How many of you have online courses?

GoogleWarrior

13 years ago

I do. You can check it out in my signature below:

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1 reply

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Lethologica 13 years ago

Originally Posted by GoogleWarrior

I do. You can check it out in my signature below:

I don't want to sound rude or anything, this is just my honest feedback, but how much business do you actually get?

Your site seems very broken. It doesn't look very professional at all. Some of it doesn't even read properly which seems like a major flaw considering the niche. Also, the add to cart button should actually take me to a checkout instead of just being a picture.

Not to mention the image of the breasts with the websites URL seems rather inappropriate considering the niche.

Having said that though, how is your course delivered? Through auto responders?
- Thanks
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ExploringInfinity

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Lethologica

I've been thinking about creating an online course for something I'm very knowledgeable in (Photoshop, I have 8+ years experience with it) I was wondering if you guys could shed any light on how it's done exactly?

The way I figure it is like this:

Person goes to my website
Person signs up for news letter, gets a free guide.
Pitch them my monthly subscription where they'll get guides, video walkthroughs, ebooks etc.

I'm trying not to over complicate this so please excuse me if I've missed any steps.

Obviously they would be able to sign up for the course through the website itself and not just the news letter.

Would an auto responder be the best means of delivering this course?

So it would go a little something like:

Person pays for subscription
They get added to my auto responder that has say 50 walk throughs, guides etc.
Set and forget?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Cheers.

If this is something you want to do, then DO IT!

The main thing is to DO IT and not just hesitate and 'think about it' for too long. If you want it to happen, make it happen!

An auto-responder sounds like a great way to deliver the course. It's easy to set up and maintain, and it doesn't take much time or effort once you've got it all ready to go!

Good luck!

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Lethologica

13 years ago

Originally Posted by ExploringInfinity

If this is something you want to do, then DO IT!

The main thing is to DO IT and not just hesitate and 'think about it' for too long. If you want it to happen, make it happen!

Haha got to say, I love this general attitude around these forums.

Being someone who tends to think, analyze, rethink then reanalyze about everything it's a little hard for me to get the hang of! But I'm working on it and my first step was buying the domain! Time to get started!

Any other Warriors have any advice/tips etc on setting up a course?

Thanks
1 reply

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CurtisN

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Lethologica

Any other Warriors have any advice/tips etc on setting up a course?

Well the most important thing to look out for before you set-up a course is whether there's any interest for such a course.

I don't know how well a Photoshop course would sell. I imagine it would be like selling a "how to use MS Word" course. People wouldn't mind learning about it, but probably wouldn't want to pay for it.

It's much easier to find a hungry crowd and feed them.

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Lethologica

13 years ago

Originally Posted by CurtisN

I don't know how well a Photoshop course would sell. I imagine it would be like selling a "how to use MS Word" course. People wouldn't mind learning about it, but probably wouldn't want to pay for it.

My mother has bought how to use Word and Excel products. I believe anything can be sold so long as the customer is getting value for their money and they're eager to learn whatever it is that someone has to sell.

Thanks
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CurtisN

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Lethologica

My mother has bought how to use Word and Excel products. I believe anything can be sold so long as the customer is getting value for their money and they're eager to learn whatever it is that someone has to sell.

That's fair enough, but your mother isn't a hungry crowd.

You could set-up a lemonade stand on the sidewalk and even get a few sales, but it doesn't mean it's worth your time to do it. Just sayin'.

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Shadowflux 13 years ago

I run a photoshop site so I thought I'd give you my two cents. I think a lot of people want to learn PS but it's such an expansive program that there is A LOT to cover. What I've found is that most people will get bored learning the basics pretty quickly, most people these days just want their hand held and to be led through whatever they want to learn.

I think you should focus your course on a certain element or sub-niche of PS. For instance, a course on photoshop for sports photographers, or photoshop lessons for graphic designers. I think your course should be aimed at mid level photoshop users, people who know the basics but want to do something advanced.

