How to Design a Course

Online courses have become increasingly popular over the past few years. Many people appreciate the convenience and flexibility of taking an online course. They are a great way to learn new skills and even generate thousands of dollars in revenue.

If you’re thinking about starting your online courses, you’re probably wondering how to design courses that make sense for your audience and make them want to buy. This is where art comes into play.

t’s an open secret that well-designed courses can engage more target audiences and enhance their learning experience. Though designing courses can be a daunting task, with careful planning and execution, it can be a breeze.

In this article, we'll talk about the process of designing an online course that has the potential to help you generate revenue. Continue reading to learn more.

The Importance of Designing a Course

Designing a course is an important first step before launching it. As a marketer, you want to ensure that your courses are as easy to understand and follow as possible.

In addition, a properly designed course helps online students or audiences to learn the lessons faster and provides much value as possible. These also provide audiences with the necessary information to benefit them.

Plus, well-designed courses have clear learning objectives that are concrete and measurable, which means the students know what is expected from them.

For example, if you’re designing a digital marketing course, you want to ensure your students can apply the lessons they learn in real-world marketing situations.

Here are some basic reasons why you should design courses: The audience gets insight into -

• course modules
• quality of the content
• program quality
• support quality

Online Course Design - Does It Need Any Special Skillset?

Designing an online course is a lot like designing any other type of e-learning project. The first step is to determine the learning outcomes you want your learners to achieve, and the second step is to design the content.

Creating a valuable and engaging course is not as difficult as you might think. In fact, most people can easily create a well-designed online course. However, you must design your courses carefully to ensure that your course content is both appropriate and accessible.

An excellent course design aims to keep the learner engaged and motivated throughout the course. So, it is crucial to identify the critical components of the online course, including the following:

• Content
• Presentation
• Navigation
• Feedback
• Assessment
• Rewards
• Modifications
• Timing

A Complete Guide To Online Course Design - 11 Steps to Follow

The key to designing a successful online course is planning, researching, and being realistic about the learning goals you expect your students to achieve. Those not only provide information and knowledge but also provide a set of skills and capabilities that the learner can apply in their lives.

Here are 11 crucial steps on how to design an online course

Target your audience

Before designing a course, you must clearly understand your target audience. Also, the course content should be relevant to your audience. This is where you start to figure out who will benefit from your course, what they want to learn, and why they want to take it.

Depending on the content and your objective with the course, you may have to do some audience research. Such as-

• Who are your ideal students?
• Will they be working professionals or amateurs?
• Will they be more interested in personal development or professional growth?

You can create many types of courses for different audiences and purposes. Once you know about your audience, it’s time to consider the courses you want to offer.

Pick a perfect and long-run course topic that you love

It will help you to keep your passion for the course and interest in it alive. You may think that you can only teach about one topic. But that is wrong. There are plenty of topics that you can pick for your courses. Plus, you can add new relevant content to your course if you have enough ideas on the topic.

However, it is better to pick topics you know very well and can teach with great enthusiasm. The most important thing you should do is find a topic you love. It will keep your interest alive so that you can use it to make money in the future.

Here are some common types of online courses that adult and younger students prefer to study through the internet:

• Arts and crafts
• Entrepreneurship
• Web Development
• Digital Marketing
• Graphic design
• Data Science
• IT skills
• Communication
• Photography
• Health and Fitness
• Dating and relationships

Once you have picked a topic, you can start planning a course around it.

Ensure your course is popular and has high market demand

Are you want to spend weeks creating an online course about a niche with no market demand that nobody will buy? Of course not!

An online course with high market demand means that lots of people are interested in your course idea. After choosing a course topic, you should consider researching the market before you invest too much time into your topic.

You can use Google Keyword Planner or other keyword research tools.

For example, if you are going to create an online course on how to build a website, you would use Google Adwords Keyword Planner to find out what people search for when looking for information about building websites.

Also, determine how much people usually pay for solving the website-related problems your course solves. Finally, there is always a gap, and if you find yourself in that gap, it means there is an opportunity to create a course on this topic.

Factors to consider to launching a successful courses

However, high market demand for a perfect online course does not guarantee that your courses will succeed. There are many factors that can contribute to a successful course launch. Some factors include:

• Your teaching style
• Your course structure and design
• The price of the course
• How much content did you put into the course?
• The platform you choose to sell your classes

So, you must prepare your marketing strategy very carefully. If you aren’t sure what to do, you can find out by looking at other courses similar to yours. You can also try searching the internet. You can also see whether anyone has created similar courses before.

