Creating an eCourse is a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with a wide audience. But how do you create an eCourse that’s truly amazing and provides real value?
While many ways to create an eCourse are available, not all of them produce the same results. In order to create one that’s truly amazing and provides what your audience is looking for, you need to put in some extra effort.
eCourses can be used for a variety of purposes, from marketing and sales to employee training and continuing education. No matter your goals, you need to include some key elements in your eCourse design to create a successful one. In this article, we share some tips on creating a fantastic eCourse that provides value.
Why should you create an eCourse?
eCourses are a fantastic way to share your knowledge and expertise with a wide audience. Plus, they can be a great source of revenue for your business by allowing you to make money from your industry expertise and blog.
That’s not all; most schools and other educational institutions are now using eCourses to supplement or even replace traditional classroom instruction. They are now adopting and making strides in online delivery in order to make learning accessible after COVID-19.
Also, if you are a content creator, an eCourse is a great way to share your knowledge and build your personal brand. For example, podcasters can use an eCourse for diving deeper into their topics and giving their listeners more value.
Creating an eCourse does not have to be complicated or time-consuming. In fact, with the right planning and execution, you can create one that is both valuable and engaging for your audience.
Benefits of eCourses:
1. Self-paced learning
Students can learn at their own pace, making it easier for them to retain information. It has been shown that students who learn at their own pace tend to perform better than those who are forced to keep up with the pace of a traditional classroom.
The reason behind this is that they can go back and review concepts until they fully understand them before moving on to the next unit or the next course.
2. Personalization
In a traditional classroom, the teacher is responsible for presenting the same material to every student, regardless of their learning style or level.
However, by creating an eCourse, you can tailor the content and delivery to meet the needs of each individual learner. This allows them to get the most out of your course, which results in better outcomes.
With WordPress, you have a few ways to personalize your eCourse content. Having a more personalized learning experience can result in members or students feeling more connected to the material and, ultimately, lead to better results.
3. Increased engagement
eCourses are often more engaging than traditional classroom instruction since they often include multimedia content such as videos, infographics, and audio clips. This can keep students engaged and motivated to learn.
Additionally, most eCourses are self-paced, which means that students can take breaks when needed and come back to the course when they’re ready. This can help prevent students from feeling overwhelmed or stressed out.
4. Convenience
eCourses are convenient for both students and instructors. Students can access the material at any time, from anywhere in the world. And instructors can create and deliver courses and webinars without being in a specific location.
This makes it possible to reach a global audience with your eCourse.
5. Cost-effectiveness
eCourses are often more cost-effective than traditional classroom instruction since you don’t have to rent space or pay for travel expenses. Additionally, most eCourse platforms offer a variety of pricing options, which can make it easy to find a plan that fits the learner’s budget.
6. Marketing
You have a few ways to market your eCourse, including methods for lead generation and opt-ins. An easy way to get more leads is by having an eCourse that people want and that they need to sign up for. This is a great way to grow your email list and generate more leads for your business.
7. Increased retention
eCourses help increase retention rates since students can review the material as many times as they need to. Additionally, most eCourse platforms offer quizzes and other assessment tools that help measure students’ understanding of the material.
This feedback helps you adjust the course content to ensure that your students are getting the most out of it.
How to create an eCourse?
The easiest way to create an eCourse is with WordPress and Sensei LMS. WordPress is a content management system that helps you easily create and manage your website. Meanwhile, Sensei LMS is a dedicated learning management system that allows you to create, sell, and manage your courses.
Why WordPress, you ask? WordPress is the largest, most trusted, and widely used CRM platform in the world. It has conversion-optimized themes, which means it’s easy to create a beautiful website that’s also optimized for conversions.
Plus, it integrates with Sensei LMS so you can create and manage your courses easily.
Also, WordPress is user-friendly. Whether you’re a pro developer or just an internet user, you can easily create a website using WordPress. And if you ever need help, tons of resources and support are available online.
Now that we’ve covered why WordPress is the best platform for creating an eCourse, let’s learn how to create that first eCourse.
Step 1: Create your WordPress site
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a WordPress Website
1) First, you need to purchase a domain name and hosting for your website. We recommend Pressable because it’s one of the best hosting solutions for WordPress.
2) Next, you need to install WordPress on your hosting account. Pressable makes this easy to do with its hosting dashboard and taking the burden of updates, security, performance monitoring, and server maintenance off your hands so you can focus on growing your business.
3) Once WordPress is installed, you need to choose a theme for your website. We recommend using a conversion-optimized theme.
4) After you’ve chosen your theme, it’s time to start creating content for your website. You can do this by creating pages and posts. We recommend starting with an “About” page, a “Services” page, a “Sales” page, and an “eCourse” page.
5) Once you’ve created your pages and posts, it’s time to install the Sensei LMS plugin, the best and easiest way to create and manage your courses.
Sensei LMS provides you with all the features and tools needed to create a high-quality course. Plus, it integrates with WordPress, so you can easily create and manage your courses on your WordPress website.
Now that we’ve covered how to install Sensei LMS, let’s get into how to actually create a course using this plugin.
Step 2: Build your course
With Sensei LMS, you can build your entire course the way you want. You can set up payment plans, drip content (i.e., make each part available on a schedule), and much more. It’s easy to use and great for creating online courses.
Creating an Online Course with Sensei LMS
1) Once you have Sensei LMS installed and activated, you need to create a new course. To do this, go to your Dashboard and click on “Courses” and then “Add New Course.”
2) Next, you need to enter a title for your course and a description.
3) After that, you need to choose a featured image for your course. This is the image that‘s displayed on your course page.
