Whether you’re selling an online course, product, program or service, your sales page is your chance to turn visitors into customers. The key? Crafting a compelling and strategic page that speaks directly to your audience’s needs.

Why Your Sales Page Matters

In a world where attention spans are shrinking, your sales page serves as your first (and possibly only) chance to connect with potential customers. It’s more than just a description of what you’re selling — it’s your opportunity to tell a story, establish trust and motivate action. The goal? To convince visitors that your course, product or program is exactly what they need.

But how do you do that? Let’s break it down!

1. Know Your Audience

Before you can convert visitors into customers, you need to know who they are and what they want. Without a clear understanding of your audience, your sales page will fall flat.

Start by asking yourself:

• What are they struggling with?
• How does that problem affect their daily life?
• Where do they hang out online?
• What other solutions have they tried?
• What are they willing to sacrifice to solve this problem?

Answering these questions will help you write a sales page that feels personalized and resonates with your audience. The more you understand their pain points and desires, the easier it is to speak directly to them.

2. A Headline That Grabs Attention

Your headline is the first thing people see when they land on your sales page and you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. Think of your headline as the hook — it needs to speak to their problem and promise a solution.

Here’s a great formula:

• Address the problem
• Offer a solution
• Create intrigue

For example, the headline for our signature program — the Experience Product Masterclass, reads:

Skyrocket Your Income With the New Kind of High-Impact Online Course — Guaranteed.

This headline works because:

• It speaks directly to the visitor’s goal (to make more money).
• It introduces a solution (a high-impact online course).
• It creates intrigue by mentioning a “new kind” of course.

If you’re unsure about your headline, write 10, 20 or even 50 versions until you find one that sticks. A strong headline is the foundation of your sales page’s success.

3. A Subheadline That Keeps Them Reading

Once your headline grabs their attention, your subheadline needs to keep them interested. The subheadline is where you can dive a little deeper into the value of your offer.

For example, the subheadline for the Experience Product Masterclass reads:

A proven 12-week program to validate, create, launch and successfully sell your very own Experience Product — the new kind of “high profit” course taking the world by storm.

This subheadline does a great job of clearly communicating the value of the course: in 12 weeks or less, students will have a profitable course ready to sell.

4. Add a Hero Image (Optional but Powerful)

While optional, a well-chosen hero image can add a lot to your sales page. A hero image is a high-quality, relevant picture that complements your headline and subheadline, drawing people in visually.

For example, if your course is about meal prep, you could feature an image of a family sitting down to a healthy, home-cooked meal. Or, if your course is about yoga for moms, show a relatable, calm scene of a mom practicing yoga in her living room.

Another way to use a hero image is a product mockup. Since online courses are digital, doing this can give an important boost to the perceived value of your course… you show AND tell as opposed to just telling…

We do this on our summary sales page. This is the shorter version of our long sales page that we use on our LIVE Workshops and webinars. Instead of a hero image at the top, we include product mockups for each module in the Experience Product Masterclass. 

This breaks up the sales page while also helping prospects visualize each module and what they’ll get to learn, do and achieve as they make their way through our course. 

The goal is to use the hero image to convey the benefits of your course or product and create an emotional connection.

5. Include a Sales Video (Optional)

Video can be a powerful tool for making a personal connection with your audience. Whether it’s you speaking directly to the camera or a simple slideshow with narration, a video can give your potential customers a sense of who you are and what they can expect from your course.

Don’t worry about creating a Hollywood-quality production — your video just needs to be authentic. If video editing isn’t your thing, consider hiring someone on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork to help you out.

6. Strong Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons

A call-to-action (CTA) button is a simple but crucial part of your sales page. It’s where you invite your visitors to take the next step and enroll in your course or buy your product.

Your CTA buttons should:

• Stand out with a contrasting color.
• Use strong action-oriented phrases, like:
  • Enroll Now
  • Claim Your Spot
  • Get Instant Access

Notice how our “ENROLL IN EPM” CTA is in a color that clearly stands out from the white background. It’s also clean and easy to read.

Place your CTA buttons throughout the page so visitors can take action whenever they’re ready, not just at the bottom.

7. Share Your Story

Your story is what connects you to your potential customers. It’s where you show that you understand their problem because you’ve been there, too. Use this section to relate to your audience and build trust.

For example, in my own story, I share how I was an artist with “no marketable skills” who figured out how to build a successful business anyway. Sharing your journey lets your audience know that you’re a real person who has walked the path they’re on.

8. Give a Bird’s Eye View of Your Course

People like to know what they’re getting before they buy. A bird’s eye view of your course gives them an overview of the modules or lessons, showing them how they’ll progress from start to finish.

This doesn’t need to be a super-detailed syllabus but a simple outline that shows the steps they’ll take to achieve their goals.

9. Add Social Proof

Social proof, like testimonials and success stories, is one of the most powerful ways to build trust. People are more likely to buy if they see that others have had success with your course.

If you have testimonials, include them throughout your page. If you’re just launching, consider running a beta version of your course and offering discounts or bonuses in exchange for feedback and testimonials.

10. Highlight Your Instructor Bio

Your bio doesn’t need to be long, but it should give potential customers confidence that you’re the right person to help them. Include a few sentences about who you are, your qualifications and why you’re passionate about solving their problem.

11. Offer Bonuses

Bonuses can sweeten the deal and help overcome objections. Think about what additional value you can offer to enhance your course. Maybe it’s a workbook, a 1:1 coaching call or a community group where they can get support.

Whatever it is, make sure it’s relevant to your course and adds value.

12. Include an FAQ Section

The FAQ section is your chance to address any last-minute doubts or questions that could be holding someone back from buying. Think about the most common objections and answer them here in a friendly, conversational tone.

13. Reveal the Price

Finally, it’s time to reveal the price. You can either display the price directly on the page or after the CTA button is clicked. Showing the price alongside the bonuses and value your course provides can help reinforce that what you’re offering is worth the investment.

Wrapping It Up

Creating a sales page that converts doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following these 13 key elements, you can create a page that speaks directly to your audience and guides them to take action.

Remember: your headline and subheadline are the most important pieces, so focus on nailing those first. Once you’ve hooked your visitors, the rest of your page should naturally guide them toward enrolling in your course or buying your product.

What was your biggest takeaway from this post? Drop me a comment — I’d love to know!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post Craft a Sales Page That Converts Visitors Into Customers for Your Course, Product, Program or Service appeared first on Live Your Message.

If you’re ready to move from side hustle status to running a full-time online course business, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve helped thousands of entrepreneurs grow their online course businesses — many starting as side hustles and turning into 7-figure empires. 

Watch the video or keep reading below for the key strategies that can help you scale your business and turn your passion project into a profitable, sustainable venture.

1. Build Strong Relationships with Your Current Customers

Your first step in scaling is to focus on the customers you already have. It’s tempting to always chase new customers, but your existing customer base is an untapped goldmine. These are people who already know, like and trust you.

Strengthening your relationships with them can lead to glowing testimonials, word-of-mouth referrals, and more sales. At Live Your Message, we have over 2,900 success stories for our signature program, the Experience Product Masterclass. Why? Because we deliver results, and our students love sharing their transformations.

Remember, delivering on the transformation you promised is the key to turning customers into lifelong fans. It’s about creating that “Photo Finish” moment — the point where your customer crosses the finish line and achieves the big result your course promised.

But don’t stop there. Stay engaged with your customers. If someone stops showing up, don’t just write them off. Instead, reach out and offer support. For example, one of our students hadn’t logged in for a few weeks, so we sent a simple email. She re-engaged, went on to make $100,000 from the course and then earned an additional $150,000. Woohoo! That’s the power of caring about your customers’ success.

2. Expand Your Customer Base

Once you’ve nurtured your existing relationships, it’s time to widen your net. Expanding your customer base is essential if you want to scale from side hustle to full-time.

Start by asking for testimonials and referrals from your current customers. The best time to do this is right after they’ve experienced success with your course. Encourage them to share their stories, and if possible, incentivize them with a graduation bonus for providing a testimonial.

Another way to expand is by exploring related markets. Think about what complements your current offering. For example, if you’re teaching coding, maybe your next step is to offer UI/UX design tutorials. Or, if you’re a fitness coach, adding nutrition plans or mental health coaching could create a more holistic experience for your clients.

Geographic expansion is another smart strategy. With an online business, you can reach customers from anywhere in the world. Take our annual Live Your Message LIVE event, for example. We’ve had participants from over a third of the countries on Earth. Don’t let location limit your growth.

3. Learn from Your Competition

A great way to grow is by keeping an eye on what others in your industry are doing. Study your competitors, both large and small, and analyze their strategies. What’s working for them? What complaints do their customers have? Is there a gap in the market that you can fill?

For instance, when AI tools like ChatGPT became the hot topic, we saw everyone jumping on the same bandwagon. Instead of following the crowd, we created our own platform — Ainslee.ai, an AI tool designed to help our students define their niche, craft profitable product ideas and so much more. It’s been a game-changer for our students and it’s how we stood out in a sea of ChatGPT prompts.

By observing your competitors and spotting opportunities to differentiate yourself, you can carve out a unique space in the market.

4. Craft Your XYZ Statement

Your XYZ statement is a powerful way to clarify your messaging and stand out. The formula is simple: “I help X do Y so that Z.”

• X = your ideal client
• Y = what you help them achieve
• Z = the result or transformation they experience

For example, one of our Momentum students, Naomi, has a great XYZ statement: “I help accounting professionals expand their practice into the U.S. legal cannabis industry.” Clear, specific and immediately attention-grabbing.

Once you’ve nailed your XYZ statement, use it everywhere — on your website, social media profiles, emails and even in live conversations. It becomes your calling card, helping you attract the right people who are ready for what you offer.

5. Build Your Online Presence

With your XYZ statement in hand, the next step is to build a strong online presence. Your website, social media channels and even your email signature should all reflect your clear, compelling message. Consistency is key here.

Don’t just focus on content creation for content’s sake. Instead, create valuable content that aligns with your expertise and the results you deliver. Post regularly and engage with your audience. The goal is to position yourself as the go-to expert in your niche.

For example, if you’re a spiritual healer, platforms like Instagram and TikTok, which are heavily video-based, might be the perfect places for you to engage your audience. If you offer financial planning for professionals, LinkedIn is a great platform to showcase your expertise and results.

6. Make the Leap

At some point, your side hustle income may start to rival your main income. This is a sign that it might be time to go all in!

Of course, this leap can be scary. The idea of leaving the safety net of a day job is intimidating for most people. But, once you hit that threshold, the question to ask yourself is, “What am I losing by NOT making the leap?”

Many side hustlers hit a plateau where their main job actually starts costing them opportunities in their business. If you find yourself in this situation, it might be time to take the leap into full-time entrepreneurship.

7. Tell Everyone You Know

Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly powerful, even in today’s digital world. Don’t be afraid to talk about your business with everyone you meet. Whether you’re at the grocery store, chatting with friends or sitting on a plane, let people know what you do. You never know where your next client might come from.

For example, one of our Momentum students (that’s our yearlong group coaching program), Angela, found clients simply by chatting with people at her local farmers’ market. She helps Gen X moms improve their finances and knows that even if the person she’s talking to isn’t a good fit, they might know someone who is. It’s a simple yet highly effective way to grow your business.

8. Seek Support

Lastly, one of the most important keys to success is having the right support. No one builds a successful business alone. You need a roadmap, templates, tools, a supportive community and coaching to guide you through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

At Live Your Message, our yearlong coaching program, Momentum offers all of that and more. Our students get access to proven systems, swipe files and a community that will cheer them on. If you’re serious about growing your course business, having this level of support can make all the difference.

Scaling your online course business from a side hustle to a full-time venture is one of the most exciting and rewarding transitions you can make. By following these steps — building relationships with your current customers, expanding your reach, learning from your competitors, refining your messaging, building your online presence, and getting the support you need — you can turn your passion project into a thriving, sustainable business.

Are you ready to take the leap? 

At Live Your Message, we’ve helped countless entrepreneurs make this journey, and we’re here to help you too. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support you in scaling your business, book a no-pressure call with one of our Program Specialists today.

Your full-time course business awaits!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post From Side Hustle to Full-Time: Strategies to Scale Your Course Business appeared first on Live Your Message.

Just plug in your ideas, let the AI do its magic, and voila! You’ve got a course.

But here’s the thing: while AI can be an amazing tool, there’s a huge difference between creating a course that merely exists and one that actually delivers results — for you AND your students.

So, should you create an AI-based course?

