The course whisperer Cindy Nicholson joins us on this episode of LMScast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS to discuss best practices and tips for creating course content that people will buy and get results from. Cindy and Chris dive into all aspects of course building, from laying out your curriculum to targeting your students with a solid marketing plan.

The behavior change course is one of the most popular and most effective courses if done correctly. Cindy gives some tips on how you can make engaging content that gets your students results. Chris and Cindy talk about some of the most common mistakes course builders make and how you can avoid them.

Understanding the difference between a consumer and a learner is important for teaching online. Consumers are typically looking for entertainment or interesting information, where learners tend to have a specific goal they are trying to achieve. With that in mind you can formulate your content to have call to actions and exercises that can help your students to use what they have learned.

The single biggest mistake Cindy sees with course creation in general is that teachers give their students a large amount of information without much direction on what to do or how to apply the content to produce relevant results. We refer to that as the resource course, and it can have a lot of cool information. But most students are looking to achieve a result when they purchase a course, so it is important to focus on delivering that result.

Occasionally course creators will start out with a suite of courses where they are offering 3-10 courses on their site when they first start selling. This strategy can work, but it is harder to pull off. We recommend that you start out with one flagship course and improve that over time until the point where there is a need for a second course.

To learn more about Cindy Nicholson be sure to head to TheCourseWhisperer.co

Rebecca Undem joins us in this episode of the LMScast podcast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS to discuss how you can build communities and strong support networks from rural areas. Chris and Rebecca dive into all kinds of strategies and best practices for online course creators who experience isolation.

Rebecca shares her journey of returning to the rural area she grew up in, and how she created the Small Town Survival Kit to help moms when they are in those times when you’re feeling lonely, isolated, misunderstood, and frustrated.

In the work that Rebecca does, she reminds people that the size of your life doesn’t have to be determined by the size of the town that you live in. With the online technology available today you don’t have to be limited by the limits that are present in your immediate environment.

Being an education entrepreneur can be isolating, especially if you are an online entrepreneur in a small town where there are not any local events or Meetups of individuals who truly understand where you are at from a business perspective.

A lot of programs online are about finding a shortcut to do something. Getting in shape and making money are two topics where this happens a lot. In order to run a program like that you have to keep up a facade, and it doesn’t come across as genuine. Rebecca feels that a lot of course creators start by thinking about what they can do that people will like rather than building their brand about being the most authentic you can be.

You can find Rebecca’s Survival Kit at RebeccaUndem.com/survival-kit. She also has a book called How Mommy Got Her Groove Back that tells the story of how Rebecca learned to embrace the ‘not plan’ and deal with the chaos that arises during parenthood.

Jason Hsiao from Animoto joins us on this episode of the LMScast podcast to share insights on doing video marketing on social media for course creators and membership site owners. Chris and Jason dive into topics from engagement to creating targeted campaigns for Facebook.

Jason shares how it is important to focus on engaging your audience within the first few seconds of your video. Keeping your content short and using captions is also important for letting your audience know what you want them to do and keeping their attention for as long as possible.

For starting off with video marketing Jason recommends Facebook, because it has the largest user base and offers the most advanced tools in terms of allowing you to target a specific audience that is likely to be interested in your content. It is also very easy to get started with Facebook ads, as you can start testing results for only $20 if you have a highly targeted campaign.

Many entrepreneurs are self-conscious about creating content when they first start off. Making mistakes can actually improve your content as it makes it more human, and thus more relatable for consumers. Jason and Chris talk about how embracing your imperfections can work to your advantage.

Entrepreneurs often find themselves discouraged by the low number of views they get on videos when first starting out, but focusing on creating high-quality content will ensure that in time the quantity of views will catch up.

To learn more about Jason Hsiao and the Animoto software, head to Animoto.com and check out what they have going on over there!

Author and learning design expert Julie Dirksen shares some amazing tips and strategies for course creators in this information-packed episode of LMScast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS. Julie and Chris talk about everything from building high impact courses and getting lasting results, to effective coaching strategies for education entrepreneurs.

Developing proficiency to the point of unconscious competence is something Julie talks about in her book. It is the ultimate form of learning something. When you can automatically do something without thinking about it you have developed unconscious competence. Many people experience this when driving home from work on a route they’ve driven a lot where they sort of black out and enter autonomous mode, but they end up making it home without any problems.

