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BetaFLO will be relaunching end of Summer.
Why Beta Testing is the Way to Go
1.
WHAT IS BETA TESTING?
Put simply, it's a trial run of your course. When I refer to Beta Testing I am referring to offering your course to a small group of students and collecting feedback so that you can refine it before doing the Big Course launch. This process is also referred to as Prelaunching, Preselling, or a Pilot.
2.
GET PAID WHILE YOU BUILD
Although you CAN offer your Beta course for free, this course focuses on how to sell your Beta course. You don't want to end up in the friend zone by constantly giving away free content. Although the Beta course is a way to validate your course idea, you will still be giving real value to your students and spending time teaching them to get the results they're looking for. Plus, this is a test to see if people are willing to PAY for this content, so you can't test that unless you sell it.
3.
COLLECT TESTIMONIALS AND CASE STUDIES
There will always be a "first" time for every online course. Even if you have been teaching this subject face-to-face for many years, the online environment is different and requires some new skills. Even if this method has worked for you, you can't assume that it will work for a large enough group of people to make an online course worthwhile. The only way to know if your online course will be effective is to allow others to test it out. As a result, you will be able to collect testimonials and case studies that prove the transformational value of your course.
4.
SAVE TIME AND MONEY
A Beta course is your opportunity to fail fast, fail cheap, and fail often so that you can get to your successful course, your "big idea" a little faster. This first run could be the big idea, but if it's not, you can use these steps to do a Beta run as many times as you need to, tweaking as you go along or completely changing your topic as needed. As optimistic entrepreneurs, this is just what we need to either boost us up as we launch, or to give us a learning experience that can be used to refine future initiatives.
All the Things You Need to PreLaunch
Like a Pro
8 Steps that will help you create a more profitable course launch
Step 1 - Define Goals
Define goals so you will know when to move on to the Big Course and when to refine your topic. Success could be having a certain amount of signups or getting certain student results.
Step 3 - Outline Course
Webinar
Create an outline of what you will teach and the timeframe for each lesson. The Course Canvas template offers a method to create focused and results-driven courses.
Step 5 - Launch Beta Course
Webinar
Price course and create a landing page (like this one). Use feedback from audience to script sales pitch. Be transparent that you are offering a Beta course.
Step 7 - Get Testimonials
Webinar
Collect testimonials - e.g. setup automated end of course email, request permission to use videos or feedback, etx.
Step 2 - Build Audience
Start building an audience of people interested in your course topic through free downloads, free consulting, videos, etc. and collect their email addresses.
Step 4 - Create Materials
Create materials for teaching your Beta course - e.g. FaceBook group, presentation slides for live group sessions, pre-recorded videos, email automation sequence. You will also define student activities.
Step 6 - Get Feedback
Create systems to collect and document feedback - e.g. polls, automated questions, end-of-Webinar surveys, etc. Record Skype calls, archive Webinars, so that you can review all student feedback.
Step 8 - Evaluate Beta
Review original course goals and reflect on how the beta test turned out. Review all student feedback and testimonials to determine how the course can be refined moving forward.
About the Instructor
Coleen, the hand-holding queen. After moving from Jamaica to Boston at 7 years old and having a rough educational start, I finally found my groove with caring teachers and different teaching strategies. Those early supportive experiences gave me such a boost in confidence that I later pursued a Bachelors degree in Computer Science, a Masters degree in Education, and worked for years as a training and education professional.
I also developed a deep empathy for people like you and your future students who want and need to learn something. I think you will see these three elements - my passion for technology, my expertise in education, and my empathy for the learner - plus a welcoming support system if you join me in creating the most Perfect Beta Course ever.
“I teach things to people who teach things.”
This is What You’ll Get
As Beta students you will have lifetime access to all 8 lessons of the course.
Get step-by-step guidance plus a final pre-launch checklist to make sure you haven't missed a step!
Get access to a printable course planning template for managing your beta course project.
Is this Course Right for You?
This course is not for everybody, you'll get the best results if you match the criteria on the left:
WHO THIS IS FOR
- You are in the beginning stages of creating an online course and want to validate your idea
- You don't mind a DIY approach or being a Beta tester
- You are willing to put in the work to find potential students for your beta course
- You are flexible and willing to make course changes based on student feedback
WHO THIS IS NOT FOR
- You are further along in your course development or not interested in validating your idea
- You just want someone to set everything up and create an online course for you
- You want someone else to market your course for you
- You already have specific ideas about your course and not open to making any changes to it
Bonus Section
One of the most vital elements of creating a successful online course is having support and having a concrete plan. These additional benefits in the bonus section will help to meet these needs.
Access to a private Slack Group
You will make a lot more progress towards completing and launching your Beta course if you share your journey with other course creators! Signup and you will have access to this private group. And if you haven't used Slack, it's awesome! It's much easier to organize than a FaceBook group and integrates with all the other apps you know and love - Trello, AirTable, Asana, MailChimp, ConvertKit and hundreds more!
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Free Beta Launch Checklist
There are many moving parts to launching a Beta course - having systems in place to document student feedback, a payment system that is secure, a way to communicate with students, and a way to gather testimonials for your Big Course launch to name a few. That's why I decided to create a checklist that you can use prior to launching your course to make sure you haven't missed a critical step. This checklist is only available inside this course, it cannot be found anywhere else on my website.