How to Create an E-course In A Week

Online courses and trainings are more popular than ever. Taking your knowledge and turning it into something that others can learn from can be both rewarding and profitable.

Most believe it takes time and lots of work to create an online course. But did you know you can create one in less than a week without spending a fortune to have it created for you?

This article will lay out  the steps needed to create your online course, quickly, without leaving anything out. Before we begin, let’s look at what an online course actually is.

An online course is simply a training that is taught online instead of in person. It’s a learning program designed to teach a skill online on a variety of subjects. The subject can range from traditional academic studies to business subjects to hobby interests.

Online courses that are video based can be pre-recorded, and you can provide a link in an email that is sent to your students. You can do live streams if you want to interact live with the participants. 

You can present an online course via email that you send on a regular schedule. I've seen online courses where students were sent an email each week with a link to that week's training material. 

You can use anything that you need to effectively teach on the subject that you're offering. You get to choose the length and format.

You can provide video, pdf documents, audio files, workbooks, templates and more. Online courses are very versatile, and you can get creative and you can do it in a way that is

Creating an online course may sound like a daunting task that will take months to create but that isn’t necessarily true. Depending on your subject, you can create a course quickly and begin getting students within seven days.

Planning Your Course Timeline

Let’s get started on creating your online course in less than a week by planning it out. You probably already have a niche you work in or are knowledgeable about. And you already have an audience of some type, either an email list or a social media following.

Follow these steps to plan your course to get it created quickly.

Day One

Step 1: Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Quickly decide on a topic. What subjects get you excited enough to teach? What do I have experience in that others want to learn about? Choose a topic you are comfortable enough with to have plenty of information you can share. Also, if you have a great deal of experience in the topic you won’t need to do as much research on the subject.

Step 2: Identify your audience. Time: 30 minutes.

It’s important to know who you want to reach with your course. Don’t try to create something for everyone. Is it a class for beginners or advanced students? Does your student need to have previous knowledge of the topic? This is a good time to do a teaser launch to find out if there is any interest in your course.

Step 3: Create an outline of your topic lessons. Time: 1 to 2 hours.

This can be as detailed as you want, or it can be a rough idea of the course. Open a blank document in Google Docs or Microsoft Word or a pen and paper and begin adding everything related to your topic you might want to cover. Don’t worry about titles, the order of the content or even if something in particular will fit into the course. The idea is to get all of the information out of your head and into the document. Use a general bulleted list for your points and questions.

Once you have general outline, go back and begin putting the points into the order that makes the most logical, step-by-step process for your students. Re-order them, add to them, or delete them if they don’t fit. Think of it as if you are building a house. What would be the foundation they need to learn? What would be next? Do you need to add something more or combine some content into the same modules, lessons, or chapters?

Remember, for this course, since it will be created in 7 days or less, you will want to keep it on the shorter side, especially if you are creating the content from scratch.

Step 4: Decide on the medium. Time: 1 hour.

Your online course can be taught in different formats: video, audio, and written content. Include a combination of formats. For example if you offer a video course, provide workbooks and checklists for your students to follow along with. Whichever format you choose, create the lessons in this step.

Step 5: Choose your delivery format and platform. Time 2 hours.

Decide how you’re going to deliver the course content to your students. Host video files on a free service like YouTube or a paid service like Wistia while audio can be hosted on SoundCloud. If you’re doing written content only, you’ll need to upload your files. This could be to a cloud service like Amazon S3 or on your website server.

You’ll need a place for students to access your course such as on a platform like Teachable. You can offer your course through a membership site or through email.

Step 6: Pricing. Time: Less than 1 hour.

Determine the price you are going to offer it at. A lot of this will depend on the target audience, such as their financial situation, how valuable the course content is and other courses or products that are already being offered.

Days Two, Three, and Four

Step 7: Create your content: Time: 1-3 days.

Use your outline to go back and create content for each lesson. There are several ways to do this. You can write the content yourself, especially if you have extensive knowledge and experience in the topic. You can hire a someone write the content or repurpose content you’ve already created. Try to alter the format or it’s purpose in a different way from the original item. Don’t forget to include any extras like worksheets or other handouts.

Create the script for your slide presentations. Create the slides. Add your images and other branding. If you are recording videos, write out your script for each one, keeping them short for better retention if possible. Then record all your videos the same day if possible.

Step 8:  Style your course. Time: 1 - 2 Hours.

Add your branding, logo and colors. Decide on he types of images you will need for each element of your product, such as a cover image, infographics to depict a concept, screenshots, memes, and final product representation images.

Step 9: Create Landing Page to collect emails. Time: 2 hours.

Decide on your landing page graphics, and the layout and content. Get your landing page done first if possible so you can begin gathering emails to promote to.

Day Five

Step 10: Create your sales page. Time: 5 hours.

Your sales page is where students go to sign up for your course. Flesh out this page to address their most common problem, answer their anticipated questions, and keep them interested in your solution. Also, list and explain the benefits of taking your course. In addition, take time to assure potential students that you will help them achieve their goal by offering additional info and/or answering questions. The support and guarantee you add here helps to make the sales, which also helps to build their trust and confidence in you as an expert.

Day Six

Step 11: Upload and go live. Time: 1 day.

Organize, package, and upload everything to your site, teaching platform, or wherever you host your online course. Connect the package to your payment processor, which is linked to your buy or download button. Test everything multiple times to make sure it’s all working properly.

Day Seven

Step 12: Begin marketing. Time: 1-2 hours daily.

Even with such a short creation time, you want to begin marketing as soon as you can. Create a simple landing page on your website that explains what the course is about with an email capture. You can create buzz on social media, your blog, and on your email list concerning the upcoming launch of the course.

Now that you’ve seen the steps for creating an online course, I hope it is clear to you that you have the skills necessary to create and profit form YOUR own online course. Good Luck!

Go from zero content, zero ideas to being the hero of your family and friends by creating your own in-demand profitable info product ready to take orders in the next month! How is that even possible? Here's How It's Done...