The answer is a resounding NO if you want a course that truly stands out, creates real transformations and drives long-term success.

And in this post, I’m going to share exactly why relying solely on AI to create your online course is a recipe for disaster in 2024. More importantly, I’ll reveal the ONE thing AI can’t do that’s absolutely essential to your success as a course creator.

Why AI IS So Tempting

When ChatGPT was released in December 2022, it took the world by storm. Suddenly, AI-based tools and AI-generated content were everywhere, promising to make life easier, boost productivity, and, yes, even create entire online courses for you.

The possibilities seemed endless: AI could brainstorm ideas, generate content, automate tedious tasks and even help with marketing. For many, it felt like the ultimate shortcut to building a profitable course without the headaches.

But here’s the cold, hard truth: AI might be great at generating information, but information alone isn’t enough to create a successful online course. In fact, it’s often the very thing that leads to failure.

The Danger of Information Overload

Let’s talk about what I like to call the “thud” factor. It’s the idea that the more content you deliver, the bigger the perceived value. You know, that satisfying “thud” when a heavy package of information lands on your doorstep — or in today’s world, your inbox.

This myth has been around for ages, from door-to-door Encyclopedia Britannica salesmen to the early days of information marketing. The more you cram into a course, the more valuable it must be, right?

Wrong.

In reality, this approach leads to information overload. It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose — overwhelming, exhausting and ultimately ineffective. And that’s exactly what’s happening with many AI-generated courses today.

When students are bombarded with endless modules, lessons and resources, they don’t get value. They get overwhelmed. They get frustrated. And more often than not, they give up.

Why Information Alone ISN’T Enough

Let’s face it: if information alone could solve all our problems, we’d all be living in Googletopia — or ChatGPTopia — by now. We’d be rich, happy, healthy and thriving because we’d have all the answers at our fingertips, 24/7.

But we’re not. 

Because information doesn’t lead to action. And without action, nothing changes.

This is the biggest mistake I see course creators making — they think that packing their course with as much information as possible will guarantee success. But in reality, it’s a recipe for refunds, low completion rates and declining sales.

My Hard-Learned Lesson in Course Creation

Back in 2012, I launched my first big course, Message to Money, featuring my Live Your M.E.S.S.A.G.E. System. It was packed with content — six courses in one, all crammed into a single six-week program.

I spent months creating the content, building the sales page, writing the emails and putting everything together. And while I made some sales and felt like I was on my way, the cracks quickly started to show.

Refund rates were high, and when I dug deeper, I discovered that only around 5% of my students were actually completing the course. The rest? Overwhelmed, frustrated and dropping out.

It was a hard pill to swallow, but it taught me a valuable lesson: more information isn’t the answer. What matters is how you engage your students and get them to take action.

The Real Secret to Course Success: Experiential Learning

So, if AI-generated information isn’t the answer, what is?

It’s all about creating an experience — what I like to call an “Experience Product” rather than an “Info Product.” This is the secret sauce that gets your students into action, keeps them engaged and drives real results.

An Experience Product is designed to create specific kinds of experiences that inspire your students to take consistent action. It’s about moving them from information overload to actual transformation.

Here are four critical experiences you need to embed in your course to make it truly effective:

1. Shared Experiences: People crave connection and community. Build an engaged community where students can support and learn from each other, whether through group coaching calls, virtual events or online forums.
2. Perceived Customization: Your students want to feel like your course is tailored just for them. This doesn’t mean you need to create a personalized course for each student, but rather design your course so it feels like a unique experience for everyone.
3. Constant Wins: Create a game-like experience where your students can achieve small, easy wins that build their confidence and keep them motivated. Instead of saving the rewards for the end, offer micro-rewards throughout the course.
4. Emotional Experiences: Engage your students on an emotional level. Use storytelling, multisensory language and pattern interrupts to keep them invested and excited about their progress.

Real-World Examples of Experiential Learning in Action

To truly grasp the power of experiential learning, let’s look at some compelling real-world examples that showcase how creating unique experiences can lead to massive engagement and success.

Fitbit: Fitbit isn’t just a fitness tracker — it’s a personal coach, motivator and accountability partner all rolled into one. This wearable tech transforms daily steps and heart rate monitoring into a dynamic, personalized experience. 

Every time you meet a goal or reach a milestone, Fitbit responds with celebrations and encouragement, making it feel like you have a coach cheering you on every step of the way. This personalization keeps users engaged and motivated, turning a simple product into a transformative experience.

Spotify: Spotify revolutionized the music industry by turning the act of listening to music into a shared, social experience. Through features like collaborative playlists, real-time listening sessions and personalized song recommendations, Spotify turned music from a solitary activity into a community-driven experience. 

Users don’t just listen to music; they share it, discover it together and bond over their favorite tunes. This shared experience has been key to Spotify’s success, driving user engagement and loyalty.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is a masterclass in creating unforgettable, experiential events. Understanding that her largely Gen Z audience craves participation and social connection, Swift designed a tour that was much more than just a series of concerts. 

(Taylor Swift in Detroit on June 9.Scott Legato / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) 

Each show became an immersive experience, complete with themed costumes, fan participation and exclusive moments that felt tailored just for the attendees. Fans weren’t just passive spectators; they were active participants in a once-in-a-lifetime event. 

The result? 

Swift’s tour became a cultural phenomenon, dominating social media and selling out venues worldwide. This level of engagement and emotional connection is something NO AI-generated experience could replicate.

Experience Product Masterclass (EPM): Now, let’s talk about something close to home — my signature program — the Experience Product Masterclass (EPM). EPM is designed around the principles of experiential learning. When Davina and Galen Detrick first joined EPM, they were ready to create a traditional info product for dentists. But after diving into EPM, they realized the future was in creating experiences, not just delivering information. They transformed their approach, building an experiential course that took their students on a journey rather than just providing content. 

The result? 

They didn’t just create one successful course; they built an online course empire with 12 courses and counting. Davina even retired from practicing dentistry to focus on their thriving online business, proving that experiential learning doesn’t just benefit students — it can transform the lives of course creators, too.

Why AI Alone Can’t Create These Experiences

While AI is fantastic for generating ideas, automating tasks and even helping with content creation, it can’t create the kind of personalized, engaging experiences that lead to real transformation.

Why? 

Because experiences are human. They require empathy, understanding and a deep connection with your students. AI can’t replace the human touch that’s essential for building trust, motivating action and creating lasting change.

AI can assist in the process, but it shouldn’t be the sole creator of your course. It’s your job to design the experiences that will get your students results — AI is just a tool to help you do that more efficiently.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Online Courses in 2024

As we move into 2025, the landscape of online courses will continue to evolve. AI will play a bigger role in course creation, marketing and delivery, but the fundamental principles of what makes a course successful won’t change.

The courses that will stand the test of time are those that go beyond just delivering information. They’ll be the ones that create transformative experiences for their students — experiences that inspire action, foster connection and drive real results.

So, as you plan your next course, remember this: AI can be a powerful ally, but it’s not a replacement for the human experience. Focus on creating an Experience Product that gets your students into action, and you’ll set yourself up for success in 2024 and beyond!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post Are AI-Based Courses Destined to Fail? Here’s What You Need to Know for 2024 (& Beyond) appeared first on Live Your Message.

Back in 2010, I was charging $15 an hour for my time — and the thought of asking for more seemed… well, outrageous. 

But let me tell you a secret: I was wrong.

Let’s talk about pricing. It’s not a reflection of your self-worth but the VALUE you deliver. 

Here’s where it gets fun:

I’m about to guide you through crafting your first five product, program or course offers with examples and pricing strategies so you can build an integrated product suite that pays you what you’re worth!

Ever felt like you were pushing too hard, too fast in your business?

You NEED sales — so you get a little too aggressive with people who don’t know you yet…

But — you want to be careful not to run your prospects off by trying to sell too much too quickly…

Instead, start small: make them a relatively low-priced, low-commitment offer — something they can easily say “Yes” to.

Think of it like offering a warm, inviting cup of coffee to a new friend.

If your “coffee date” goes well… they’ll be much more likely to go to the next level with you. 

Now, here’s a twist that might surprise you… IF you’re creating your FIRST offer… I actually recommend you start with your third offer FIRST… 

Why? Because when you’re just starting out, you have limited time and resources… and your focus should be on making sure your value and message are REALLY dialed in before you invest time and money into attracting a ton of leads.

With your third offer, you’ll need fewer leads to start making real money in your business — FAST.

So, if this is you… start with your third offer — which I’ll cover in a bit — and keep watching to see what your complete integrated product suite may eventually look like… 

And, if you’re already in business… follow the progression of pricing and offers I’m about to share to take your business to the next level… and the next again… by filling in any pieces you’re currently missing. 

In general, your first offer should be below $500. 

For example, you could offer…

• A $27 video training with PDF workbook
• A $47 package of done-for-you templates
• A $97 50-minute phone consultation with you
• A $197 entry-level online course
• Or a set of 3 coaching sessions for $497

Think of your offers as stepping stones in a relationship. 

From a casual coffee to an intimate dinner… each step builds trust and value.

So — in your second offer, you get to elevate the commitment… 

If your first offer is a video training and PDF workbook for $27, your second offer may be a 30-minute private coaching session with you for $97.

If your first offer is an entry-level online course for $197, your second offer might be for a more robust online program for $997.

Are you starting to see the price progression here? Each offer is a 3-5x jump in price.

And — when the price goes up — so does the level of commitment. 

Don’t offer a massive transformation that requires a significant amount of commitment or work for less than $1,000. 

Also – the more access your customers have to you directly, the more you can charge!

Let’s do a quick rundown of some good second offers…

• You could charge $997 for a more in-depth online program
• $1,497 for a live 3-day retreat
• Or $1,997 for a program where you offer small group coaching

Now, your third offer deepens the connection (and commitment) even more. 

Think about it like being welcomed into someone’s inner circle.

When creating your third offer, ask yourself:

What’s the new, bigger problem someone has now that they’ve consumed your second offer and gotten a result? 

OR

How can people have more direct access to you and the unique value ONLY YOU can provide?

You’ll want your third offer to include more access and a bigger promise than your second offer — for example a small group program… or you can go even deeper and create an offer where you work with a customer one-on-one.

If your second offer is in the $495-$2,000 range, your third offer might be in the $1,995 to $5,000 range. 

Some examples of good third offers are…

• A $1,997 30-day private coaching program
• A $2,997 intimate group coaching program
• Or a $4,997 done-with-you service — for example, you or someone from your team guides a customer through how to create a high-converting sales page or design a great website.
  
  This isn’t to be mistaken for a done-for-you service… we’ll get to that in a bit.

Now that you’ve gradually increased the value you provide and the level of commitment required of them, it’s finally time to pop the “big” question…

Your customers are much more likely to say “Yes!” to your biggest ask AFTER they’ve spent more money with you and you’ve consistently delivered. 

This is the sweet spot where you want to introduce your “backend offer” — a high-ticket offer that people usually don’t see until they’re already an existing customer.

Good fourth offers can be similar to your third offer but at a higher price point… for instance…

• A $4,997 one-on-one VIP day with you
• A $7,500 done-for-you service… such as writing a sales page or designing a website FOR your customer
• Or a $9,997 exclusive mastermind for a small group of people

Your fourth offer is usually in the $4,995 to $20,000 range and this is where you start to bring in the bucks… WOOHOO!

Then, once you’ve got your first four offers really dialed in… let’s talk about your fifth offer — what I like to call renewing your vows…

This isn’t for everyone… just like renewing your vows isn’t a high priority for most couples!

I usually recommend holding off on creating your fifth offer until you’ve been in business for at least 3-5 years OR you’ve reached $250,000 or more in annual income.

So if you’re there already and you want to create an offer that solidifies and re-affirms your “marriage” with your customers… 

Your fifth offer should be an ultra-premium offer designed for a small percentage of your most successful customers — priced in the $19,995 to $100,000 range. 

Some examples of good fifth offers are…

• A $20,000 yearlong mastermind or group coaching program 
• A $30,000 yearlong private coaching program
• Or a $50,000 premium done-for-you service — for example, ghostwriting a book, a complete brand overhaul or a marketing funnel design

For example, our year-long business accelerator — Momentum — is our fifth and final offer for a reason… it’s targeted at our most committed students… students who want to invest in their success at the highest levels and get intimate access to me and the Live Your Message Dream Team… 

So, before you dive in… understand that your fifth offer will be more in-depth and require much more from you or your team… so make sure you’re ready and up to the challenge!

When you have your full ascension model in place — with 3-5 products, programs and courses — you can take your business across the 7 or even 8-figure mark! 

