Speaker 1: Hey, it's Aurelius, welcome back to the channel. In this video, I'm going to walk you through the steps to creating your own online course. So if you've been thinking about launching your own online course, or it's been on the back burner for a while, then this video is for you, because I'm going to walk you through those core steps. So if you know me, I'll get straight to the point without wasting any time. So with that said, let's start with step one. All right, so step one is to make sure you have an idea, a clue at least, in terms of what online course you plan to launch. Now, if you have no idea, that's okay, because what I personally would do is to look at my existing audience. What current problems, struggles, and challenges are they facing? Is there a particular theme, like comments that you get regularly on your social media profiles on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or whatnot, that appear quite often? Because that's going to give you a big clue in terms of what people are searching for, what struggles they are currently facing. And from those comments, you can turn that into an online course. In fact, some of the minute kind of questions on ideas that people post on your comments field and your section may be actually a good fit for modules and lessons that you end up putting, but we'll talk more about structuring your online course in the next step. So your idea matters because if you are going to come up with an idea that, or an online course that people aren't actually searching for or wanting, then it may potentially be a flop. And I've released plenty of courses which ended up with a very low sales. Now, to give you an example of a recent course that I launched, it's called YouTube Master Course. This idea actually came about based on comments that I received on my YouTube channel. A lot of subscribers had asked me, how do I make my videos? How do I make it in that way where I've got that little talking head on the corner of my screen? Small things like that, it makes a difference because that gives you a better idea of what people are actually searching for, what they are actually asking you and what actually you are known for. Because if they see you as, you know, in my case, I'm into digital tech. So people see me as that kind of expert, authority, whatever you want to call it. So that also shapes the kind of niche you're in. So therefore, translating that into an online course makes sense. You don't want to create an online course that is completely like entirely irrelevant to what your channel is about or whatever your content that you post on social media. There are of course other ways to validate an idea using things like keyword research tools. For example, the Google Keyword Planner tool. This gives you an overall guide or an estimate of how many people are actually searching for a particular topic or a keyword or key phrase each and every month. However, it's not the be all end all and I would use this and take it with a grain of salt. So the best feedback you will ever get is from your existing audience. Right, once you have an idea in terms of what online course you would like to pursue, we are moving on to step two, which is coming up with a curriculum for your online course. Sticking to the theme of getting straight to the point in this video, what I want to show you is a basic structure that you can follow. Really simple, really easy. I did this in my plain text editor, nothing fancy, right? So we've got introduction, we've got module one, and then under module one, you've got different lessons. So lesson one, lesson two, three, four, and five, rinse and repeat. So if there's a topic, then you've got sub or also a category, and then you've got subcategories or lessons in this case. I want to show you inside my Thinkific account, which is an online course platform. So you can get a better idea in terms of how I structured my YouTube master course. All right, so here we are inside my Thinkific account. And here you can see the different modules. We've got module one, we've got introduction, module two, YouTube success mindset. So this is where I talk about mindset. We've got the introduction to the YouTube success mindset for module two. Then we've got these other smaller lessons overcoming the fear of being on camera, how to stop worrying about what others think, how to overcome imposter syndrome, and many of these others. So I kind of repeat this in a way where you've got different themes. If there's a topic that requires more things to talk about, then it deserves its own module. That's how I came about with the modules. How does someone go about launching their own YouTube channel? So I started from the beginning, which is the mindset, finding their niche, branding, and then like a YouTube plan, setting up their channel content, how to film, how to edit, making thumbnails, and publishing. So as you can see, it's in this sequence that they follow. And again, let's refer back to this template, right? So follow this, fill it in, create a draft, and then of course, refine it before you actually start creating your online course. All right, step three is to choose a format for your online course. This means are you going to be launching an online course as PDF guides, an ebook perhaps, or will you be doing videos? Will you be recording videos in separate modules and lessons? You don't have to show your face. If you want to just share your screen, and if it's something that can be just on screen, that could be an approach. Otherwise, if it's something that you have to be in, then think about that, right? So whichever route you take in terms of the