Chris highlights the four blueprints that most courses fall into: behavior change, learning a process, resource course, and the case study course. Julie shares the main gaps that are present in learning and how you can address each one to help your students achieve their desired outcome.

Just conveying a piece of information is unlikely to change the behaviors of your listeners. Julie refers to this in her book as the information gap, meaning that what is holding your students back is a lack of information. However this is rarely the case. Smoking is harmful to the body, but informing a smoker of that is unlikely to change their behavior.

To learn more about Julie you can visit DesignBetterLearning.com and UsableLearning.com. Be sure to check out her book Design For How People Learn. It is available on Amazon, and Julie has a thriving Facebook group of individuals discussing the concepts in the book and more. You can also connect with Julie on Twitter at @UsableLearning.

CEO of 3 Hellos Robin Harris joins us on this episode of LMScast with Chris Badgett of the LifterLMS team to discuss how you can navigate the digital ecosystem, presell products, and the problems that occur with a culture of free services. Robin and Chris dive into the importance of how you structure your sales funnel and communicate with prospects within that funnel.

The real genius of the internet is not so much the information that is available; it is the connection to people across the world that is truly valuable. Chris and Robin talk about honing in on your core topics when building courses and how that can serve you greatly when building up a community online.

As a course creator, it is important to be in touch with what your audience’s needs in order to really serve them. Chris and Robin talk about the concept of expert syndrome and techno babble. Those terms both refer to an expert talking over the head of the student to the point that the students can’t understand. Connecting with your community can really help you validate your idea and get a grasp on what your potential customers know about what you plan on teaching.

Many people think of their sales funnel as their website, but the sales funnel comprises much more than just your website. Robin dives into the power of starting a conversation on Facebook and ending it on your blog as a great top of your sales funnel. You want to speak to your customers where they are at in your funnel rather than constantly pressuring them to purchase.

You can find out more about Robin Harris at 3Hellos.com, and you can find her on Twitter at @RobinMHarris21 and on Facebook and LinkedIn as well.

Thomas Levy and Chris Badgett of LifterLMS review the CaboPress business mastermind conference in this episode of the LMScast podcast. CaboPress is hosted in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and is organized by entrepreneur Chris Lema. Thomas and Chris have been to the conference four times now and are here today to share what makes it one of the best WordPress business conferences.

Many online business owners spend most, if not all, of their time working online. Networking, building connections, and strategizing about the business are all important aspects to success that tend to lie offline. CaboPress takes place at a five-star resort, and every aspect of the trip from lodging to food is covered. All you have to do is purchase a ticket to CaboPress and a plane ticket to get down there.

Events like CaboPress are a great place to get feedback and learn about metrics other companies measure. Chris and Thomas share what they do in order to get the most value out of conferences. One thing Chris does to prepare is doing research on individuals who will be at the Conference, so he knows a little about what they do before they meet.

The LMScast podcast is a great example of what Chris does to extend the value and connections of the conference by interviewing individuals he meets. Thomas had not come to CaboPress with a problem he wanted to learn how to solve, but in conversation he learned about issues that were paining him or preventing him from doing the best work that he had not considered before.

If you are interested in learning more about CaboPress, head over to CaboPress.com. After you’re done there, head to LifterLMS.com to learn more about new developments and how you can use LifterLMS to build online courses and membership sites. Thanks for joining us!

Tom Libelt form the Smart Brand Marketing Podcast joins us on this episode of LMScast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS to discuss online course marketing that works. Tom is a serial entrepreneur with a background in music and filmography. He and Chris discuss marketing strategies you can incorporate into the fabric of your course to engage students and generate leads.

Chris and Tom talk about the five hats problem with course creators having to do five jobs as an expert, community builder, teacher, technologist, and entrepreneur. Many successful courses outsource one or more of these jobs, as it is rare to find someone who can do all five jobs well.

For most course creators, online marketing is what will ultimately lead to sales for the courses they create. Tom and Chris discuss how it is important to build your course with the marketing in mind. This mindset will be what allows you to get in the customer’s mind and deliver the most value in your course by focusing on the end results the student is looking at when buying the course.