But this takes time… so I recommend starting with a single offer — or adding a new offer to your existing product suite.

Want one more secret for charging more right away? 

It comes down to human psychology.

Certain price thresholds are psychologically harder for people to say “Yes” to even though they’re only a few dollars more than others.

To most consumers, $100 feels like A LOT more than $95, $97 or $99 dollars. 

It’s a small difference, but price testing has proven time and time again that people are more likely to say “Yes” to $97 versus $100…

So consider pricing your offers right below that $100 threshold. 

You won’t miss the $5, $3 or $1 you would have gotten by rounding up… 

The next big price threshold after $100 is $200. Then $300. Then $500. Then $700. Then $1,000. Then $1,500. Then $2,000. Then $3,000. Then $5,000. Then $7,500. Then $10,000. Then $12,000. Then $15,000… followed by $20,000… and onwards and upwards. 

Here’s where it gets really interesting… 

Some of the in-between prices — such as $397, $897 and $4,000 — don’t make that much difference to your audience. 

If the value is there and they’re willing to invest $397, they’d also probably be willing to invest $497.

If they’re willing to invest $897, they’d also probably be willing to invest $997 too. 

And if they’re willing to invest $4,000, they’d also probably be willing to invest $5,000 

A lot of times people choose one of the in-between price points because they’re scared to go higher. 

For example, they choose $397 because they’re scared to ask for $497. But the truth is that the difference between $397 and $497 won’t impact your sales much — if at all — as long as the value is there and you’ve sold them on this value! 

Remember, it’s not about your worth; it’s about the value you bring. 

And that, my friends, is limitless.

So, the faster you can take your sense of self-worth out of the equation, the faster you’ll be able to charge premium prices.

Drop me a comment with your biggest takeaway!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post Strategies for Pricing Your Online Courses, Programs & Services appeared first on Live Your Message.

I want to tackle a question I get all the time from people who want to create an online course: How do you pick a profitable niche? 

Because in an online world that’s noisier than ever and in an online education industry that’s projected to hit nearly $3 billion dollars a day by 2028… carving out your unique space is more crucial than ever. 

Your Niche defines EXACTLY what you do AND EXACTLY who you serve and is the first — and most essential — choice you need to make when creating your online course OR any business online.

So, if you’re ready to dive in and discover your first — or even next — profitable niche… keep reading or watch the video above!

Why Your Niche Matters

Let’s talk about why a niche is so important and why it’s such a roadblock for so many people who want to create an online course. 

In a world where everyone can teach something, the key to standing out is not just what you teach but how you tailor it to a specific group of people. 

A niche helps you cut through the noise, connect with the right audience and establish yourself as an expert.

It’s NOT just about broad generic appeal — it’s about depth of appeal.

After all, how can you know WHAT to offer if you don’t know WHO you want to offer it to? 

How can you get students if you’re not sure EXACTLY WHAT you’ll do for them? 

How do you know what to say on your sales page, your social media and in person if you haven’t defined what you do and who you serve? 

You can’t!

But choosing a profitable niche is something I see course creators struggle with over and over again… 

Their niche is either way too broad…

Or they choose a niche that doesn’t solve a specific and known problem for their target audience… 

And people simply aren’t going to buy something to solve a problem they don’t even know they have!

So, how do you avoid either of these 2 scenarios and find your profitable niche?

It comes down to these four steps.

Step 1: Make a Get Started Choice

The first step that MOST people overlook is understanding that you’re simply making a Get Started Choice… NOT a Forever, set-in-stone, let’s-get-married kind of Choice.

Because there IS no such thing as the RIGHT or WRONG niche when you commit to making a Get Started Choice and fine-tuning from there… 

So, BEFORE you do anything else, make this mindset shift and commit to just making a choice, knowing that it’s not set in stone and you can adjust or change it in any way later.

Step 2: Make Sure Your Niche IS at the Intersection of These Three Things

Next, you want to make sure your niche is at the intersection of three things: Your expertise, your passion and market demand. 

Let’s break it all down starting with your expertise…

Your expertise is what you excel at. Maybe you’re a whiz at project management. Let’s say you’ve been a project manager for a decade. Well, your insights into efficient team management and productivity hacks could form the backbone of a highly valuable course. 

Or let’s say you’re a yoga instructor. Your deep understanding of yoga and wellness practices could translate into a 30-day online course where you teach the basics of practicing yoga at home — each week you amp up the difficulty level… so at the end of your course, your students are confidently nailing a Crow pose. 

I always tell my students that If you’ve lived at least 20 years on this planet, chances are you’ve solved a problem or gotten a result in your own life that other people want and are willing to pay to have solved.

In other words, YOU have enough expertise to create a successful online course! 

BOOM!

Along with expertise, you need a healthy dose of passion. Because passion is your fuel — it’s what keeps you and your students excited and engaged. 

So, let’s say you have a knack for graphic design and you spend hours creating just for the joy of it. This enthusiasm is contagious and can inspire your students. Your course could be about ‘Unleashing Creativity in Graphic Design’ where your love for the subject makes every lesson vibrant and engaging. 

Or consider you’re passionate about sustainable living — this could translate into a course that not only teaches the concepts but also embodies your commitment to a sustainable lifestyle.

Now, here’s where I see far too many people stop… they’ve got the expertise and the passion… so they dive headfirst into creating their online course… 

But when it comes to actually launching… there’s zero interest.

Why? 

They forgot the critical third ingredient — making sure there’s Market Demand. This is where you align your expertise and passion with the market’s needs. 

You want to give your audience what they want — and are willing to pay for… NOT what you think they need. 

In other words, sell them what they want and give them what they need — which usually means getting MORE SPECIFIC.

How to Make Sure There’s Market Demand

Now, there are several ways you can easily and painlessly make sure there’s demand for what you want to offer… 

Check out tools like Google Trends or Answer the Public. You might find a growing interest in topics relevant to your expertise and passion. Let’s say you’ve been teaching mindfulness to corporations for years and you’re ready to translate that into an online course. You notice that ‘Mindfulness for Professionals’ is trending… that’s a good sign you’re onto something! 

Explore course platforms like Udemy or Coursera to see what’s trending and what gaps you might fill. 

These huge marketplaces that host thousands of courses try to appeal to everyone so they tend to be very broad and not results-based… so this is a tremendous opportunity for you to find a gap and fill it with a course that solves a specific — and known — problem for your audience.

Let’s say you hop on Udemy and see there’s a surge in interest in home gardening. You happen to have an expertise and a passion in this area. So, this might be a golden opportunity to create a course that goes beyond just content and teaches people how to grow beautiful and juicy tomatoes in 21 days… or whatever it happens to be. That’s just a quick example… I’m definitely not a gardener… lol.

You also want to look at social media… 

Check out LinkedIn for professional courses. Instagram for more creative, lifestyle-oriented topics and TikToks, Reels and Shorts for bit-sized tips, tricks and hacks that content creators teach their audiences. 

The other day, I was curious and did a quick search in TikTok for ChatGPT prompt tutorials… and there were a ton of quick tutorials with millions of views and tons of comments. So, if that happens to be your area of expertise… you know there’s a ton of interest out there, so imagine the possibilities with an engaging online course.

Now, one quick rule of thumb when it comes to market demand is to make sure there are at least 10,000 people on the planet who can be easily reached and who actually want what you have to offer. So don’t rush through this process… spend some time making sure there’s market demand. Trust me; this will save you so much time, money, and headaches.

Just look for the sweet spot where your expertise, passion and market demand intersect. That’s your niche!

Step 3: Validate Your Niche

After you’ve zeroed in on a potential niche for your online course. Now, it’s time to validate it. This step is crucial — it’s about making sure your idea resonates with your target audience before you fully dive in. 

Let’s break down each part:

First, you need to do some Market Research… which goes hand-in-hand with Market Demand. But with Market Research, you want to go much deeper into your audience’s fears, pain points, hopes and dreams.  

Conduct surveys using tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms. Ask questions about their challenges, what they want to learn and their preferred learning styles.

For instance, if you’re planning a course on digital marketing, find out if your audience is more interested in SEO, social media marketing or something else. 

Join forums like Reddit or specialized Facebook groups. Look for recurring questions or pain points. This will help you tailor your content to address real needs.

Let’s go back to the yoga example. If you search for “yoga practice everyday” on Facebook and filter by “Groups”, you can pretty much scroll forever… there are TONS of groups of various sizes… join and see what people are talking about and make note of those common themes. 

Okay, you might be thinking — “Marisa, of course, there’s a ton of groups for Yoga… Yoga’s super popular. But what if I have a serious or “boring” topic?” 

I’ve helped students discover their profitable niche in every industry under the sun… including the most serious or “boring” topics.  

I’ve had students successfully create courses that helped people with family members who were struggling with drug addiction. 

I’ve had students create courses that helped sexual assault survivors heal. 

I’ve had students create engaging courses that taught small business owners how to do their taxes. 

And if you do a quick search on Facebook for any of these topics and filter by groups… you’ll see that even serious or “boring” topics are full of people who NEED your help.

So, don’t let the mindset that your topic is “too serious” or “too boring” stop you from getting your life-changing course into the hands of those who need it most!

You’ll also want to take a look at who else is teaching in your space. 

Let’s head back to Udemy and Coursera. Go ahead and do a quick search for similar courses — you might even add the word “free” in your search. Look at the course outline… even watch a few of the training videos. What are their strengths and weaknesses? 

I guarantee you’ll find plenty of opportunities because these marketplace courses tend to go very wide and shallowly cover every aspect of a particular topic.

Courses here are mainly just information dumps… that do nothing more than overwhelm their audiences. 

Let’s say you’re a digital marketing expert who’s helped small business owners grow their businesses. And you find that most digital marketing courses on Udemy are far too broad — going very wide but not deep into any one strategy. 

You happen to have a love for email marketing for small online businesses. Your unique selling point could be offering a course that’s tailored specifically to small online business owners who want to get their first 1,000 email subscribers. 

Remember, competition indicates demand, but differentiation is key.

Step 4: Beta Test

Finally, we have possibly THE most overlooked aspect of choosing your profitable online course niche: Beta Testing. 

This is where you test your course idea in a small, manageable format. 

One effective method is to teach a tiny part of your proposed course live on a platform like Zoom. For example, if your course is about ‘Effective Communication Skills for Managers,’ host a free 45-minute webinar covering a specific aspect like ‘Active Listening Techniques.’ Gather immediate feedback from participants — what did they find most valuable, what needs improvement and what additional content would they like to see. 

This feedback is gold. It allows you to pivot and refine your course BEFORE investing more time and resources into fully developing it.

Create a Mini Course

Another way to beta-test your concept is by creating a mini course. 

Think of a mini course as a small part of your larger idea. It should address a big concern, solve a specific problem or deliver a quick outcome — without giving away your whole course. 

You use your mini course to position the value of the bigger transformation you’ll deliver in your full course!

So, what exactly is a mini course? It’s a short course, typically ranging from 1 to 3 hours in total length, designed to deliver value and establish your expertise. The goal here is two-fold: to provide actionable content that benefits your students and to gather insights on how your full course might be received.

Let’s talk specifics:

You want to aim for around 1 to 3 hours of total content. This can be broken down into smaller lessons, each focusing on a specific aspect of your topic. 

For instance, if you’re an expert in time management, you might create a 2-hour mini course titled ‘Timeboxing for Time-Strapped Entrepreneurs: 4 Essential Techniques to Shave 2 Hours Off Your Days Now’…

The goal of your mini course is to solve a specific problem or address a particular need within your broader topic. It’s about giving your students a quick win — something they can learn and apply immediately. This not only showcases your teaching style but also builds trust and interest in your more comprehensive offerings.

You can test it for free or even charge a very small amount — say $9. I usually use mine as lead magnets now.

Let’s say your expertise lies in personal branding for entrepreneurs. Your mini course could be ‘Crafting Your Personal Brand Story in Five Simple Steps.’ Or, if you specialize in health and fitness, a mini course like ‘7-Minute Daily Exercises to Kickstart Your Healthy Lifestyle’ would be a great way to introduce your holistic health program.

Remember, the key with a mini course is to focus on quality over quantity. Every lesson should be packed with value, designed to leave your students wanting more. Use the feedback from your mini course to fine-tune your content, teaching methods and course structure. This is an invaluable step in creating an online course that truly resonates with your audience.

You might even consider creating an expiring mini course where you give your audience a specific time frame to complete the course — like 5 days — or else it “expires” and they lose access. But if they complete it within that time frame… they get to keep the trainings for life. The benefit to this approach is that you incentivize consumption… because often people will keep putting off something if they know they can always access it.

