In this lesson, you can download some of the bonus content in this course, and learn about additional resources that will help you become a better online course creator!

Success as an online course creators is rooted in creating a course that students love. Without an amazing course, no ethical way of promoting your course will be successful. 

If you create an amazing course, your course will practically sell itself on marketplaces like Udemy. Good reviews sell courses. More reviews rank your course higher. The higher your rank, the more you sell. The more you sell, the more reviews you get. This snowball is the golden ticket to online course success.

And it starts with an amazing course. By the end of this lesson, you'll know 3 ways to make a course students are guaranteed to love.

Say hello to your fellow students, and share a bit more about your story.

I don't do it to boast. I do it to inspire. In this lesson, I want to share my latest achievements as an online course creator including some latest income milestones.

Remember, I started out like you - with no audience, with no experience, with nothing. In my first month, I made $62 on Udemy. Now I'm consistently making over 5-figures per month. 

This course shares exactly what I'm doing to achieve that success. And I want to make sure you trust me, as your teacher. So that's what this lesson is all about.

The first step in the course creation process is to come up with a course topic. In this lesson, I'll share with you my advice on choosing a course topic for your first course (and also for future courses).

Some ideas I'll talk about are: big versus small courses, finding your target audiences, making sure your course is evergreen.

Once you have an idea for a course, the next step is to validate the market demand for your topic. In this lesson, I show you a few ways to make sure there is an audience for your topic. 

I'll even walk you through the process of keyword validation on YouTube, Amazon Kindle, Udemy, Google Keyword planner, and Google Trends.

Here's a brand new way to validate course ideas with Udemy's new Insight feature.

Once you have a validated course idea, it's time to outline your course. But how do you outline a course so that it flows in an engaging way that results in happy students and amazing reviews!

In this lesson, you'll learn how to outline your course - especially the first section of your course so it is engaging for your students.

Here is a case study of an outline that I'm creating for an upcoming course. In these case studies, I walk through a real world example to show you exactly how I'm creating and selling online courses.

Whether you should script or just outline your course is a hot topic in the online course world. I've tried both, an in this lesson I give you my best advice for recording scripted videos (which is harder than you might think!).

By now, you'll have a course idea. It will be validated, to make sure there is an audience willing to pay for it. You'll have an outline with all of your lessons. 

You're ready to rock and roll!

What next?

You need to choose your course style. There are very different types of lessons, and this decision will effect everything moving forward - from equipment choices to recording and editing.

It's time to take action!

The most popular questions I get have to do with equipment. In this lesson, I give you my most recommended equipment for any video production setup - from cameras and microphones to lighting and editing applications.

If you have any questions about your specific situation or equipment, feel free to ask me in the course!

How do I set up my office when it is filming time? In this article, I'll show you how I map out my video production setup for both webcam and DSLR videos.

In this lesson, I test out the cheapest course equipment I could find - most of it for free.

Most new course creators will be creating courses with slides. While death-by-Powerpoint is a common problem, there are antidotes for it!

Using proper fonts, sizing, colors, and design will make your course slides interesting. Don't make the mistake of boring slides.

You'll learn how to do it right in this lesson.

Every online course will (or at least should) have audio. Most likely, it will be you recording your own voice. Because audio is SO IMPORTANT for online courses, it's crucial to record clean and crisp audio.

This lesson shares tips on recording better audio in any environment with different kinds of microphones.

If you want to make your courses even more engaging, I recommend adding talking head videos to your courses. It doesn't have to be in every lesson. It can just be the introduction of your course, or maybe the introduction to each section. This will increase engagement with your students, and build a better bond.

But newbie course creators often make mistakes with their talking head videos. This lesson will give you 3 ways to make sure your talking head videos look professional.

If you are shooting talking head videos, your background helps tell your story. Because of this, it's important to make a conscious decision about what your background is.  

This lesson shares two ways to choose a background and how to make it look super professional.

Video lighting doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, there's one lighting setup that can be your basis for any style of video (from online courses to Hollywood movies!). You'll learn that exact video lighting setup in this lesson.

Here is a case study of my DIY paper lantern lighting setup. In these case studies, I walk through a real world example to show you exactly how I'm creating and selling online courses.

Once you've recorded your course lessons, the real fun begins. You can make your lessons even more engaging with a few editing techniques. In this lesson, you'll learn how to add graphics, calls to action, music, and use other editing techniques to increase engagement.

No matter what camera you use, what video editing application you use, or where you're posting your course - here are some basic rules to follow when exporting your videos.

Make sure your video lessons look amazing on any device!

Get feedback on your course video. You'll receive feedback from other students here in this course on how you can improve your video production.

As course marketplaces like Udemy expand internationally, it's important as course creators to make sure our courses are ready for the worldwide audience. 

Things like subtitles and translations will help make your courses more desirable to the worldwide audience. In this lesson, I'll give you advice for doing just that.