format, that's what you need to decide on first before moving on to the next step. If going the PDF slash ebook slash guide route, then you can create a guide really easy in Canva, such as this one here. I've got my launcher email list course. It's a five-step plan to starting and building on a profitable email list. I created this from scratch in Canva. No template whatsoever. However, you can go and choose from one of these templates. As you can see with this one here, you've got this creative ebook template. Some may be pro, so you may require Canva Pro account. And by the way, if you do want to sign up for Canva, look down in the description box below where there's a 30-day trial of Canva Pro. Alternatively, you can use a design tool or more so an ebook tool called Designer. I've got a separate video on this if you want to learn step-by-step how to use Designer as well as my bonus offer. So I'll link it all up and all these resources and links that I've discussed so far and throughout this duration of this video in the description box below. Same goes for creating an ebook in Canva. There's a couple of videos that I've already released. So links to all that will be in the description as well. If you're going the video course route, then all you really need is your existing camera and the best camera to use is the one you have in your pocket or the one you currently have sitting around. So it could be a pocket camera that you use for traveling, could be your iPhone, your Samsung, Android phone, whatever it is. The only thing I recommend you do is to make sure that you have a good microphone rather than using the built-in microphone on your phone or your pocket camera because it's not as good. So if you want to make sure that the quality of your course is up to par, then the minimum is to make sure you've got good audio because let's say you've got your camera far back, right? You've got it maybe, I'm not sure how many feet, but it could be, for me, it's like a meter away, right? So I've got the camera a meter away. You know, the internal microphone on your phone is going to pick up everything else surrounding it. So it's best to just connect it up, put this, you know, use this lav mic. You can just pick one up on Amazon for like $20, $30 and it's going to make a huge difference, all right? So that's what I would do. It's the minimum I would take in order to create a video-based online course. All right, the next step is to come up with a course name. This may take you very long to come up with. You don't necessarily have to come up with the course name at the start before creating the online course, of course, and no pun intended there, but if you want to come up with a course name, you can come up with it later on because let's say you start recording your, or creating your online course and then you feel like this is the name for it. Something might spark an idea and you're like, oh yeah, this is the exact name that goes with my online course. So you can very well create it at the end or at the start because some people like to visualize what their course is going to be called and then that kind of motivates them to actually create the online course. So when I created my online course, right, YouTube Master Course, this took me ages to come up with. I had my writer actually help me come up with this name. I was like, it's going to be a course based on my modules and lessons that I drafted. It's going to be a huge course. So the course name called Master Course, I feel like that represented how many modules and lessons are in it because I talk a lot, you know, quite a lot about YouTube in this course and there's quite a lot that I dissect. So it just made sense for me to use YouTube Master Course. But what I will do is to make sure you keep your course name short. So in this case, I've got like YouTube Master Course, that's two words, I guess. And then if you want to explain or describe what your course is, make sure that's as a description or more so a subtitle of that course title. So you can see with my subtitle, turn what you know into a profitable and binge-worthy channel built for non-techies and YouTube newbies. Kind of expand and elaborate on it in your subtitle, not your online course name. Otherwise, it's going to be hard to remember. So again, you don't have to come up with a course name right off the bat. You can wait until you've created your online course, which is something I actually kind of did. And because I was a little undecided in terms of what course name I should go with. And then I eventually went with YouTube Master Course. So take your time with this, but just to get an idea of what name you'd like to come up with, this is a step. All right, course platforms and tools. The course platform that you use may matter depending on the type of course that you're creating. If it's very simple, then you may just have a simple download page where you've got your videos just on that one page, right? So the simpler you can make it, the better, easier for your customers as well. If you want it a bit more organized and managed, then I recommend a couple of these platforms. So the first is, of course, we've got Thinkific, right? So Thinkific does come at a cost starting from zero. So your limited courses and unlimited students, one site admin account. So you can have a read of this. With Thinkific, it's kind of all in one because what you can do is, of course, host your online course. You've got a way to add your videos. So let's say this one right here. And I'm gonna show you one of the videos. So when you are editing and adding your course modules, you can see what it looks like. I've added my video. I