In this post we talk about 9 mistakes people make when launching an online course. If you’re interested in launching an online course, I recommend using Teachable because of its robust features. It lets you put in videos, worksheets, PDFs, text, images, and more. It also lets you create an affiliate program and have multiple authors depending on your plan. Try Teachable here (there’s a free plan too)!
The process of making an online course can be filled with much confusion, overwhelm, time and effort spent, mistakes made, and more.
I know this firsthand.
I was so focused on trying to make my course perfect for launch that it took me around a year to finish up. Along the way I was able to realize many different mistakes people make when launching their course. So, I wanted to share with you all some of these common errors that many people make when it comes to course creation!
Launching an Online Course: 9 Mistakes People Make
1. Making a Course People Don’t Need
When you first create a course, you need to figure out if there is demand for it. You don’t want to spend a ton of time working on something that nobody will even buy! To do market research, you can conduct surveys that you send out to your e-mail list through Survey Monkey and Google Forms. A great question to ask is “What are your current struggles?” or “What are your current goals?” You can also privately message people on social media to see what their concerns are, and if you don’t have an email list or social media following, you could ask friends and family.
Checking if there’s demand is necessary so that you don’t waste time creating a course that nobody cares about. You don’t want to put in a ton of work creating a tutorial for people if no one even needs it.
In my case there was demand for my product as many people asked me how to make passive income online. Selling digital downloads on Etsy was my first method of earning passive income, so I created a course about that!
2. Using Filler Content to Elongate the Course
I used to think that adding filler content to elongate my course would give the impression that the course has a lot of value. However, a lot of course launch experts have told me that it’s better to teach people in a concise manner so that they learn faster. You want them to get the same results in the shortest amount of time possible.
The key is VALUE. As long as you’re communicating exactly what they need to know, why put in unnecessary content just to make the course a certain length?
If you have a course that has a ton of filler content that is not actionable, a lot of people won’t complete the course because they’re going to be bogged down by all the fluff. It’s crucial to have a course that actually WORKS so that you can get those testimonials and positive customer experience. That way, word of mouth will make it easy for your course to spread like wildfire!
3. Not Doing Research
When I started creating my course I actually bought a few other Etsy courses to make sure that 1. mine contained verified tactics and 2. my course exceeded other courses in what they teach. I wanted to make sure I had the best course out there and that my material was confirmed by many people. This way I ensured my customer experience would be good and that buyers were getting top-notch information. It also makes sure that I’m more confident in marketing the product because of the information accuracy and the value students can receive from it.
Make sure you create a course that you’ve thoroughly researched. Yes you can do it based off your personal knowledge, but you should also still do some research to back up your knowledge. This way you make sure your course is the best it can be.
4. Undervaluing Design and Quality
People might argue that design is not that important and that it’s more about the content of your course. While content definitely needs to be valuable, design is also crucial when it comes to getting people to convert. A lot of potential customers look at design to make sure that the course is high quality.
It’s all about perceived value.
Your sales page should look aesthetically pleasing and organized. Your course should be attractive enough to be easily consumable. And if you have high quality video and high quality audio, you’ll have a greater chance of getting people to convert and actually complete the course. The crappier the design, the worse the perceived value!
5. Not Creating a Marketing Strategy, Yet Expecting Sales
I was planning to launch my Etsy course on my blog without marketing it, and I planned to just hope that one day someone would purchase. However a lot of work needs to be done around a course launch to optimize its success. You need to get testimonials, create free opt-ins and sales pages, build funnels, engage with your audience, and you need to show why people are missing out if they don’t purchase the course.
Having a marketing strategy is extremely crucial when it comes to a successful course launch. You NEED to have a plan or else you’re not going to be able to get sales. You should have a launch date, a build up plan, and you should decide if your course will be evergreen or a one time open and close. You may also consider conducting sales and affiliate programs to get word spread on your course.
