How do you handle your competition? What if you could find solutions where you both win and so do your students? One of the things we discuss in this podcast is how to leverage the audience of indirect competitors, those who offer complementary and supplementary products, instead of fighting for the attention of their audience. Abdo talks about how to build joint partnerships and launch different types of win-win partnerships by implementing this method, what he calls the Accelerator mMethod. This content is really helpful and opened my eyes to the opportunities to work with others with the goal of serving more people and Abdo is a master at this.

But before we jump in I want to talk about an upcoming week long mastermind event happening next week, March 11-15. This isn’t like a virtual summit where there’s tons of presentations with no interactions. This will be part content delivery where I and other speakers will bring you helpful training, but we’ll also open up most of the time to your questions. I’m only doing a limited promotion in this podcast and by sending out 2 emails. So make sure to jump on this if you’re looking to create an effective course or improve your existing one. You can learn check it out at onlinecoursecoach.com/sickcourse

Abdo Riani’s Bio
Abdo Riani is the founder of StartupCircle.co where aspiring and rising entrepreneurs can connect with and learn from successful founders over daily live Q&A sessions. He helps startup founders, digital product creators, coaches and consultants accelerate their path to first and next paying customers through presales, joint ventures, and more importantly by doing things that don’t scale. His goal is to show passionate entrepreneurs how to launch and grow products and services efficiently with higher predictability.

The post Win-win partnerships with the accelerator method with Abdo Riani appeared first on Online Course Coach.

Have you thought of traveling and still being able to meet your job demands? It sounds impractical but not beyond the bounds of possibility. In this episode, we get insights from Ashley Logsdon, who has been traveling full-time from state to state with her family.

Ashley takes families from surviving to thriving by helping them uncover how “the uniqueness in each of us strengthens all of us”. She guides parents through identifying their strengths – and also their triggers – to live with intention and not simply a reaction to the chaos of an ever-growing family. Through her podcast, blogging, coaching and personality “snapshots”, she provides tools and action steps to aid families in creating a life they love to come home to. Ashley, her husband (and Mama Says Namaste podcast co-host), three unschooling daughters and dog are RVing the States full-time. They focus on authenticity, awareness, and embracing love in the present moment.

My Upcoming Masterclass Training

Course Marketing Mastery – Boost Awareness & Sales Before, During & After Course Creation:

• Learn 40+ ways to sell your course throughout all the stages of course creation. I share creative ways to grow your influence and awareness of your course. While the training will be geared towards marketing courses, you can also use these strategies to promote your products and services.
• This is an in-depth training with tips, resources, and my proven systems.
• $149 includes the full training and a Q&A session.

>>Sign up for Course Marketing Mastery (& view the other Masterclass Topics)<<<

Where were you today and how long are you there?

As of the time of writing, Ashley and family are in the state of Florida for a month or so.

Why did you decide to travel?

She always dreamed of travel and most of the time she had this bucket list of things that they wanted to do one day. Unfortunately, this ‘one day’ never happened until they put a date on it and set off. Eventually, it became a lifestyle and they’ve been doing it more often.

What opportunities have opened up because of your travel?

To her, it has been a mix of social media and the actual travel. For instance, they get to meet people whom they’ve been interacting with on social media. It has also allowed them to meet people that they work with online and even fostered their business relationships further. Likewise, they get to meet up with other like-minded travelers and share experiences together.

You’re a very creative person and you think out of the box in every area of your life. How do you think and act creatively to find unique and better solutions?

First of all, Ashley grew up in an entrepreneurial family and she claimed to have learned so much from her father. She likes to think that she possesses the knack for problem-solving. For instance, the issue back then was how she could enjoy traveling and still earn a living. And so she thought of renting out their place to Airbnb and also looked for virtual assistant jobs, which she does remotely from wherever they go. So it’s always about figuring out a way from any tricky situation. And like her dad always told her, “it’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity for a solution”.

How do you earn money traveling with family?

Ashley has multiple sources of income. She has her own company – Mama Says Namaste – and she’s a family coach and virtual assistant for a number of businesses. Her house that she rents out through Airbnb is also an important asset for her.

What opportunities are out there for entrepreneurs who want to travel?

There are tons of communities out there to meet including RV entrepreneurs and digital nomads. You can do service work, virtual work, work seasonally in different places, just to mention, but there are a lot of creative activities that one can do.

Why did you decide to create an online course?

Ashley always wanted to do a course down the road but she never knew how to start. Not until her friend, who has a company that creates courses, approached her about creating a course for RVs. Together, they decided to make it happen and came up with a course called https://onlinecoursecoach.com/roadtripwebinar. Truth is, it takes 90 days to lay an old habit to rest and create a new habit. So they gave it 90 days and afterward decided they were in it for the long haul. Among the goals of their course include educating people on how to RV with family and still handle a busy working lifestyle.

Talk about the power of collaboration and how you leverage it with your network?

She does do affiliate programs with other course creators and related online businesses. It has helped widen her audience as well as the scope of her business. She also earns commissions from affiliate programs, while creating a win situation for her partners too. You may learn more about the power of collaboration here; How to sell more courses with successful Joint Ventures.

You can join Ashley’s course at https://onlinecoursecoach.com/roadtrip.

The post Teaching People How to Travel Full Time with Ashley Logsdon appeared first on Online Course Coach.

Copywriting is critical for online business success in this in this digital age. A well-written copy goes a long way towards converting readers to customers, otherwise, people visiting your website or blog will scroll down and move over to the next one.

