How to Launch Your Online Course!
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Here is the final video in my Creating an Online Course series - it's time for you to LAUNCH! 🚀🚀🚀
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Video Transcript:
How to Launch Your Online Course
Welcome back to my series all about creating an online course. We have outlined it, prepped it for sale, filmed, built it out, now it’s time to figure out how to actually launch your online course. The first time you release your online course is a really great opportunity to launch it and build a ton of excitement around the doors opening.
Plan Your Launch
Your first step to launch your online course is to plan out what your launch is going to look like. You want your launch to be a combination of talking about your course but also creating some free value around the topic of your course. You will see people do free challenges, free training series, free workshops – all of those things are a crucial part of the launch puzzle. You need to first educate your audience on what your course is about, why it is so important, and what transformation they can expect when they enroll in your course. There are a ton of variations on what you can do here, but just think of something where you can deliver free value and get in front of your audience. Once you’ve decided on that, then you’re going to want to outline all of the to-do’s of your launch.
Use a Project Management Tool
There are a lot of moving pieces here, so I would recommend you use a project management tool. You guys know that I love Asana, so of course everything is mapped out there.
As you can see, this is my Asana board for my upcoming launch of my course, Scale With Kartra. Literally, everything is mapped out. I know what I need to do before the launch, I know what is going to be happening each day of the launch, and I’m mapping out as much as I can - what I’m going to be sharing on social media, what I’m going to be emailing out, what the free trainings are going to be – everything is in here which is going to make life a lot easier for you.
Ideally, before you actually launch your online course, you want to have as much of this done as you possibly can. I’m going to be writing all of my social media posts, all of my emails, and scheduling them ahead of time, so that when it is time for launch I can just focus on connecting with my audience, answering any of their questions, and really being “in the moment.” I highly recommend Asana. I’ll leave some free resources for you below this video, so that you can get started with it.
So, you’re outlining your launch. Let’s talk about some of the most important elements that you need.
Get Some Testimonials
First is a testimonial. Social proof is hugely important here. If you did a pre-sale like we talked about, or if you did some sort of beta-test for your course, then you will have people that you can follow up with and ask for testimonials. So, I’m going to reach out to everyone that purchased my course during the pre-sale period and ask them for a testimonial. Ideally, you want a variety of mediums here. You’re going to want to share some screenshots, you’re going to want to ask some people if they don’t mind you using their image on your sales page - so people know “OK, this is a real person here.” You’re going to ask for that and also video testimonials, if you can. And of course, you can always offer something in exchange for them doing this – a free bonus training or something like that to encourage them to do this. Honestly, I’ve found that most people are happy to help, especially if they love the course.
Additional Assets You’ll Need
Now I’m going to talk about a few other important assets that you need to launch your online course.
#1 - Your Sales Page
Number one is your sales page. This is going to be a long-form page where you are giving all of the information that somebody could possibly need in order to enroll in your course. You’re going to be detailing exactly what’s included, what the transformation is, you’re going to answer any FAQs, and of course you’re going to include all these awesome testimonials that you just received, and put these onto your sales page.
#2 - Digital Mock-Up
Another element that you will need, before you launch your online course, is a digital mock-up of your course. I have a video showing you exactly how to do this, and how to do it easily, so make sure that you click the link in the description below to check that one out. Basically, a mock-up is something like this, and you’re going to be able to use this on your sales page, in your social media promo-graphics and in many more places. It’s just one of those assets that you need.
How to Create Digital mockups (video)
#3 - Countdown Timers
Finally, another element that actually goes on your sales page too, is countdown timers.
It is really important to give people a reason to say yes or no - but right now! It is so easy for us to procrastinate on decisions. One of your best elements that you have to increase sales for a launch is the fact that doors open and then close. You want to signify this as much as possible. I would recommend, on your sales page, including a countdown timer. Kartra, of course my tool (and also the topic of my online course) makes all of this easy. Kartra is the tool that I use to host my online course, as well as do all of these marketing pages like I’m talking about. With this tool, you can easily add countdown timers to the top or bottom of your page, which lets people know exactly when the doors are closing. If you want to give that tool a try, I’ll leave the link below for you to test that out. Also, I have free roadmap for getting started with this program, which you can grab below as well.
Overall, I know that launches can be super intimidating, but they can actually be a lot of fun. It allows you to build up so much more excitement for your online course than just putting it up on your website for example. My biggest tip for you is to do as much of it ahead of time as you can. Give yourself a few weeks leading up to the launch, where you can get all of these elements ready. The more that you pre-schedule ahead of time, the less that you’ll be stressed out during the launch.
Wishing you the biggest luck when you launch your online course. This does wrap up my series all about creating an online course. If you missed any of those videos, I will link to that below as well.
Thank you so much for watching. If you like this video, let me know by giving it a thumbs-up, leave me a comment down below, and I’ll see you real soon with a brand new series. I don’t know what it’s going to be yet – but it’s new, so hit subscribe and I’ll see you soon!
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