What are some of the most important elements of a successful course? Creating your own online course can be a great source of passive income. But how to make sure you actually create a course WORTH IT?!

As you start your course creation, obviously, you are thinking about it being successful!

Through this post, I want to review some of the important elements to include in your course for it to be more successful. These are the little things that can go a long way and make your audience come back for more.

The most important elements of a successful course

ELEMENT no.1: Welcome your audience into the course and “show around”

Instead of hopping right to the content, make sure to do a Welcome section where you introduce your audience to all the most important questions and cover topics like:

• What can they expect through this course?
• How to work with it? (Should they follow the lesson sequence or can it be random? Is there Drip content coming up? etc)
• More about you and the background of the course
• Any important info they should know, tools to sign up for in advance, etc.

The Welcome section can be just one intro video or it can also be separated into several lessons within one Module. For example:

• You saying hi & telling a bit more about yourself
• Guidance on how to use the course
• Tips for getting started

Such an intro will help your audience to feel more “like home” with your content. To ease into the learning process more easily!

Make sure to also remind them about any action you want for them to take: to participate in your group, fill out the Worksheets, send in their questions or anything alike.

ELEMENT no.2: Add interactive elements to keep your audience engaged

To keep your audience more engaged and entertained, think about several different interactive elements to add through the course.

Those can be Worksheets, to-do lists, roadmaps, all kinds of tasks and challenges for them.

You can also give them “homework” if it’s a group setting and encourage them to share it with the group.

Those can also be quizzes and polls.

Remember, your interactive elements don’t have to be all the same, repeated in all of the lessons. Just because one lesson would require a Worksheet to be filled, doesn’t mean that you must now put a Worksheet into each lesson…

Adjust the elements through the course so all are a great fit for that specific lesson.

ELEMENT no.3: Create some space for support

Even if your course is evergreen and doesn’t work in a group-setting, I’d suggest creating a Facebook group for it so your audience can gather all in one place and share their experiences.

If a Facebook group doesn’t work for you, make sure to let your audience know where and how they can receive any support from you. While there is no need to offer free assistance for all of your students, it’s important to show up for everyone who decides to take your courses!

A chance to receive further support from you can be a great selling point and it doesn’t have to take loads of your attendance, although you might feel like it will.

Again, it’s not so much about 1:1 help as it is about a chance to get support if needed.

Some of my clients just check in with their students once in a while to see how they are doing, either via Instagram or email, and that is also absolutely okay!

You might also be interested in: The best content ideas for digital courses

ELEMENT no.4: Give your audience follow-up steps and guidance

What happens once your course is over? What can they do if they want to take the next step in this journey?

This is where you can offer 1:1 coaching, upsell another course or program. If you don’t have anything prepared just yet, make sure to think about this in the long run.

What would be their next step? And how can you be of help in this journey?

You can also give them additional discounts or special offers. But the goal is NOT to get them “hooked” on your assistance and won’t be able to thrive on their own. Instead, once again, we’re talking about giving them an opportunity to have this further support if they feel like that will be the right choice.

ELEMENT no.5: Add templates to work with

If you have a chance and your course supports this, make sure to add in some templates your students can work with.

For example, a client of mine who’s an interior designer added Procreate template to get started with.

You can add Canva or Photoshop templates if relevant, as well as Excel/Spreadsheets and quite literally anything else!

Even if they decide to start from ground zero, your added templates can work as a great source for inspiration.

What are some of the most important elements of a successful course that you could add to your digital products as well?!

Stay tuned and find out all about the latest articles on our Instagram: @coursecreationlab

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