So in this episode, Jeff Long speaks to Paige Poutiainen about copywriting practices that sell. Paige Poutiainen is a certified funnel strategist, conversion copywriter, and founder of The Impact Copywriter. She helps growing businesses turn more web visitors into subscribers, turn more subscribers into paying customers and turn more customers into profitable long-term relationships — ultimately, reaching new levels of business growth. Paige has helped CEOs and entrepreneurs all over the world boost their sales with strategic sales funnels and conversion copywriting. Get help selling your course at https://theimpactcopywriter.com/sales-page-checklist.

Masterclass In-Depth Training

I’m pleased to announce my upcoming live Masterclass training sessions. I will go in-depth to show you the exact process, tips, resources, and my proven systems. This isn’t a fluff training that tries to pitch you something at the end. There’s no upsell, just lots of practical content to help you become a more successful course creator.

Learn about the details of each Masterclass here, or read below. Each training is live where you can ask your questions. If you sign up you’ll get access to the recording, even if you can’t attend live.

1. Course Marketing Mastery

• Learn 40+ ways to sell your course throughout all the stages of course creation. I share creative ways to grow your influence and awareness of your course. While the training will be geared towards marketing courses, you can also use these strategies to promote your products and services.
• This will be an in-depth training with tips, resources, and my proven systems.
• $149 includes the full training and a Q&A session.
• Sign up for Course Marketing Mastery

2. 30 Creative Ways A Course Creator Can Grow Their Audience, Impact & Email List

• February 12, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
• Learn 30 creative ways to grow your email list all while being authentic and your true self so you don’t feel like a slick marketer.
• Sign up for Grow Your Audience, Impact & Email List

3. Rapid Revenue Streams – Create 20+ additional revenue streams around your online courses to explode your income

• March 26, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
• Learn 20+ ways to package your services and products so you can earn more money, many of which can be automated.
• Sign up for Rapid Revenue Streams

4. Outsource Your Course – learn how to find talented & affordable people to help you create your course faster and cheaper than you thought possible

• April 9, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
• Learn my proven systems to know how to outsource almost aspects of course creation to someone that’s talented and affordable (around $3-$25/hr!)
• I’ll share where I go to find skilled Virtual Assistants, my hiring process, simple job posting scripts, and more!
• Sign up for Outsource Your Course

Without further ado, here’s the synopsis from the interview, however, you may listen to the podcast for more insightful comments.

What is your background? How did you get started with copywriting?

Paige is a funnel strategist and conversion copywriter, and she’s the founder of the Impact Copywriter. She got into copywriting right after grad school, taking a job at a startup where she got her feet wet in doing landing pages, websites, and content marketing, among other skills. According to her, this job was taking so much of her time and was really stressful. So she decided that if something was going stress her, then it’s got to be something she’s building for herself.

She quit the job after six months and jumped into freelancing, and one day she landed at Copy Hackers and started diving into their stuff. With time, she narrowed down her niche to find the clientele she wants to serve. Paige has always been interested in personal development and so so she started creating courses along these lines, and she does sales pages left, right and center.

How does somebody know what their audience wants?

We call it the voice of the customer (VOC) research in marketing. When it comes to course creation, it’s about going out and finding out what students are experiencing, their challenges, and their expectations. Of course, there are several ways to do this, but the most popular ones are interviews, surveys, and online conversation mining, where you get into Facebook groups, for example, and grabbing the language that they are using. The goal is to get what people are struggling with and that can help you create a course that solves their problem. If people can relate to your content, then they are more likely to purchase your course.

What are some of the keys to writing a good copy?

The first thing is to ensure you have done enough research about your audience. That is going to transform into the copy you are writing. The next step is to create a framework that you are going to use in breaking down your copy. As a general rule, you want to stick to PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solve) formula.

Understanding the problem your audience is facing is critical to writing a copy that evokes a response. The more openly you can elaborate the problem, the more your audience feels that you understand. Then, agitate the problem – pour salt onto the wound that you just identified. This digs into the emotional part of your audience. Lastly, provide a solution to the problem – this is what your audience is yearning for.

How important is the length of any piece of copy?

There’s no specified length for a sales copy. Copywriting involves different stages of awareness and this determines how long your piece is going to be. It starts from the initial stage of problem unawareness to problem aware, then solution aware and product awareness. The last stage is where your audience makes up their mind whether or not to purchase the product (your course) that will help solve their problem.  So the length of your piece will depend on how deep the problem is and how much you put into addressing it and providing solutions.

Tell us about “Sales Page Persuasion”?

It’s a 60-minute or 30-minute conversion-boosting sales page review whereby Paige goes one on one with a client in guiding them to improve their sales page copy. She zeros in on exactly what a client’s sales page needs and provides suggestions on what to change, add or remove. She can as well help in creating a sales page from scratch.

Learn more about Paige Poutiainen here: https://onlinecoursecoach.com/sppersuasion.

The post Copywriting for Course Creators with Paige Poutiainen appeared first on Online Course Coach.

This podcast is for beginners and experts alike. So whether you don’t have a course or have many you’ll learn something about how to 10x your online course business.

If you are listening to this podcast, I know that you are excited about planning building and marketing your online course. Whether it’s your first course or you’ve created many you want to leverage the power of online courses, build your impact and increase your income. So while you can keep listening to these podcasts and consuming content I want you to get the maximum result. Do yourself a favor, watch the video below and go to onlinecoursecoach.com/groupcoaching to learn more because the upcoming group coaching program that starts on September 18th. (if you see the doors close then you can sign up to get on the waiting list for the next session).

The Course Accelerator Coaching Group

Are you struggling to grow your audience create your online course and sell it to your audience? Perhaps you’ve been too busy to, overwhelmed with all the technical aspects, or just not sure how to create an effective course. Or maybe you already have an online course but sales have been lower than expected. I can help.

