How To Create An Online Course In 7 Steps
The Ultimate Guide To Creating An Online Video Course
Learn how to create an online course from scratch. From ideation to structure and editing, our handy guide covers everything you need to create your first online video course.
Selling online courses is one of the most effective ways to make passive income, but creating one is no easy feat. It can be difficult to even know where to start – that’s why we’ve written this handy guide.
From overcoming imposter syndrome to providing a clear roadmap from start to finish, read on to find out how to create an online course in 2024.
Step 1: plan your course
The thought of creating an online course from scratch can be overwhelming. But with careful planning, the task is manageable and you’ll be more likely to see your ideas come to fruition.
Gather course ideas
Decide what you want your course to be about. Make it something you’re passionate about so you’ll enjoy putting the work in and won’t give up. Think you aren’t passionate about anything? Ask yourself these questions:
- What are you good at currently?
- What are your hobbies?
- What do you do for work?
- What do your friends and family typically come to you with questions about?
Alternatively, if you already have an online following, you can ask your followers what they’d like to see a course or tutorial on.
Consider your course outcome
Now it’s time to choose the outcome of your course i.e. decide the number one thing your students should learn or come away with. This will be the key point that you’ll keep returning to when creating your course.
Say you’re passionate about gardening and you want that to be the topic of your course. You should refine this idea for a specific outcome e.g. how to create and maintain a cottage garden.
Defining the specific outcome of the course not only helps students understand exactly what they’ll learn – it will also keep you on track when creating the content.
A note on imposter syndrome
Unless you’re already a professional educator on your chosen topic, there’ll probably be some gaps in your knowledge. This is completely normal and it shouldn’t put you off creating the course.
If you’ve taught yourself or someone else to achieve the outcome of your course, you’re already qualified enough. As long as you’re specific with what your students will learn and have taught yourself or others in the past, you’re good to go.
Remember – you can always fill in those knowledge gaps along the way!
Plan and structure your course modules
Once you know the outcome of your course, you can start planning your course modules. These should cover everything the student needs to know to achieve the outcome – nothing more, nothing less.
When brainstorming your course modules, you should continually ask yourself ‘Does this help my student achieve the desired outcome?’. If the answer is yes, the content is worth including, if not, keep it out. Having laser focus will improve the course structure and learning experience (and help ensure you actually finish it!).
Here are a few things you can do to brainstorm and structure your course modules:
Ask ChatGPT
ChatGPT can be very useful for creating a basic course outline. You can feed it a prompt like:
‘I’m creating an online video course that will help people plan, create, and maintain a cottage garden. Can you provide me with a list of suggested modules the course should include?’
It will provide you with everything it thinks you should include in your course, so it’s the quickest and easiest way to draft an online.
Here’s an example we created using ChatGPT:
Note that if you do use ChatGPT to help create your course content, you shouldn’t rely on it completely. It’s probable that other people have created a course with the exact outline it gives you. You should aim to make it unique with your personal experiences, knowledge, and insight.
Interview someone interested in that topic
You can identify gaps in your course content by interviewing people who would be interested in taking a course like yours. Find out what problems they’ve encountered when trying to achieve the outcome. If you come across anything that’s missing in your course, you can note it down to create a new module or point to cover.
See what questions people are asking online
Forums such as Reddit can also be useful for finding out what common questions people have relating to your course topic. Here are some subreddits that could be useful for our example course on creating a cottage garden:
Top tip: use a productivity tool like Notion to plan your course and stay organised. Notion has quite a few online course planner templates to choose from (free or paid). You can use the tool as an all-in-one hub to write out your ideas, decide your structure, and even plan your marketing.
Consider if you’ll use supporting documents
It’s very common for online courses to include documents that aid student learning. Supporting documents are useful for putting the theory of the course into practice, or when there’s too much technical information for a video. These can include:
- Editable spreadsheets
- Infographics
- Checklists
- Templates
- Worksheets
- Quizzes
- Product recommendations
An example supporting document for our cottage garden course would be a spreadsheet that lists plants typically found in a cottage garden. The spreadsheet could be organised by their flowering periods, and highlight information like how much sun the plants like.