Your Next Step

Whew… there you have it! We covered a lot!

We talked about how to validate your niche so you can create a course that truly resonates with your audience. 

We talked about using marketing research so you can understand your audience’s needs and how to use competitive analysis to find your unique testing. 

Then, we dove into beta testing so you can refine your idea into something powerful.

Remember that you’re making a Get Started Choice… so you can — that’s right — get started!

You’re not making a Forever, set-in-stone, let’s-get-married kind of Choice… 

The world NEEDS what you have to offer… so it’s time to stop trying to make the perfect choice and start making it happen!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post How to Choose a Profitable Online Course Niche (That’s EASY to Sell!) appeared first on Live Your Message.

But in the rush of bringing your knowledge to the digital world, it’s crucial not to overlook a silent but oh-so-significant aspect: the legal side of online course creation.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Legal stuff… yawn, right?” But stay with me! 

Navigating the waters of copyright, trademarks, privacy policies and terms of use doesn’t have to be rough…

Instead, it can make your journey to course creation success so much smoother. 

Ready to get into it? Let’s go!

Copyrights: Your Creative Compass

Let’s examine copyrights first. 

According to a survey by the Copyright Alliance, copyrights not only protect original work from being used without permission but also ensure that creativity receives the recognition and reward it deserves. 

But what about using other people’s work within your course? 

Here’s where it gets interesting… 

Fair use might seem like a lifesaver, but it can be tricky if you’re not careful. According to Stanford University Libraries, fair use is determined on a case-by-case basis, considering factors like the purpose of use and the amount of the original work used. 

Judges use four factors to resolve fair use disputes:

• the purpose and character of your use
• the nature of the copyrighted work
• the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and
• the effect of the use upon the potential market.

My advice? 

When in doubt, seek permission or opt for content you’re free to use. Websites like Unsplash for images or the Free Music Archive for tunes can be gold mines for course creators. You can also use paid platforms — Canva has an extensive image library and Epidemic Sound is a great choice for music. 

Trademarks: Marking Your Territory

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one company from those of another.

Some well-known trademarks include:

• Nike’s “swoosh” logo
• Coca-Cola’s red and white color scheme
• McDonald’s golden arches
• Capital One’s “What’s in your wallet?” slogan
• Product names like iPod

In the United States, a trademark can be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to protect it from being used by others without permission. However, this will not protect the trademark in foreign countries. As such, a trademark must be filed in each country where protection is sought.

Ensure your course name or brand doesn’t unintentionally infringe on someone else’s trademark. A quick search through the USPTO’s database can save you a lot of headaches in the future!

Privacy Policies: The Captain’s Code

With great power comes great responsibility, especially when handling personal data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S. are just the tip of the iceberg. 

Non-compliance isn’t an option. 

Your course needs a privacy policy as robust as the hull of a ship. 

A privacy policy is a document that explains how you collect, use, store and share the personal information of your learners. 

It’s not just a legal requirement — it’s your promise to your crew (read: your students) about how you’ll protect and use their data. Tools like Termly.io offer customizable policies to keep you ship-shape.

The Uncharted Waters

Now, let’s talk about some rarely discussed aspects of the legal side of course creation… 

Starting with accessibility.

Ensuring your course is accessible to all isn’t just good practice — it’s a legal requirement in many jurisdictions. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a framework for making digital content accessible to people with disabilities.

WCAG is organized by four main principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. These principles are often referred to by the acronym POUR. They can be applied to any kind of digital product or service, no matter the underlying technology.

Next, let’s talk about license agreements for course platforms.

Choosing a platform is like choosing your vessel. Before you set sail, you need to understand what you’re getting into. Some platforms might claim a portion of your rights. Make sure to read the fine print carefully. 

Selling your course internationally? Laws vary dramatically across borders. For instance, VAT on digital goods (VAT stands for Value Added Tax) is a maze of regulations in the EU. For instance, if your online course has a human element (like a live teaching component), it’s generally not subject to digital tax whereas if your course is fully automated, it will be subject to digital tax. This article is a great resource for understanding how VAT works when it comes to online courses. 

The Compass Always Points to Due Diligence

Creating an online course is an incredible journey, and while the legal side might seem daunting, it’s your compass in uncharted waters. It ensures that your hard work pays off without legal headaches down the line. 

Remember, the goal isn’t just to avoid using copyrighted material unlawfully — it’s to create a course that’s as legally sound as it is impactful!

As you plot your course through the creation process, consider consulting with a legal professional who specializes in intellectual property and online commerce.

Hopefully, this post helped demystify a challenging aspect of course creation: the legal side!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post The Legal Side of Online Course Creation: Guidance on Copyright, Trademarks, Privacy Policies and Other Legal Considerations appeared first on Live Your Message.

You’re brimming with knowledge and passion, ready to share it with the world… but when the time comes to turn it into an online course, you find yourself staring at a blank screen — overwhelmed. 

You know you want to create an online course. 

But you don’t know WHERE to start and WHAT to focus on.

Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place! 

In this post, we’re going to focus on the key trends and opportunities in the online course world — no fluff, no overwhelm — just the stuff that really matters and will get you sales and results in 2024 and well beyond. 

Ready to dive in? Let’s go!

The Foundation — Understanding Your Students

For your online course to stand out and sell, you need to reverse engineer a clear path to your students’ goals. Then create a sense of adventure, so you give people what they NEED and also, what they DREAM of with your courses. 

This way, you’re not just an option for your students; you become a part of their everyday essentials, fueling their success and passions. 

When your online course becomes a ‘must-have’ rather than just ‘nice-to-have’, your course will thrive. 

Creating a Captivating Learning Adventure

You know how magazines used to have fun little quizzes that made the magazine experience interactive? We can do that with our courses, too! 

Instead of just lectures, include interactive case studies where students can make decisions and see real-time outcomes. Use quizzes that adapt based on their answers, or create branching scenarios where every choice leads to a different path in your online course. 

Remember those super fun and engaging “Choose Your Own Adventure” books where you got to act as the protagonist and make choices that determined the plot? Yeah, it’s kind of like that! 

You want to make learning so exciting that your students can’t wait to log in every day… just like you couldn’t wait to dive into that next adventure as a kid. 

Practical Application for Real-World Skills

You do this by crafting relevant assignments that allow them to practice what they’re learning in a real-life context. 

For instance, if you’re teaching an online course on entrepreneurship, have students create their one-year business plan and pitch them to you or their peers to get real-world, real-time feedback. 

Or, in a photography course, challenge them to a weekly photo assignment based on specific themes or techniques.

No matter what you teach — from marketing to horse training to corporate taxes — it’s critical that you keep your students engaged from the moment they hit the “enroll” button to crossing that finish line in your course… getting them the transformation you promised. 

Because when they get the transformation you promised — they’ll give you must-needed testimonials, join your next online course or program and refer their friends to you, too!

Building a Thriving Course Community

I always say, “Your course is a community.” Why? Because the power of community is immense when it comes to learning. It’s not just about the content — it’s about connection, growth and support. 

When students feel isolated, it’s easy for them to lose motivation and direction. But, in a community, they’re part of something bigger. They see others making progress — overcoming similar challenges — and that’s incredibly motivating. They think — “I want that, too!”

Your community is all about creating a space where everyone feels they belong and can share their journey… all while learning FROM each other.

And it starts with engagement… 

But how do you maintain engagement in your community throughout the entirety of your course? 

Think of it like a party.

Most people don’t show up UNTIL they’re invited. Online communities actually mirror the in-person environment. Most people don’t feel comfortable engaging until they’re invited!

So how do you do that?

First, you want to set the tone. Create a welcoming and inclusive environment. Encourage students to introduce themselves, share their goals and what excites them about the course. 

We have an introductory post in our private Experience Product Masterclass Facebook group…

This one post got over 1,100 comments, people sharing and getting to know one another. 

You’ll notice that I shared first. This is a great way to get the ball rolling and encourage sharing while starting to build that more personal relationship with your students.

Maintaining Engagement and Momentum

But don’t stop with your introductory post. You’ve got to keep the positive vibes and momentum going. 

So, schedule regular check-ins, maybe weekly or bi-weekly, where students can share their progress and challenges. This not only keeps them accountable but also allows for collective problem-solving and support. 

One way we do this is through dedicated weekly posts and hashtags. 

In our EPM community, we have 6 hashtags we specifically created for the program. These hashtags are mainly centered around mindset — like #ProgressOverPerfection and #BreakdownBeforeBreakthrough. 

We create dedicated posts using these hashtags and encourage students to share so they get the feedback, encouragement and support they need to overcome stuck points… and keep moving forward. 

Each of our coaches also has their own unique hashtags for their “pods” (pods are our student groups). After coaching calls, students are encouraged to share their biggest takeaways and add their pod’s hashtag. This not only encourages reflection and sharing, but it also builds a deeper sense of community and connection within each pod. Plus, these hashtags are searchable so our coaches can easily and quickly find their hashtags and engage with students right in the community. 

Think of the community aspect of your course as the “engagement” glue that holds everything together, so make it a key focus when creating your course. 

The Power of Personalization in Learning

Now, let’s turn our attention to one of the most crucial aspects of online courses today — personalization. 

Personalization is all about making each student feel like the course was made just for them. 

Before your online course even begins, get to know your students. Use a survey to discover more about them — their time constraints, learning styles, challenges, needs and goals. This isn’t just a questionnaire; it’s the first step in tailoring their learning journey. And if you have a live coaching aspect to your course, this is a great way to help you assign students to certain coaches. 

Let’s say you have a coach based in the UK and you have a handful of students in the same time zone — well, it might make sense to assign those students to that coach.

Coaching calls are often where the magic happens. Here, students can get specific feedback and support tailored to their unique situation. It’s a chance for them to ask questions, delve deeper into topics and get the personalized guidance they need.

Now, you might not be at the point where you have coaches, but I do recommend that you implement some type of coaching session in your program — it could be weekly, twice a month or even just once a month. This is a great way to address your students’ most burning questions and biggest sticking points. If you’re running your program solo (meaning there’s only one you to go around!), start by creating a poll with several time options and let your students vote on the best time. You can even have them rank the times.

This gives your students a voice, even if their first choice wasn’t the winner. They still feel heard and valued.

And, in our increasingly disconnected world, coaching is a great way to build that connection and long-lasting relationship — a relationship that could take them from this course to your next course or a longer group coaching program or mastermind.

Here’s the thing: no journey is never a straight line… there are so many ups and downs. Which are why surveys, community and coaching calls are a great way to catch issues before it’s too late. 

For instance, through your reachout efforts, you might find that a student’s original intention isn’t working out… and if they continue on this path, it’ll lead to nothing more than headaches and heartaches. 

But luckily, because you’re able to catch any issues, you’re there to help them pivot in time! 

You can be adaptable and responsive to their needs. Because you know their course journey isn’t set in stone… it’s a living, breathing adventure that adapts as they learn, discover, grow and implement. 

Microlearning — Adapting to Modern Learning Needs

In a world where everyone’s juggling a million things, the way we learn has to adapt. 

That’s where the beauty of microlearning comes in. Let me break down why ‘bite-sized is the new big’ and how it’s revolutionizing online learning:

In the Experience Product Masterclass (our signature 12-week program where you’ll validate, create, launch and successfully sell your very own Experience Product — get on the waitlist!), we pace our trainings to prevent the ‘dreaded information dump’. 

Why? 

Because when too much information is thrown at students all at once, it leads to overwhelm. Our brains can only process so much at a time. By breaking down complex topics into smaller, manageable chunks, we make learning more digestible and less daunting.

Let’s face it: attention spans aren’t what they used to be (thanks largely to that thing in your hand right now… your phone!). 

Microlearning caters to this reality. Shorter, more focused lessons fit perfectly into our busy lives. 

Students can learn during a coffee break, on their commute or in between meetings.

We have students who work full-time jobs while raising a family and are still successful in our programs because we’ve adapted to their reality. A reality that so many of your students also face. 

It’s about fitting education into your life, not the other way around.

Plus, when students aren’t overwhelmed, they’re more likely to absorb and remember what they’ve learned. 

Each bite-sized lesson is designed to deliver a single concept or skill, making it easier to understand and retain.

Microlearning allows for the immediate application of knowledge. 

Learn something today, use it today. 

This instant applicability reinforces learning and gives students a sense of progress and achievement.

Microlearning isn’t just a trend, it’s a response to the world we live in. It respects our time, our capacity and our need for flexibility. It’s about making learning a joy, not a chore.

Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Course Improvement

Now, let’s dive into the most overlooked aspect of creating a successful course… data-driven insights! 

Okay, I get it… data… ugh, right!?! But it’s super important to use data to react and adapt in real-time. 

You need to know what’s working and what isn’t.

And the easiest way to do that?

Go directly to the source by asking your students.

Use surveys and feedback forms at different stages of your course. This gives you firsthand insights into what’s working and what’s not.

You’ll also want to look at your course analytics. Which modules are most and least accessed? Where are students spending the most time? This tells you what’s grabbing their attention and where they might be getting stuck.

Analyzing results from quizzes and assignments can reveal a lot about comprehension and engagement levels. It helps you identify areas where students might need extra help or resources.

Monitoring your community can be a quick way to flag an issue and address it. What are the common questions or themes? This is a goldmine for understanding student concerns and interests.

If you do hold group coaching calls, you might notice that the same question keeps coming up over and over again. If that happens, return to the module that addresses this question — and any supplemental resources like templates or checklists — and see if there’s something missing or unclear. 

If you find that a module IS missing something, be open and honest and address it. Go ahead and clarify during your next coaching session or maybe even do a Facebook live in the group. 

Crafting Your Legacy as an Online Course Creator

So, there you have it… the top 5 strategies to transform your expertise into a course that not only attracts students but keeps them coming back for more.

Let’s do a quick recap…

To create a successful and long-lasting course that stands out in the most crowded online marketplace ever, you need to focus on:

1. Turning your course into an adventure
2. Adding an engaging community element
3. Personalizing your course so it evolves with your students
4. Turning lessons into easily digestible chunks and 
5. Evolving with data-driven insights…

Your journey to becoming a successful online course creator starts now. 

With these trends and opportunities, you’re not just creating a course; you’re creating a legacy. So, let’s turn that knowledge and passion into something phenomenal. You’ve got the vision; now let’s make it a reality!

If you found this helpful, drop me a comment with the trend you’re most excited about!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post 5 Key Trends & Opportunities in Online Course Creation [2024] appeared first on Live Your Message.

It took me A LOT of trial and error before I cracked the online course creation code and I want you to reach success so much faster than I did. This is why I thought I’d dive into the 10 “Anti-Experiences” that’ll quickly derail your success and what to do instead to attract, keep, and turn your perfect people into customers for life!

Check out the video or keep reading

Outdated Technique #1: Trying to Serve Too Many Masters

I also like to call this the “kitchen sink” approach.

Most traditional online courses and info products try to do way too much in an attempt to appeal to the widest audience possible.

They throw everything they know into one mammoth course… thinking that more content is better.

BUT when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one.

So while the “kitchen sink” approach works for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream… it’s a recipe for disaster for your online course.

When you overstuff with information, you fail to give your students a clear focus and purpose… which leaves them frustrated and exiting your course without finishing (and with a bitter taste in their mouth!).

This leads me to the #1 technique you want to implement in every course, product or program you create…

A Clear, Inspiring & Motivating Mission.

As humans, we love winning. Just think about what crossing a finish line feels like…

Now imagine creating a course that gives hundreds or even thousands of your students that feeling!

Pretty powerful, right?

But without that crystal clear vision of where the finish line is and exactly how to get there, most people won’t be motivated or inspired to continue or even start.

That’s why you need to give your students a mission that they can actually achieve, know that they can achieve and even the timeframe it’ll take to achieve.

To illustrate this, let me give you an example of the exact opposite…

Masterclass.com is a huge online education company. They have celebrity teachers with gorgeous productions.

But they don’t get this right.

Their trainings have absolutely no achievable mission.

For example, one course they have is: “Chris Hadfield Teaches Space Exploration”.

Okay, great?

After you buy this course, how do you know when you’ve crossed the finish line?

You won’t.

There is no finish line.

(The only thing I can think of is actually going into space… lol)

Now I know this may sound super sexy and you might be keen to check it out… but you’ll never get to say “Mission Accomplished!” and that’s soul-crushing for our motivation as humans.

So unless you’re the rare person that’s solely motivated by learning (with no need to apply) and has all the time in the world, this type of course will do very little for you.

And the same goes for your students!

The vast majority are buying your course for the transformation you can provide (NOT the information).

So, if you want them to get real results, your course mission needs to be framed around the single problem you solve and the specific experience they’re going to have in your course.

Try this prompt I give to my Experience Product Masterclass (EPM) students…

“Your mission — should you choose to accept it — is X.”

So what you want to do is fill in the “X” with the specific Mission of YOUR course.

The great thing about this fill-in-the-blank template is that it forces you to look at your course from your customer’s perspective. 

What’s THEIR mission? What EXACTLY are THEY saying yes to?

It’s not just what you want to teach or deliver, which is where most course creators go wrong BEFORE they even get started. It’s the result your students want in THEIR LIVES. And as a guide, you may want to think about the Core Solution you’ve already spent time on in our Micro-Niche Session. This can be a helpful starting place as you consider the answers to these questions. 

And ultimately your course mission will help them to reach the Future Self they’re hoping to become, which we’ll talk about more in Module 2.

So let’s look at the Mission of our EPM:  

Your mission — should you choose to accept it — is to validate, design, launch, and profit from an Experience Product in 12 weeks or less, so you can get off the marketing treadmill, make more sales, and have a bigger impact. 

And even better, you can use your Mission in your marketing materials to speak to and draw in your perfect people! 

Outdated Technique #2: The “How Hole”

Many online course creators focus solely on the HOW. But without a clear vision of where your students are going and what’s in it for them, they’ll have trouble motivating themselves to do the how and give up before they see any results.

That’s why creating a Future Self Vision WITH a clearly defined mission is key to student success (and your success as a course creator)!

Because in a world saturated with online courses (and with AI, it’s about to be even more crowded), your customer will make the choice to buy your course based on what they want their life to look like.

Remember, they’re buying transformation, not information!

And with so many course creators focusing on the HOW and overstuffing their courses with information, you can set yourself apart by creating a powerful and motivating vision that inspires your customers to take action.

Think of the “Future Self Vision” as the “why” behind your mission. It’s all about painting a clear picture for your students of what reaching Mission Accomplished will allow them to do and be and have.

Outdated Technique #3: Headlights in the Fog

If you’ve ever driven in the fog, you know how easy it is to get lost!

The same is true for your online course.

Studies show that if a user spends 4 seconds on an interface and can’t figure out what to do, they feel stupid and start to disengage emotionally.

So, without context and a clear path to follow, it’s super easy for your students to get lost in your course content and disengage.

They need to see where they are, where they’re going, and how they’re going to get there so they can relax and not feel like they’re trying to hold on for dear life.

That’s where a Bird’s Eye View comes in.

Your students will relax and perform best when they know where they are, where they’re going, and how they’re going to get there. So share a map of the terrain before you start.

Show them the system, process or framework for your online course.

Let me share an example from one of the most popular games in the world.

When Candy Crush detects that you haven’t made a move within a few seconds, it’ll start to show you a possible action by having that action glow. That “glowing choice” keeps the game moving, so players never lag or start to feel stupid.

The app actually shows you the next possible action if you don’t start to play!

When you use this technique in your online course and show your students a clear path to success, they’ll never feel lost, stupid, or embarrassed, which is the main reason for emotional disengagement.

And when students disengage, it’s almost impossible to get them to re-engage.

Outdated Technique #4: Chasing Your Tail

Many course creators set lofty goals for their students that take a long time to achieve. And in today’s world, no one has time for that! It’s super easy for people to get stuck in the process and give up.

People need to feel like they’re making progress… instead of just chasing their tail… forever.

This is where Constant Wins come into play!

With constant wins, you create a game your student can WIN. Build their confidence, motivation and positive emotions through small, easy wins that gradually escalate into big results.

And for inspiration, look to the biggest social media channels in the world.

When you post on Facebook or Instagram, within a few minutes, those little notifications start to flow in.

Like. Like. Like. WIN. WIN. WIN.

These little micro-rewards trigger the release of the “happy chemical” in your brain (aka dopamine).

And pretty soon, you find yourself posting more often and checking back constantly to see if someone has liked your stuff.

It’s quite the rush.

This system has been working for years.

So, why has the online education industry failed to adopt it?

It may be that you think social media is evil or that it’s not “educational” enough.

But what if you could adapt these same techniques and use them for good instead of evil?

You can!

By hijacking your students’ internal reward system and getting them to take action every single day to actually achieve a goal that’ll improve their lives.

So instead of having video after video with no end in sight and saving the “win” for just the very end of your course, you can reward your students after each and every action…keeping them fully engaged and motivated to keep going until the end.

Outdated Technique #5: “Everything Is Awesome”

Everything IS NOT always awesome so why are course creators pretending it is?

And when you say that everything in your course will be fast, simple and easy… you brush past potential challenges and leave your customers feeling unprepared, frustrated and self-judging when they inevitably hit a challenge.

(The BEST results take hard work!)

This leads me to the importance of Normalizing Challenges in your online course.

Changing your life and accomplishing big goals takes a lot of work and sometimes things don’t go as planned.

Prepare your customers for the challenges along the way, so they can take the speed bumps in stride and continue on their journey to mission accomplished.

So, for each and every single step in your course, ask yourself:

What are the challenges someone might have as they take this action?
What do they need to believe about themselves to be able to take this action?
What fears or self-doubts could kick in as they consider doing what you’re asking them to do?

When you address each of these challenges and name them, you “normalize” them for your students, which makes whatever feelings, challenges, or fears that come up OKAY for them. And when people know that they’re not alone in these challenges, they’ll start to feel less like they’re failing.

Outdated Technique #6: Mental Paralysis

Lectures don’t work in school and they don’t work in online courses!

Most online courses are based on an old-school concept of lecture or book learning.

Teaching to the head.

Babies don’t learn from a diagram. They learn by doing, trying, failing and getting up again.

And the same is true for your students!

That’s why you need to incorporate Peak Emotional Experiences in your online course.

By engaging your students emotionally, you’ll inspire them to get in and stay in action.

Create peak emotional experiences through multisensory language, story, pattern interrupts, curiosity and surprise.

Outdated Technique #7: Anonymity

This is one of the most prevalent mistakes and applies to not only online courses but every aspect of the customer journey.

When you treat your customers, clients and students like nameless, faceless masses, they don’t feel seen, heard or validated.

They don’t feel like their success matters, because you don’t know who they are.

But when you use Feedback Loops in your online course, you seek your student’s input often. Where possible, allow them to change your online course by going through it.

Your course adapts to them and they evolve the course through their participation.

Think of it kinda like one of those old-school “Choose Your Own Adventure” books!

Outdated Technique #8: Isolation

As humans, we’re naturally social creatures. And just because your course is entirely online, doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate an important social element.

I see far too many course creators expecting their students to cross the finish line while in total isolation during the entire course experience.

Forgetting to create opportunities for your customers, clients and students to interact and engage with each other leaves them feeling alone and unprepared for the monumental task ahead (hitting Mission-Accomplished!)

But when you add a Community Element you give your students a greater chance of success.

Build your community so it creates regular opportunities for interaction amongst your students. Give them the tools to lift each other up and keep them motivated and moving forward.

Because, as they say, A rising tide lifts all boats.

Check out my post on how to create an engaged Facebook community here.

Outdated Technique #9: Start & Stop

Many online courses create a start-and-stop pattern of learning and cause confusion.

Taking action and getting stuck.

Students never feel like they gain momentum. It just always feels hard.

This is why creating Unstoppable Momentum will help you get to the top of the highly competitive online course industry!

Because it’s not enough to win for the sake of winning. Your customers need to feel forward progress and momentum toward a greater mission.

The best video games increase the challenge by 25% per level and build towards a bigger win.

And the same is true for online courses! You want the first few wins in your course to be easy (for instance, giving them points for watching your welcome video) and progressively make them more challenging

Outdated Technique #10: Ending With a Whimper

One of my favorite quotes comes from T.S. Elliott…

“This is the way the world ends not with a bang but with a whimper.”

Most online courses just peter out and miss a huge opportunity to celebrate success and enroll customers in the next step.

This is such a huge missed opportunity that it makes my heart hurt!

You have so much more to give and when you don’t allow your students to continue on their journey with you, I truly feel you’re doing them a disservice.

But when you fully celebrate your students hitting Mission Accomplished and SHOW them the incredible future that’s possible when they continue with you, that’s when a sustainable, long-term business is born.

Human culture is based on celebrations (if you’ve ever been in Boston on Saint Paddy’s Day, you know what I mean and rites of passage.