Starting September 18th, I’m leading a 6-week coaching group for only 10 people. We’ll be going through my proven system to plan & create your online course. We’ll also develop a custom marketing strategy to fit your needs. Not only will you have access to me for 6 weeks, you’ll also be with other motivated course creators. This powerful dynamic will help create and market your course in 6 weeks…if you’re willing to put in the work.

Watch the video below or click to learn more about the coaching program, look at the pricing packages and fill out the application to join.

Learn more at: onlinecoursecoach.com/groupcoaching


How to 10x Your Online Course Business

 

The market for online courses is growing bigger with each passing day, and showing no signs of relenting any time soon. In fact, it is even getting bigger. Are you an online course creator? Do you want to learn how to 10x your online course business? A lot of course creators are lately on the path of doing so with the hope of leveraging their power of online courses, building their impact, and boosting their income levels. So, how do you go about growing your online course business 10 times?

1. Sell the benefits and results not a course

You’re not a course maker, you’re a solution provider. First of all, ensure that you make your potential clients realize the benefits of the course that you are selling. Here, you may be compelled to carry out surveys in a bid to understand the problems that your audience is facing. You need to make sure that the content being marketed is geared towards solving a particular problem that your audience has. This can be achieved by making sure that your content is connected to your mission. You can achieve this by having a good comprehension of the needs of your audience.

2. You have to have a plan for growth and success

Planning for growth and success includes building an audience that likes, knows, and trusts you. This is very vital before, during, and after you have gone ahead to create your first online course that you intend to market to those willing to try it. Here, you may also want to ensure that you only give what is only necessary for a course as opposed to overwhelming students with a ton of material that may end up being hard to consume. By so doing, you will be planning for growth and success of your online course. This includes building an audience that knows, likes and trusts you – vital before, during and after you create your first course.

3. Borrow the confidence of a spouse, business partner, your audience, etc.

If they think you can do it you probably can. If you think you can/can’t you’re right. Nobody will attempt to interact and buy from you if they have no idea about you, trust or like you. To sell, it would be of great benefit if you attempt as much as possible to connect well with your audience regardless of the size in a bid to find out what they require in a course. This should always come only after getting some feedback from your targeted audience and not before. At this point, you really need to make sure that you are involved with an audience that is aligned with your course.

4. Build your network – the more people that know you the more success you will have with more projects and larger projects

Do things like podcast interviews, conferences, networking, videos, Facebook live videos. Check out the following guides to improve grow your network. https://onlinecoursecoach.com/marketingtips and https://onlinecoursecoach.com/buildyouraudience 

If you happen to make yourself known to a lot of people, you are more likely to realize success based on more and larger projects. But how can you achieve this? There are several platforms for doing so including using platforms such as LinkedIn groups, Facebook, Facebook Live videos, YouTube Live videos, meetups, podcasts, and other social platforms. Provided you offer valuable content, people will ultimately pay some significant attention to it.

5. Build a competent team that multiplies your efforts

Are you doing everything yourself? Then you can’t grow and 10x your business. If you are doing everything by yourself, then you can’t successfully grow while ensuring that you 10x your online course. Among other things, thinking about joint ventures needs to be high on post-marketing tactics or strategies. Grow and build your audience. Get to know them even better. Be involved in Facebook ads and meetups among other channels. Also circle back to your audience and let them know the benefits of the course that you are marketing.

6. Create systems using software to scale up

At this point, you need to come up with systems aimed at ensuring that scaling up doesn’t affect you in any way.

7. Scale up!

Once you figure out how to do something scaling can be easy. If I know that I can do a 1-day video shoot then I know I can scale up and do a 12-day video shoot. It’s like if you can read one book then it’s easy to read five. So once you learn how to do something well you can learn how to scale. The moment you learn how to do something, you will realize that scaling up won’t be a problem as such. If you happen to identify sort of a rhythm, everything else that follows will not be a challenging task that will somehow be challenging for you. Once you learn how to do something easily, scaling up will be easier than you thought.

Resources mentioned:

https://onlinecoursecoach.com/marketingtips
https://onlinecoursecoach.com/buildyouraudience

The post How to 10x Your Online Course Business appeared first on Online Course Coach.

Are you looking to help more students, grow your impact and leverage the power of your online course? Then Joint Ventures might be something to consider. There is a dark side and a beneficial side to doing joint ventures. I’ll share how to do it the right way with practical advice.

The Course Accelerator Coaching Group

Are you struggling to grow your audience create your online course and sell it to your audience? Perhaps you’ve been too busy to, overwhelmed with all the technical aspects, or just not sure how to create an effective course. Or maybe you already have an online course but sales have been lower than expected. I can help.

Starting September 18th, I’m leading a 6-week coaching group for only 10 people. We’ll be going through my proven system to plan & create your online course. We’ll also develop a custom marketing strategy to fit your needs. Not only will you have access to me for 6 weeks, you’ll also be with other motivated course creators. This powerful dynamic will help create and market your course in 6 weeks…if you’re willing to put in the work.

Watch the video below or click to learn more about the coaching program, look at the pricing packages and fill out the application to join.

Learn more at: https://onlinecoursecoach.com/course-accelerator-coaching-group


Joint Ventures can have an ugly connotation. You might picture spammy 3 part video series where they give out limited information but a long sales pitch. I’ve been hesitant to partner with a lot of people for this reason. I see it done poorly, even though one of my first courses found success because of a joint venture.

First, if you don’t have a course or product then you can’t do joint ventures. Get off the sidelines and create the course. Don’t be shy about the value you provide and the expertise you have…even if you’re just starting out.

If you’re shy about the value you provide, take a few minutes to write out all the things you’re good at. Are you good with people, technology, business, animals, numbers, art, language? Do you have schooling, certifications, proven results, or other things that set you apart? Write down as many skills as you can think of. Revisit this for a few days and you’ll see that you’re more valuable than you might think.

