One of the first rules of advertising is to know EXACTLY what you’re selling. Designing and creating an e-course to sell is no different.

You’re NOT selling a course that’s jam-packed with information. What you’re selling is what the information can do for the buyer.

Benefits vs. Features: The Difference between Success & Failure

If you’re an experienced marketer, the following may be rudimentary knowledge for you, so just bear with me for a minute while I get those who are new on the same page.

The Difference between Benefits & Features

A feature is an attribute of a product or service. Using my search engine optimization (SEO) copywriter training course as an example, some of its features are that it:

• Gives you a comprehensive overview of how search engines work;
  
• Teaches you how to write SEO content; and
  
• Is in the easily accessible via the Teachable format.

While all of that is fine, it doesn’t get a prospect excited because it doesn’t tell them what’s in it for them. There’s a principle in marketing called WIIFM (what’s in it for me). THIS is what benefits are all about.

They give a potential buyer reasons to get excited – excited enough to whip out a credit card and buy. So, some of the benefits of Inkwell Editorial’s SEO writing e-course are that it:

• Gives you a location-independent way to make a living so you can live and work from anywhere you want (like I did full-time from the Caribbean for five years);
  
• Teaches you an evergreen, in-demand skill that allows you to make money online in other ways (eg, affiliate marketing);
• Allows you to build a business where you’re in control of your own income;
  
• Gives you control over your own time because you can arrange your work schedule to fit your life – not fit your life around a work schedule; and
• Gives you peace of mind from having to worry about being laid off, down-sized, or fired.

What your online course is selling is always about what it can do for a potential buyer. It’s never about you or what you want to talk about.

“Well Duh, Yuwanda. That’s So Basic I Can’t Believe You Mentioned It.”

The reason I made this the first step in creating your course is it’s so easy to focus heavily on the features once you get into the meat of developing it.

Every step of the way, ask yourself, “Why is it important that my students know this? How will it help them achieve their dream(s)?”

No Fluff, Just the Facts Please

Now for sure, you must give concrete information that’s not going to be a standout, identifiable benefit throughout your course. But, if you keep benefits top of mind, it will help you to stay focused and create a “lean” course that’s not full of fluff.

That’s one of the things I loved about the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing e-course I took. The lessons were easy breezy, but packed with good, solid info.

I’ve taken quite a few online courses in my day and I swear, it’s like many throw the kitchen sink in there just to take up space and make it seem more valuable.

But value is provided in giving people actionable information they can use to achieve their goals. Your students shouldn’t have to “trim the fat,” so to speak, to get to that information. It’s your job as the course creator to do this for them.

What This Course Covers

FYI, here's all of what we'll be discussing in this course ...

LESSON I: The First Step in Creating an Awesome Online Course

LESSON II: How to Brainstorm a S*tload of Online Course Ideas!

LESSON III: How to Tell If Your Online Course Will Be Profitable – Before You Write a Word (Don't even think about creating a course until you do this)

LESSON IV: How to Create an Outline for Your Online Course (If you get this right, the next lesson will be easy)

LESSON V: How to Quickly & Easily Write Your Online Course (If writing doesn't come naturally to you, don't worry, there are 8 guidelines covered that will make it flow easily)

LESSON VI: How to Price Your Online Course to Maximize Sales (This is perhaps one of the scariest things about creating an online course. Get it wrong -- no sales. Get it right -- you could be on the road to making a whole lot of money. Seven insights/strategies into how to price your online course are discussed)

LESSON VII: Online Course Platforms - 7 Delivery Options (Free and low-cost options are discussed)

LESSON VIII: How to Successfully Launch Your Online Course (Actually "launching" your course starts right when you decide it's a go. Here we'll discuss why, and how to start making money before you even write a word (or very few of them))

LESSON IX: The Secret to Becoming a Super-Successful Online Course Creator (Wanna make a career out of creating online courses? In this lesson, you'll discover exactly what to do to make it possible)

In the next lesson on brainstorming, we’re going to talk about how to streamline your ideas once you come up with them.

P.S.: Enroll Now. Pay Later.

How? Learn more here. It's one of the best investments you can make as an ecourse creator. Click image below to apply right now, and have an answer within a few minutes. Really!