Gather your course content

Course content is the core of a course. You should gather all the content (e.g., video lectures, live projects, readings, assignments) before you start delivering it to your students.

You should deliver your courses as smoothly as possible. Some people say that the first thing you need to learn to be a great teacher is to teach. This is true. You should spend time thinking about your course content. You should think about how you will deliver the course. Such as:

You should

• Create a list of all the things you will teach and everything you will ask your students to do.
• Write the information in a table or a diagram.
• Organize your main content.
• Plan ahead how you are going to deliver your courses.

If you want to learn about effective online courses, you must first know that there are different learning styles. You should decide which learning style you use for your courses and plan accordingly.

You should also consider the following questions when deciding what to teach in your courses:

• What skills do students need?
• What would be the best way to teach them?
• What should I use to deliver this course?
• Should it be a live online classroom or self-study content on an e-learning platform?
• How much time will be required?

Structure Your Modules and Courses Plan

This is the point where you look at the entirety of your work, similar group concepts, and topics and order them logically and progressively organized manner.

Here are a few things you can do:

Plan your course with a storyboard

In order to structure your modules and course plan, it is helpful first to create a storyboard. The storyboard organizes all the concepts and topics into a cohesive whole. This will also give you a general idea of the topics you want to cover and the order in which you want to cover them.

Create a course outline

If you have difficulty organizing your content, try creating an outline. This outline should include a more detailed breakdown of the topics you want to cover and the specific lessons you will teach on each topic.

Planning individual lessons

To plan individual lessons, you'll want to think about the learning objectives for each lesson. You can also create a lesson strategy by considering the resources you will need, the time you will need to cover the course material, and how you will present the content.

When planning a course outline, you should know the answers to these questions. You must know what your students already know and what they need to learn.

In addition, you must know which skill is most important to get across first. These skills can include basic information, advanced information, or skills that will increase student success and grow as professionals. You can choose a topic for each lesson and write out the lesson plan in detail.

Determine the most engaging and effective ways to deliver every lesson

In order to deliver an engaging and effective online course, educators need to understand how students learn in an online learning environment. Also, determine the methods that most effectively engage them the entire course.

There are several factors to consider when determining how best to deliver each lesson in an online course.

• What type of content (e.g., videos, reading content, activities, and audio content) do you have?
• How much time should be spent on each topic?
• How will you make your course fun and engaging?
• What will you do to help students ask and answer questions?
• How will you encourage students to interact with each other?
• What do you do if a student has difficulty understanding a concept or topic?
• How are you going to help students with different learning styles?

So it is clear that visual, auditory, and hands-on learning experiences are essential for any kind of online class.

The following tips will help you to design useful online learning content:

Designing engaging and interactive course content

Students in an online environment can quickly become disengaged if they are simply presented with a long lecture or reading assignment. Breaking up the content into smaller chunks and adding multimedia elements can help keep students engaged.

You can use these methods to make your online course more engaging:

• Storytelling teaching style
• Video and audio clips
• Interactive activities
• Quizzes and tests
• Host live lessons
• Share the teaching and learning experience with other students online
• Motivate and reward students

Design a course with different learning styles and capacities in mind

When designing an online course, it is important to consider how people learn. However, everyone has a different learning process. Some people are visual learners and need to see information to understand it. Others are auditory learners and need to hear information to learn it.

On the other hand, some people learn best when they are given short, concise chunks of information. Others need more detailed explanations to understand concepts.

It is also crucial to consider the different starting points of your students. Some students come into courses with much prior knowledge, while others have very little. 

How long should your online course be?

Online courses can be just an hour to weeks, while others last several months. Many factors determine the length of your course, and these factors include:

Time frame: The shorter the time, the better. An hour to a one-week course may be suitable for some students, while a few weeks to one-month courses may be better suited for others. However, you will need to ensure that you are giving the best value for your money.

Intent: The longer your course is, the more work you will have to put into it. Some students will appreciate having a longer course.

Prerequisites: The greater the prerequisites, the more work you will have to put into it. Some students will appreciate having fewer prerequisites.

Professionally Filming, recording, and editing your online course

Regarding online courses, high-quality audio and video are a must. Here are some tips for making sure your course is professionally filmed, recorded, and edited:

1. Plan ahead and map out exactly what you want to cover in your course. This will make the filming process much smoother and more efficient.