On the flip side, joint ventures have revived many businesses and have worked well with several course creators such as the owner of this podcast. That’s why this episode covers the good, the bad and the ugly of joint ventures.

The Bad – why you might have a bad taste in your mouth

The most obvious one is when everyone sends out the same emails, maybe using the same template, and you all end up bombarded with a ton of non-so-useful emails.

Second, it usually feels weird to send out emails that promote someone else’s product in an attempt to make a quick buck, yet taking advantage of your own audience.

The Good – why you will want to consider joint ventures

First of all, if you don’t have a course or product, then there’s no point in doing joint ventures. If you do have a following, influence, or email list, just to mention, you could find other people that have valuable content which you can promote. So you don’t really need to have a course to start promoting other people’s content.

Another thing, don’t be shy about the value you provide and feel free to share your expertise if even you are just starting out. If you feel shy about the value you offer, then take a few minutes to write about all the good things you are good at. Are you good with technology, business, art, numbers, language, animals, etc? Do you have schooling in certain areas, certifications, proven results, or other things that set you apart? Write down as many skills as you can think of and you will realize you are more valuable than you can imagine.

Once you have a good course, be sure you have many students in your course before approaching someone for a joint venture. It’s awkward if you just approach someone for this kind of partnership when you are just launching a course. Even so, don’t be afraid to ask even if you feel intimidated.

The key to a successful joint venture is finding audiences with similar interests, especially if they are underserved. For instance, if you have a course on how to teach English to Spanish, then you may partner with travel agencies. They can then sell your courses to tourists traveling to Spain.

Ideally, you don’t want to find five affiliate partners in the same industry who share the same audience.

You also want to find ways to serve your partner’s audience. Maybe you provide consultation services, group coaching, or done-f0r-you services. Figure out how to serve them best and you’ll never know the recommendation that might result from it.

Last but not least, look for win/win/win so everyone feels awesome and not icky. This includes the audience, your partner and yourself. If something is not benefiting you, then it’s not really worth it. Determine what a ‘win’ means to you – it might be money-wise, influence, or advertisement. Simply figure out what you want to gain from a joint venture.

How to get started with joint ventures

Here are some of the ways that you can find people to partner with:

Go to podcasts, find YouTube creators, influencers, authors, social media leaders, Facebook groups, meetups, conferences, just to mention a few. Literally, anywhere there’s a trustworthy leader that could benefit from your course plus their audience as well. You OWE it to them to help people out by offering your course. Come out with an aim to serve them and they’ll see the need to partner with you.

So, how do you structure your partnership? Should you have a contract in place? Go to a lawyer to structure it? Generally, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Most businesses have sales tracking software so you can always monitor how your course is doing. Come up with a transparent structure that works for both of you.

When it comes to price split, it should be negotiable. 50/50 is common in most businesses, however, you want to make it high enough where they get value.

What next?

You have a good course, you have a track record of success, and you have a reliable partner, what do you do next?

Set up an affiliate program on your website where someone can sign up to become an affiliate. There are several software and plugins that can help on setting that up such Affiliate WP plugin on WordPress. If you wish to become an affiliate of this site, feel free to go to https://onlinecoursecoach.com/affiliate-area/ and sign up or at least check it out.

Lastly, how often should you do joint ventures every year?

You should have affiliates promoting their stuff to your audience at most 4 times a year. It’s not ideal to keep your site on sales mode throughout the year.

Would you like to do a joint venture? Does it fit your business model? What’s your story?

Shoot an email to ask a question. Don’t forget to share this episode with a friend or colleague.

The Course Accelerator Coaching Group

Are you struggling to grow your audience create your online course and sell it to your audience? Perhaps you’ve been too busy to, overwhelmed with all the technical aspects, or just not sure how to create an effective course. Or maybe you already have an online course but sales have been lower than expected. I can help.

Starting September 18th, I’m leading a 6-week coaching group for only 10 people. We’ll be going through my proven system to plan & create your online course. We’ll also develop a custom marketing strategy to fit your needs. Not only will you have access to me for 6 weeks, you’ll also be with other motivated course creators. This powerful dynamic will help create and market your course in 6 weeks…if you’re willing to put in the work.

Watch the video below or click to learn more about the coaching program, look at the pricing packages and fill out the application to join.

Learn more at: https://onlinecoursecoach.com/course-accelerator-coaching-group


 

The post How to sell more courses with successful Joint Ventures appeared first on Online Course Coach.

This article dives into how course creators can improve their online course sales. First of all, online courses are more about your students and the best way to serve them than simply looking to sell to your audience. Nonetheless, below are seven simple things a course creator can do to improve their sales.

Are you looking to grow your audience and create, market & sell more courses? What training and content will help you the most? I’d love to help! Pick what you need most at onlinecoursecoach.com/vote to share your thoughts of how I can best help you. As a thank you, I created a free training called “3 Simple but Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List” when you fill out the survey.

[ctt template=”5″ link=”Odefd” via=”no” ]Sales is about telling stories of past client’s success, not convincing someone to buy. – Jeff Long[/ctt]

1. Get crystal clear on who your audience is, what their problems are and how your courses solve their problem

Start by defining your audience, especially if you’re starting out with your courses. Conduct surveys and try to get feedback from your audience just to understand their problem. Not sure where to start? Go to resources page and check the “5 Ways to Build an Audience for Your Online Course”. Aim your courses in solving those particular problems and make sure the content is connected to your mission. If you have been in business for some time, then you should already have a good understanding of your audience needs.

