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Welcome! Today’s episode is the second in a two-part series about creating an E-Course. In last week’s episode, I talked about planning and researching your course, finding an audience, and the basic gear needed to begin. Today’s focus is on distributing your course, along with how to accept payments and set fees. I’ll also divulge some of the mistakes I’ve made and things I would do differently next time.
Here are my recommendations related to today’s topic:
I chose Zippy Courses for distributing my E-Course.
- Zippy Courses is built on the WordPress engine, so it overlays your existing WordPress website and adds new content.
- Zippy Courses is very automated and requires minimal involvement on my part.
- Zippy Courses breaks my content down into units and lessons.
- I have the option of creating a new website or using a sub-domain under my existing site.
I chose Vimeo for recording.
- Vimeo is less expensive than other options.
- Vimeo lets me record using my webcam or computer screen using Camtasia or ScreenFlow.
- Vimeo allows me to record, upload, and set privacy settings.
I chose Paypal Business for accepting payments.
- I considered Stripe also, then Googled them both to discern the cost benefits.
- Paypal Business allows me to do subscription payments and payment plans.
For recording content, I recommend using multiple types: slides, videos, audio, and cheat sheets. Look at it from your consumer’s viewpoint.
Pricing is definitely the aspect that presented the biggest struggle for me.
- Do research to find out what others are charging for similar content.
- Consider offering a payment plan option and incrementally increasing your fee in the future.
- Consider offering a money-back guarantee, which is common in the E-Course niche.
Of course, I’ve made mistakes. There are some things I would do differently:
- When I launched, I didn’t do enough Q&A workshops and live webinars to allow people to meet me and ask questions about the course.
- I wish I had planned more high-quality teaching workshops about my content.
- You have to adopt the mindset that this endeavor is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Don’t get discouraged at your initial numbers.
Join me to learn more about creating your own E-Course; it’s a way to share knowledge and create supplemental income. Thanks for listening! Take care!