How to create the perfect outline for your online course

I may get paid commission for purchases made after clicking a link in this post.

A good outline will make it easier to create your course AND it will make your course more enjoyable for your students and ultimately more successful. Here’s how to create the perfect outline for your online course…

Uuuurgh… OK, so I have done about a bajillion online courses in my quest to grow and become a better blogger… I have learnt so many great things from all these courses and I am pretty certain I would not be where I am today if I had not taken so many blogging courses.

BUT… if I have one pet peeve, it’s that most of these courses are not well structured. Not all of them, but the vast majority, for sure.

And to a certain extent it’s understandable… most course creators are not trained teachers… and in particular, they are not trained in creating lesson plans and schemes of work.

But this issue really sticks out like a sore thumb for me, because I am a trained teacher and I did spend large amounts of my time, when I was working as a teacher, creating lesson plans and course curriculums.

But honestly, any student is going to have a better experience on a blogging course if the course creator structures the course well. And if your students have a good experience on your course, they are more likely to finish it, get good results on it and tell their friends about it… which means your course will be more successful.

And, actually, it’s not that hard to structure an online course well. It just requires a bit of careful thought and a certain amount of putting yourself in the shoes of your students… and ideally a helpful person to teach you exactly how to put together a great course outline – ahem, that would be me, then ?

In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to create the perfect outline for your online course…

Pen poised over a blank notebook on a desk stewn with various desk items

Why create a course outline?

First and foremost, a good course outline is important in order to help you create a well-structured course that leads your student step by step on a path from where they are now to where they really want to be.

In fact, this really is one of the main reasons why people buy online courses – to get that well-structured, step-by-step, orderly approach. If they wanted a scattergun approach which sends them from one seemingly unrelated lesson to another and doesn’t join up all the dots… well, they could probably get that from a bunch of Google searches!

But a creating a really good course outline will also help YOU, the course creator. It will break down what you have to do to create your online course into small, manageable, ‘bite-size’ chunks.

Creating a whole course is daunting. But creating one unit is easy! That’s just like creating a very short blog post or a short YouTube video.

And, done well, an outline can also serve you as a great selling tool when your course is complete… Your prospective customers will want to see at a glance what your course covers. If your course has a great structure and you feature your course outline on your sales page, more people will be likely to buy your course as they can see at a glance that it contains everything they want to learn on the topic.

What you need to do first

However, don’t just jump straight into creating your course outline, there are a few things you need to do first, namely:

Choose a profitable course topic
Build your email list
Validate your course idea

Choose a profitable course topic

Picking the right course topic is the most important part of online course creation. It can literally make the difference between success and failure. To ensure your course will be successful, you need to choose a topic that your audience actually wants to study.

Head here to discover my step-by-step process >>> How to choose a profitable online course topic: step by step

Build your email list

It is virtually impossible these days to sell a course from just your blog and social media… even if you pay for ads! You are likely to find the majority of your course sales come from your email list.

If you have not yet got started building your email list, you NEED to read this post >>> A beginner’s guide to email marketing for bloggers + free challenge

Validate your course idea

The best way to validate your course idea is to create a free opt-in offer on the same subject. This does two important things… firstly it gives you great feedback on whether your full paid course is likely to be successful, but also it builds your email list with exactly the right people – people who would be interested in your course.

For help in figuring out exactly what kind of freebie to make, head here >>> How to choose a profitable online course topic: step by step

For help in actually making and promoting the freebie, head here >>> How to create an opt-in offer that actually works: a step-by-step guide

Overhead of notepad, pencil and coffee mug

How to create the perfect outline for your online course: step by step

Once you have chosen and validated your course idea and started building your email list, you are ready to start creating your course outline.

Step 1: Brain dump

The first step is to grab a pen and a large sheet of paper (or better still start a new spreadsheet!) and start writing down everything you think your course should cover. In other words, write down everything you think your students will need to know to go from where they are now to where they want to be by the end of the course. Don’t over think this, just write everything that comes into your head!

Step 2: Ask your audience

The next step is to find out what your audience would want to learn from your new course. The best way to do this is to ask your email subscribers… after all they are the ones most likely to buy your course, so they are the best people to ask. You could also ask on social media – especially if you have a particularly engaged social media audience.

You don’t need to do anything fancy, just explain you are creating a course on X and would like their input. What would they like to see in the course?

(If you do want to get a bit more fancy, you could use a survey app like Typeform*)

Add these ideas to your brain dump.

Step 3: Sort into modules

The next step is to look at your big brain dump and start gathering your ideas into rough big groups which go together.

