6 Steps to Launch Your Online Course. How Creators Did It

What do you need to successfully launch your online course? A fancy marketing plan? A launch calendar? Well, for starters, you need a well-planned launch strategy. If you are not sure where to start, you are not alone. 

I have sat down with two rockstar course creators who have been there, done that, and totally nailed it. In our interview sessions, Jessica Terzakis and Angel Rodriguez spilled the beans on how they went from "idea phase" to full-on successful course launches. So, I included their strategies and tips from other creators in this guide. 

Besides, you can find many free templates for every step of this course-launch checklist, so you never start from scratch. 

And if you are ready to get started, you can launch your course on Uteach. It is an all-in-one platform that makes course creation, marketing, and selling easier. 

In this article, you will find out:

• What are the most common mistakes to avoid when launching an online course?
• What are the easiest and most efficient steps to launch?
• What should you do before, during, and after the launch?
• What can you do to make your launch successful?
• Where to launch your online course?
• And, of course, your online course launch checklist 

How Jessica Terzakis ran her first launch sucessfully

In our interview, Jessica Terzakis, who now coaches hundreds of creators on how to launch their course business successfully, shared the strategies without gatekeeping. 

She mentioned she was able to make $50,000 on her first launch. And no, she told me she did not have a huge following list on her social media. Jessica avoided the common mistakes she now prevents her coachees from making. 

Number one is not building an audience from day one. Because you have noticed for yourself, you never buy a product or a service you do not trust. So, if you can spread the word about your course, build an audience, and then build a relationship with that audience, selling the course becomes much easier. 

“For your course not to be a waste of time, you will need to do two things at once - build the course and build your audience.” 

 

Jessica Terzakis 

Course creator, curriculum designer, Terzakis & Associates

And now, by audience you may think it is just your following list on social media or your email subscribers. While these people are only a PART of your real audience. In Jessica’s case, the audience she built for her first course were also people we met offline. So, the interaction with such people yielded far better results for Jessica. 

“People think of launch and they're like, it's through JV partnerships, or I'm launching through this webinar that I've paid lots of ads to get people to register for. But I spoke on people's stages. I spoke on social media lives, and I spoke on people's podcasts. I went on a speaking tour and talked about my course”. 

 

Jessica Terzakis 

Course creator, curriculum designer, Terzakis & Associates

Which brings us to the next mistake. That is, not speaking about the course until the last piece of the course content is ready. If you have seen big names launching new products, you know how they “tease” it and build anticipation before the release date. 

The same is true for your course launch. 

Check one of my interviews with her here for the details. 

How Angel Rodriguez launched his first online course 

Angel Rodriguez, a course creator at Uteach, is the founder of Alliance Training & Testing. He offers courses and training programs for people who need to get their official licenses and become security guards. 

In our interview, Angel mentioned his first-course launch did not go the way he expected. And that happens to many of us because no one becomes a successful businessman overnight, right? Yet soon, he became the first in the state of Tennessee to offer online training across the state. 

“Back in 2012, I started training in-person classes. It was not allowed in in my sector until Covid hit. That's when the industry really did pivot. And as a result, I kind of pivoted along”. 

 

Angel Rodriguez, Founder of Alliance Training & Testing 

What did Angel do that brought him success? He listened to the feedback from his students and colleagues and relaunched his course. 

I noticed a common misconception among aspiring course creators. That is, you have to make your online course perfect, launch it, and if the results do not meet your expectations, then that is it. While in reality, the plan does not stop at the launch stage. 

“I had one-hour blocks, and that did not go over at all. And I relaunched, I did another relaunch and I got some feedback from that relaunch. And that's another thing you should always do is check in with your students”. 

 

Angel Rodriguez, Founder of Alliance Training & Testing 

You can learn more on how Angel started and growed his course business here. 

How can YOU launch your online course?

Now, there is no need to get overwhelmed. Here is an easy checklist you can follow to launch your course and avoid common pitfalls. 