2. Only give out what is absolutely necessary for each course

Many people want to pack too much into a single course. The truth is, students usually get overwhelmed or intimidated by a ton of information. Course creators must learn how to calculate the minimum amount of content that gets the maximum amount of value. Give students bite-size chunks rather than a full bundle that would be hard to consume. If you want a detailed guide on this, follow this link to learn how to create courses that don’t overwhelm students. 

3. Build trust with your audience

No one will buy from you if they don’t know you, like or trust you. Try to connect with your audience regardless of its size and find out what they need in a course, which goes back to point number one. A course should always come after getting feedback from your audience and not before. Make sure that you’re involved in a community (s) that are in alignment with your course.

4. Build a community that grows your impact and influence

There are several platforms that course creators can utilize in building their communities. These include Facebook/LinkedIn groups, Facebook Live videos, YouTube Live videos, podcasts, meetups, among other social media platforms. As long you are providing valuable content, people are most likely to pay attention to it. When it comes to Facebook, for example, here are a few ways on how you can maximize the use Facebook Live videos to your advantage. 

5. Have a pre-marketing and post-marketing strategy in place

Course creators ought to build their courses with a plan rather than throwing everything together and hoping for success. Pre-marketing strategies are all about building your audience and growing your audience. This is where things such as building email lists, starting a podcast, creating a Facebook group, and meetups come in. It’s about getting people to know you without necessarily doing much of selling.

On the other hand, post-marketing involves circling back to your already established audience and launching your new content. Running Facebook ads, YouTube ads, and doing joint ventures should be high on your post-marketing strategies.

6. Treat your courses like a business

Be available to your students without giving too much of your time. This idea stems from one of the successful students who has benefited from the onlinecoursecoach.com. Her name is Janet. Janet has a great course, she has established a social media community for her courses and everything seems to go in the right direction except for one problem – she spends a lot of time on her Facebook group. Indeed, you want to be available for your students but the amount of time you spend with them should match the price of the course. Additionally, keep in mind the effort you put into preparing a course. If you want to learn more about pricing strategies for your course, go here; how to price your online course for maximum success.

7. Look to outserve your students before, during and after they buy your course

Think of ways of impressing your students. Do unexpected things to wow them. Whatever you do should be simple, for instance, giving them a call – something that doesn’t take too much of your time.

And there you have it! 7 simple things to improve your online course sales. As a matter of fact, you don’t have to apply all these strategies; pick one and perfect on it. Which strategy would you like to implement? Leave a comment below or shoot me a line.

 

Are you looking to grow your audience and create, market & sell more courses? What training and content will help you the most? I’d love to help! Pick what you need most at onlinecoursecoach.com/vote to share your thoughts of how I can best help you. As a thank you, I created a free training called “3 Simple but Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List” when you fill out the survey.

The post 7 Simple Things to Improve Your Online Courses Sales appeared first on Online Course Coach.

In this episode, I talk with Cliff Ravenscraft about the 11 proven steps to build and grow an online business. I’ve known Cliff for quite a long time now, I’ve hired him and have listened to his podcasts for many years.

Cliff started podcasting as a hobby back in 2005. A year later, he launched PodcastAnswerMan.com where he has since helped tens of thousands of individuals and organizations successfully launch a podcast through one on one coaching and online courses.

Today, Cliff mentors coaches, consultants and thought leaders through the transition from their unfulfilling day job to their own profitable online businesses so that they can live the life of their dreams and do the work they feel most called to do in this world.

Without further ado, here is Cliff’s step by step perspective on how to build a profitable online business.

Are you looking to create & sell more courses? What content do you want me to create that will help you the most? You can go to onlinecoursecoach.com/vote to share your thoughts. As a thank you, I created a free training called “3 Simple but Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List” when you fill out the survey.

Dream big

Online business enthusiasts should determine the outcome they expect out their business. They should start by asking themselves why they want to invest in a particular business and if they have the time for it. Moreover, they should determine the amount of money the business must generate to sustain itself and whether they are willing to input the effort needed to generate the money.

Apart from the business part, one must think about the kind of life they want to live thereafter and if their business can help them live their dream lifestyle. It’s important to note every bit of it down so that they become goals that you work towards achieving.

Identify where you are already adding value to people’s life

Business aspirants ought to find their area of expertise, their talents, passion, and even their experience in the kind of business they want to start. This will make it easy for them to connect well with their target market. It also ensures that one can provide their target audience with exactly what solves their problem.

Determine the ideal customer for your business

Most people make the mistake of attracting the wrong customers to their business. Ideal customers must have purchasing power and a problem to be solved. Most importantly, they must be willing to pay something in order to get their problem solved.

Learn about your ideal customer’s problem

The best way to do this is through conversations with people who somehow fit your ideal customer. Find out what their struggles are and the pains that lie within. The goal is to find the best way to solve their problems and even learn how to communicate with them effectively.

Determine the type of products and services to offer your target audience

This is where business enthusiasts have to delve into one on one coaching. It’s more about finding out what people need and how you can offer them exactly that.

Create your value proposition statement

A value proposition statement is the elevator pitch of a business. Before creating a value proposition statement, one must answer these questions: who they are? what is their professional identity? what problem can they solve to people, how and why do they solve it?

For instance, here is Cliff’s value proposition statement:

“I mentor coaches, consultants and thought leaders through the transition from an unfulfilling day job to a profitable online business so that you can live the life of your dreams and do the work you feel most called to do in the world.”

In short, it should be intriguing and still give people enough reason to follow you.

Validate your business

A business is not valid until an actual transaction happens between a course creator and their ideal customer. There’s no point of spending time and money preparing a course for 3 months without the surety that someone will buy. Most course creators make this mistake and forget to market and sell the product first. Rather, they should prepare something like an outline for their course and see if someone will buy the idea. Once that happens, then business starters can be sure that they have a valid business.

