As discussed in my previous article, Online Courses as Content Marketing, there are many benefits of creating industry specific online courses and using them as part of your content marketing strategy. This article discusses the necessary steps to take when compiling your own online course.

The Foundation

Before starting you need to decide who exactly will be completing your course. Will you allow anyone to enrol? You then need to decide what exactly you are going to offer. Will there be follow up courses and how much time will students have to spend on individual models?

All of these are important considerations and you can’t go ahead with your design if you can’t answer the above. Compile a structural plan outlining all the aspects of your course – from module titles to what will be included in each module.

The Essentials

There are two important tools that you cannot do without; one is an authoring tool and the other is a learning management system. Both of these are necessary for the success of your online course.

• Authoring Tool: An authoring tool is used to build your course, for example Adobe Captivate. An authoring tool allows you to create interactive courses by adding questionnaires, narration, video tutorials and so forth.
• Learning Management System: An LMS structures and organises your course and everything that goes with it. You can manage enrolment, communicate with students and you’ll have access to detailed reports concerning your course.
  *Remember to conduct thorough research about the LMS you choose, whether you choose an open source systems (such as Moodle) or a proprietary systems (such as Blackboard).

With only an authoring tool you’ll have no insight into the statistics of your course, i.e. you won’t be able to monitor the system. Both of the above tools work together, allowing you to create the most competent course.

The Content

Depending on what you plan to add to your online course, you will need necessary tools and equipment to create and compile it.

The list goes on but can include anything from narration and video to simple screen shots and text. As long as you have the recording devices, microphones, editing and/or design skills to create it, you’re course will have a professional feel to it.

*If you do plan to include video but you’re new at video production, check out our series of articles entitled Beginners Guide on How to Video Blog on a Budget.

Getting the Word Out

Once you’ve created an online course that you’re happy with you can start the enrolment process. First, you will need interested parties who are willing to spend their precious time on your modules. Think long and hard about how you are going to market your online course. You can promote your online course on all your websites, blogs and social media platforms. Alternatively, it’s never a bad idea to send personalised messages to prospective or existing clients who you think might be interested in the course.

The marketing also works the other way around. Once people are enrolled you have created an outstanding way of marketing the rest of your company. Chances are, if users are impressed, they’ll check out what else you have to offer.

Remember to Communicate

One of the most important parts of creating an online course is to allow room for engagement between students as well as students and the administrators. Interaction is a necessity. You will need to decide on a platform through which communication will take place and make sure to monitor it pretty much all the time.

You can have a chat function on your online course site or inform all students that all questions can be asked on Facebook (you can create a group and with it, a whole new community). The great thing about communicating properly is that students will get to know your company and be interested in it – apart from the online course.

Creating Content

An online course is, as mentioned in the article preceding this one, a great opportunity to create content. After completing an online course students will feel like old clients – given that your content is valuable and your communication impeccable.

Through offering online courses you tend to industry specific needs while at the same time offering valuable content.

Have any tips or want to know more about the Sound Idea Digital LMS? Get in touch by commenting below, connect with me on Twitter @SoundIdea or find our contact details below.

Sound Idea Digital specialises in Learning Management Systems and eLearning developments | soundidealearningmanagement.co.za
Carina Claassens is a Writer for Sound Idea Digital l carina@soundidea.co.za l