Now that you've created an amazing course, it's time to give it to the world!

The first decision is to choose a course platform for your course. We live in a modern world of countless online course platforms. In this lesson, I'll share my advice for choosing the best platform(s) including Udemy, Skillshare, and many others.

Perhaps you have a an audience of your own. Perhaps you just want more control over your courses including pricing and communications. These are both great reasons for wanting to self-host your course. 

We live in a world where self-hosting has never been easier!

With tools like Teachable or Thinkific, and a number of Wordpress plugins, you can self-host your courses in no time!

By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to choose a self-hosting platform.

Great titles and descriptions sell your course. Not only do they share a benefit that encourages potential students to purchase, but it also helps (or hurts) your course SEO and ranking. 

Learn the best techniques for writing amazing titles and descriptions.

There are infinite ways to price your course. I'll share my experience pricing courses that sell. From the Udemy-style pricing to premium pricing, I've done it all. 

By the end of this lesson, you'll know exactly how to successfully price your course.

If you don't have an audience, DON'T FEAR. I started without an audience, and I truly believe that you can be successful today using the same practices that I used.

In this lesson, you'll learn the exact steps to launching a course without an audience.

Once you do have an audience, the way you can launch your course changes from when you didn't have an audience. I'll share my exact launch strategies (including pricing, email sequences, and content).

Remember that everything has a snowball effect. If you are persistent and consistent, YOU WILL HAVE SUCCESS.

Here is a case study of some of my promotional message practices. In these case studies, I walk through a real world example to show you exactly how I'm creating and selling online courses.

The next level of course selling is to create an automated sales funnel that makes your course process even more passive.

In this lesson, you'll learn my exact sales funnel. It's one that is working today to sell my own courses, and I'll be that it'll work for you as well!

One of the recent techniques I've been using to convert email subscribers to course purchasers is the tripwire.

By the end of this lesson, you'll know a new technique for increasing your income and growing your tribe.

Here is a case study of my website's tripwire technique. In these case studies, I walk through a real world example to show you exactly how I'm creating and selling online courses.

Some people can make full time income from one single online course. This is not how I've built my business. I've spread out my streams of income to provide a stable monthly income that continues to grow.

In this lesson (and the rest of this section), you'll learn my basic process for boosting your income. Everything you'll learn in this section will feed off each other, making your brand grow exponentially.

The first thing you need as an online course creator (after you've created your course) is a website. People need to be able to find you. You need to be able to provide more information. And you'll need a place to promote your amazing courses.

Not all websites are equal. LEARN WHAT WORKS!

By the end of this lesson, you'll know the exact pages and content to put on your website so that it actually sells your online courses.

Here's a video sharing Phil's 2017 updates to his website and sales funnels.

One of the best ways to improve your website, is to find websites that you like and use them for inspiration. The goal isn't to copy, but to use their structure and style as a guide.

One of my main audience-building platforms is YouTube. YouTube is the world's second largest search engine and the PERFECT place to find students for your course.

The YouTube audience already wants video content. And there are millions of people search how to do things - the perfect place for people to find your solutions.

Here is a case study of my YouTube promotion strategy. In these case studies, I walk through a real world example to show you exactly how I'm creating and selling online courses.

Growing a YouTube channel takes time (and a lot of works). In this lesson, you'll learn best practices that expedite the process of growing a YouTube channel.

It's time to take action and start your YouTube channel if you haven't already done so. Or if you have a channel, make a video that will boost your audience.

From email sequences to sales pages, there are many different ways to sell an online course. The one that consistently has the highest conversion rate is the webinar. 

A successful webinar follows a sequence. You will learn that sequence in this course.

Podcasting is another great way to build your brand... to build your tribe of followers. It's great because you have an audience that listens to you for sometimes hours each week! What other platform allows you to educate and inspire for so long!

In this lesson, you'll learn why you should start a podcast.

Being interviewed on a podcast can boost your reputation, helping you become a 'thought-leader' in your field. It's also a great way to be introduced to a brand new audience. That's why I'm challenging you in this lesson to get on a podcast.

Converting your course into ebooks (or visa versa) is a great way to create a new stream of income. In this lesson, you'll learn multiple ways to efficiently convert your course in an book that you can sell on Amazon Kindle.

Thank you so much for enrolling in this course. By now, you've learned everything that I do to create and sell online courses. I truly hope it has helped you!

Please let me know how I can improve this course!

Here is how I've incorporated my business, and the reasons I chose an s-corp.

In this video, I answer common student questions.

In this video, I answer the question about how to accept pre-order payments for your courses. This is a great way to validate your course ideas!

Great question about how to deal with losing time spent creating courses to family.

Here's a Q&A where I talk about starting your online teaching business with no audience or list.

Here are my thoughts about how to hire a virtual assistants and freelancers to help you run your online business.

After you've created your first online course - what should you do next?