Content creation

This is where people can create websites to help them sell their products and services effectively. At this point, business owners can create detailed content for their audience because they would already have known that people are interested in buying it – from step 7.

Grow your audience

There are many approaches that online course creators can use to grow their audiences. Check out these 5 ways to grow your audience for your online course.

Market your products and services consistently

Building an audience and solving their problem is just not enough. For a business to sustain itself and enjoy more success, the owners must continually market their products and services to their audiences. It’s more about building relationships with customers and caring about their needs. Go here to learn crucial marketing tips for your online business. 

Go back to step 1 and start over

After completing the above 10 steps, business creators should go back to their original plans and now identify more problems their audience are having and how they can solve them.

For more insights on starting an online business, growing your audience, and marketing your online course, check out nextlevelworkshop.info.

Are you looking to create & sell more courses? What content do you want me to create that will help you the most? You can go to onlinecoursecoach.com/vote to share your thoughts. As a thank you, I created a free training called “3 Simple but Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List” when you fill out the survey.

The post 11 Step Formula for Building a Profitable Business with Cliff Ravenscraft appeared first on Online Course Coach.

One of the most important parts of online training has to do with finding your target audience, knowing how to serve them and building a community.  While marketing is important, the key is to serve your community first. Jason Van Orden has been doing that online and in person many years and is considered one of the pioneers in this space.

I first got introduce to Jason through his podcast. I later became a paying member of his membership site and have always greatly respected him.  He helps people create new income streams from their expertise. He gives personal experience from his over 60 online courses that’s he’s created over the years.

Jason talks about consulting and how he has managed to charge premium prices. I personally hire coaches and consultants to give me their extensive experience and expertise. Coaches are found in all aspects of your life from health, income and personal growth. And that’s one of the reasons I provide coaching. I know I can help you find clarity on your idea, create your course so your audience will want it and market it using proven methods. Not only do I share my processes and strategies for creating the best courses, I have a lot of industry experience so I can answer questions and help you avoid making common mistakes. If you want to learn more about my coaching, go to the coaching page to learn more.

Most people are hesitant to spend money on coaches, though. They do not view it as an investment. Yet, coaches provide clarity for our ideas and help us expand our audience. Jason will help us avoid making common mistakes in your business and help you be authentic. We are all learning how to become more effective teachers and this will help.

Jason Van Orden’s Bio

Jason helps thought leaders to reach a larger audience with their ideas, create new income streams from their expertise, and build business models that align with their goals. As a consultant, trainer, and strategist, he draws from thirteen years of researching top Internet influencers as well as personal experience gained by launching over 60 online courses, teaching more than 7000 entrepreneurs, and generating 6 million dollars in online course sales, and 8 million downloads of his podcast. His mission is to help more visionaries with impactful ideas to reach the people they serve best and the problems they are uniquely positioned to solve.

Jason’s background on how he started with online businesses with information marketing.

JVO: When I discovered information marketing, I dove into it when I was marketing for my band. I started doing consulting and it brought me to the whole world of packaging your expertise and selling it for profit.

I began with a seminar about everything I knew about digital marketing back in 2003. I made a net profit of about 8000 dollars to teach what I love. Before social media, I used to post in forums to expand my audience. I then launched a podcast and haven’t looked back from there, just creating brands from my knowledge and teaching people to do the same.

Key to business success

What would you say have been some of your keys to your business success over the years? What do you think are the keys to your success?

JVO: I used to be blocked up by having prior success. How could I keep up with what I have already achieved? When I moved on after creating my podcast, it became more of intuition, quick start and experimentation from there.

When I advise people on strategy, my approach is that it is a series of hypothesis and experiments. I ask them what feels like a good experiment to try after I have given them the factors and criteria.

Course creators should look for frameworks over formulas in the online marketing world. Keep in mind that not everything that has worked for someone else will perfectly work for another one.

Breaking down the important bits of it all, it is important to add on to the skeleton such as who people are, their business and their audience. Course creators have to create something that will keep them ahead of the game.

They should be careful, however, not lose sight of their uniqueness; what they want to bring to their world. If that happens, they will not have unique perspectives to bring to the world and they can get drowned out.

Testing of ideas beforehand

Before someone spends a lot of time on creating an online course, what strategies do you have on testing their ideas?

JVO: My predominant idea was a small eBook or a short course. It is easier for one to sell as a smaller thing and build up their portfolio from there. Also, the building of their educational business without limitations of inventory and time.  I flipped this.

Whether it is their first course or not, doing some higher level and closer-to-the-student experience has higher advantages. This is where things such as consulting comes in. The major advantage is that creators will be able to charge more money from consultations. Another point is that they won’t have to create a lot of material.

Course creators ought to learn a lot about what is valued by their audience, their needs and the language that works for them. This can help them refine their own process. There is a fulfilment in the direct approach since their unique strengths can come through. In any case, consumers can be sophisticated at times and they will need authentic content.

Ways of creating an online community

Once the course is made, how does one create that community and build upon it?

JVO: There are some obvious advantages of having the right tool such as Facebook groups. Having the platform is no longer enough though.

Course creators these days must think outside the box. They need to input the extra thought in fostering their communities. For instance, they should think about ways of improving interactions within their community and getting people stick to their communities.

It is also important for course creators to give their communities identities. A course creator should give their audience a vocabulary on how to identify themselves and how to communicate among themselves effectively.

In addition, there should be a community leader that stands in for the course creator whenever he/she is unavailable. Most importantly, course creators should encourage people, answer their questions and even pick up recognition of the success stories of their communities. This can help strengthen the bond that exists among community members.

