Create An Online Course

How to Publish your First Online Course on Teachable

By Leigh Burke on April 29, 2019

ow you don’t have to create your own personal website to teach online courses. Teachable is an online course hosting website. You can build up your own online school, add multiple courses in it, and customize themes.

Additionally you can also make use of interesting advertising and promotional tools and take your online teaching to a whole new level by keeping track of everything from sales, users, emails and much more. With Teachable you have the option to backup or data recovery in case of any unforeseen situations.

Interesting thing is that teachable is kind of similar to WordPress and hence understanding teachable might be just a piece of cake for you.

But if you have never explored WordPress, no worries! Here’s the guide on how you can get started on teachable and publish your first course without any hassle.

First go to the official Teachable site, sign up, and create your school

Dashboard

After successfully creating your account, and confirmation through email, you will be directed to your School. The first thing that will appear in your school is the dashboard.

Here you can do the following:

Sign up for the live webinar
Create your new courses
Customize the appearance of your school such as themes, change font style, add background color and images, etc.
Purchase and set up your personalized domains

Create a Course

You have to go through the following steps to create a course:

1) Add Information:

Add your course Tile
Add your course sub-title
Add the name of Author(s)

2) Add Curriculum

The next step is to add your course content.

Press Create sections
Add section title
Open section and create individual lectures
Upload file, text, quiz or code
Turn the comments on/off for each lecture
Make files downloadable (if you wish)
Publish the lectures

3) Set Pricing

Choose your pricing plans from existing options:

Free Plan
If you want your course for everyone and free of cost then this plan is for you.

Subscription Plan
Using this plan you can set pricing or billing on the basis of either monthly installments or annually.

One Time Purchase

If you don’t want to inconvenience your learners about payments again and again then choose this plan. Make your learners pay all at once.

Payment Plan

If you want to set your own monthly payment plan. Then choose this method. This plan allows you to add multiple or more than one installments in one month.

Set amount for each Payment.
Add a name for the price plan
Add Sub-title
Add description
Press Create

4) Publish

Default

In this step, you have to add/edit general course details such as:

Course Name or Title
Author name, bio, and picture
Course Subtitle
Course Category, for example, Business, Programming, Web development, Arts, etc.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization helps a lot in increasing your sales. Therefore, if you’re going to upload content online, it must follow general SEO rules for a greater reach. On teachable you can optimize the following:

Create an SEO course URL
Create an SEO course page title
Add Meta Description

Branding

Just like SEO branding plays an effective role in bringing you more sales. Well branded media not only explains the main purpose but also creates interest and a sense of trust for new users.

In this section you’ve to add:

Thumbnail or Logo or Background Image ( JPG, PNG 960x540px )
Promotional Video ( MP4, M4V, AVI, size: 640-1280px wide )

Course Compliance

Add specific compliance actions students need to perform in order to move on the next lecture such as:

You can add quiz
You can enforce learners to completely watch all videos to get the certificate

Default Pages

You can add default pages such as welcome or thank page for your learners and make them feel they’re important.

On Teachable if you want you can also delete your existing course or duplicate its content to another course without losing/changing the original one.

No wonder teachable stands out from its competitors because teachable not only gives you all the rightful tool to publish, polish, and market your courses but it also gives you full access over your course contents. Customize your content and site all the way you want without any problems!

Instagram Success Tips

By Leigh Burke on April 28, 2019

Instagram is one of the social platforms that you need to be leveraging for your business. This guide is a compilation of instagram hints and tips to help you build your instagram followers ethically.
We are building our Training Profits Instagram account with an initial target of 2000 – 3000 followers over the next few months.
I have spent the last month heavily researching how to ethically build your Instagram account without using any blackhat techniques that might get you banned. That means there is no automatically adding followers or buying followers or anything dodgy like that. Let’s get started!

Strategies for Instagram success:

