Fully Booked VA Blog

6 Tips to Launching an Email Course

Last week was a huge week for me! I officially launched my email course!

Later edit: This course has since been replaced and moved to our courseware.

 

30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing SuccessI’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback so far, but launching an email course didn’t come without its challenges. Namely, technology! Here are six tips if you’re thinking of doing something similar:

1. Realize It’s a Big Time Investment

I’m all about being transparent. I thought I would write the material, hire out the web setup stuff and all would be well. I was a little naive to say the least!

Yes, writing the material takes time. But that was only the beginning. Since then, I’ve had to spend countless hours reviewing text, reformatting, corresponding with my wonderful tech guy, talking to MailChimp, writing copy, promoting the course, etc. And it’s just begun I’m sure!

2. Research Your Autoresponder Options

I went with MailChimp because that’s who I had set up my newsletter subscription with (via their free option). So I just upgraded my account ($10 per month ain’t bad!) and figured all would be well.

Again, Grayson is the one that had to set everything up, so I’m sure he’s got his own frustrations/thoughts on the process, but based on my experience thus far, I don’t think I’d use MailChimp again to do something similar in the future.

Their customer service has been great mind you, it’s their product offering itself that I’m not sure about. We’ve had a few bugs that they basically have no fix for. I’ve figured out workarounds, but I feel like there should be a better solution. Maybe it’s a case of you get what you pay for?

3. Realize It’s a Large Undertaking

An email course is a large undertaking, especially for someone’s first product! Again, I was a bit naive, but I think it’ll turn out well.

The reason I wanted to do an email course, is that I thought it’d be a great format for someone to receive the content. It also has a higher perceived value than an ebook (from my own standpoint and feedback from others).

It’s just not super simple to set up and that’s what I didn’t realize. Luckily I’ve got people smarter than me on my team, to help a sister out! We’ve both learned a ton.

4. It Costs Money

Since I don’t do everything myself, I’ve had to hire some help. I’m okay with that. Currently, I’m finishing up work at my day job, have client writing work to keep up with and a family to pay attention to. So, if I can find affordable help, I’m all about it! Plus, I love to support other freelancers!

Here are my initial investments so far:

  • Infographic: $75
  • Web Setup: $200+ (he’s still doing some work for me)
  • MailChimp: $10/month
  • Marketing: $5

Total: $300 (so far)

5. You Can Make Money

I’ve gotten the feedback that my course is priced too low. That’s great to hear! I’d rather hear that, then someone thinking it was priced too high any day of the week!

I put a $30 price tag on the “course only” option and a $75 on the “course + coaching” option. The second option includes two half hour coaching sessions at a reduced rate. Essentially so someone could get their business up and running and have some personal feedback (on their website, pitch, etc).

In the last five days I’ve sold a total of 10 basic course subscriptions. That’s $300 in revenue. So basically at this point I’ve broken even! I’m happy about that.

I set what I consider a low bar for the month of December to sell a total of 10, so I’ve already hit my goal! My rough goal for January is to double that or sell 20. Since I’ve already hit December’s goal, I mise well just move it up though and shoot for the 20 right off the bat.

My husband and I have a personal goal when I hit 100 sales, that we’re going to go out for a nice dinner. This is kind of fun, as it keeps us both focused on a longer term goal and creates a banter/open-ended conversation about it.

6. You Need a Marketing Plan

I have a rough marketing plan for spreading the word about my course. Of course I’ve posted on my social media channels (FB, Twitter, Google+) for free.

I’ve also contracted with five people for guest posts. I think this will be the most effective method of increasing traffic to my site and hopefully my sales page. My starting goal is to secure 10 total guest posts. I’d like to do one per week after that (provided I can continue to network opportunities).

I also boosted my post on Facebook for the first time today for $5. We’ll see if that goes anywhere. There’s also Google ads that I’m going to look into. I’m open to possibilities!

In Conclusion

An email course (or book or any product in general) is a large undertaking! Be prepared for it to take you a fair amount of time, to encounter some challenges along the way and to learn a lot! Hire some help if it makes more sense than you spending your time to learn an undesired skill set.

Be prepared to spend lots of time and some money to get up and running. Do your research and ask others about their experience. You can also make some money though, so put out a good product and go for it! What do you have to loose?

Have you ever launched a product? Got any marketing advice for me?

Gina Horkey

Gina Horkey

FOUNDER & CO-OWNER

Gina Horkey is a married, millennial mama from Minnesota. Additionally, she’s the founder of Horkey HandBook and loves helping others find or become a kickass virtual assistant. Gina’s background includes making a living as a professional writer, an online business marketing consultant and a decade of experience in the financial services industry.

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