Building your authority

As your audience grows, there is a need to ascertain your authority in the community. How have you gone about that?

JVO: When you have a network of people, you can build up by finding their first four students.

Course creators should be very clear about who they are talking to. Authority starts with conversations with their targets so as to know their unmet needs. Talking to your audience can help one create more resonate content and find their voice. To go a bit further, one should have a great point of view that draws from their own perspective.

There are three whys’ here.

1. Why is the message important to your audience
2. Why is it important to the person they are selling to
3. Why is it important to the world’?

If course creators can consistently answer these three whys’, then it’s easy to command authority in messaging, marketing and conversion.

The post Simple but Proven Marketing Strategies to Promote Online Courses with Jason Van Orden appeared first on Online Course Coach.

Today I talk with Sharyn Sheldon about how you can create white label courses for companies. Sharyn has quite a unique model compared to most other course creators. Typical course creators create a course for themselves and sell it to the audience. Others are contracted to create a course for a company and that company sells the content to the audience. What Sharyn does is quite different but very intriguing.

She owns contentsparks.com, where she offers business coaches and consultants with professional quality, brandable training programs and marketing materials. Sharyn’s content is the time-saving secret her customers use to expand their reputation, attract new leads, and raise their income.

Let’s hear from Sharyn and her thoughts on creating white label online courses for companies:

What is your background?

Sharyn: My journey to online courses began when I was working for a consulting company. They were doing learning and consulting for big companies. As a consultant, I worked with places like Mary Lynch, MetLife, UBS, JP Morgan and many other financial and insurance institutions. I used to love the job because it was all about designing learning solutions at a strategic level, and that was really where my course creation started. Gradually online became the norm with things like online marketing and content marketing booming. Then I came across Private Label Rights (PLR), where I saw the opportunity to start my business.

You have an interesting business model, how did you think of it and how has it changed throughout the years?

Sharyn:  Well, my thinking was that coaches, consultants, and small business owner shouldn’t have to waste time creating course content when they can be directly helping their clients in sharing their expertise. They don’t need to create the courses themselves but rather benefit from our team of experienced professionals, who have been creating programs for big companies and small businesses for the last 25 years.

So, we provide all the needed materials to teach various courses and all a course creator has to do is tailor it for their market. They can add their names, branding, and inject their own voice and insights. Basically, we help course creators help others.

What process do you take to find out what courses to create?

Sharyn: Picking topics is always a challenge. At the moment because I have a large customer base, I always start by requesting what they or their customers want to know. Another thing I look at is what sold well in the past and I regularly check online for those hot topics. Most importantly, I focus on evergreen topics that will last long.

How long should each lesson be and why?

Sharyn: Most of my lessons are about 2 to 7 minutes long. I would say that a video lesson shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes. The reason is that people start losing focus with very long videos, yet to want them to remember the content. That is for online but if I’m doing something like a webinar, I wouldn’t want to spend more than a minute on one slide. For offline lessons, I advise not to go more than 15 minutes before you start asking questions and getting interactions.

What are some marketing strategies that you’ve had that worked over the years?

Sharyn: I must say that the way I got my first big break was from referrals. Luckily, I had an affiliate program set up and so it was easy for my colleagues to refer people to my site. Since then, email marketing has always worked for me. My email list then led to content marketing. And when I re-branded to Contentsparks, I created a Facebook group for my existing customers. The group has helped me a lot in making repeat sales. I also create a waiting list which I use to notify customers about a new course and that way I get to close sales from the moment I launch a new course.

What is the process you quickly use to create courses?

Sharyn: Actually ours is not that quick process. But, whenever we want to do it quickly, the key is to start at that high-level outline without writing up a lot of the stuff. When we know the topic, we don’t have to write in all the details – bullet points just suffice.

What would you tell someone that’s created a course but hasn’t seen it get the results they were hoping for?

Sharyn: When it comes to results, there are two types; monetary and student success. The first one is if you are making sales while the latter is based on whether your students are getting value from your courses. So I will advise that you get feedback from your students so you know what they need to hear. Once you understand your student’s needs, then it’s easy for you to customize a course for them. When your students know they are getting value from your course, then they’re likely to buy it and, in turn, you make money too.

Where can we learn more about you and what you do?

Sharyn: You can find me at onlinecoursecouch.com/contentsparks, where I also offer my courses. We focus primarily on business coaches and consultants although we do have other people too. At the moment, we are hoping to create a curriculum that pulls together various topics. So, we’re looking to create a membership site where people will learn a wide range of things from the courses.

 

The post How to create white label online courses for companies with Sharyn Sheldon appeared first on Online Course Coach.

We all know that getting found on Google is critical to the success of our online course. But did you know that Google owns YouTube and it’s just as important to get found on YouTube which is the #2 most popular search engine (right after Google)? It’s important to not just have quality content on your course but also create helpful content, build an audience and provide value. And you should be doing this on YouTube. In this episode, I talk with Tim Schmoyer about YouTube, Video and how to feel confident in front of the camera.

First of all, we talk about YouTube. Do you have a YouTube channel set up yet? If not, we talk about some reasons why you might want to consider that. We also talk about how to get comfortable in front of the camera.

Tim has some very interesting things to say, some of which I haven’t thought about. I’ve been producing videos for clients since 2003 and I’ve produced a LOT of videos, but even with my experience, Tim brought a different perspective on several different topics which I really appreciate.

And since we’re talking about video today, are you like most of us that struggle with being on camera? Maybe you are uncomfortable or you don’t like doing it, and that has prohibited you from making effective course videos. Perhaps you are like many other people who struggle with the technology side or you don’t want to waste money buying the wrong equipment or software.

Online courses that use video are 83% more effective in helping students remember the information better!