Use Hootsuite to schedule automatic posting (up to 30 posts on free account)
When you post, use hashtags with between 200k-800k posts. Use up to 30 hashtags per post, or 10 per story. To check post count of a hashtag, Search for the hashtag, click Tags and you will see how many posts under the hashtag
Check out http://hashtagify.me or http://instavast.com (free) for hashtag ideas. Save these to Notes in your phone for easy cut and past for future posts
Post at 2am and 6am ASDT. (Australian time. Check timezones here
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html )
Use Captivate app to follow people who liked a post in your niche / hashtag
Use Followers app to unfollow people who don’t follow you back (after following 5000 people) You can follow up to 7000 people
Once you get some of your posts on explore page, post 10 times a day (or as much as you can)
Post a Story at least once every 24 hours. Simply share somebody else’s post or story (and tag them, also add a main hashtag). Click the paper plane icon, add your @ mention and hashtag #, then click Send To. Click Share next to your story, then click Add to highlights, choose your highlight (or add a new one) and click Done
Your Instagram Page will take off between 2k – 5k followers.
Once you have over 5000 followers, monetise your account:
1. Shoutcart to sell shout outs on your Instagram page
2. Dropship from AliExpress
3. Sell merchandise (merch)
4. Naturebacks on instagram is a good example of selling merch
Post more videos (1 minute long). For videos, click cover when posting and choose the best cover
Post slideshows, select multiple images icon when posting, then choose all images for slideshow
Post viral content to try and get on explore page. For ideas, go to influencer’s pages in your category and look for stand out posts in terms of likes and comments
Try the occasional spelling error to get more engagement
Engage and collaborate with pages in your niche. E.g paid promos, shout outs etc. Every follower / number is a real human being
Create engaging emotional content
Use Instagram stories, Instagram live and Instagram tv
Use Instagram DM (direct messages). DM people that commented and thank them
Build a loyal strong community
Use When to post app to find best times to post
Create all new posts as a story also
Comment for engagement E.g ask question. At least 4 word response
Heart comments on relevant posts
Have longer form micro blog like captions
Rotate hash tags
Post question posts
Run a contest for a $25 Visa gift card. See text for contest below:

How to enter:

1. Like this photo and follow @traningprofits
2. Tag a friend in the comments below
3. You can enter as many times as you want
4. BONUS: if your tagged friend follows @trainingprofits it’s an extra entry

🔥Contest closes today March 8th, 2019 @ 11:59 PM EST 🔥
🎁 We’ll choose a lucky winner tomorrow and contact via DM 🎁
📝 This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, associated with, or administered by Instagram 📝

Daily actions for Instagram:

Add 100 instagram followers
Like 100 photos
Comment on 20 photos
Post 2 photos
Share posts on Twitter
Post 1 video
Share video to YouTube & Twitter
Unfollow non-followers
Post 1 infographic photo
Create an Instagram series
Twitter: follow 100

Examples of hashtags I have saved to my phone’s Notes:

Educate:

Educate #familiarize #school #prepare #learn #nurture #cultivate #teach #advise #sensitize #train #civilize #develop #enlighten #inform #instruct #awareness #informing #sensitizing #acquaint #educational #engage #informed #instil #publicize #instill #communicate #sensitization #aware #apprise #inculcate

Learn:

Learn #teach #discover #see #check #hear #larn #educate #memorize #study #read #find_out #take #instruct #get_a line #watch #determine #get_word #get_wind #ascertain #find #realize #know #tell #understand #lessons #explore #lesson #con #pick_up #relearn

Success:

Success #fruition #successful #successes #triumphs #performance #acclaim #succeed #win #feat #effectiveness #popularity #luck #achievement #achiever #breakthrough #achievements #winner #accomplishments #strength #prosperity #stardom #victory #triumph #accomplishment #glory #progress #outcome #viability #fruitful #succeeding

Motivation:

Motivation #motive #morale #need #motivating #incentive #rationale #inspiration #motivated #passion #motivator #impetus #purpose #encouragement #disincentive #motivates #justification #desire #reason #enthusiasm #momentum #commitment #intention #goal #intent #cause #reasons #reasoning #interest #willingness #explanation

Entrepreneur:

Entrepreneur #developer #promoter #businesswoman #company #creator #ventures #owner #builder #businessperson #enterpriser #proponent #trader #firm #businesspeople #businessman #industrialist #business #operator #ceo #developers #sponsor #undertaker #contractor #enterprises #offeror #holder #undertaking #enterprise #subcontractor #employer

Ecommerce:

Ecommerce #e-commerce #e-business #storefront #commercial_activity #business #crm #e-trade #seo #marketer #outsource #erp #back_end #commerce #ebusiness #merchantry #intranet #webmaster #online #saas #merchant #internet #analytics #retail #sme #website #web #mercature #merchandise #optimization #multichannel

Growth:

Growth #rise #economy #recovery #development #growing #grow #upturn #ontogeny #improvement #expansion #slowdown #emergence #ontogenesis #increment #increase #outgrowth #maturation #increases #prosperity #rate #economic #evolution #inflation #investment #upswing #expanding #boom #gdp #expand #advancement

How To Publish Your Course On Udemy

By Leigh Burke on April 27, 2019

Have you ever imagined sharing your knowledge about something you’re passionate about and earning a huge monetary reward from it? That’s what Udemy’s instructors are doing. According to many reports, it is stated that the average amount earned by per instructor is $50,000-$100,000.