People need to feel a sense of completion… hit that Mission-Accomplished they’ve been striving for.

They also want to know “What’s next? What’s the next challenge, opportunity or step in the journey?”

And if you’ve done your job (ie: incorporating all of these elements into your course), your students will want to continue on their journey with you and refer their friends!

There you have it, the 10 “anti-experiences” to avoid if you want to create a successful online course that gets real results for you and your students.

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

Download your copy today! 

The post Avoid These 10 Outdated Online Course Creation Techniques If You Want to Succeed in 2024 (Plus, What To Do Instead!) appeared first on Live Your Message.

Read the transcript below:

Hey, it looks like we’re live. Hey, everyone, let us know in the chat, whether you can see me dancing around like a monkey or whether you can’t just so I got a sense of this. And I don’t actually even have Facebook Open to see if you can see me and hear me on the online course creators Facebook group, which is where we’re having this. Fantastic, no worries, well, this is our first live, we’re going to be doing more of them over the next week or so. But I’m super stoked to just get in and start talking. So we can test all the tech and the back and forth. And you can jump on and you can ask me questions. And we can see all of that. All right. So Shannon, you wanted to set us up with the first questions. By the way, this is Shannon, she is our community manager and Social Media Manager here at Live Your Message and she’s been with us for a couple of years. And she’s absolutely awesome. And so, you know, some of the clever things that you might see were written by her, of course, a lot of them are written by me too. But between her and I and our team, we try to keep you fed with lots of great question that’s going to be valuable on your journey. Definitely say hi in the comments. So we can see them. We can start interacting, we can start engaging. And that’s what this is all about. Because these are the questions that you sent in and said, We’re your biggest course creation questions. So we wanted to take the time, the Saturday to address them. All right.

Speaker 2 1:28
Yes. So yes. Thanks for hopping on. And, yeah, we asked for your kind of most pressing course creation questions, and we got a lot of great, a lot of great questions. So we’re excited to kind of do this. So first, we have Julian, and she asked, What’s the single most underestimated aspect of online course creation, that can make or break it success?

Speaker 1 1:54
100%? And that’s a great question, Julian. And what I would say is that most people would say that it’s the marketing, but I don’t actually believe that’s the case. Because everybody knows, they gotta market and sell their online courses. And I’ve got a lot of great strategies to make marketing and selling your course, as simple as possible. Even if you don’t have an email list, even if you don’t have a following, even if you don’t want to do any fancy marketing campaigns. But I think the thing that people underestimate the most, is what it actually takes to get someone a result. Does that make sense? I think it’s actually harder to support someone in making a major life change than it is to get someone to give you their money. So what I mean by that is that someone paying you money to join your online course, is just the beginning of their journey with you. And your reputation, your future sales, your business success, all the testimonials and refuse and repeat sales depend on you and your ability to get someone engaged and deliver the result that you promise. And I think a lot of people go into course creation, because they just love something right, or you’ve got knowledge or you’ve got expertise, you’ve got a passion, or you’ve got some life experience, you want to share you want to help you want to teach. And, you know, there’s a difference between having all of that, and actually delivering that result to somebody else, if that makes sense. And the good news is that a lot of times the people with the biggest depth of experience, and the most, you know, rich knowledge are not so good at translating that knowledge to be accessible to someone else, not just intellectually, but to translate it into doable steps, and then motivating someone to take action. And that’s really been a huge focus of mine is creating, not just regular online courses, but experienced products that drive people to life changing action. And recently actually took a step back, and I calculated, and I realized, oh my goodness, I’ve actually inspired over 500,000 hours of life changing human action through my courses and through my programs. And I’m more proud of that number than the 10s of millions of dollars I’ve made. And you know, all the people that I’ve helped, because it’s really about not just getting people to pay me money, but delivering a result that’s at least two to five times, if not 10 times the value of what someone invested in me. So let me know in the chat, if that’s making sense, because I think this is the thing that people underestimate. You know, they create a course They even sell the course. But then once you get real people in your course, how do you actually completely rocked their world. And you can rock the world around doing simple things like learning how to play the guitar, learning how to bake French pastries, and we’ve had students teach both of those things. You could also rock the world around learning say English as a second language or around finding their soulmate, or around learning how to meditate or grow their business. There’s so many ways that you can just elevate someone’s life whether you’re giving them a little bit of happiness and pleasure in the moment or whether you’re helping them completely change the course of their future. Sure. So that’s really what people are paying for these days, especially as so many courses are flooding the market. And people are generating content on AI With a couple clicks of the keyboard. So what matters these days is not information. It’s not the transfer of information and knowledge because people expect that to be free over on Google and chat, GPT and YouTube. But what they want to pay you money for, is actually getting them that specific result or transformation, which is why that’s as important as anything else. And I would argue, the reason that I’ve grown my business year after year after year after year since I started 12 years ago, isn’t just because I’ve become a better marketer, right? Or I’ve got great ideas. Those two things are true. But it’s because I’ve got an almost obsessive commitment to my students, and giving everything I can I’m doing everything that I can to support you on your journey, versus just trying to build a business with online courses. And I always love this quote by Zig Ziglar, that you can have everything in life you want, if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want. And I feel like that narrative, that conversation is the conversation that’s not being had in this industry. A lot of people are talking about how to make money with courses, but not a lot of people are talking about how do you do well, by doing good? All right, over to you, Shannon.

Speaker 2 6:30
I love that. Okay. So then we have Don, he wants to know what courses are the most popular and who are buying these courses.

Speaker 1 6:42
Beautiful, beautiful. So you may have seen me post my 20 most profitable online course mega niches. Right. And I think I can share my screen to kind of show you this really quickly. Or at least a little snapshot of this. But let me see if I can do this really quickly. Yeah, I think I see the button to do it right now. This is our very first Facebook Live for a lot of money. So we got to get used to doing all the different things again, as well. And Shannon just dropped it in the chat. Okay, Shannon just dropped the link into the chat. And I am going to go ahead and click on the right tab. Okay, here it is. Boom. So this is the 20 most profitable online question recognition. And I think you can see it here on the screen right now. And inside you’ll find all 20. But as you can see, it’s things like health and wellness, health and wellness is one of four what I call mega mega niche, right. In addition to health and wellness, wellness, I would say business and career and is another really big one. And then so is personal development. And so as love and relationship, those are the four biggest. But that doesn’t mean you need to be in one of the four biggest if you’re in any of these 20 including something much smaller, like style and beauty, you can be successful, because these are the kinds of topics that people are buying these 20 Mega niches, of course, have a lot of micro niches within them. And these are just a few examples of some of those micro niches and there are literally hundreds of examples, even 1000s within each mega niche that you can be profitable in. So I would say start with the mechanische category. And then you want to drill down into the micro niche or your specific topic within this larger bucket. And that’s actually what I help you do in our upcoming crack your course idea challenge which I only deliver live for free once a year. So you’re definitely gonna want to take part in that because I’m going to help you make that leap from what is the big bucket to what is that much smaller topic within. And a lot of people don’t get nearly focused enough, because here’s the thing. I mean, there’s a bazillion people who have weight loss courses, am I right? Like a lot of people in health and wellness working on weight loss. But if your approach to weight loss is for example, through ketosis, that is different. It’s not just a generic weight loss program, right? Or maybe your weight loss technique is using something from the Navy SEALs. I’m just giving you example or your famous like beauty pageants contest it and you had a weight loss routine that you follow to be able to stay on stage. Do you see all of those are different angles that you can bring to your course to make, to inspire people to buy them and to differentiate yourself? Now in terms of who are buying online courses. I would argue that the whole world is buying online courses. This is a billion dollar a day industry and within the next next decade, people anticipate it to be a trillion dollar industry. Make sense? So it’s gonna go from like $365 billion right now to a trillion dollars in about a decade. And I would argue that the lion’s share of all learning in the future is going to happen on line, whether it’s more kind of traditional education, childhood education, elementary school, high school, college, post secondary school, whatever that happens to be, whether it’s education within corporate, to onboard and rescale and upskill people, whether it’s elective education for adults who want to develop a new skill set, you know, in their lives, whatever it happens to be. There’s all kinds of online education. So there’s so many applications. I’ve got students who are working with government agencies, you know, one of my experience product masterclass grads, Brian Hirsch is doing courses inside of governmental agencies to help them develop their Agile Scrum capability for that particular kind of project management. You see, so there’s so many applications, there are giant buyers, like huge corporations, my student, Francois Swaro, sold 120 license of Outlook like a pro course, into just one corporation. And then you’ve got individual buyers, you know, ranging from people in their teens to people in their 80s and 90s. It’s really across the spectrum. This is like a cradle to cradle industry, where all kinds of people in all demographics in all countries around the world are investing in online courses. So you got to start with that big mechanische. And just, you can download this for free this guide, and then you narrow down into the specific micro niche. And we get even more specific than what you see here. In the crack your course idea challenge will help you come up with what I call your core solution. This is the micro niche, but then you want to go a layer down even more, get to the core solution, then match that solution to your target audience or who’s going to buy it. And I’ll give you seven criteria to do that. seven things you want to make sure that you’re doing to sell these things line up that you’re actually creating something for an audience who wants to buy it. Okay. And then we’re even going to work on the promise of what your course is all about, which is the selling proposition. All right. So definitely, definitely join us there.

Speaker 2 12:05
Awesome. Yes. So I’ve dropped the link to join the challenge in the chat. So make sure after this, you sign up, and we’ll see you on Wednesday. Oh, let’s see.

Unknown Speaker 12:19
Sorry. I wanted to remove the mega Nice.

Speaker 2 12:24
You’re back. We’re working out the kinks right now.

Speaker 1 12:30
Yes, this is our test Facebook Live. So thank you, for everyone who’s engaging with us. And, you know, someone wrote makes sense, need them to get results. And I think there’s a little trick that people actually have to do in order to be able to, for us to see their names here. Yeah. Is that right? What does it

Speaker 2 12:47
have to do? Um, let me drop that.

Speaker 1 12:52
You have to actually do something Chad’s gonna drop in, I don’t know what that is.

Speaker 2 12:57
It takes, it’s just as letting stream yard see Facebook Live Comments so that we can see that see your name. Two seconds,

Speaker 1 13:07
we can see your comments now, but they’re not attached to names. So if you actually click this link, then you can kind of authorize Facebook to pass over your name. So our streaming technology can see it. So let’s keep going. Let’s answer some more questions. Yeah,

Speaker 2 13:24
got some good ones here. Okay, so we’ve got a great question from Mengele who wants to know, what’s the best way to start selling a course? Are there any first steps to take

