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Be Smart About Online Courses to Help Your Business Grow

Businesses trying to resume normal operations are turning to old standbys such as online courses to make money and invest more in their futures.


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James L Katzaman

2 years ago | 8 min read

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Businesses trying to resume normal operations are turning to old standbys such as online courses to make money and invest more in their futures.

“Online courses have always been money makers, but they are getting more popular again,” said Ivana Taylor, owner of DIYMarketers.

With her company’s goal being “committed to helping small business owners get out of overwhelm,” she has revived her own interest in producing online education.

Social media consultant and blogger Lisa Sicard finds online education courses a good fit. Through her blog at Inspire To Thrive, she writes for international clients and trains and consults with local businesses. She also does social media management, digital assessments and blogs for local clients.

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“We’re talking about serious money-making ideas,” Sicard said. “Among platforms, I love Udemy. Another syndicated platform, Skillshare, holds promise for me, too.

“I’ve got two classes on Udemy and one on Skillshare,” she said. “I love the volume and marketing that they have behind them. We get more business due to the pandemic and the ease of use now.”

Sicard touches on this as part of her Inspire To Thrive article, “7 Ways To Give Your Business a Fresh Start Initiative.”

With that in mind, Sicard and Taylor talked with marketing, strategy, leadership and business consultant Iva Ignjatovic about various ways to create online courses.

Short and Memorable

Entrepreneurs can take an assortment of online courses to improve their business.

“I took courses a decade ago at colleges,” Sicard said. “I found them hard. Years later I learned they were too long. Shorter classes online are easier to learn. Break things out into chapters. Learn each before moving on. Long courses are hard to follow and stay enthusiastic.”

She has gone on to create and sell her own course about Instagram. Sicard uses Camtasia, Powerpoint and Canva for videos for her classes, each with different uses.

“I’ve taken several courses such as the Quiz Funnel masterclass,” Taylor said. “It was outstanding.”

She added a couple recommendations:

  • Digital Marketer Labs: They’ve been in the marketing education space for a really long time.
  • CoSchedule Academy: They have a social media and content promotion automation tool.

“Online course creators should remember to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Taylor said.

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Content also must be tight and to the point.

“I call it the 90 for 90 phenomenon — 90 minutes of blah blah blah for 90 seconds of solid content,” Taylor said. “This is why I’m working on making my video content much more condensed.

“That’s really hard to do,” she said. “Experts are hard to find who can communicate a specific tip or strategy cohesively and quickly.”

That supports the rule that e-learning is time-saving. According to eLearning Industry, corporate e-learning takes 40 to 60 percent less time to complete.

“I took several online courses,” Ignjatovic said. “I have mixed feelings. Some were good. I learned new things, some very completely useless even though they looked promising.”

Show Off Credibility

Generally, having an online course would be a good idea for business.

“It gives you more credibility, shows your knowledge in a niche and can be used as a marketing tool at the same time,” Sicard said.

Although Taylor does not offer an online course, she is building a “Marketing Idea Bank.” One concept might be explaining how business people seek protection against the threat of cyber attacks.

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“Having an online course can be a good thing for business, but not my business,” Ignjatovic said.

“With my workload I wouldn’t be able to produce a good online course,” she said. “It’s better not to do it than to do something that might harm my business. It’s quality or nothing.”

Besides her Instagram for beginners course, Sicard has launched “How to Increase Your Website Traffic” on Udemy and Skillshare.

“I’m offering a quarterly Masterclass,” Taylor said. “It’s kind of an online course. I’m showing people simple marketing ideas they can use to make money.”

KPMG states that in 1995, only 4 percent of corporations used online learning. Now, 90 percent of corporations have shifted to this mode of learning.

“I never created an online course,” Ignjatovic said. “I could teach people about social media, general marketing, strategy and planning, plus how to craft social messages.”

Other entrepreneurs have courses available for enrollment:

Education Must-Haves

Good online business courses have discernible features.

“An instructional video should have a PDF for students to keep,” Sicard said. “They also need short chapters.”

For Taylor, top courses include videos and provide practical advice. While worksheets are nice, they are not necessary.

DIYMarketers has an article that is a mini-course, “How to Run a Birthday Campaign to Increase Sales to Existing Customers.”

“Online courses must be of ideal length and avoid general places,” Ignjatovic said. “For example, ‘Write good content’ is not advice.”

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Sicard listed important things to consider when creating an online business course:

  • What is it going to be about?
  • Set up your chapters.
  • Choose materials, video, PDF and the like.
  • Research pricing for your course.
  • Where will your course appear? On your site or on sites like Udemy, Teachable, Kajabi or Skillshare?
  • Create banners and blog posts related to the course content.