Step 1: Evaluate your assets

At this stage, you want to plan everything ahead and think about what channels you can use to build your audience and warm them up before the launch day. So, we are planning your course content and building relationships simultaneously. 

When do we plan, you may wonder? What Jessica Terzakis recommends is planning your course launch 6 months ahead. This way, you will have enough time to:

• Create your course content without rushing.
• Checking all the technical aspects and making sure the student experience is seamless
• And, most importantly, have time to build your audience. 

So, make a list of everything you already have that helps you to launch. And then another list that you need to yet acquire before the launch. 

For example, this can be

• Existing content, like your videos on YouTube or blog
• People and collaboration opportunities that will help you promote
• Your testimonials or credentials you can use
• Any software tools that you need, like editing software, course platform, etc.

It might be you only have an exciting personal story that will become the core of your marketing messaging. Now, you have a clear picture of what you have and what you need to invest in. 

Step 2: Grow your audience and start marketing 

As I mentioned earlier, selling is easier when you start marketing your online course before your course content is ready. For that, we will focus on growing your social media assets and collaborations. 

Your social media assets

First, let’s identify your main social media channels. Think about the leading platforms your potential students spend more time on. 

Let's say you are creating a course on "How to grow as an influencer," meaning that you are targeting influencers, content creators, beginners in the industry, etc. Your target demographic probably hangs out on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thus, opening accounts on these platforms and creating content for long-form organic marketing will be wise.  

What Jessica Terzakis does for her course launches is pick one primary platform. For her, its Facebook that works the best. As you still work on the course content, make sure you also post on your social media. For example, you can 

• show some behind-the-scenes footage of working on something, 
• share your ideas and mission with your followers, 
• share “the teaser style content.”

“Tease it along the way so that by the time this course is ready to be released to the world, your audience is already expecting something from you.” 

 

Jessica Terzakis 

Course creator, curriculum designer

Remember, you are doing this for a long-term strategy, and the long-term strategy will bring you better results. 

If you have the necessary time and resources, you can also invest in some short-term marketing strategies. For example, you can choose to run ads on social media platforms. 

And how many people do I need on my social media list? “The more, the better” is definitely not the answer. Your goal at this stage is not only increasing your following list but also engaging and building relationships with your followers (aka your potential students).  

You can download our free guide, “Social Media Content Plan” for one-week content ideas to spread the word about your course. 

Your email subscribers’ list

The next touchpoint with your students and potential students is, of course, email marketing. 

By email marketing, we do not mean sending that ONE email that announces your course and encourages people to buy it. 

One thing that can help you grow your email subscriber list is using lead magnets. So, you can use your social media, website, or any other channel to share a helpful resource people can leave their email addresses for. 

An example of that is a meal-prep guide for a fitness course. Rachel Trotta, for example, who is a trainer and coach, offers a free guide of a months meal guide as one of her lead magnets. Another way she is getting leads is through free consultations. 

How can Uteach help? 

As you choose Uteach as your course platform, you can run automated campaigns. Uteach has direct integrations with email marketing tools such as MailChimp. This way, you can automate your social media and email communication. Once you start getting enrollments, you can use Uteach’s email automation as well. 

The platform offers ready-made emails you can switch on, and once the desired action is triggered, your students receive the email.

Download our free guide on “Email Templates to Successfully Launch Your Course,” where you can find templates for a 20-day launch sequence, plus many others. 

Your relationship with people

The third point you need to pay attention to before your online course launch is your partners and people you can network with. They will help you with your offline presence. Think about how you can network and use social media to find business friends who would love to help you promote your online course. 

Planning all the emails and social media posts and working on your course content at the same time takes lots of your time and effort. However, you can choose to pay less attention to email campaigns and build relationships with your clients in real-time. 

So, find opportunities where you can speak on other people’s platforms, podcasts, stages, webinars, etc. This way, you can promote your course naturally and not sound salesy. 

