A while back I wrote an article about why it’s so important to have online training programs as one of the legs supporting your business. It listed 4 reasons that were compelling then – and only make more sense now. After all technology has only improved in the last year and online programs are becoming more and more common. 

Remember a few years back when having a book was a key differentiator for thought leaders?

Well today everyone and their dog has a book. And thanks to the good folks at Amazon those books simultaneously appear in every marketplace on the planet as soon as they are published. 

So what’s a guy (or gal) to do if they want to stand out from the crowd?

Currently thought leaders offering online courses are still few and far between. But that’s going change. Soon. 

Here are a few stats to consider from TechJury:

• The worldwide e-learning market is projected to be worth $325 Billion in 2025.
• In 2017, approximately 77% of US corporations used online learning, but 98% planned to incorporate it in their program by 2020. 
• In 2017, 67% of US companies offered learning opportunities via smartphones.
• E-learning increases retention rates by 25% to 60%.

Consider the potential for your business if you create online training programs to compliment your other IP.

I was recently chatting to a leadership trainer about how an online course could work as a way to lock in more business from existing clients if she simply forked her half-day workshop into 5 30 minute modules and offered it as an onboarding tool.

One of the big problems with live in-person workshops is that employees are very mobile. And very often the people in the room when you deliver your program may not be there for long. So employee “churn” reduces the long term impact of your training.  

But if you were to create a simple onboarding tool – not only would you be able to increase your fee through a licensing arrangement – you would almost create an element of “vendor lock,” as you become the natural choice for all future workshops because everyone is already familiar with your program!!

When online courses first came about they were clunky, hard to manage and a pain in the butt to set up. But it’s not like that anymore. Tools like WP-CourseWare from Flyplugins.com allow you to pay a small one-time fee and start building right away using your own WordPress site. It even comes with its own shopping cart. 

My online training programs are not onboarding courses. They are marketing programs for consultants, trainers and professional speakers. So everyone who takes one is generally an entrepreneur or working with an entrepreneur in a marketing capacity. 

With my courses I’ve opted to configure them using WP-Courseware and Woocommerce. I did this because it allowed me to leverage some really cool free Woocommerce tools to create affiliate programs and automatically enroll anyone who signs up. This gives every one of my students a little “skin in the game.” And if they like the course, provides them with an incentive to share it out. 

It also allowed me to use a cart abandonment tool that sends out messages to people who drop out of the cart before completing the purchase. It’s all about the infrastructure and the process that runs under the hood. 

If you don’t have a course and you’d like to set one up fast I just released a program called “The Simple, Non-Techie, Guide to Building an Online Course.”  It’s a 40 minute crash course that will help you get up and running fast. If you have any questions about online courses – send me an email or book a call.

Aidan Crawford is president of Short Circuit Media. His main job is helping consultants, trainers and professional speakers get their marketing in order by creating and implementing strategies to help them reach their target audiences.

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