The COVID-19 pandemic has shed a light on our preparedness to learn and work from home, using modern communication technologies. This has brought more attention to the eLearning business and its potential to become one of the most profitable activities in the future.
Of course, this type of venture requires more than a great Wi-Fi connection, camera, microphone, and a computer. For all those interested in starting a successful eLearning business, here are tips to get you going.
1. Choose learning fields you want to cover
Your eLearning business should start with a question: What you would like to teach? To be successful, you have to define your student body or a target audience, to attract as many attendees as possible. Once you do this, you can create appropriate materials, websites, and offer other content that suits their needs.
Also, research the popular topics, current trends in education, and interests of people who look for online courses. The goal is to be interesting, attractive, and offer the best possible educational materials for your students. So choose your fields concerning this as well.
2. Find the right eLearning platform
An eLearning platform you choose should be able to share more than one course with your students even though you may start with one. It’s important to plan for your eLearning business and that means finding a platform that is user-friendly and offers features that will turn your courses into success.
These may include, for instance, an in-app chat feature for your students, progress tracking, project board, and upload of materials. The best approach is to consult or hire a professional to take care of this tech side of your eLearning business or only suggest potential platforms.
3. Hire your lecturers
Lecturers in your online courses may be the reason students apply in the first place. After all, it’s impossible to cover all the interests of your target audience. This may be quite an investment in the beginning, but it can give popularity and credibility to your eLearning business. These individuals can include university professors, influencers, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and others who can offer knowledge and experience on the subject matter.
4. Work on advertising
Advertising your courses is not as simple as it sounds. Today, you need to think of SEO, the message, content, and delivery system for your product to gain popularity. Social media, and especially Facebook, can help you with targeted advertising and audience segmentation.
But, you will have to hire someone to do your marketing campaign or at least invest in advertising on relevant websites. Sending business newsletters to your contacts is also a reliable way to advertise and attract as many potential students as possible. Just remember that the way you communicate with online users, even when it comes to negative comments, can make you more or less attractive to your target audience.
5. Prepare learning materials
Learning materials are one of the most important things to prepare since your attendees will use them during and after lectures. Since you are starting your eLearning business, it’s best to rely on a wide range of RTO training materials you can modify and adjust to your needs. This will provide quality materials and save you time that you can then dedicate to some other part of your eLearning business.
Also, instead of live demonstrations, pre-record them and offer them as additional material for download or use during your online lectures. You must create a gripping class that will inspire your students to ask questions or discusses the materials with you or among themselves.
6. Create your courses
The goal of courses is to enhance your students’ skills and expand their knowledge. Because this can help them at their jobs or academic accomplishments, you need to build quality courses that will make that possible. Furthermore, determine how long each course will last, how much it will cost, and what requirements potential students need to fulfill for enrolment.
To make this easier, you can use one of the two business models: the academy model or the night-school model. The academy model is based on the monthly fee for attendance and access to eLearning materials, can include various levels, and last for years. The night-school model offers one-off courses, making it a better choice for starting an eLearning business.
7. Test your eLearning business
To set the price and see whether your eLearning business is functional, you should offer a free test course. This will bring you feedback on what to change and improve, as well as what to eliminate from the program. While it may seem like a never-ending ordeal, the feedback you obtain here can help you attract more students and bring more profit.
The bottom line
Just like any beginning, starting a successful eLearning business may be a rocky road. However, with a dedication to quality, targeting the right audience, and investing in the best training materials, you may not be far from success.
Mike is an Australian business consulting specialist. He’s working with companies that outsource their IT maintenance. He often writes about technology, business and marketing and is a regular contributor on several websites.
