How to build an online course (part 2)
🪜 Build your online course with today's complete playbook + get early access to a new thing I'm creating
You can always find today’s edition (and past ones) here
So you want to create an online course that builds brand awareness and passive income…
In last week’s edition, you learned about the benefits of creating an online course. You also learned a simple, proven method to help you build the right course.
If you just joined or missed it, catch up here.
Today, you’ll learn how to build your online course.
I’ve assembled a massive playbook for you. And I do mean, massive…
Today’s post is over 3,100 words and took me 20 hours to write. I hope you appreciate it!
📌 Speaking of which…
To continue creating these weekly playbooks and keep the newsletter free for you, I could use your help growing it.
Use this link to access your unique referral link.
I appreciate you.
Alright then, let’s dig in!
P.S. At the end, you’ll learn about something I’m launching to help take your online course to the next level.
What we’re not covering today
Let me give you an overview of what you’ll be learning today by clarifying what we will not be covering and will be covered in a future issue:
Course naming
Pricing strategy
Marketing strategy
Building courses with AI
Course landing pages (previously covered in this post)
Mini-courses / email courses
💡 If you’d like to bump the priority on any of these topics for a future issue, reply with your vote.
I’m also not covering course building blocks — the components that make up the foundation of your course’s learning materials, such as:
Worksheets
Templates
Instructional videos
Written guides
Supporting resources
You can learn everything you need to about course building blocks in this post. It includes a breakdown on each one and how to create them, with tools and best practices.
What we ARE covering
Today, you’ll learn how to define, organize, and assemble your online course within one of the major online learning platforms, Podia.
Online learning platforms are nothing like their ancestral Learning Management Systems (LMS).
Today’s platforms are simple and intuitive to use. They’re also powerful, with comprehensive tools that us creators are using to host and sell our courses and digital products.
Good news: What you learn about building a course within Podia can be repurposed within several competing learning platforms, such as Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi.
đź’ˇ In the post: What Productizing Will Look Like, I provided an overview of what it looks like to build a course within another online learning platform, Teachable.
To make sure you leave today’s post feeling prepared to build your online course, we’ll tackle these 3 pillars:
Adding a new course
Building your course modules
Structuring your course back-end
1. Adding a new course
After signing up for your Podia account, first thing you’ll do is create a new product and choose Online course.
Creating a new product in Podia
đź’ˇ Podia is a comprehensive creator platform. In addition to online courses, you can also sell digital downloads (e.g. templates), webinars, and coaching. You can also bundle several products together to sell at a packaged price.
A bit further down, I’ll show you how to up-sell products within Podia.
Now that you have your newly minted online course, it’s time to build out your course modules.
2. Building your course modules
Your course modules are like the chapters of a book. They organize your student’s learning experience, helping them progress in a set order; i.e. once they complete module 1, they’re ready for module 2.
How to use learning arcs to define your curriculum
As the person building the course, your job is to think about how best to break your course down into easy-to-consume chunks.
Why?
Think about a course you’ve taken that was one 3-hour long lesson. Ugh. Three hours?!
That feels like a lifetime. It also feels like a ton to cram into your brain.
But what if that 3-hour course was chunked down into a collection of 5-minute lessons?
Smaller lessons are easier to complete. You’re better able to absorb the necessary bits and pieces from each lesson, and move on.
As you do, you feel a growing sense of accomplishment, chipping through the content until you’ve completed the course.
As your course’s instructor, student course completion rate is your north star metric. It’s the source of truth to know that you’ve:
Delivered on your course’s promise
Created a simple and enjoyable learning experience
There’s one method I rely on to hit those 2 goals: Learning Arcs.
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