Tom recommends you give away some content for free on platforms like YouTube and Facebook to see if you can get people to engage with your topics and test out your demographics. Tom is a proponent of paid advertising as a way to reach as many people as possible. Chris and Tom dive into the different paid ad formats available today that produce the best results for course creators.

Chris and Tom talk about all of this and more in this episode of LMScast. To learn more about Tom Libelt, head to SmartBrandMarketing.com and WeCreateOnlineCourses.com. You can connect with Tom on Twitter at @TomLibelt and you can find the digital nomad movement he is a leader in at YourOwnWayOut.com.

Ellen Martin of CourseLauncherHQ.com joins us in this episode of LMScast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS to discuss how you can design programs around outcomes and strategies you can use to build successful online courses. Ellen shares her story of how she created a business serving online course creators, and what drives her core education philosophy.

When you are focused on generating results for your students, it can be helpful to design with the end in mind. If you start at the finish line and work backwards from there, it is much easier to create content that flows nicely. Ellen and Chris talk about creating a program rather than a course itself.

Many experts have so much knowledge in their heads that they feel they need to dump it all out into one course. In doing so they forget why their customers want to sign up for their course, which is typically to follow a process to achieve a certain result or to learn things that allow you to create lasting change in your life and the lives of others.

There are all kinds of educational resources available to everyone today via the internet, but it is still really hard to get adults to learn things that they don’t want to. In the online education space we see a large amount of resistance from people when education is presented to them in the form of quizzes, assignments, and homework. Chris and Ellen touch on ways you can make your courses more engaging via gamification and incentivization.

Ellen has been a natural teacher her whole life, and she has had a vision since she was young to provide education to underprivileged children. To learn more about Ellen Martin be sure to check out CourseLauncherHQ.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook at @CourseLauncherHQ and Ellen Martin.

John Turner of SeedProd joins us in this episode of the LMScast podcast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS to share his journey entering and finding success in the WordPress space. John and Chris cover a wide variety of topics, from finding a niche to succeeding with a freemium product or service.

SeedProd does allow you to design your landing page from scratch, but you can also choose from a template list, modify the text, and launch if you want to make it very simple. SeedProd is also connected to Unsplash, so finding images for your site is as easy as possible for the users.

Chris highlights the importance of building your content before deciding what tools you will use to deliver it. SeedProd can be very valuable for you if you do map out your content before figuring out how you will deliver it. You can put up a landing page and start generating leads before you launch.

Getting feedback early in the development process can prove to be very valuable for your project, because you don’t want to create content nobody wants. The feedback you get can help you change the product while there is still room to influence the general direction.

Education on your product or service is key. Even if you put a landing page up with no course live, you can start to improve your SEO value and product awareness on platforms like social media with blog posts.

Be sure to listen to this information-packed LMScast with John Turner. You can find John on Twitter at @JohnTurner, and be sure to check out his podcast on HookedOnProductsPodcast.com. To learn more about SeedProd you can head to SeedProd.com

Avery White of Third Person Creative joins us in this episode of LMScast with Chris Badgett of the LifterLMS team to discuss the value behind learning from other forms of media to improve your content creation abilities. Avery shares his story, from earning a degree in computer engineering to running his company that helps creatives make money through pursuing their passions.

Avery is hoping to create a synthesis of content that inspires creative people to learn about other art mediums and gather inspiration from unlikely areas. As a writer, Avery thinks it is important to learn from other creative media formats like dancing, photography, and sculpting.

As a course creator it is important to know the level of understanding your target audience has. Avery has created a course that breaks down how to build a WordPress website click by click right from opening a browser window. He created screenshots and made it very easy for his students to follow along. Easily consumable content will help your students stick with your program and not get overwhelmed.

One key reason Avery is great at running Third Person Creative is that he is focused on providing value to his customers and partners rather than squeezing every dollar that he can out of the internet. When you focus on getting results for your students rather than what will make you money, it opens up a lot of opportunities for success you may not have otherwise considered.

To learn more about Avery White head to ThirdPersonCreative.com, and you can find him on Twitter and Instagram at @tp_creative and on Facebook as well.