You don’t have to create your supporting documents at this point, but it helps to have an idea of where you might want to include them.
Step 2: script your course
While some people prefer to have just a few bullet points written down when presenting, we highly recommend writing a script for your course. Here’s why:
- You only have a few minutes to teach each lesson. Therefore, you want to make sure that every word you say delivers value. Preparing a script beforehand lets you cut out anything unnecessary and ensure you don’t go off on a tangent.
- Knowing exactly what you’re going to say at every point will help mitigate any ‘umm’s or ‘ahh’s which may come across as nervous, awkward, or unsure.
- It will ensure you don’t miss any key information (or worse – say something that isn’t correct).
- You’ll be able to rehearse your delivery so that it sounds as natural as possible.
- Seeing your script written down can help you gauge if the module structure flows well.
- You can send others your script to request feedback on the course content before you record.
- It’s good practice to transcribe your video for those who are hearing impaired or don’t speak your language. A script can be easily copied and pasted to create subtitles.
- You can take the script and rerecord it for a podcast, or even repurpose some of the text into a blog as a marketing tool.
Writing your script
It’s up to you how you choose to write your script. You may wish to write it all yourself from scratch, starting with a few bullet points and building out from there.
Alternatively, you can ask ChatGPT to provide you with a draft – just be sure to edit the script so that it sounds natural to you. Remember – your presentation of the script will play a big role in how engaging the content is, so show off your personality and add your own insight.
If you’re unsure how to go about writing your script, check out these 14 tips for writing video scripts.
Keep your script concise
According to a study conducted by UC San Diego, an educational video should ideally be less than 12 minutes long, and definitely no more than 20 minutes long.
A good rate of speech is about 150 words per minute. Based on this, each video you create should be somewhere between 300-2,850 words depending on how complex the module is.
Top tip: if something is too technical or information-heavy to explain through a video, create a supporting document to share the information instead.
You can also use free tools like ProWritingAid’s Redundant Words Checker when editing your script to ensure that every word serves a purpose. Remember to keep asking yourself ‘does this help my student achieve the outcome?’ throughout the editing process.
You don’t have to learn your script off by heart
Don’t worry about remembering your script – you can use a free teleprompter app to read from your script while looking directly at the camera. With Telelprompter Pro, you can even adjust the scroll speed and font size to read at a pace that feels natural to you.
Step 3: record your course
Once you’ve finalised your script, it’s time to record your course content!
Decide how you want to present your course
There are three ways to present your course – some will be more suitable for certain topics/modules than others. We’ve listed them below:
Screen recordings
Screen recordings are a very common way to record online courses, as you can create all the content on Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Canva. You can then screen-record the presentation while recording an audio voiceover.
While screen recordings are the obvious choice for those who are camera-shy, courses that show the teacher’s face tend to have higher rates of student satisfaction.
Screenrec is a free screen recording browser extension that can be installed on Safari, Chrome and Firefox. It’s a highly-rated tool that lets you record a voiceover at the same time as your presentation, making for an efficient and seamless result. It also gives you the option to record from a webcam too, should you wish to show your face.
Screen recordings + yourself
Including yourself in your screen recordings is a great way to make your course more engaging and personal. It can also make you seem more familiar and trustworthy, which is important if you want to sell future services like 1:1 consultations.
Talking head videos
Talking head videos feature the presenter as the main visual element of the video. They’re usually framed with your head and shoulders within the shot (though sometimes you may need a wider angle to show what you’re doing).
Talking head videos are especially effective for practical tutorials and simple topics that aren’t too technical. They also encourage more trust and familiarity among students, meaning they’ll be more likely to stay connected, follow your journey, and even purchase additional help in the future.
Top tip: we recommend using a mix of the above three systems to record your course content. Mixing things up will keep your students engaged while giving you more flexibility for recording simple or more complex course content.
