I’m sure blogging comes easy to you, but an online course may be completely new territory. It seems Bloggers have become so convinced that they don’t have enough content or expertise to create valuable online courses, or that their audience would never buy such an online course, given that there is so much free material already on their websites.
“recently, more and more bloggers are creating online courses.”
Maybe you’re unsure of what you want to teach your for your online course, maybe you’re confused as to what platform to get started with, or maybe you don’t even know if an online course is right for you. Whatever stage you’re at now, it’s important we can help you turn your uncertainty into confidence. Not only have you been leaving money on the table by not offering your audience an online course, but much of the work required to do so is likely already done for you.
“chances are they’ve already created a lot of the content that they’ll use.”
Bloggers are often the most equipped people to create an online course, and although it may not be in one place just yet, a good portion of their content is usually just waiting to be repurposed into course form.
Here are four steps on how to turn your blog into your online course:
Choosing a Topic
One of the differences between a blog and an online course is that a course is very specific and outlines the nitty gritty details of a subject.
“Although a blog can be more general in topic, a course cannot.”
Your blog ideas need to be narrowed down into one teachable subject. We recommend using your audience as a focus group and surveying them to see what they’re interested in learning for your course. Your students will most likely be your existing readers, and so you want to make sure to get their approval first. Use the content you’ve already created in your blog posts and the audience you’ve already built to help focus in on what you want to create your online course. Chances are, your audience has already told you what type of content they like by interacting with your site. Begin by asking the question, “which blog posts have landed the most page views?”.
“when you’re deciding on a course, do not try to be everything for everyone”
It’s easy to want to make the biggest and best course out there on any given topic, but we’ve found that focusing down and solving a highly specific problem, rather than trying to solve every problem with your online course does much better. Your online course should serve as a shortcut to an outcome. To decide on your course topic, you must first decide on your outcome. This is flexible, and you might find it shifting and transforming as you create your course, but get a good idea of what transformation you want to offer.
Assemble & Structure Course Content
Like a blog, an online course needs direction. It needs a beginning and an end, and you need to make sure the path to get there is as painless as possible for the student.
“Bloggers can use posts they’ve already written as outlines or scripts for their online course videos.”
Once you’ve got a solid idea of what you want your online course topic to be, start by searching your blog archives and open all of the blog posts you’ve written on that topic. As you’re organizing in document two, sort through and get rid of any irrelevant information so the only content remaining fits your online course topic.
“Remember: Group similar steps into sections”
To create the actual curriculum for your online course, open an outline doc and write down every step you took to become an authority in what you’re teaching. You want to be super detailed here, or else you may discover gaps down the line when your first students are already going through the content. Once you’ve written all of your steps down, group similar steps into sections in your outline doc.
Create Course Content
It’s important to remember, your course should be to take a deep dive into topics touched on at a higher level on your blog. Not to simply offer another way to deliver the exact same content, but to provide a deeper understanding of the material by making the user experience engaging. There are so many multimedia options in an online course builder that a text-based course would feel lifeless and mundane. Turn your blog content into a presentation, infographic, or video lesson. Add a quiz to test students on how much they’ve learned, or play with discussion forums to hear students’ opinions.
“There is so much you can do with online course builders that you shouldn’t be limited to plain text.”
When you’re recording your content, you don’t want to sound like you’re reading word for word, so I recommend adding talking points to your slides rather than complete sentences. You know your material and you’re confident in what you’re teaching, so being able to extrapolate on those points without reading from a script shouldn’t be too difficult. There is nothing wrong with just using voiceover, but to really connect with your audience still let your personality shine through.
Selling Your Course
Now, it just comes down to finding interested students who are eager to buy. What better way to start marketing your online course than to blog about it? By being an established blogger, you’re one step ahead of many other instructors. give your readers weekly updates on your progress, and thicken the anticipation by doing pre-sales and offering promotions to your course.
“recommend doing so in conjunction with launching to your email list.”
Your other option? Selling to your own email list. These are your number one fans, who have signed up specifically to hear from you. your email list is always going to be your most valuable asset when it comes to converting sales.
Ready to turn your blog into a profitable course? Begin your journey here with Miestro, where we help make building your course easy and selling it even easier. Helping you send emails, build landing pages, get paid with our built-in checkout pages, and fully host your online courses. Spend less time managing your business and more time growing it, with Miestro.
