Hey there course creator! If you’re new to the blog, welcome! My name’s Rachel, instructional designer, and eCourse strategist. Around here, we’re all about helping you get started with your eCourse business, minus the uncertainty and overwhelm.
In this post, I'm sharing some tips on how to make your course more valuable for your learners. If you're new to course creation, here's some more articles that cover the basics:
How to Prepare for a Successful Launch
Choosing a topic for your online course
When you're just starting out as a new course creator, you may find yourself looking for ways to stand out in an increasingly crowded field of online educators.
One way to do this is by supplementing your course with high-value add-ons and features that aren't always found in online learning programs.
Not only will these add-ons help you market your course, but they will also improve the learning experience and, by adding real value, enable you to charge a higher premium for your course materials.
Here are some of my favorite strategies for adding value to an online course
1. Include Templates and Swipe Files
Templates and swipe files are a great way to add value to an online course because they help learners implement your content more easily. If implementing your content involves using a new technology, code language like HTML or CSS, or something else that isn't really the subject of your materials, giving people templates and swipe files can get them over an important hurdle that might prevent them from buying your course or successfully implementing your content.
2. Show Up Live for Your Learners
One of the most valuable things you can do as an online course creator is show up for your students. Doing so demonstrates that you care about them and are invested in their success. It also helps them get to know the real person behind your course. When students feel connected to you their teacher, they are more likely to finish the program and purchase from you again in the future. Offering live support is a great way to add value to your program as learners know that there's going to be someone who will be able to assist them throughout the process.
3. Include Useful Bonuses
You should not feel limited to just your basic modules when packaging your online course. Feel free to include supplemental resources like ebooks, the templates we talked about earlier, and other bonus content. Useful bonuses are things that help learners get past potential objections they might have for signing up for your course. They can be resources that create community, make them feel connected to you, make it easier to implement your content, or just make it a little more fun (because yes learning should totally be fun).
4. Offer Membership in Private Facebook Groups
One of the easiest ways to create a sense of community is to offer a private Facebook group for your learners. Oftentimes my new instructor clients are hesitant to do this because they're afraid that when they first start out they are not going to have a ton of people in their Facebook group. And while this might be true, it is also totally okay. You don't need to have tons of people in Facebook group in order for it to offer value. In fact, a small tight-knit community of learners can be a really powerful tool. What's important is that you make membership in your Facebook group a valuable experience. As mentioned above, showing up live to talk to your learners is a really valuable strategy and Facebook groups are perhaps the ideal way to do this.
5. Share Relevant Industry News
Another way to add value to your online course is to share relevant industry news. A lot of you are probably already doing this through your Instagram or Facebook feeds, but one way that you can enhance your course is to create a quarterly or monthly newsletter or video series that you can add to your core course content that shares updates and new developments in your field. This is an especially great strategy for those who teach about social media. We all know those platforms change their algorithms and update all the time, so it's a great idea to keep pumping fresh content out to your students to keep them up-to-date and provide them with the latest tips tools and strategies.
What do you do to create extra value for your learners? Have you tried any of these strategies?
Meet Rachel
I’m an instructional designer providing eCourse solutions for creative entrepreneurs. My focus is on helping you learn how to talk to your audience and validate your programs to take the uncertainty out of launching.
Have questions about creating your online course? Click below to learn how we can work together!