How can Uteach help?

Once you join Uteach, you can create an affiliate program and make people your affiliate partners. What does this mean? On your platform, you can generate a link to promote a specific course. And then, you can share this link with other people who are ready to promote your course for you. Anyone who joins with their link and enrolls in your courses receives the commissions you initially set. 

So, in this case, you do not waste money on ads that do not promise results. With your affiliate program, you only pay when you have enrollments. 

Step 3: Build a website with a sales page 

If you want your online course to succeed, you should build a website that looks catchy and work on your online course sales page.  Your website is a business card that either will attract visitors and potential clients or push them away. If you are not going to participate in offline events to promote your course, your sales page becomes even more crucial. 

What do you want to include in your sales page? Your online course sales page is an opportunity for your potential students to understand:

• What is your online course all about?
• What problem is your online course solving?
• What advantages will they get?

Another important point when it comes to your online course sales page is including your testimonials. If this is your first launch, you might not have the testimonials yet. In this case, Jessica Terzakis recommends including testimonials about your work and related experience. 

A great example of a course sales page is for Katie’s social media course. Here, she clearly explains what the course is about, who it is for, what it covers, what results her clients got, etc. She included the answers to the frequently asked questions and has corresponding CTAs for every block. 

How can Uteach help?

To have your website set up easily and later be able to brand and customize it, you can choose to start with an all-in-one online course platform like Uteach. Uteach allows you to create a website and course pages that are true to your school brand. It offers ready-made templates for almost every niche. Once you choose a theme, you can use the drag-and-drop builder and ready widgets to customize the website experience. 

The platform also has built-in SEO functionality, so your course website can always appear on top of search engine results pages. 

If you want to get started easily, you can download our free sales page template. 

Step 4: Lead people to a webinar

The days until your online course launch are getting closer. You have placed your lead magnet(s) on your website, engaged your community of learners on social media, and planned your email sequences. How should you engage your audience further, and where should you direct them?

You still need to build great relationships with your students before they can make the buying decision, remember? 

Webinars are another touchpoint to help you achieve this goal. If you are not someone who would go to the events to speak about their course live, then using the webinar strategy for your online course launch is for you. In your email campaigns, which usually start once the potential students download your lead magnet and are included in your email workflows, include one small campaign for the webinar.

And what should your webinar cover? It’s an excellent chance for you to go in-depth in terms of presenting your course, talking about what challenges your students may be facing, and inviting them to buy your course on your webinar with you! 

How can Uteach help? 

Uteach gives you all the tools to run webinars, live lessons, and Q&A sessions. It automates the process, as you can track attendance, send automatic reminders, and schedule your sessions beforehand. 

As you create the meeting, you can choose to run it via Zoom, Jitsi, or any other platform as you place the link. 

Download our free guide on “How To Prepare For A Webinar” to make sure you are ready for the big event on your course launch. 

Besides the webinar, there are several strategies you can implement to get your students to buy your course. For example, offer pre-launch discounts. E.g., the first 20 buyers will get 50% off the course, or they can enroll for $x before a specific date. You can also offer discounts after the course launch to create some buzz around existing content.

Step 5: Announce the course launch

You have made it so far; this is the day you have been waiting for - the official course launch day. 

You would agree that announcing it on your website will not make the sales magically generate. So, what can you do on the official day of your course launch?

• Send email reminders. To promote the course launch, send reminders to your email list or followers, emphasizing any limited-time offers or bonuses you included. 
• Announce it on social media channels. Create a catchy post and share it on the social media channels you have built your audience on. You can also ask your network to share your post to boost your reach and visibility. 
• Be ready to answer all their inquiries, questions, and concerns. 
• Write a blog post about it, start sharing it, and promote your online course with a blog.

How can Uteach help? 

There is one more touchpoint with your students or potential students that you can use. That is the community on your own platform. With Uteach, you can build free and paid communities where your students can engage, discuss, share updates, celebrate wins, etc. 