Speaker 1 13:35
100%. So the best way to start selling a course is actually before you create the course. Okay. And the reason why I say that is a lot of people spend a lot of time in total isolation, sometimes six months or a year, recording everything, versus pre validating your idea with your market ahead of time. And that’s super dangerous, because you could run the risk of creating the wrong thing. And if you can imagine all that time and all that effort, and then someone doesn’t want what you have to offer. So I recommend before you get too attached for a particular idea that you actually go out there, and you validate that idea with real people. And I gotta grab something. Well, I’ve got all of my, my teaching models next to me, so I can pull out the right model. The right time here. So yeah, here it is. So oops, that’s the wrong one. Yes, here it is. Okay. I had my housekeeper come yesterday. So this is your circle of influence. And I’ve got a newer version of this, I gotta get printed. But you want to start towards the center of your circle of influence with friends, associates and friends of friends, because marketing is easier over here, right? And a lot of people start to try to go out with like cold traffic and total strangers and other people’s audiences. But the thing is, the farther out you go from the center of your circle of influence, the more you have to have your idea and your marketing completely dialed in. Before anyone’s gonna give you the time of day. So I say use your the center of your circle of influence to just dial in that idea, before you start to make it and get pre sales. And this is actually the process that I teach. In my experience product masterclass. It’s this kind of center loop, I call it the rapid success loop, where they really take this minimum viable product approach, and you launch it with the core amount of information you need for someone to say, yes, you get the pre sales, and then you get paid, which is awesome, you get paid to create your course. And that, honestly, is not only a risk free way to do it, because you already have the money in the door before you build everything. But it also lights a fire under you to get it done. Because what I find is that without that constraint, where you’ve got a deadline to deliver to somebody, many people spend six to 12 months creating something, right, but what you know, you got to ship something, the next week, you just get it done. And a lot of times, it’s just as good as it would have been if you had agonized it over a long time. Plus, I do recommend a lot of times the first time you deliver something you don’t pre record at all, if you’re comfortable going on a live zoom, and then you can see the chat going as you deliver your content. And you could do this over a whole series of zooms, you don’t have to do it all at once, then you actually start to see what did people resonate with? And what do people not resonate with? And then you can use that to adjust and to adapt and realize things that you thought were clear, aren’t clear, or things that you thought were important people don’t care about? Or things that you didn’t think were important people like, where is this thing? How do I know this thing? You know, there’s a lot of questions that people have for me that I’m like, I didn’t think this was a big deal, this particular question, right, but then everyone needs to know that before they can move on. So I iterated my course over and over again, like this. And before I went and pre recorded and made that investment, because it’s a huge time investment, and money investment. I didn’t do this more minimum viable product approach. And now once I’ve dialed in and kind of got the thing in the can and the fancier, you know, in a fancier way, people were like, wow, it’s like you’re reading my mind step by step. Like, that’s not an accident. It’s because I did something in this minimum viable way first, so I could get that feedback. And the amazing thing is, is that first group of students, I still have a close relationship with a lot of them because, you know, you think it might not be an advantage, but they get so much more viewed, they get more access, and there’s this energy of being on the ground floor of something as it’s being created. That’s super fun and super engaging. So a lot of times when something is less perfect, and it’s less polished, and people feel like they’re participating in the creation of it, it’s actually a huge advantage, it’s benefit that no one’s going to have in the future. So these early students get more access to you, there’s an energy of it. And people love that. So this is the approach that I teach my students in the experience product master class, and it really helps them step into their course, get it out, use their center of influence to sell their first copy is because I believe that every single person has, you know, you know enough people already, no matter who you are, how introverted you are, how antisocial you are, where in the world you live, no matter all that you’ve encountered enough people over the course of your life that you can get in touch with in some way, shape, or form, whether it’s, you know, you’ve got them on your phone, and you can text them or you can call them whether you’re connected on social, whether you have a mutual friend who can reintroduce you, you’ve got enough people who you have encountered over the course of your life, to launch profitably, at least, you know, a couple of times, right, and it take your business probably to about $100,000 a year mark if your idea is dialed in, which is why you want to join the crack your course idea challenge, because if your ideas dialed in, nope, even your best friends ain’t gonna buy this, right. So if your idea is dialed in, you got enough people that you’re already connected with to reach that $100,000 level. And then once you do that, you got more money to invest in things like traffic, you know, ads, things like that. But a lot of times what happens is people invest in all those things, they don’t have a dialed in idea, they just waste or lose that money, right? And then it becomes a really expensive, challenging proposition. And so I’ve got approaches in campaigns to help you tap into resources that you already have to sell your course to deliver your course and to do it as quickly and easily as possible. Yeah, and I’m going to be teaching a whole bunch of stuff right now like the challenge and the magazine PDF. I’m going to give you a lot that’s going to help you you know take some of these ideas and get going with them.

Speaker 2 19:49
Awesome. All right. So next we have Okay, so we got this question from Bruce and I thought it was just absolutely speak to our current times of AI, I guess how much influenced or damaged Do you think AI programs like chat GPT, Jasper and others are going to have on online courses and the upcoming foreseeable future? And how do you think it’s going to affect the marketplace and students and clients trust and desire to participate going forward?

Speaker 1 20:21
Yeah, well, those are two questions are going to put the trust question aside for a moment and just talk about the impact of AI first. So AI is going to exacerbate something that’s already been happening, which is the devaluation of knowledge and information. You know, already, people feel like they can find almost anything they want to know for free on YouTube, you know, or on Google, or even in chat GPT right now, like, you can type in almost anything and find free content, am I right? And the creators on YouTube get paid because of advertising dollars. So you don’t even have to pay for it, they still find a model in order for those people to get paid. So if you’re trying to pay for the same thing, or sorry, get if you’re trying to get someone to pay you for the same stuff that they’re going to be able to find for free in YouTube, or chat GPT, or whatever it happens to be, they’re not going to do it. And even if your courses a bit better, because it kind of lays it out, they don’t have to cobble it together between different videos, it’s still not enough to have people forking over large amounts of money. So you have to differentiate by giving people things they can’t get for free, it doesn’t mean there’s no information or knowledge transfer within your course or program. It just means that you don’t stop at information and knowledge transfer, you add on what I call the experience formula, and the experiential elements, right, I have a whole formula that I’m going to be teaching you in an upcoming workshop, you add these 10 core experiences, you avoid these 10 Anti experiences. So what you do is you’re creating an experiential course, right, where there’s feedback loops, people feel like they’re part of a process. And sometimes you gotta go beyond just pre recorded, you know, automated content as well, that’s sort of evergreen content that you pay 50 bucks for whatever $100 for, and then people just, you know, go through it on their own, I think a lot of that industry will be impacted. You know, for example, masterclass.com, a huge training company, they charge $10 for 180 courses, and they’ve had to do two rounds of layoffs in the last year. Because that kind of course, that’s just a bunch of knowledge and information that’s not actionable, that isn’t designed to get someone a particular result, or solve a particular problem, or whatever it happens to be, those kinds of courses are going to start becoming completely free, you know, that the course is where you actually take people step by step through a process to get them a specific result or help them overcome a challenge or help them feel something new, or do something new or achieve something that they couldn’t have done on their own. That goes also goes beyond information. And that is experiential, that’s still going to work. I mean, I’ve got people investing up to $20,000, to join me for a five day workshops these day in person, right on location in places like Lake Como. Okay, so I have people investing $20,000, and we get huge projects done in that timeframe. So that kind of experience, premium experience, those ones are still going to be super valid, you know, when you’re able to help someone complete something really big and really important to them. And actually, it doesn’t even have to be big important. It could be small and frivolous, right? It doesn’t really matter. But that it’s tangible, it’s concrete, right? It’s something specific, those are still going to be around for a long time. And the more fun you make it and the more engaging you make it and the more two way you make it, even if your topic is serious, even if you’re in a professional environment, the better it’s going to be. So the way that I’ve been teaching courses since 2016, for the last six, seven years. And I gotta tell you, when I first started teaching experiential courses, everyone thought I was crazy. Like, why go through all that effort to create experiences when you can just like give people a bunch of information and have them pay you a lot of money for it? I was like, Yeah, I don’t think this is enough. Because if information alone were to change our lives, we’d all be living in Google topia. And all the information at our fingertips alone has not allowed us to have everything we want in our lives. So if that’s the case, we gotta go beyond information. Right? So I’ve been saying this since 2016. And now the market is starting to catch up. So I think it’s less that the market for online education is going away because as I said earlier, it’s going to be a trillion dollar a year industry within a decade. It’s already over a billion dollars a day, right right now. So clearly people are investing in online education? The question is, what kind of online education are they investing in? Right? Not the kind of courses that are being pumped out by AI. Now, here’s the thing, AI can still contribute, and help brainstorm and help you create content for your course. But you can’t just say, alright, AI, push a button, you know, course done, give me 1000 bucks, like, that’s not going to fly anymore, right? So you can still use AI as a tool for the brainstorming content creation capacity to support you and getting your experience product done faster and easier. But you need to take it up a notch by delivering things that people can’t already find for free on chat. GPT on YouTube, on Google.

Speaker 2 25:54
Okay, so, um, okay, that’s awesome. That’s exciting. The opportunity just, you know, help to help transform people’s lives. And Synergia asks, What’s the best way to structure an online course?

Speaker 1 26:11
Yeah. So the way that I teach online courses, which is all about people saying yes to a mission, which is one specific problem, or solution that you deliver, you solve or deliver through your course, all the way across the finish line, the mission accomplished, and create what I call unstoppable momentum along the way, is that the way you structure a course, isn’t necessarily linear and logical. So a lot of people say, Okay, you start with the first step, you go to the second, you go to the third, but the problem is, is that a lot of times, the first step is really boring, right? Or it’s challenging. And if you start there, you’re gonna lose people before they’ve gained any momentum whatsoever. So I’m gonna give you an example, one of my students was creating a course on how to get your music licensed on television, in movies, right. And so the very first step that he had in the course, was a logical step, it was to go out and like, fill in some applications on these different, you know, studio websites to become eligible to submit your music. So he was asking, you know, creative musicians to do a bunch of paperwork as the first step. And so logically, that makes sense. But you are not creating courses for artificial intelligence. You’re creating courses for humans. So I recommend having the first step really in to structure your course in a motivational way, which is how do you ramp people up to small steps, simple steps to larger steps, right, small steps, small wins larger steps in larger wins, so you escalate them, and you build someone’s clarity and confidence and capacity along the way. Because you want to give people challenge can measure it with their skill, right? Something that anyone can do. So you want to start getting this kind of action, reward cycle going and having people build momentum. And this is all stuff I’m going to be talking about over the next week or two in my challenge in my online course creators workshop series. I do all of this for free once a year. Right? And we have like 55,000 people registered last year. So a lot of people come to learn, and I just give as much as I possibly can. Many of them continue on and take my experience product masterclass. But even if you just listen to all the free content, you’ll get a massive, massive amount of value. Okay? So really, what you want to think about is how do you make that first step and reinforce the core promise or mission. So back to that music example, I suggested because he was having a lot of drop off, that instead of how people go fill out paperwork, that instead, what he do is actually have people create their dream 50 list of the 50 TV shows that they would just be thrilled to be on that being on a single one of them would be a huge win and make the entire investment worthwhile. Okay. So what that was doing is when people did that anyone could do it because I said go a step further. Give them everything they need. They don’t have to go and do research and figuring out well what TV shows accept submissions compiled a complete comprehensive list of all the TV shows that accept submission by genre, so all people have to do is go boop, boop, boop, boop, all of a sudden, boom, here’s my dream. 50 now they’ve got a vision that they’re working for. And every time they put a name on the list, it’s like Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, possibility, possibility, possibility, possibility. So the finish line of actually getting a song on accepted to a TV show. It’s like always there as a carrot being held up before them. Can you see the difference between the two? So so many people start to structure the course logically, or linearly versus motivationally. And I’m kind of an a super geek, where I’ve studied kind of things like behavioral design, how do you get people inspired to take action? And a lot of people Most people think of what’s called function focus design, you know, that’s that you do this and this and this versus human focus design of understanding that no, you no plan survives contact with the customer. No course survives contact with the customer. And you got to understand that people are busy, they’re conflicted, they’ve got fears, they’ve got doubts they’ve tried and they failed to get before. And so what do you need to give them to really ramp them up? And I got a lot of models for this that I teach. But that’s kind of the core concept in terms of how to structure your course, which is very different than what most people say, like, write five modules, and then boom, boom, boom, yeah, yes. And there’s more to it than that. If you really want to deliver the transformation, build an incredible reputation, how people referring their friends, and signing up to work with you over and over again.

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

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You need to do things differently.

Enter the Dopamine Button — the super-secret button in your students’ brains that you can leverage to create incredible results for them AND repeat sales for you.

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The post Your Most Pressing Online Course Creation Questions Answered (Honest & Unedited) appeared first on Live Your Message.

But, good news…

I’ve done the heavy lifting for you.

Whether you’re an educator aiming to connect with students or a business looking for robust training platforms, in this post I’ve rounded up the top 10 options, highlighting their key features and standout points.

Ready to find your match?

Let’s dive right in.

1. Kajabi

Kajabi isn’t just another course creation tool…

Think of it as the multi-tool you wish you’d had during every DIY project. From designing your course to dishing out marketing strategies, Kajabi’s got your back.

Three Standout Features of Kajabi

• Integrated Marketing Tools: Remember the days of trying to juggle multiple tools? Those are behind you. Kajabi simplifies things with its integrated marketing suite — everything from email campaigns to jaw-dropping landing pages.
• Pipelines: Crafting a customer journey is like directing an epic saga, and with Pipelines, you’re in the director’s chair. A drag-and-drop interface, and your sales narrative is good to go.
• Customizable Website Themes: No more settling for generic. Kajabi lets you inject personality into your site, ensuring your brand stands out just the way you envisioned.

Two Ways Kajabi Differs From the Competition

• One-stop Platform: While other platforms might leave you feeling like something’s missing, Kajabi serves up the whole package. Course creation, marketing, and sales? It’s all there.
• Community Building: Learning’s more fun together. Kajabi doesn’t just stop at courses; it offers tools to set up membership sites and community forums, turning your platform into a buzzing hub of activity.

Who Should Use Kajabi?

If you’ve got a burning desire to not only craft stellar courses but also spread the word and see the cash flow in, Kajabi’s your best bet.

From newbies to seasoned pros, it’s designed for anyone ready to level up their course game.