Essential recording equipment
The equipment you need to record your course will depend on whether you want to show your face. Here are the most essential pieces of equipment we recommend:
- Camera (if recording yourself)
- Good lighting (if recording yourself)
- Good quality microphone
- Computer (for editing)
- Teleprompter app
- Any props you need to teach your course
For more guidance and product recommendations, check out our blog on essential gear and tips for recording your first video.
Step 4: edit your course
Once you’ve recorded all your footage, it’s time to edit your videos. This step is often the most time-consuming, but it’s also the most rewarding (you’ll start to see everything coming together!).
Choose your editing program
Online courses aren’t usually complicated when it comes to editing. For this reason, we recommend choosing a beginner-friendly editing programme like iMovie (free for Mac users) or DaVinci Resolve (free or paid). These programs will provide you with all the functionality you’ll need to edit your course videos, such as:
- Transitions
- Cutting and trimming
- Title screens
- Captions
- Video or picture overlays
- Audio editing
Source stock images or videos
Stock images and videos can help you get your point across while making your video more engaging. You can source royalty-free stock images and videos on websites like Pexels, Unsplash, and Canva.
Source background music and sound effects
Background music and sound effects aren’t necessary for creating an online course, but they can make the learning experience more immersive and engaging. Websites like Freesound and Pixabay have thousands of royalty-free sound effects and music tracks to choose from.
Create custom graphics and title slides
Creating your own graphics and title slides is a great way to personalise your online course to your brand. The free version of Canva provides all the functionality you need to create your own graphics (with thousands of customisable templates to choose from!). You can also use Canva to create aesthetically pleasing supporting documents without hiring a graphic designer.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s no need to be innovative with your editing – use templates where you can and follow the style of other online videos if it helps. You’ll also find a ton of tutorials on YouTube for whatever editing program you decide to use.
Editing your videos can be daunting, especially if you’re a beginner. But the number one thing your students care about is the outcome of the course – if you can deliver that, your videos will be good enough.
Step 5: create additional course content
As we’ve already mentioned earlier in this guide, additional course content can include any of the following:
- Editable spreadsheets
- Infographics
- Checklists
- Templates
- Worksheets
- Quizzes
- Product recommendations
There are lots of free tools you can use to create these, some of the most popular and user-friendly include:
- Canva – for worksheets, infographics, checklists, product recommendations, and templates. Canva also has a ton of free-to-use, customisable templates for things like checklists, which is great if you want something more aesthetically pleasing/on brand.
- Google Sheets – for spreadsheets, templates, and product recommendations. You can also use Microsoft Excel.
- Google Docs – for basic checklists, worksheets, and product recommendations. You can also use Microsoft Word.
- Google Forms – for creating quizzes.
Step 6: name your course
Once all your course materials are finalised, you can name your course! It’s good to leave this step to last so that you can ensure that the name truly encapsulates everything you’ve created.
Short and snappy course names are most effective – it should let the student know, at a glance, what it will teach them. Again, think about the outcome of your course.
Here are some good example names for our cottage garden course:
- Cottage Garden 101: Design, Grow, and Maintain a Timeless Garden
- Cottage Gardening Made Easy: Designing, Growing and Maintaining
- How To Plan, Grow and Maintain a Cottage Garden
Step 7: price your course
When pricing your course, you should think about your main goal for creating the course in the first place:
-
Do you simply want to grow your following or use the course as a lead generation tool?
If so, it may be worthwhile giving your course away for free. -
Want to make money from your course?
Consider things like how many followers you have, the size of your email list (if you have one), and your budget for marketing the course.Unless you’re certain that you’ll have people ready and waiting to purchase your course, you’ll probably see the best results if you price it in an affordable range i.e. £15-30.
Otherwise, you can price your course higher at the £100-£1000+ mark – just note that it won’t be easy to sell at this price unless you’re already well-known in the field.
When pricing your course, you should also consider the value people will get from it. A course that could help accelerate someone’s career might be seen as an investment, and people might be open to paying more for it. On the other hand, if your course is geared towards beginners to a hobby, your students will probably have a smaller budget.
Top tip: your pricing is not set in stone, so don’t worry too much about it at the start. You can always raise or lower your course price after some testing, or as you grow your following.