At the same time, you can build stronger relationships with them and get them excited about your new courses and updates. 

Step6: Do the aftermath

After you launch your course, do the aftermath and track its overall performance. Here is how you do that:

• Track leads & conversion rates. You can track these metrics with analytics tools such as Google Analytics, which will allow you to monitor the number of visitors. (To get the conversion rate, divide the number of visitors by the number of enrollments).
• Analyze and track the performance of various marketing channels, including Google ads, social media ads, mail campaigns, social media campaigns, etc. 
• Assess the feedback received for the course and overall engagement levels (e.g., how many students completed the course, grades, what feedback/reviews they left)
• Evaluate revenue & profitability for the course by assessing investments & return-on-investment rates. You can also choose other key performance indicators you can rely on to see how your course performed. 
• Gather all the necessary data, assess your marketing and sales strategies, and make necessary improvements. 

Also, you can monitor the long-term impact of the course, follow up with students, and make sure that your previous students are engaged within the community. 

How can Uteach help? 

As an all-in-one platform, Uteach provides you with the tools to analyze your online school data. You can track the performance of the individual students, as well as your sales and key metrics. 

You can see details like recent sales, new enrollments, active students, your revenue over time, and so much more. 

Besides the built-in analytical tools, Uteach has integrations with other popular tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, where you can track your user’s behavior and site performance accordingly. 

This way, you can see real-time insights and make data-driven decisions for your online school business. 

Download our free guide, “Online Course Evaluation Template,” if you need to refine your course based on the student’s feedback and your self-evaluation. 

Your course launch checklist

Finally, here is the ultimate checklist for your course launch. 

Goals & Expenses

• Establish goals (SMART)
• Calculate expenses & investments
• Understand metrics such as customer acquisition cost and ROI rates 
• Set up a budget for various activities for your business 

Marketing Strategy

• Identify your target audience and their needs & wants 
• Identify current market trends & complete competitor analysis 
• Set up ads for social media & website based on the data collected, do A/B testing
• Identify marketing channels 
• Set up a strong social media presence 
• Open a blog for long-form valuable content, engagement & organic traffic on your website. 

Sales

• Build a sales funnel (Generate leads & collect information) 
• Nurture Leads by providing value (email campaigns with PDFs, infographics, blog materials, etc.) 
• Announce presells and launch date of the course (campaigns, Google & Social Media ads) 
• Incorporate upsells and cross-sells

Website 

• Build a proper website (enough white spaces, readable fonts, visuals, fast loading speed) 
• Create a dedicated landing page for a new course 
• Create lead magnets 
• Offer discounts within CTAs placed on the landing page 

Emails

• Set up email campaigns & sequences (write professional copies, follow-ups, and responses depending on A/B/C situations) 
• Make sure email campaigns are niche-specific 
• Create campaigns to reach different goals, including value, engagement, conversion, etc.

Post-launch

• Track the number of leads 
• Track conversion rates 
• Track performance of marketing strategy via tracking results of email & social media campaigns, ads 
• Follow up
• Engage with your clients and potential customers 
• Engage with your social media audiences 

Ready for your course launch? 

Launching a course takes a lot of time and effort. However, it’s worth it in the end! 

Once you launch that one course, you will be able to sell it over and over again. And when it comes to your next course launch you will know better which strategies worked best for you. 

Besides the marketing and promoting strategies, there is also the online course platform that helps you launch your online course successfully and provides a smooth learning experience for your students. 

One of the most popular platforms on the current market is Uteach. Uteach offers many useful tools and functionalities that allow course creators to launch courses and grow successfully. 

Uteach features include a website and course builder, built-in marketing features, live functionality, and many others. So, if you have been waiting for a sign, this is it. 

Book a demo now to see all the functionalities that will help you start and scale your online teaching business, and try Uteach for free to give your first-course launch a go!