simply uploaded it as a video, you can see. If I ever wanted to create a new chapter or let's say add a new module, I can just go add chapter and then let's add a chapter. And then what we can do is add modules below it. So you can see here, add a lesson. Sorry, lesson, not module. Let's add a new lesson. And then from here, we can create a video, PDF, audio, text, and some of these other ones as a lesson. On top of all that, Thinkific allows you to create a landing page to actually sell your online course. And it's got full e-commerce integration. So if you wanna sell and actually receive and accept payments, it's got that built in. The second platform you can use to host your online course is one called Payhip. It's similar to Gumroad. However, they've got online course support. And the benefit of using Payhip over something like Thinkific and other competitors is that it's free. However, with a 5% transaction fee for every sale that you make, of course, includes all the features, right, that you've got compared to the Pro and Plus. Unlimited products that you can add and there's no fees or increase of fees, no matter how much you make. But if you are expecting a large volume, then you may wanna consider going on the Plus or Pro plans. And this includes no transaction fee. So if you want that transaction fee waived, then you may wanna consider the Pro plan. So I'm inside my demo Payhip account. All you need to do to add an online course is to click on Add New. And then from the options here, you click on Course to sell your course, follow the wizard and the process. So let's name this Demo Course. Click on Add Course. And straight away, you can add your lessons. So we can create a different section or in other words, a module. So let's say this is Module 1. Click on Save. And then underneath this module, we will add lessons. So it's just refreshing. And then there's our Module 1. Let's create a new lesson. Let's just name this whatever. But let me show you inside if I click on New Lesson. And very similar to Thinkific and other course platforms, you choose a format for the lesson, let's say a video. And then this is where you can go about adding a video from your library or uploading the file. Maximum size is four gigabytes, which is plenty. And other great features of Payhip when hosting an online course is that you can create different pages. There's different pricing structures that you can do. You can manage your students here. Even offer certificates after students complete your online course. And yeah, all this is free. As mentioned, the pricing was just like 5% transaction for every sale that you make, not including PayPal slash Stripe fees that they charge on their end. So decide on which platform to use and just launch it. Don't spend so much time thinking about which platform is right for you. I think it's very similar as long as your students are able to log in to view your course modules and whatnot. All right, so now that you're equipped with the right gear and whatever recording equipment that you'll be using, it's time to create your online course. So if you're going the ebook slash guide route, then it's just a matter of choosing whether you'll be creating it in Canva or Designer, or if you're creating a video course, start recording. So once you've got that structure in place, it's just a matter of following that structure, right? You've got your modules, you've got your lessons. Create each one, perhaps spend a day or two depending on the capacity, the volume of your online course. That's gonna determine how long it'll take. For me, it took about a week to two weeks to create my online course about YouTube. So it may differ depending on the amount of lessons you've got. But once your course is created, it's just a matter of loading it up to that online course platform. Think GIFIC, Payhip, or you could even look into using Teachable, whichever, as long as you are able to upload your course modules or your downloads. All right, guys, so to summarize the core steps to creating your online course, number one, step one, was to come up with an idea or at least have a clue or an idea in terms of what online course you plan to launch. Number two was your course curriculum. Remember the template that I provided, it was just a matter of putting your introduction, your modules and your lessons underneath. So look at that. We've also got choosing your format, whether you're going the guide, ebook route, or a video course, depending on the type of online course you plan to launch. Number four was coming up with a course name. Again, you do not need to come up with it at the start. You can very well think about it during the course of your creation of the online course. And then you may come up here and there, or you may look at something that inspired you and that could be taken and used for your online course. And then we've got number five, tools. So the course platform you'll be using, we've got Thinkific, Payhip, Gumroad for simple digital downloads, or you could use Teachable as well for online courses too. And finally, it's a matter of recording, creating your online course and getting it up and running. So go with this, I guess, plan, this blueprint, whatever you want to call it. Looking forward to what course you come up with. If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below and I'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, I'll leave up a couple of relevant videos in relation to online courses and creating your digital products. Other things that you may want to consider looking will be in the description box below. Until next time, take care and I'll see you in the next one.