“Plus, on your own site you’ll spend time and money promoting. Lots of it,” Sicard said. “You get a lot more traffic with Udemy unless you want to pay for ads or you are extremely popular.”

The final product should be directed toward consumers.

“The most important thing to consider is how you can serve your audience,” Taylor said.

First, Do No Harm

Courses should enhance websites, not detract from them.

“I had courses on my DIYMarketers site, and that was a mistake,” Taylor said. “They messed up my blog and everything. Keep courses on a third-party platform or Udemy or at the very least on a separate domain.

“Can you ‘promote’ content or courses on your own site?” Taylor asked. “How do you drive traffic from Udemy to you?”

Fortune Magazine found that more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use e-learning regularly and extensively.

“You need a target audience and know how to promote the course to reach that audience,” Ignjatovic said.

“People are mostly visual learners,” she said. “How things look and how the lecturer presents them has an impact on the audience’s experience and can improve their learning.”

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A topic must be interesting enough to create an online course.

“Research your topics and audience,” Sicard said. “I use tools like Google Trends. Udemy has its own research tool on its site for teachers to see which courses people are searching for the most.”

The easiest way to gauge interest is to ask.

“You can never be too sure, but one way is to engage with your audience,” Taylor said. “See what questions they are asking. See where they are most lost.”

Another consideration is whether to create a free or paid course.

“I like being paid, but you can offer your course for free in the beginning to build up students and reviews,” Sicard said. “You could use it as a marketing tool, too. Udemy gives you coupon codes you can use. They promote their own specials each month. Skillshare pays by time watched.”

Small Sacrifices

She added that a mini-course might be free.

“Paid or free depends on your goals,” Taylor said. “If you want to build a list, you can offer something for free. If you want sales, you can charge or offer an upsell.”

Business Wire states that between 2020 and 2024, the U.S. e-learning market could grow by $72.41 billion.

“I’d probably start with free, but later on I might have some courses be paid,” Ignjatovic said. “It’s good to have a combination.

“Usually, people ask for free things, but when it comes to courses, they prefer those they have to pay for,” she said. “Perception creates their expectations. That’s why it’s important for courses to be really good and of value.”

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Free or paid, online courses should have a measure of success.

“Reviews, number of students and feedback are ways to measure your course results,” Sicard said. “Of course, some people never give five stars. Some never give less than three.”

Taylor also collects testimonials.

“There are courses that I was ‘meh’ about but other people just loved,” she said. “I’m a hard person to please, but creating powerful content is really an important skill.

Too much content is also a problem,” Taylor said. “It can be overwhelming.”

DIYMarketers has a supplemental article with 49 branded content ideas to make more money in your consulting business.

“Charging for courses depends on your goals,” Ignjatovic said. “If you meet your goals, there it is. I’d consider that a success.”

A Little or a Lot

There is a wide range of money to be made from creating and selling an online course.

“Anywhere from 0 and up,” Sicard said. “I know some who make almost a thousand dollars a month from their online courses. Others make more and others less. A lot of variables are in play.

“It depends where your class is, how much you promote it, what the niche is, which courses are more profitable than others and what platform your course is on,” she said.

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In any case, money will not roll in overnight.

“It takes time, just like blogging,” Sicard said. “You have to put time into it. When the course is done and you are tired, then comes the promotion. That’s why I like the syndication platforms.

“I was helping real estate agents with their social media and did a webinar for their needs,” she said. “Then I was told I should teach it. Did it in person until the pandemic. Then I went online.”

Follow-up Counts

That emphasizes the flexibility every creator should have.

“You can make money from the course, but even more money from the in-person consulting that comes afterward,” Taylor said.

“Create a landing page on a topic,” she said. “Then see if there’s a demand before spending all this time developing a full-out course. That can take forever and never sell.”

Development should start by using good data as a reference.

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“I don’t see online courses as a way to boost my income,” Ignjatovic said. “It’s different for big names. I see them as a way to get close to people, teach them and interest them to hire me.

“It depends on the industry, but for me as a marketer with clients — and being a solopreneur — I think it’s good to shift those goals a bit,” she said.

For promotion, Ignjatovic would favor blogging, social media posts and creating an introductory webinar plus promotional video.

“Partnerships are the best, most cost-effective way to publicize,” Taylor said. “You can also use a quiz to promote and capture leads.”

About the Author

Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Disclaimer

This article is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be considered financial advice. You should consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.

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James L Katzaman

Jim Katzaman is a charter member of the Tealfeed Creators' program, focusing on marketing and its benefits for companies and consumers. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as subscribing here on Tealfeed.


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