4) Once you’ve chosen a featured image, you need to select a category for your course. This helps organize your content and makes it easier for your students to find the courses they’re looking for.
5) After you’ve chosen a category, you need to select a price for your course. You can choose to make your course free or you can set up a payment plan.
6) Once you’ve chosen a payment scheme, you need to enter the duration of your course. This is the amount of time that your students have access to the course content.
7) After you’ve entered the duration, you need to add your course modules. To do this, go to your Dashboard and click on “Courses” and then “Add New Module.”
8) Next, you need to enter a title for your module and a description.
9) After that, you need to select a featured image for each module. This is the image that‘s displayed on your module pages.
10) Once you’ve chosen the featured images, you need to add your lesson content, quizzes, and certificate.
With Sensei LMS, you can also convert your blog posts and podcasts into eCourses. This is a great way to monetize your content and turn it into an evergreen product.
For example, if you have a blog series on “How to Start a Business,” you can convert it into an eCourse and offer it for sale on your site. People who buy the course have access to all the content, as well as any bonuses or additional resources that you include.
Additionally, it’s not just photos that you can incorporate to personalize your eCourses, you can also add your own branding, and integrate slideshows and videos.
Create course quizzes with different types of questions, like multiple choice, true or false, and fill in the blank, to let your students test their knowledge as they progress through the course.
Also, with Sensei LMS, you can easily create a course outline with the Modules and Lessons feature, and add as many modules and lessons as you like. The platform auto-creates templates for new modules and lessons, so you can add content without having to start from scratch each time.
Step 3: Start selling your courses
Once your courses are complete and you’re ready to start selling them, it’s time to set up WooCommerce. It’s a free eCommerce plugin that allows you to sell digital and physical products on your WordPress site.
With Sensei Pro and WooCommerce, you can sell your courses as part of a membership plan or individually. You can also offer discounts on your courses using coupons, and track sales and student progress with built-in reporting.
When you’re ready to start selling your courses, follow these steps:
- Get Sensei Pro
- Install the WooCommerce plugin
- Set up your payment gateway
- Add your courses to WooCommerce
- Configure course access and pricing
- Create any coupons or discounts you want to offer
- Start selling!
Don’t forget to set up payment models and methods as well as configure your content’s access and pricing before starting to sell the courses. You can integrate all of the top payment gateways, including Paypal and Stripe. Additionally, you can create certificates for your students upon successful completion of the course.
With WooCommerce, you’re in control of your courses and pricing. You can even offer discounts and coupons to encourage sales. You can also track student progress and course sales with built-in reporting so you don’t need to worry about losing data or struggling to keep track of everything yourself.
While creating an eCourse can be time-consuming at the start, it’s a worthwhile investment since you get to create a product that you can sell over and over again. With Sensei Pro and WooCommerce, you can develop and sell courses easily on your WordPress site.
Best practices with Sensei LMS
1. Keep your course content fresh and up-to-date
One of the most important things you can do when creating an eCourse is to keep the content fresh and up-to-date. This means adding new and relevant information to the course regularly, as well as ensuring that any outdated information is removed.
With Sensei LMS, you can manage and update your course content easily and efficiently, without having to worry about losing any of your previous work.
2. Track the progress of your students
Another important aspect of creating a successful eCourse is to track your students’ progress. This way, you can identify any areas where learners are struggling and adjust the course content accordingly. With Sensei LMS, you can easily track student progress and performance with built-in reporting tools.
It’s important to keep an eye on your students’ progress so that you can make necessary changes to improve the overall effectiveness of your eCourse.
3. Engage your students with interactive content
In order to keep your students engaged and motivated, it’s important to include interactive and engaging content in your eCourse. This can include anything from quizzes and games to videos and simulations.
With Sensei LMS, you have the ability to easily add a variety of content to your course so you can keep your students engaged and learning effectively.
4. Easily get in touch with your students
If you need to get in touch with your students for any reason, it’s important to have a system in place that makes this easy. With Sensei LMS, you can easily send messages or announcements to your entire class or individual students with just a few clicks.
5. Get feedback from your students
In order to improve the overall quality of your eCourse, it’s important to get feedback from your students on a regular basis. With Sensei LMS, you can easily add a feedback form to your course to gather valuable feedback from your students.
6. Set the course schedule and deadlines
Among the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your eCourse is to set a schedule and deadlines. This way, your students know what to expect and when they need to complete each task.
With Sensei LMS, you can easily create a course schedule and add deadlines (this is optional) for each task. With this, your students can stay on track and avoid falling behind.
7. Offer support to your students
If you want your eCourse to be successful, it’s important to offer support to your students. This way, they can get help when they need it and you can ensure that they’re able to complete the course successfully.
With Sensei LMS, you can easily add a support form to your course so that your students can get in touch with you if they need help.
Conclusion
When it comes to creating an eCourse, you need to keep a few key things in mind. First and foremost, your eCourse needs to provide value. It should be packed with information that your audience finds useful and relevant.
Second, your eCourse needs to be well-organized and easy to follow. You don’t want your students to feel overwhelmed or lost during the learning process.
To do this, you need to have the proper tools. WordPress is a popular site that allows you to create courses with different modules, while Sensei LMS is a great toolkit that gives you the ability to create quizzes and manage student progress.
These tools work great with each other. All of their rich features help you build fantastic eCourses that engage and inform your students. With Sensei LMS, in particular, you can create eCourses in minutes, save time using automation, develop personalized modules, and track your students’ progress.
Some Sensei LMS users say that it doesn’t just help you create courses, but it’s an “Online Learning Academy.” This only goes to show how powerful a tool Sensei LMS is. Choose your pricing plan and see how Sensei LMS can help you with creating an eCourse and teaching others today.
