Creating a Udemy style course is somewhat similar to other information products. Below we outline the steps that work well. 1. Get yourself a great idea for your course. This might be something you're already teaching people, or something that you are especially good at. If you've learned a skill that others will pay to learn too, then you've got a good topic. If you're lost for a topic, open your eyes and ears and start making a list of possibilities. It's best to choose something you're already good at, but if you need to learn it first yourself, you can always take the time to do it. (HINT: Elsewhere in this newsletter we show you how to learn any skill in just 20 focused hours.) 2. Research your idea. Is this something people are already paying to learn? Is there a market here? Are people passionate about this, or really wanting to learn this? If you have a blog, write a "how to" post on your topic and see what the response is like. If it's largely positive and excited and if you're getting questions because people want to know more, then you've likely got a good topic. 3. Find your target audience and interview them. This might be done in survey form, talking to them, etc. Find out where they are and then ask what specific challenges they face on this particular topic. Use your own list as well as social media and blogs to find your potential students and ask what they want to know. The answers you get will help you in developing your course. (HINT: Be sure to capture the email addresses of all those who fill out your survey or give you an interview. Keep these people posted on your course and let them know when it's ready - many of them will become buyers.) 4. Outline your course. Start with your step-by-step how-to information that you want to present and fill in with the common questions you've received. Spend some time getting this outline just right because the better the outline, the easier it is to create the course and the better the course will be. 5. Record your course. This can be video of you talking and teaching, or Powerpoint slides with your voice over the top, like Camtasia. Relax and have fun. Remember, perfection isn't needed or even desired. Just be yourself. When you make a mistake, correct it and keep going - it shows you're human and fellow humans appreciate that. 6. Create an introductory video to explain what's in the course, what they will learn in the course, and the benefits they'll enjoy once they complete the course. This intro video can also act as an advertisement for the course itself. 7. Create supplementary materials to go with the videos, such as outlines, lists, mind maps, references, tools, etc. 8. Choose your distribution channel. You can of course host your own courses. But if you want to take an easier route, consider a site such as Udemy. Udemy pays you 100% (minus processing fee) for all of the sales you make yourself, and 50% for the sales Udemy makes. Udemy has loads of information on course creation and how to place your course on their website, and best of all, they make everything as simple as possible. 9. Have a launch. Hopefully you've been building a list of prospects who are anticipating your course, so when you post it online, let them know! Offer them a special coupon for a discount, and Udemy will still pay you 100% of the revenue you generate from these self referred sales. This will also put some momentum in place, encouraging Udemy to begin promoting your course to their 1 million students as well. 10. Continue promoting your course. A really easy way to promote your course is to offer a much shorter version of it for free. Anytime you are interviewed, you're guest blogging or using social media, send people to your squeeze page where they can get the abbreviated version for free. Then you'll be able to upsell some of these people to your paid course. You can even put your shorter version course on Udemy as well. You can either give it away for free, or charge a nominal amount and then give your new subscribers a coupon that makes it free. This is highly effective, since they can see that people normally pay for this course, while they can get it for free just for joining your list. You can also offer them a coupon for a discount on the full version of the course - just make sure you place an expiration on that coupon to maximize sales. There you have it - everything you need to get started creating your own Udemy courses!
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