Are you thinking about creating an online course? Have you Googled courses about your area of expertise lately? It’s a sweltering jungle of competition out there with everyone from multi-millionaires to that 18 year-old kid next door publishing their online courses.
Between big names with big budgets creating online courses and an already saturated market, how’s a newcomer to stand out?
Here’s a hot tip: Stop focusing on information. People don’t want your information. They might think they want your information, but that’s not actually what they’re after from an online course.
If it’s not the information they’re after, then what is it?
Quite simply, it’s a transformation. People take an online course because they want to transform some aspect of their lives. It might be their career, their relationships, their health, their kitchen, or a million other things… people love a good transformation — just ask the producers over at Fixer Upper, Biggest Loser, Queer Eye, and What Not to Wear.
So how do you use this to your course creation advantage?
You focus less on the information you’ll provide in the course and more on the transformation that lies ahead for students. Stop telling them that you’re sharing everything you’ve learned in the past 10 years as a small business CEO. Stop telling them that your course comes with over 12 hours of lecture content. (Yawn)
Start telling them that in the very first lesson they will go from feeling completely overwhelmed at the prospect of starting a new business and securing loans to crafting a perfect business proposal that they can confidently share with banks and investors.
Start telling them that in the second lesson they will go from marketing like a frenzied parrot, squawking about your business to everyone who will listen, to implementing a customized marketing strategy that brings perfect clients to you with ease. See how much better that is?
Then, of course, you’ve got to deliver the transformation. Sure, your students need to put in some of the work, but it’s up to you to create a course and a system that works.
The good news is once you do create this type of course, showing the transformation you help create becomes even easier because now you can show proof of the transformation.
Speaking of which, make sure you have a way to capture evidence of that transformation from students. Offer an incentive for written testimonials, before and after photos, growth percentages, etc.
Creating an online course is a daunting task and creating one that stands out from the competition is even more daunting still. However, if you keep your focus on transformation over information, you’ll create a standout course.
About the Author
Rachel McHardy is the founder of thecoursewriter.com, a course creation services provider. She has created dozens of online courses for busy entrepreneurs, enabling them to create passive income without having to sacrifice time.