2. Invest in good quality equipment. This will ensure that your audio and video are of the highest quality possible.

3. Make sure to do several takes of each section of your course. This way, you can edit out any mistakes or bloopers later on.

4. When editing your course, add transitions between sections to flow smoothly for viewers.

5. Make sure to do a final run-through of your course before uploading it. This will ensure that everything flows well and that you haven’t made any mistakes.

Pricing your online course

When designing an online course, pricing is one of the most critical elements to consider. You need to find a balance between making your course affordable and making a profit. Here are a few things to keep in mind when pricing your online course:

• The cost of your courses should be based on its value.
• Consider the competition when setting your price.
• Don't forget about production costs.

Where can you sell your courses?

As the world increasingly moves online, so too do our learning opportunities. Many people seek ways to monetize their knowledge by selling courses online. Here are some of the best places to sell your courses:

• Online course marketplaces
• Learning management system (LMS)
• Plugins or software on your website

Delivering Quality Training and Support

As more and more businesses move online, the need for quality training and support becomes even more fantastic. Online courses are becoming the norm, but they can be ineffective without quality training and support. Here are some tips for delivering quality training and support for your online courses.

1. Make sure your courses are up to date and relevant. Your students will quickly become frustrated if you're offering outdated or no longer relevant courses. Keep your courses fresh by regularly updating the content. You can also promise them to provide upcoming content.

2. Provide quality customer service. If something goes wrong with a course or a student has a question, ensure you have someone available to help them. Quality customer service will keep students coming back for more.

3. Create easy and well-organized micro-learning courses. Micro-learning is a great way to keep students engaged and encourage them to continue learning.

4. Offer plenty of online resources. Students should have access to all the resources they need to succeed in your courses.

Pick the right platform that best suits your course idea

As an online course creator, choosing the right platform best suits, your course idea is essential. With so many platforms available, deciding which is right for you can be challenging. Here are a few things to consider when choosing an online course platform:

Cost

Some platforms charge a monthly fee, while others take a percentage of each sale. Consider your budget and what you're willing to spend on marketing and advertising. For example, Legiit marketplace charges a 15% fee on your total course selling price. It doesn't charge any monthly fees.

Ease of use

How effortless is the platform to use? Can you easily add courses, create landing pages and accept payments? Does it allow hosting and selling online courses from your own website?

Marketing tools

Does the platform offer built-in marketing tools or integrations with third-party services? This can make it easier to promote and sell your courses.

However, if you want an easy, cost-effective, and friendly online platform to boost and sell your course, you can choose Legiit.

Consider Course Promotion - What You Should Do

Assuming you have an online course ready to go, there are a few key ways to launch and promote it for maximum reach. Here are some tips to boost your courses: 

Run early bird offer promotions. These promotions help get the word out about your course and are a great way to build an email list. This is also an excellent way to get people to spread the word about your course. You can even use discounts or free access in exchange for reviews. Run a giveaway campaign.

Run ads on social media and Google. You can target potential students by interests, demographics, and even behaviors.

Craft a content marketing plan. This should include blog posts, social media posts, emails to your list, and any other content that will help students understand your course and why they should take it.

Offer discounts to early students. This will help you get some great reviews from your first users.

You can also reach out to influencers in your niche and ask them to advertise your course to their audience.

Publish your lessons on different platforms. The more places you publish your lessons, the more people will see and buy them. There are many platforms you can choose to promote and sell your courses. Legiit, Kajabi, *****, LinkedIn Learning, and Podia are on of the best course-building platforms.

Among them, Legiit is the fastest growing online marketplace with lots of excellent features and recently published the Legiit course section where you can sell your courses.

You can also post on Legiit Facebook group to find your potential audience and reach new prospects. In addition, Legiit allows to host and sell courses.

So, don’t miss the opportunity to upload your courses on Legiit, where you can earn higher commissions. You will get 85% of the income on selling each course, and there is no monthly fee for hosting.

Conclusion

It’s not enough to simply put together an online course. The online classes or courses must have a clear purpose and benefit the audience. Plus, it must be designed so that it will attract the right audience to it.

Ensure your audiences know they can get the best experience by enrolling in your course than they would have otherwise. The best way to motivate your audiences is to show them the benefits of joining your course. This will stand out your course from the rest.