7 Keys To Online Course Profits
Creating and selling an online course profits can be a highly profitable venture, but it requires careful planning and validation to ensure success. Without proper validation, you risk spending countless hours on course creation, only to find that there is no market for your product. In this blog post, we will explore the seven key steps to validating your online course offer, ensuring that you build a course that sells and provides value to your audience.
Why Validating Your Offer is Crucial
Before diving into the seven steps, it’s important to understand why validating your offer is crucial. Many people jump into course creation without considering whether there is a demand for their content. This approach is like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks. By validating your offer, you can ensure that there is a market for your course, saving you time and resources in the long run.
The 7 Steps to Validate Your Online Course Offer
1. Is It Something You’re Knowledgeable About?
The first step in validating your course offer is to ensure that it is a topic you are knowledgeable about. Over the years, many have tried to create courses based on second-hand knowledge, often leading to less profitable outcomes. If you are creating a course on a subject that is second nature to you, your expertise will naturally shine through, making the content more valuable to your audience.
Action Tip: Reflect on your areas of expertise and consider topics that you are passionate about and knowledgeable in. Remember, your target audience is likely a few steps behind you and can greatly benefit from your experience.
2. What is Your Delivery Jam?
The second step involves identifying your “delivery jam,” or the method of content delivery that feels most natural to you. Whether it’s creating videos, writing, speaking on stage, or using slides, choose a delivery method that aligns with your strengths and preferences. This will make the content creation process more enjoyable and sustainable for you.
Action Tip: Experiment with different delivery methods to find the one that suits you best. Consider recording a few short videos, writing blog posts, or delivering a live presentation to see which method feels most comfortable.
3. Is It Leveraged?
Leverage is about maximizing your impact without increasing your time commitment. One-on-one coaching is valuable but limits the number of people you can help. Instead, consider group coaching, Q&A calls, or a course format that allows you to reach a larger audience without significantly increasing your workload.
Action Tip: Design your course in a way that allows for scalability. This could include group coaching sessions, pre-recorded content, or an online community where participants can support each other.
4. What Will People Pay For?
To ensure profitability, your course must address a problem that people are willing to pay to solve. Identify your target audience and understand their pain points and willingness to invest in a solution. Courses that provide a clear return on investment are more likely to be successful.
Action Tip: Conduct market research to understand what your target audience is struggling with and what solutions they are currently investing in. Tailor your course offer to meet these needs.
5. What is Your Audience’s Delivery Jam?
Understanding how your audience prefers to consume content is crucial for engagement and retention. Some may prefer video content, while others might favor audio or written formats. Consider the context in which your audience will engage with your course and tailor your content delivery accordingly.
Action Tip: Survey your audience or analyze feedback from previous content to determine their preferred learning methods. Adjust your course format to align with these preferences.
6. Is It Recession Proof?
In uncertain economic times, it’s important to ensure that your course is recession-proof. This means creating offers that are valuable regardless of the economic climate. Targeting audiences with disposable income or structuring your pricing in a way that feels affordable can help maintain course sales during economic downturns.
Action Tip: Consider offering flexible payment plans, financing options, or tiered pricing to make your course accessible to a wider audience, even during tough economic times.
7. Does It Solve a Problem?
The final and most important step is ensuring that your course solves a real problem for your audience. People are more likely to invest in a course that addresses a significant pain point or helps them achieve a specific goal. Clearly defining the problem and positioning your course as the solution will make it an irresistible offer.
Action Tip: Clearly articulate the problem your course solves and the outcomes participants can expect. Use testimonials, case studies, and real-world examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of your solution.
Practical Application: Putting the 7 Steps into Action
To illustrate how these steps can be applied, let’s consider a real-world example. Suppose you are an expert in digital marketing and want to create a course on social media strategies for small businesses.
Step 1: Expertise
You have years of experience in digital marketing and a proven track record of helping small businesses grow their online presence.
Step 2: Delivery Jam
You enjoy creating video content and feel confident speaking on camera. You decide to deliver your course through a series of video tutorials.
Step 3: Leverage
To reach a larger audience, you include weekly group coaching sessions and a private Facebook group where participants can ask questions and share their progress.
Step 4: Market Demand
Through market research, you find that small business owners are struggling with social media marketing and are willing to invest in learning effective strategies.
Step 5: Audience Preferences
You survey your audience and discover that they prefer video content they can watch in short, manageable segments. You structure your course accordingly.
Step 6: Recession Proofing
You offer flexible payment plans and a money-back guarantee to make your course accessible and reduce the perceived financial risk.
Step 7: Problem Solving
You clearly define the problem—small businesses struggling to build a strong social media presence—and position your course as the comprehensive solution.
The Path to Online Course Profits
Validating your online course profit offer through these seven steps is crucial for building a profitable and impactful course. By ensuring that your course is based on your expertise, delivered in a way that feels natural, leverages your time, meets market demand, aligns with audience preferences, is recession-proof, and solves a real problem, you set yourself up for success. Contact Us now.