6. Not Building an Optimized Sales Page
Sales pages are crucial. The sales page is what’s going to tip someone over the line between not buying, and purchasing the course. Having all the benefits outlined and gathering the testimonials of true success stories is helpful for people to get background information on what they’re getting. If someone lands on the sales page and doesn’t know if there are others who have successfully completed the course and received benefits, they’re not going to want to buy.
You may ask – what do you do if you have no customers yet? You may want to open your course for beta testing to select users (maybe 5), and get them to try it out for free or for a discount. Then you want to hand-hold them and guide them towards success. That way they will be inclined to give you a testimonial for your course.
7. Pricing Low
This is one of the biggest issues I have when it comes to course launches. When I made my Etsy course, I wanted to price around $50 until I found myself spending months and months on end building out content. As females, we tend to undervalue ourselves – and we need to make sure we’re pricing ourselves correctly!
DON’T UNDERVALUE YOUR COURSE.
I had spent so long perfecting the Etsy course, and even just editing the material! I mean, the course took about a year to complete. I had created over 65 videos that include over four and a half hours of valuable information, and I put all my knowledge about passive income on Etsy into one course. If someone were to actually take action on the course, they could achieve the same results that I did.
Therefore, I realized I needed to price higher if I were to give away all my secrets to success.
I heard on Pat Flynn’s podcast that no matter what price tag you put on your course, you’ll still have to do the same amount of work to get the course into people’s hands. If I undervalued myself, I would still have to put in the same effort.
Pricing higher is beneficial as well for perceived value. If you price under $100, they’ll most likely think your course isn’t going to get them to the next level. you want to make sure your course is priced accordingly.
Another thing is, pricing your product higher will get you SERIOUS students who want to invest in themselves and take action on the course. You want those higher-quality buyers who will actually take action and become successful. They will then spread the word on your course and the amazing results they were able to achieve!
8. Not Getting Testimonials and Beta Testers
We forget that a lot of people need social proof in order to make a purchase because they need to know that your product works! It’s CRUCIAL to get testimonials. Seeing that the product works will make people want to buy because they know they’re not buying BS.
Feedback on your course also lets you adjust your course accordingly. If you never have a reference point you’ll never know if you’re course is not strong enough or is lacking certain elements. By obtaining feedback, you can make sure your course is addressing needs and is the best it can be.
9. Trying to Perfect the Course and Never Launching
I am extremely guilty of this mistake because I could have probably launched my course a lot sooner if I didn’t continuously want to add and change things.
If you take take too long trying to make your product perfect, you’ll never launch!
When you actually decide to take action and release your creations despite what the outcome is, you actually learn from the experience much faster than if you were to try and make it perfect. When you continue to release work and stop worrying about what others think, you can make bigger strides in the grand scheme of things because you can figure out your areas of weakness and work on them.
If you’re using Teachable, it’s super easy to edit your videos post-launch, and you can even add more modules after the fact. Letting people know that your course is always improving lets them know that you’re constantly trying to make sure it fulfills customer needs and they can be confident in their purchase. Therefore, it doesn’t have to be extremely scary to launch your product, and it can always be a work in progress!
Check out Teachable, my favorite online course platform:
Conclusion
Courses are actually a lot harder to make than I thought. I thought it was something I could just release and forget about, but it’s actually a decent amount of work because it’s not just about organizing and creating the modules, it’s also about marketing the launch. You also need to engage with your audience to make sure the course is the best it can be.
Again if you’re interested in launching an online course, I recommend using Teachable because of its robust features. A lot of people including Pat Flynn are huge advocators of the platform. Teachable lets you put in videos, worksheets, PDFs, text, images, and more. It also lets you create an affiliate program and have multiple authors depending on your plan. Try Teachable here (there’s a free plan too)!
I hope these 9 tips are helpful for anyone who’s also creating a course. Make sure you don’t make these same mistakes when launching your course! If you have any questions or comments please leave one on the post below. Thank you!
