The session was hosted by online business expert, Stephanie Obi, who helps women make money from their skills, knowledge and expertise through online courses. According to her, an online course is simply a virtual class or training delivered via the Internet.
Why Bother Creating An Online Course?
-It increases your influence. Through online courses you can impact people’s lives all over the world
-It can serve as an additional source of income for those who have a nine-to -five job or even a full time source of income
It’s interesting to know that the online education industry is worth $107 billion. With many developments in the tech space including more Internet penetration and cheaper phones and data, more and more people are willing to use this opportunity to turn their knowledge into a business that will impact more lives.
The steps in starting an online course are to
- Do your research and find out what you know and what people are willing to pay for
- Have lessons which must be easy to digest
- Have guides to help show people how to do what you are teaching them
- Have course graphics for proper illustration
Types of Online Courses
Email courses: these are low cost, affordable and have text content. On the flip side, email courses have no protection and can be transferred from one person to another. Some texts can also come up missing.
PDF lessons: they are low cost, easy to set up and can have texts, graphics and video. They also have no protection from being transferred.
Video courses: video courses have a higher protection, great user experience, and can accommodate text, graphics and video. They can also be priced high. The high price can, however, deter a section of would-be attendees.
Facebook groups: courses can also be posted on a closed Facebook group which only attendees who have paid can have access to.
With online courses what’s most important is the ability to find a suitable topic for you, create compelling content and then create an online school for your attendees. A veritable platform for this is teachable.com where you can create an account, create a curriculum, set pricing and limit the number of people who have access to your course, among other things. You can also have participants pay at once or in installments using Paystack or even directly to your bank account.
An attendee, Edirin Edobor, attested to the fact that an online course is a steady, passive income stream having made six figures from it.
In conclusion, it’s important to note that creating an online course is a lot of work. Much like building a house, however, it has immense yields.