Episode from the podcastBuild Your Online Audience

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418] How long does it take to create an online course?

Released Friday, 14th August 2020

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418] How long does it take to create an online course?

Friday, 14th August 2020

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Would you love to launch an online course - but you're not sure how long it will take or you may be wondering how long it will take you to create the resources and get it online?

There are so many factors to consider. For example:

How well do you know your subject? (and do you already have content you can repurpose?)
How long will your course be? (i.e. how many modules/lessons)
Are you are planning to do everything yourself (or outsource some tasks)
Will your classes be live or pre-recorded?
Have you created an online course before?
Do you have previous teaching experience?

This podcast episode (which you can also read as a blog post) will take you through the key things you need to consider to estimate how long it will take you to create your course.

{Click on the player above to listen to the podcast episode and/or read on for a detailed overview. Scroll down to the bottom to read the show notes including all the links mentioned in this episode.}

1. How well do you know your subject?

The first and most important decision you need to make about your course is the topic.

Choose a topic you know well and/or have already created content on as this can vastly reduce the amount of time needed to create your course - and get it to market.

For example, my first course, Soulful PR for Starters was a beginners course on how to do your own PR. I had already created a cluster of blog posts on this topic. For example:

What kind of ideas are journalists interested in?
How to write a press release for a journalist
How to write an effective pitch for a journalist
How to find journalists’ contact details
What to do if a journalist says ‘no’ to your pitch

So I was able to use the blog posts I had already created (which were tried and tested ideas) to quickly create an outline for my course.

Had I been starting from scratch it could have taken HOURS of research.

2. How long will your online course be?

This will have the biggest impact on your time as the longer your course, the longer it will take you to create the materials.

According to Teachable, a starter course might be just five – 20 lessons and cover a smaller aspect of a wider topic e.g. How to create a high-converting lead magnet or it may cover it at a beginner’s level of detail e.g. Soulful PR for Starters.

A typical price to sell a starter course might be $50 – $200.

A flagship course like Build Your Online Audience might be 20 – 100 lessons and cover all aspects of a topic in lots of depth with plenty of additional resources and maybe a community aspect to the programme too. It could sell for $200 – $2000+.

Bonus tip If it’s your first course, try a starter course as part of a funnel. A tripwire. Then you can measure how long things take you.

3. Are you are planning to do everything yourself (or outsource some tasks)

As a minimum, most online courses contain:

Video tutorials
Workbooks/printables (e.g. templates, checklists, cheat sheets, swipe files)
Slides

Some course creators also provide audio versions of their courses (which is a great idea for accessibility) and transcripts.

This means that at a very minimum you will need to:

Plan the lessons
Record/edit video tutorials
Create slides and printables

If you are planning to do it all yourself, you may need to factor in time to learn about video editing, design. However, I really recommend using a professional designer and perhaps even an audio editor. I’d recommend outsourcing if you can.

Bonus tip: Don’t forget to factor in time learning new skills or costs for outsourcing.

4. Will your classes be live or pre-recorded?

It’s typically quicker to create live content (as you have to do it all in one ‘take’) but depending on how perfect you want your content to be - you may want to edit your content afterwards and cut out any unnecessary bits. But see point 6 - it can be quite nerve-wracking teaching online (or teaching at all if you haven’t done it before).

For a masterclass that’s 90 mins - 2 hours long it takes me:

6 hours to prepare for a class.
Plus a day to create a workbook with help from my designer.

If you’re a confident, competent online teacher, go for it live.

5. Have you created an online course before?

As with anything in life, you tend to get quicker. When I first started creating online courses, it could sometimes take me up to three hours to create an online class. Now I do it all in one take. I don’t even edit out mistakes unless they are REALLY big.

While I don’t advocate creating your course upfront before knowing if anyone will buy your course. Creating one session to see how long it takes you might be an idea. OR try a masterclass or webinar first before you launch a course to see how long it will take you.

Bonus tip: Start with a masterclass or webinar first before you launch a course. Make sure you presell before you create.

6. Are you experienced in teaching?

I am - so it takes less time but what about you? If you’ve never taught anything before it will take you longer than someone who is experienced in teaching.

Make sure you research the different learning styles that people have - some people learn visually others from listening or reading.

It’s important to mix up your styles so that you reach different people at different times.

Bonus tip: Do some research on different learning styles on how people learn etc. Think about the accessibility of your course.

7. How to sell your course (without outlaying too much cost)

Make sure you presell your course before you create it. This way you'll know if it's got legs. The worse that can happen is that you have to refund people as you haven't had enough interest.

If you haven't got a big online audience to sell to - you might consider starting small with a webinar or masterclass to build interest from and then build your online audience.

Ready to know more?

Join my How To Plan And Create Awesome Teaching Resources For An Online Course

Podcast shownotes

About my How to plan and launch online masterclasses (01:47)
About this podcast episode (07:32)
Why I can’t give you the exact amount of time it will take to create a course (08:21)
Why knowing your subject really well will help you create your course quickly (11:25)
How to save time if you already have some popular content to turn into a course (13:12)
Why creating a niche mini-course is a good place to start (15:02)
Why you need to test your concept before building a flagship course (16:28)
The three main resources that you might need to create for your course (19:25)
What you need to think about when creating your resources for your online course (20:47
Why you need to remember that everyone has different learning styles (21:34)
How to make your classes interactive (and why you should) (23:40)
What you need to consider when you create your resources (25:10)
Why you might want to consider outsourcing and why design is so important (28:40)
Why your course materials need to look professional (30:10)
Why live classes can save you time rather than prerecording(31:40)
When you might prerecord your classes (33:20)
Why you should start with a masterclass or webinar and build from there (35:02)
Why you should presell your course before you create it (36:50)
How to find out if people will buy your course (38:39)
What to do if you don’t have time to build a big online audience to sell to (40:01)
How to get an idea of how long it will take you to create your course (43:20)