Most course trainers will tell you that there is a virtually unlimited pool of potential students for your course. This may be technically true in the sense that there are over 7 billion people on the planet who exist and might someday buy a course. But let’s think about things a little more critically.

Who will buy from you?

How many people realistically 1) are in your target demographic, 2) are at a point in their lives or businesses where they are in the sweet spot between knowing they need a specific kind of information but where they can’t afford 1:1 help, or to hire something done for them, 3) are familiar with the concept of online courses, 4) are self-motivated enough to complete and make use of an online course, 5) know you and your brand well enough to confidently make the investment, 6) are in your sphere of influence – already in your community, or the community of people who will promote your course for you, 7) have the time to take a course on a specific topic?

Rules of thumb for course creation

Simply put, people are asking you for one. We mean several unique individuals, and different times, and UNPROMPTED by you saying some variant of “I wish you had a course that I could buy.” If that happens at least 5 times, from 5 different people – go ahead. Make a course.  

Another good time to make a course is if you have a large pool of existing clients or other stakeholders who will get value out of taking it. An example of this might be a course on engaging professionally on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for all of your social media management clients. Basically, if there are people who NEED information from you, a course can be a great way to give it to many of them at once.

Finally, a free course (which still needs to be high quality!) can be a good way to build your email list or community. Note that this is FREE. This can be to educate the broader world about your subject matter area so that a percentage of them will ‘graduate’ to becoming clients, and to build out your list for sales of related products or services. (Think of an accounting online course offered by a bookkeeping software.)

Three criteria to meet:

1) You have to be an expert. You’ve probably got this one down, honestly.

2) You have to have either weeks of available time to create content, or be able to afford thousands of dollars to have something professionally made, or have a big enough audience that likes you well enough to tolerate poor quality audio-video materials. (Yes, some big names make absolutely bargain-basement quality learning materials. This is because they have enough social capital that they do not need to demonstrate respect for their students by producing quality materials. It is 100% a lack of respect if they do not provide good quality learning materials.)

3) You have to have an audience big enough, that has enough disposable income that you can make a profit on a 1% conversion rate, or you have to have relationships with people who have a large audience and are willing to promote your course for an affiliate commission. (If your course is for internal use, or free, you can ignore this one.)

Need some help?

If you’re in the sweet spot for online courses, or you want to talk about some possible alternatives, book a call with Megan Dougherty, to figure out how to get your message out there in the most effective way for your business.