have great content; you need to deliver it with passion. If your content (text, audio and video) lacks excitement, people are not likely to join your mailing list or sign up for your course.
3. Using lengthy videos
While videos are a very effective medium for teaching online courses, they should not be too long. Lengthy videos provide too much information and result in loss of engagement with your audience. According to a research by Wistia, if your video is 10-20 minutes in length, only 28% of viewers will watch it until the end.
In case you have a lot of content to share, divide your content into short videos of less than 10 minutes each. You could also mix video with other formats such as text and audio.
4. Cramming too much information into one course
For maximum effectiveness, every online course should be focused on teaching one specific thing. Cramming too many subjects in a single course will only overwhelm your students. If you have a lot to cover, you could share the rest of the information an eBook, blog post or a second course.
Your courses should always leave people hungry for more. This will make it easy for you to sustain engagement in the long term.
5. Using the wrong platform
The delivery platform you choose can either make or break your online course. Using unreliable systems or poor delivery platforms will frustrate your students and make it difficult for them to complete the course.
Before settling for any platform, carry out some research to find out if it is reliable and user-friendly. Read reviews to find out what other people are saying about it. Finally, be sure to try it out yourself before using it for your course.