But most people struggle with complicated equipment or software, the cost of buying equipment, or they don’t feel confident in front of the camera. That’s why I created Easy Video for Courses. I’ve taken all the confusion out of the process so you can make effective course videos in half the time, even if you don’t like being on camera. I share some of my go-to resources for creating better videos, whether graphics, stock photos or videos and even PowerPoint templates. So, you definitely want to check out easyvideoforcourses.com to learn more and get the course.

Go to EasyVideoForCourses.com to learn more and get the course.

Now let’s dive right into the interview.

Tim Schmoyer’s Bio

In 2006 Tim uploaded his first video to YouTube to introduce his girlfriend to his family across the country. Others started watching, so he started digging into YouTube to figure out how it worked and in 2011 he became the first creator to start training YouTube creators. Today his company, Video Creators, has been featured by FOX, Forbes, BBC even YouTube themselves as he trains other creators to master the YouTube platform and use it as a place to spread messages that change lives. And he married his girlfriend.

So Tim, thanks so much for being on the Online Course Coach podcast today.

What is your background and how did you get started with video?

I started doing video in 2006 when I was in graduate school in Dallas, Texas. I had just started dating this girl and wanted a way of introducing her to my family back home in Philadelphia. This place called YouTube had just started a few months prior. People were posting videos and watching them, and I thought I could try it too.

We started going out with my girlfriend and making little videos together of the places we went to. I started posting those videos on YouTube for my family to see. We went on to creating videos on our engagement, wedding, honeymoon, first real job, first house, first kids, and more.

Back in the early days when we were dating to our engagement, other people were watching and commenting on our videos. I started trying to figure out how the platform worked, how people found my videos, why they were watching my videos and why they were commenting on them. I ended up on the inquisitive side of trying to figure out how the platform works, how audiences grow, what causes people to watch and get them interested, and I ended up working with Disney, Time Warner, eBay, HBO, and other companies. In the meantime, I got known as the guy who’s trying to figure out how the platform works.

So, here I am today, on a full-time business to help people create online businesses and audiences around their YouTube audience and channels.

What do you like about YouTube creators and why do you focus on that audience?

In the past, there used to be no money involved. People were just creating videos out of the passion to tell stories, to reach audiences, and to express themselves creatively. A lot has happened since then, including YouTube’s change of ownership from a group of guys to Google, and most people coming in these days with the aim of making money out of the platform.

Even so, the people I like on YouTube are those with a mission behind what they are doing. The people who get excited about reaching people and changing their lives, notwithstanding the need to make money and make their practice sustainable.

Why did you create your first course?

There are different reasons as to why. The truth is, if you have videos embedded into your website and people click on those videos and watch them, that’s more time spent on your page. This is a factor that Google looks for ranking web pages. Pages with videos in them that people watch tend to rank higher than simple text pages.

There’s also the fact that a YouTube video itself can rank outside any website. I’m not sure about the current stat but back when the stat came out, it was that making a video with the same content of an equivalent blog post, the video was 52 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google or YouTube than a blog post.

I think the principle is still true that it’s easier to get videos to perform than it might be to enter into a big sea of other bloggers who are trying to get attention.

What is the process you used to create your online courses?

The first I made was actually an e-Book, which was like a lead magnet for me. The second was an EBook called, “30 Days to a Better YouTube Channel”, which is still my number one selling product. It’s kind of an e-course but in a book a format. Later on, I started creating videos of the same content.

What are some ways someone can get comfortable on camera to be truly authentic?

I actually have a whole course on that. Truth is, there’s always a starting point. For instance, my first video was so awkward and I improved over the course of doing about 4,000 videos. Many people tend to think that you have to be outgoing to perform well on camera but surprisingly most YouTubers I know are actually introverts. For me, the focus should be on presentation rather than trying to be comfortable on camera. And just like any other activity out there, you get better at it over time.

Should a course creator create a Youtube channel to build their audience?

It depends on what you want to accomplish. Of course, there are other ways you can build your audience including podcasts, blogs, and others. The biggest advantage that YouTube has over any other medium is its ability to not only tell but also show. I would say that if your aim is to create a deep connection with your audience on a personal level, then YouTube is the best platform to use.

What are some strategies you recommend for someone to grow their audience on YouTube?

My expertise on YouTube is organic growth. I’ve not done any promotions on YouTube or Facebook but growing my channel the best way I can. When it comes to promoting my courses, I’ve always relied on email campaigns. By sending out emails, I try to integrate my audience into my courses just to make them feel part of it and find value in whatever I’m offering them. In so doing, they also help promote my courses to other people, which leads to a larger audience.

What is VideoCreators.com and the courses you provide?

It’s the website that packs all my YouTube course videos including videos, podcasts and even consultation services. Check out the Find Your Voice courses that teaches you how to feel confident in front of the camera.

Online courses that use video are 83% more effective in helping students remember the information better!

But most people struggle with complicated equipment or software, the cost of buying equipment, or they don’t feel confident in front of the camera. That’s why I created Easy Video for Courses. I’ve taken all the confusion out of the process so you can make effective course videos in half the time, even if you don’t like being on camera. I share some of my go-to resources for creating better videos, whether graphics, stock photos or videos and even PowerPoint templates. So, you definitely want to check out easyvideoforcourses.com to learn more and get the course.

Go to EasyVideoForCourses.com to learn more and get the course.

The post The Importance of YouTube for Course Creators with Tim Schmoyer appeared first on Online Course Coach.

We all want to create effective online courses but most courses are too complex and complicated for students. Here are 6 ways to create effective course videos without overwhelming your students.

The post How to create effective online courses that don’t overwhelm students appeared first on Online Course Coach.