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Being a blogger means that you are halfway to creating your first online course. And the good news is that your blog itself will provide the content for it! Already having a blog, grants you with the prerogative of having an established audience that can follow you. Through your course designing journey, your audience will enlighten you with their support and insights.
Are you afraid of the dark alleys which turn your blog into an online course? So, you can write on your blog with ease, but an online course seems distant and scary. Well, fear no more because I am here to shed some light and help you build the confidence to not only set your online course up but also prep for success. The only thing you need to do is put your course designing tasks in order and follow them with confidence. Simply follow our step by step guide and while you do, sit back and relax because I’ve got you covered!
Here are 5 tips on how to turn your blog into an online course:
Choose a good course topic
Do you remember how a blog can be general in topic? The exact opposite should happen with a course. Your course should be very specific and outline every single detail of a subject.
To narrow down a blog’s ideas into a teachable subject is a difficult job, I will not lie. However, it is not impossible as you may think. One good tip is to consult your readers. They are the ones who will follow you to your e-learning endeavours first and they also know all about your blog and writing. So first find a subject you can master.
You can always write a blog post with your thoughts and ask your readers to comment and vote on the best subject. It might be a good idea to use that blog post as a pre-registration hub and ask your readers to sign up for your upcoming course that they will help you build up.
Have you found a specific topic able to stand out in the marketplace? Then, venture forward brave adventurer!
Your course should be very specific and outline every single detail of a subject. Click To Tweet
Design your course curriculum
As all things do, a course also needs a beginning and an end. Just like a blog needs a direction the same applies to a course, perhaps even more necessarily. It is very important to aim your curriculum design in a way that learning can be easy for students.
One basic trick is to set learning sections on paper. Each one should clearly convey exactly the route of the course as well as the subject contents in a simple yet straightforward manner.
Another crucial part when transforming your blog into an online course like your blog. You should be branding it as the most marketable course there is, promoting it as a separate entity with extra information you cannot get elsewhere.
Add visual content
When it comes to designing an online course, a strong visual content is a prerequisite element. But first things first! Your blog content should not be duplicated in your online course.
More specifically, your blog should be able to support and convey your course’s content but your course should not focus on the same information that your blog deals with. Details and information should always be delivered in a scrutinized fashion using plenty of descriptions, examples and illustrations.
Build on your content and expand it or even easily convert it into a new format, like a screencast. You can take advantage of the innovative pages builder that a LearnWorlds school provides so as to transform your blog content into a video lesson, a webinar, a presentation and much more. You can even create quizzes and short polls (among other plenty activities) to further engage your learners and also keep an eye out for their suggestions, feedback and performance.
Honestly, there are ton of things you can do when it comes to building an online course so why only stick to the mundane road of simple text?
Spice up your online course with descriptions, examples and illustrations. Click To Tweet
Take your time
Designing a course is already a stressful job. Let alone trying to convert blog content into course content. One major mistake that usually comes to the surface when dealing with online course design is the rush with which people channel their whole designing effort because they are eager to showcase their work to others on the internet.
Most people follow this route: get the idea – create the course – launch it – and pray for the best. Your course may reach the top in a couple of weeks but it may also not. And even though post-launch feedback is always an invaluable source towards improvement, why not play it safe and then enjoy the fruits of your success?
Take your time, design your course in most detail while testing it and then offer it to the rest of the world. As mentioned in step 1, there is no better place for you to test your course before launching it than your blog.
Your loyal readers will be more than happy to offer their thoughts on your work and make suggestions and predictions as to what might go wrong or needs improvement. Don’t forget that they will be your first learners once your online course launches and if you manage to already have learners whose insights are taken into consideration then your learning audience will grow in no time.
Take your time in designing your course for great content! Click To Tweet
Back to blogging
There is no better way to market your stunning brand new online course than to blog about it. By now you have earned the title of an established blogger so you are on an advantage in contrast with other people who are just starting their web endeavours straight from online course design.
You can benefit from this advantage by turning to your trusting audience who cannot wait to see what you have in the making. Provide your readers with weekly updates on your progress and to further “stretch” their anticipation you can do pre-sales and offer course promotions.
By the time you launch, your followers will be ready to enjoy what you have to offer.
Anthea is a Course designer and Content Creator for the LearnWorlds team. She holds years of experience in instructional design and teaching. With a Master of Education (M.Ed.) focused in Modern Teaching Methods & ICT (Information & Communications Technology), she supplements her knowledge with practical experience in E-Learning and Educational Technology.
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