If you are doing this on paper, I recommend grabbing a bunch of highlighter pens and highlighting the ideas which go together in the same colour.

If you are doing this on a spreadsheet, you can simply use copy and paste to move your ideas around into groups.

Each of these big groups is going to become a module on your course.

So let’s say, for example, you are planning a course on ‘How to get out of debt’. Your big groups / modules might be:

Create a budget
Write down all your debts
Consolidate your debts / get better interest rates
Ways of earning extra money
Reduce your monthly outgoings
Plan how you will pay off your debts
Start a savings habit

Step 4: Order your modules

Your next task is to take a look at those module topics you came up with in Step 3 and rearrange them into a sensible, logical order that takes your students from where they are now to where they want to be.

So, to take our example of the ‘How to get out of debt’ course, you want to think about what would be the most logical order for your students to go from where they are now (in debt), to where they want to be (out of debt and with money in their savings account).

Now, I am no debt expert! But I imagine a logical order might be:

Write down all your debts
Consolidate your debts / get better interest rates
Plan how you will pay off your debts
Create a budget
Reduce your monthly outgoings
Ways of earning extra money
Start a savings habit

Step 5: Divide your modules into units

The next step is to divide your modules into units. Dividing your modules into units will make your course much easier to follow and more enjoyable for your students.

You should aim to break each module down into very short bite-sized units that your students can get through quickly. Never underestimate the power of small units! People love ticking things off and seeing that they are making progress.

If your student has only 30 minutes a day to do your course and, in that 30 minutes, they can tick off 3 modules, they will enjoy your course so much more and feel so much more motivated to complete it than if it takes them several days to just complete ONE module… even if the material is EXACTLY THE SAME!

So now look at each module and figure out how you can divide it up into those small bite-sized units. Use the ideas you gathered in steps 1 and 2 to help you.

To take out debt course example, the ‘Reduce your monthly outgoings’ module might contain the following units.

Cut up your credit cards
Start writing down every expenditure (with free printable)
Reduce your utility bills
Reduce your grocery bills
Reduce your vehicle expenses
Reduce other regular monthly bills
Cut out unnecessary ‘ad hoc’ expenses

You should also try to arrange the units within each module in the most logical order… again, think about the journey your student will take and help them take the best path.

Step 6: Be flexible!

By the end of this process, you should have a well-structured course outline. But, as you start creating your course, be prepared to be flexible and for your outline to change. For example, you may think of extra units that need to be included or you may realise something needs to be taught earlier on in your course as other later units will rely on it.

What next?

If you have followed the steps in this blog post, you will now have an awesome outline for your course. The next step is to actually create that course!

The brilliant thing about having an outline is that it will make creating your course so much easier. Now all you have to do is to create one short, ‘bite-sized’ lesson for each unit – which is really no different from creating a very short blog post or a short YouTube video.

You can also use your final course outline as a sales tool on your sales page. Many students like to know exactly what they will get in the course before they buy – your course outline will give them this information and help them see that the course is well structured.

For an example of this, check out my course sales page to see how I have divided up my SEO Jumpstart course into modules and units, and how my course outline is now a part of my course marketing.

NEED SOME HELP CREATING YOUR ONLINE COURSE?

Then why not check out ONLINE COURSE JUMPSTART – everything you need to create and launch a successful online course in just 8 weeks!

Here’s a sneak peep of what’s inside…

The FIVE BIGGEST MISTAKES people make when creating online courses
The ONE BIG DIFFERENCE between a SUCCESSFUL course business and an UNSUCCESSFUL one
How to find a course topic your audience wants to learn about SO BADLY, they’ll be falling over themselves to THROW THEIR CREDIT CARDS AT YOU
How to properly VALIDATE your course topic idea (so you don’t waste time creating a course no one wants!)
Why creating a COURSE OUTLINE is so important (and HOW to do it!)
Why you almost certainly DON’T NEED AS MUCH TECH as you think you do to create an online course
How to create HIGH QUALITY course videos, downloads and bonuses EVEN ON A BUDGET!
Tips on choosing the RIGHT PRICING STRATEGY from an ex grocery sector promotions manager (yep, that used to be my job before blogging!)
Step-by-step help to create a KILLER SALES PAGE that converts like CRAZY!
The SEVEN essential components of a SUCCESSFUL COURSE LAUNCH
Bonuses and downloads GALORE!

FIND OUT MORE >>>

Over to you!

Do you have questions about creating an outline for an online course? Ask them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to help!

Don’t miss a thing!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or why not subscribe to Productive Blogging and get blogging and productivity tips straight to your inbox every week?