2. Xperiencify

When diving into the world of course creation, having a flashy toolkit matters, and Xperiencify is like that shiny new toy you just can’t wait to show off.

It’s more than just a course builder; it’s the backstage pass to the concert of course creation stardom.

Three Standout Features of Xperiencify

• Engagement Tools: Xperiencify is designed to keep students hooked. With gamification elements, drip content and dynamic progression, it’s tailored to boost course completion rates.
• Video Customization: This platform allows creators to add overlays, interactive elements and even quizzes within their videos, making content more interactive and engaging.
• Robust Analytics: To understand student behavior and preferences, Xperiencify offers deep insights through its analytics dashboard. Track progress, identify drop-off points and refine your content for better outcomes.

Two Ways Xperiencify Differs From the Competition

• Course Gamification: While many platforms offer basic gamification tools, Xperiencify takes it to another level. Their tools are designed to make learning addictive, encouraging students to keep coming back.
• Dynamic Student Pathways: Xperiencify stands out with its capability to offer varied learning pathways based on student choices, ensuring a personalized learning experience.

Who Should Use Xperiencify?

Ready to make your students sit up and pay attention? Xperiencify is the go-to for those aiming to sprinkle some magic on their courses.

With its focus on keeping learners riveted, it’s the pick for creators serious about student engagement and completion.

3. Moodle

Moodle is course creation software that brings classic education into the 21st century.

It’s the granddaddy of Learning Management Systems (LMS), but don’t let its age fool you — it’s got a trick or two up its sleeve.

Three Standout Features of Moodle

• Open-Source Flexibility: Moodle’s primary strength lies in its open-source nature. This means organizations and institutions can customize it to their heart’s content, tailoring the platform to specific needs.
• Extensive Plugin Library: With a vast repository of plugins, users can enhance functionality and introduce new features seamlessly, allowing for a modular and scalable approach to course creation.
• Collaborative Tools: Moodle emphasizes collaborative learning. From forums and wikis to glossaries and databases, it offers diverse tools for students to learn and engage together.

Two Ways Moodle Differs From the Competition

• Community-driven Development: Moodle’s improvements and updates are often driven by its active global community, ensuring that the platform is always evolving based on real educational needs.
• Deep Integration Capabilities: Moodle can integrate with countless other systems and tools, from student information systems to plagiarism detection tools, making it a comprehensive solution for educational institutions.

Who Should Use Moodle?

If you’re aiming to blend tradition with innovation, Moodle’s a good option.

Ideal for educators who believe in collaborative learning and want a platform that’s moldable like clay, Moodle is especially suited for institutions and organizations looking to scale and adapt their online learning environment.

4. Thinkific

Dive into the world of course creation, and you’re bound to bump into Thinkific pretty quickly.

It’s like finding that trendy café everyone’s been raving about — stylish, functional and serves up a mean cup of coffee (or course in this case).

Three Standout Features of Thinkific

• Drag-and-Drop Builder: Simplicity is at the core of Thinkific. With its intuitive drag-and-drop course builder, even those without a techy bone in their body can whip up an impressive online course.
• Integrated Sales & Marketing: Right from building a custom landing page to launching marketing campaigns, Thinkific offers tools to help creators promote their courses and keep the cash register ringing.
• Membership & Community Features: Beyond just courses, Thinkific allows creators to build membership sites, fostering a sense of community and ongoing engagement among learners.

Two Ways Thinkific Differs From the Competition

• Complete Branding Control: Thinkific offers creators the ability to customize their online school to fully reflect their brand. It’s not just a touch of personalization; it’s a full makeover.
• Zero Transaction Fees: Unlike some competitors, Thinkific doesn’t take a cut from course sales, which means creators get to pocket every dime they earn.

Who Should Use Thinkific?

If you’ve been on the hunt for a platform where style meets substance, Thinkific might just be your match made in course creation heaven.

Tailored for those who love simplicity but don’t want to skimp on features, it’s a top pick for solo creators, entrepreneurs and businesses keen on building a holistic learning ecosystem.

5. Teachable

Navigating the e-learning world can feel like wandering through a maze, but with Teachable, it’s like suddenly getting a map, a compass and a tour guide all in one.

As one of the big players in the course creation field, Teachable doesn’t just set the bar — sometimes it is the bar.

Three Standout Features of Teachable

• User-Friendly Interface: Teachable prides itself on its simplicity. Even those fresh to the digital realm can effortlessly craft courses that look and feel professional.
• Integrated Payment Processing: No more external payment gateway hassles. Teachable streamlines the process with built-in payment options, making transactions smooth for both creators and students.
• Comprehensive Student Insights: Understanding student progress and areas of improvement is crucial. Teachable’s analytics dashboard offers a deep dive into student data, allowing creators to refine and adapt their content accordingly.

Two Ways Teachable Differs From the Competition

• Powerful Sales Pages: Teachable offers an easy-to-use yet robust page editor, enabling creators to design compelling sales pages that convert visitors into paying students.
• Course Compliance: The platform comes with a unique feature that ensures students consume course content in a specific order, which is invaluable for courses that require sequential learning.

Who Should Use Teachable?

For those on the lookout for a platform that’s easy to get the hang of but doesn’t compromise on depth, Teachable is a clear front-runner.

It’s perfect for the passionate educator, the budding entrepreneur, or frankly, anyone who believes in delivering top-notch e-learning experiences without the tech-induced headaches.

6. LearnDash

Stepping into the course creation space might feel daunting, but with LearnDash, it’s kind of like having an expert friend guiding you by the hand.

Widely recognized in the e-learning community, LearnDash is a seasoned pro when it comes to LMS.

Three Standout Features of LearnDash

• Focus Mode: LearnDash introduces a unique learning environment called “Focus Mode,” which minimizes distractions, helping students zero in on the content and maximize retention.
• Advanced Quizzing: With options ranging from single answer questions to drag-and-drop statements, LearnDash’s quizzing capabilities are both versatile and robust, perfect for evaluating student comprehension.
• Dynamic Content Delivery: The platform’s drip-feed content feature allows creators to schedule lessons and topics to be accessible to students over time, maintaining engagement and pacing the learning experience.

Two Ways LearnDash Differs From the Competition

• Course Points System: Learners can earn points as they complete courses, which can then be used to unlock new content. It’s an inventive approach to gamifying the learning process.
• Assignment Management: Not just about videos and quizzes, LearnDash enables creators to assign and manage student assignments, fostering a more interactive and comprehensive learning journey.

Who Should Use LearnDash?

For those who value a blend of powerful features with user-friendly navigation, LearnDash is a treasure trove.

It’s a favorite among academic institutions, training organizations and professionals keen on delivering a structured and enriching learning experience, all while keeping things spick and span.

7. Podia

If the digital course universe was a bustling market, Podia would be that vibrant stall drawing crowds with its unique offerings and charming displays.

It’s not just about courses either…

Podia brings to the table a bouquet of tools for the modern digital creator.

Three Standout Features of Podia

• All-in-One Platform: Podia goes beyond course creation. It’s a one-stop shop that caters to webinars, memberships and even digital downloads, streamlining multiple revenue streams for creators.
• No Transaction Fees: The joy of earning from your course shouldn’t be dampened by deductions. Podia ensures creators get the full fruit of their labor by not charging any transaction fees.
• Live Chat Support: Building and selling can be a journey with questions. Podia’s live chat ensures that any hiccups or queries creators have are addressed promptly.

Two Ways Podia Differs From the Competition

• Email Marketing Built-In: While many platforms integrate with email services, Podia comes with its own built-in email marketing tool. From newsletters to drip campaigns, it’s all there under one roof.
• Pre-launch Product Pages: Creators can test the waters before diving in. Podia allows the setting up of product pages before launch, helping gauge interest and build anticipation.

Who Should Use Podia?

If you’re on the lookout for a canvas where you can paint not just courses but a plethora of digital products, Podia is a smart option.

Tailored for creators who wear multiple hats — be it educator, influencer or entrepreneur — Podia shines for those who love versatility without getting bogged down by complexity.

8. LifterLMS

Imagine strolling into the e-learning world and being handed a Swiss Army knife. That’s LifterLMS.

It’s not just about wielding a single tool, but having a plethora of them at your disposal, ensuring you’re always ready, no matter the task.

Three Standout Features of LifterLMS

• Deep Integration with WordPress: Built for WordPress enthusiasts, LifterLMS seamlessly integrates with the platform, allowing for easy site and course management within a familiar ecosystem.
• Customizable Access Plans: Whether it’s a one-time purchase, a subscription or free access, LifterLMS offers diverse access plans, granting flexibility in how content is monetized.
• Engagement Boosters: LifterLMS believes in interactive learning. With features like achievement badges, certificates and personalized emails, the platform ensures students are consistently engaged and motivated.

Two Ways LifterLMS Differs From the Competition

• Personalized Learning Paths: With LifterLMS, courses can be tailor-made based on a student’s actions or performance, ensuring a more catered and adaptive learning experience.
• Private Coaching Upsells: Unique to the platform, LifterLMS offers a feature where creators can sell private coaching sessions as an upsell, adding a personal touch to the e-learning journey.

C. Who Should Use LifterLMS?

Anyone who’s charmed by the familiarity of WordPress and dreams of crafting a course that’s as engaging as it’s educational will find a kindred spirit in LifterLMS.

It’s particularly geared towards those who relish control and personalization, and want an LMS that feels like an extension of their WordPress toolbox.

9. Udemy for Business

Wandering through the maze of e-learning solutions, you might be searching for that one platform that feels like the bustling hub of a city.

Enter Udemy for Business, a space where course creation meets a vast marketplace, bustling with eager learners from all walks of life.

Three Standout Features of Udemy for Business

• Expansive Content Library: Udemy, known for its robust course offerings, ensures businesses access a curated collection of top courses, spanning various professional topics.
• In-depth Analytics & Reporting: Knowledge is power, and Udemy for Business provides detailed insights about learner activity, progress and course completions, empowering organizations to track and refine their training initiatives.
• International Reach: With courses available in multiple languages and featuring global content, Udemy for Business is geared to serve a multicultural and diverse workforce.

Two Ways Udemy for Business Differs From the Competition

• Marketplace Advantage: Udemy’s vast marketplace means courses created for business can potentially tap into a broader audience, reaching beyond just a confined corporate environment.
• Expert-Led Content: The platform boasts content created by leading industry experts and real-world practitioners, ensuring courses are not just informative but also practically relevant.

Who Should Use Udemy for Business?

Those who see the allure of having a vast marketplace at their fingertips, coupled with curated, expert-led courses, will find Udemy for Business to be a rich repository.

It’s especially suited for businesses aiming to offer employees a blend of proprietary training and access to a world of external expertise.

10. TalentLMS

Embarking on the e-learning journey, especially from a corporate perspective, often feels like scouting for the best training camp.

TalentLMS is like discovering a state-of-the-art training facility, where everything is designed with precision and the aim to nurture and develop talent to its fullest potential.

Three Standout Features of TalentLMS

• Customizable & Scalable: TalentLMS is designed to grow with businesses. Whether it’s a small team or a massive corporation, the platform adjusts seamlessly, ensuring the training experience remains consistent.
• Blended Learning Capabilities: It’s not just about digital. TalentLMS appreciates the value of face-to-face sessions, integrating physical training events with its online modules.
• Gamification Tools: Keeping learners engaged can be challenging. TalentLMS incorporates gamified elements like points, badges and leaderboards to boost motivation and foster a competitive yet fun learning environment.

Two Ways TalentLMS Differs From the Competition

• Course Marketplace: Apart from creating bespoke courses, businesses can dive into TalentLMS’s course marketplace to purchase pre-made courses, tapping into a reservoir of expertise.
• Offline Learning: Recognizing that connectivity can be a hurdle, TalentLMS offers an offline mode, ensuring learning continuity even without an internet connection.

Who Should Use TalentLMS?

Businesses, both fledgling and established, seeking a platform that understands the nuances of corporate training will find TalentLMS a worthy ally.

It’s tailor-made for those who desire a mix of traditional and digital learning methods, all while ensuring that the learning process is engaging, measurable and aligned with organizational goals.

Which Course Creation Software Speaks to You?

Which tool caught your eye? Did we miss any worth mentioning?

Drop me a comment below. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Before you go…

Get Instant Access to my FREE Dopamine Button Guide!

Inside, you’ll discover 3 little-known brain hacks that skyrocket your course engagement & sales…

Here’s the thing: the “old way” of designing and launching courses just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If you want to attract students who buy and keep buying (not to mention send referrals your way!)…

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