How to name Online Course Website topics
Earlier this week I shared the four rookie mistakes that hold people back from success with online courses.
As you might remember, one of these mistakes was:
Creating a Course On a Topic.
This mistake probably sounded ridiculous when you first read it.
I mean, your course has to be about something… right?
But as I explained in my last email: you don’t want your course to be “about a topic”.
Instead, your course needs to help people achieve a specific outcome.
And in today’s email I’m going to show you the two-step process that you can use to NAIL this process.
Step #1: Identify the Main Outcome
Your first step is to identify an outcome that your audience wants.
This is easier than you might think.
All you need to do is take a course topic that you already have in mind. And transform it into a specific outcome.
For example, let’s say that your topic is: “Digital Marketing Training Course”.
Again, you don’t want to create a course “about” the Digital Marketing Training Course.
There’s already PLENTY of information out there on that topic.
What most people are missing is a plan that helps them reach a specific outcome.
So all you need to do in this step is jot out a few different outcomes related to Digital Marketing Training.
(By the way, I have a PDF worksheet that will help with this step)
In other words, here’s where you answer the question:
Why do people learn Digital Marketing in the first place?
Well, it’s not for fun.
So what’s the outcome that someone learning digital marketing training actually wants?
It really depends on the person.
But a few common outcomes that come to mind are: acquire a new skill, change of job, and learn how to increase sales with digital marketing tools.
Now:
There’s no magic formula that’s going to reveal the perfect outcome.
It’s a combination of what your audience wants. And your own knowledge and expertise.
But when in doubt, you want to go with an outcome that’s specific.
For example, a few years ago I wanted to create an online course about YouTube marketing.
So I wrote down a few outcomes related to that topic.
And I came up with outcomes like: more traffic, increased brand awareness, and ranking videos in YouTube and Google.
Any of these could have worked.
But I went with “ranking videos” as my outcome for two reasons:
First, it was related to SEO. So it was on a topic that I knew a lot about.
Second, “ranking videos” was a VERY specific outcome.
“Increasing your brand awareness” sounds like an OK course topic at first. But it’s hard to measure.
And if I went with an outcome like: “Increase Your Brand Awareness on YouTube”, that course probably wouldn’t have sold that well.
Instead, I went with the outcome of: rank your videos in YouTube and Google.
This outcome is super specific.
In fact, you can actually SEE the outcome in the search results.
And that’s why I ultimately created a course (First Page Videos) that showed people exactly how to achieve that outcome.
Step #2: Include That Outcome In Your Course Name
Believe it or not, but the name of your course is kind of a big deal.
In other words:
Your course name isn’t something you want to slap on your course at the last minute.
It’s an important part of the online course development process that can impact your bottom line.
A bad course name means that people will have trouble figuring out if your course is right for them.
Which can hurt sales.
But when you have an awesome course name, people INSTANTLY know what your course is about. And how it can help them.
Which can help sales.
For example:
This is a mistake that I made with my first course. When I created the “Advanced Link Building Course”, I didn’t put ANY thought into the name.
I basically took the name “Link Building Course” and slapped “Advanced” to the front of it.
Which, along with the reasons I outlined in my last email, is why my course struggled.
Question is:
What should you name your online course?
It’s actually pretty simple:
Include the outcome that you came up with in Step #1 in the name of your online course.
For example, if your outcome is: “Hire a VA”, make sure that “Hire a VA” is part of your course name.
Our course about how to quickly grow a blog is called: Grow Your Blog Fast.
And our course about ranking videos is called: First Page Videos.
You get the idea 🙂
(What if you already have an online course website? Should you change the name? Probably not. You can just emphasize this outcome more on your sales page, in your launch emails, etc.)
Also:
I have more examples of awesome course names in today’s PDF worksheet.
This worksheet will walk you through the steps that I just outlined in more detail.
It also contains some of my all-time favorite examples of effective course names.
And I’ll talk to you next week.
Read more on How To Create An Online Course Website In 2020
