There is a vast competition out there with new online courses being launched every passing day. If you are to succeed, you need to differentiate yourself, connect deeply with your consumer and keep them engaged.

How you will be able to do that is by following these 7 steps to create your online course business.

1) Create a business plan

Just like any other business, you need to create a business plan for your online course business. Ideally, a business plan works as a road map to where you want to go with your venture. Starting and growing a business is not an easy task. You can easily abandon the dream midway if you have no clear picture of what you want to achieve.

Set SMART goals for your business and set down to work on them. This will help you to stay focused and committed.

2) Decide your niche

Just because you have a lot of knowledge in a specific area doesn’t necessarily mean that people want to gain knowledge in the same.

Technically, you should aim at solving your target customer’s pain points. If you are to create an online course that will sell, you have to put in research to understand your target customers.

Ask them what information they are looking for and what problems they are looking to solve. That is how you will be able to narrow down to a specific topic for your course.

3) Establish the market size

Before getting down to work, ensure that you have established that there is a ready market for your online course. As said above, listening to your customers’ needs can help you assess the demand. Checking out what content your competition is offering and what is selling more can also help you determine the size of your market.

4) Build your brand

With a lot of competition in online courses, you want to set yourself apart from the rest. How you will do that is by building a brand that you can identify yourself with- think your logo and website.

However, brand positioning goes beyond that. You want to appeal to your target customer as an authority in your area of expertise. Brand yourself in a way that people looking for content in your area will not only find you, but they will feel that they have landed at the right place.

5) Create the course

This the most exciting step- putting to paper, audio or video what you want to get out there. First, you have to identify the online course platform that you are going to use. Choose one from this list of sites where you create and upload your course.

You then need to decide the title and subtitles as well as the course length, create the course outline, decide the form - written, audio or video and start recording or typing. Include course assignments, worksheets or discussion boards depending on your course. After you are done, edited and you are satisfied with the content, launch your course.

6) Build a sales and marketing strategy

If you want to make it profitable, you have to come up with a compelling sales and marketing strategy. First, you need to create a sales and a landing page for your website. Next, decide on the pricing for your course. This is where you consider the work that you have put in, the course length, competition, and your brand authority among others. It is also important to calculate your earnings estimates based on your goals, course pricing and audience.

There are many avenues that you can market your course. You can start by promoting it through social media or using influencers. Email marketing is also a viable option. Create an emailing list, subscribe to an email service and reach out to them in customised emails.

7) Grow your business

If you are like many entrepreneurs, you want your business to grow to the highest level possible. Now that you are making money from your hard work, it is time you work on scaling your business. This could mean enhancing the marketing strategy to reach new customers, improving on the packaging of your course, improving or adding other courses, enhancing your customer service, among other tasks.

Conclusion

Building any business calls for commitment and a lot of effort. It is not different with a business selling online courses. If you are to make money and keep growing, be prepared to give it your all.