My site has nothing but tutorials on photo effects and it gets some good traffic considering that I've been neglecting it since I killed my photoshop computer lol. I offer people an easy to read method for achieving some advanced tricks in PS but I also include any information that may not be obvious to a new user such as how to do a gradient quick mask.

You should offer people a lesson on how to do something interesting and a little advanced like "Metallic 3D Lettering for a Website Banner" but also include any information a beginner might need to know like how to set gradients or pattern fills, how to make a background transparent, stuff like that.

Then do a little research and found out what lessons and tutorials people are requesting the most. Sometimes there are fads like "Steampunk Photoshop Tutorial" and sometimes there are standards like "Antique Photo Retouching".

If I were you I'd take about 15-20 lessons, compile them into an ebook and offer that as well, some people are only interested in something for a short period of time so those people would be more willing to buy the book than pay a recurring subscription fee. I was going to do this myself but now I need to fix the computer I was using for photoshop.

If you want to check out my site, its really nothing special, send me a PM
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CyberSorcerer

13 years ago

There isn't much advice to give. If that's what you want to do then what everyone else thinks is irrelevant.

The only left to do is what I always tell my students:

"Just Do It!"

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grannywriteswell

13 years ago

Sounds like you have a great idea. If you are doing a course remember that people learn in different ways so try and have some video and audio included as well as text. You can easily divide up your knowledge into bit sized chunks so people don't get too overwhelmed in one go - using the autoresponder would be ideal for this.

Best of luck
Ellen

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MKTaddicts

13 years ago

Totally agree! I have been trying to find the time in making my "own" internet advertising site/campaign works after 7 years of experience in Internet advertising for helping others to make their campaigns work.

If you do have the time and knowledge, go for it and you may be surprise of what you get out from it.

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fated82

13 years ago

I am using Digital Access Pass (DAP) to deliver my content. This give me the flexibility to provide upsell oportunities if necessary. I dont think there is any problem with you using autoresponders to deliver your content.

Also, I would suggest providing your participants assignments so that they feel that they learn something every lesson

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Lethologica 13 years ago

Originally Posted by fated82

Also, I would suggest providing your participants assignments so that they feel that they learn something every lesson

Wow that's a brilliant idea, hadn't thought of that one! That will help up the interaction level a lot I think.

Cheers.
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- paulie888 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Lethologica
  
  Wow that's a brilliant idea, hadn't thought of that one! That will help up the interaction level a lot I think.
  
  Cheers.
  
  Another thing you could do to increase the interaction level is implement a members only forum. They can share their work with each other, ask for advice and tips from you and fellow students, and interact in a meaningful manner via the forum. This would also encourage them to stay subscribed longer to your course.
  
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claire012

13 years ago

I do similar stuff...works fine

Originally Posted by Lethologica

I've been thinking about creating an online course for something I'm very knowledgeable in (Photoshop, I have 8+ years experience with it) I was wondering if you guys could shed any light on how it's done exactly?

The way I figure it is like this:

Person goes to my website
Person signs up for news letter, gets a free guide.
Pitch them my monthly subscription where they'll get guides, video walkthroughs, ebooks etc.

I'm trying not to over complicate this so please excuse me if I've missed any steps.

Obviously they would be able to sign up for the course through the website itself and not just the news letter.

Would an auto responder be the best means of delivering this course?

So it would go a little something like:

Person pays for subscription
They get added to my auto responder that has say 50 walk throughs, guides etc.
Set and forget?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Cheers.

Thanks

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Lethologica

13 years ago

You're an absolute mastermind Paulie. I'm so excited about all this now!

Thanks
1 reply

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Zachmo 13 years ago

Good idea. Just make it more interesting , make it different from those tuts we can see in youtube Also I suggest to having level by level progress for members and some awards for most excellent student (stuffs like that) and mini organizations too.
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seafrontsteve

13 years ago

I completely agree with ExploringInfinity
It doesn't matter so much waht you decide to do - but the quicker you get started and actually do something, the quicker you'll start to get results.
That's one thing I find difficult - because I want everything to be 100% first, but it never is, and you'll only find out the real problems after you get started and other people interact with your site