To do that, you have to create at least 30 plus minute long videos and upload them in the form of a course. The good news is that there are no heavy prerequisites to be an instructor on Udemy. All you have to do is publish your course, sit back and relax, leave the advertising to Udemy and watch your sales go up and up!

But before you decide to teach on Udemy, let us walk you through the step by step guide on how to publish your first course on Udemy in just one day.

First of all go to Udemy.teach official site, sign up and get started.

Plan Your Course

1) Target Your Students

This section is sort of like FAQs page. Here you answer the following questions:

What is the course about and what skills students will acquire after learning this course?
Who is the\is course for? For example is it for beginners, intermediate or pro learners?
What additional resources students need to learn this course? For example, if the course is about photography then having access to Adobe Photoshop is a must

2) Course Structure
Create a structured course outline. Divide the course into different sections such as:

Lectures Section

Introduction
Main Body
End

Quiz Section

Resource or learning material Section

3) Setup and Test Video

Before you officially start recording our video content make sure:

Your camera quality is good
There is no background music or noise that might disturb your students
Record in a place that can be used as a studio
You’re not hesitant to speak in front of the camera
Once all the instruments are ready, record the video and test it

Create Your Content

1) Film and Edit

After successfully planning everything related to course, it is now time to actually move to the next step and implement all planning strategies and start creating the content.

Record audio and video
Create notes
Edit videos to perfection using video editing software(s)

2) Curriculum

Now after the hard work of planning and creating content, it is actually time to upload everything and make use of it.

Upload each lecture individually with name or title
Upload practice exercises
Upload quizzes

Please note that you can either upload the whole course content at once using bulk uploader option on the top right corner or you can upload the videos on a daily basis at your own pace.

3) Add Captions

Captions or subtitles play a vital role. That is, suppose that your course is in English but a non-native English speaker can also take your course by turning on captions in his/her own language. Or if he can’t catch up with native English speaker he can open captions and understand more easily.
Also, captions are a great source of learning for hearing impaired students.

Publish Your Course

1) Course Landing Page

This is the most important step. The sales you drive totally depends on the content and how much appealing your landing page is. Consider landing page as stage and where you present your sales pitch. Be careful and make sure you sound professional. This step requires the following details:

Add course title
Add course subtitle
Add compelling and concise course description
Add course language, category, and subcategory
Add your course image
Add a Promotional Video

2) Price and Coupon
In this step, you have to set up the price for your course.
You can choose the currency and price tier by hitting the drop down button.
You can also create course coupons from here

3) Course Messages
Course opening and closing messages are optional. But if you want to appear more professional and active then do add appropriate course messages.
The course messages are like proper etiquette that not only add warmth in your audience’s hearts but also make them feel important.

After you’re done with all the above steps, press submit for review button and wait until Udemy approves your course. Once your course is approved, it will be automatically published.

Bottom Line

Creating and publishing your first course may or may not always be a hit. So, make sure you choose your course title and content that is most in demand. Moreover, to increase sales either do upload your first course for free and add new courses and price them or provide limited time free access to your learners and once you have achieved a great number of reviews and audience add more content to your existing course lectures and now you can change access from free to paid.

How To Start Your Own Podcast

By Leigh Burke on April 22, 2019

It always feels great to find better ways of income and we all know that podcast is one of them. While the podcast craze is still high, many have now started adopting it as a profession. But with that said, creating a professional-sounding podcast isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Here are some ways to actually create, record, and publish your first podcast—and get it infront of people.

First and foremost…

Things You Will Need:

Microphone

Getting a high quality mic should be your first priority. No one listens to a low quality sound and viewers who are eagerly listening to a podcast will tell the difference in an instance. So, your first priority should be to get a decent quality microphone. A decent choice is Audio-Technica AT2020s available for around $70 on Amazon. Most gamers use this mic with for their twitch session and they are earning pretty handsomely. So, it will work for you as well.

Editing Software

Next, arm yourself with a decent audio editing software. There are many on the market but it is always better to familiarize yourself with a good editing tool of your choice. You can get Audition CC by Adobe for $20 or Audacity for free.

Desktop PC/Laptop PC

A decent Desktop/Laptop that can edit your audio is also a good buy unless you already have a high performance PC. Audio and video editing software are heavy and they require a decent PC of at least…

8GB RAM
Core i5 processor
1TB Hard drive

A PC with these requirements is necessary for a decent edit of the podcast. You can add other things later to your podcast. Price of a PC will be around $500. You can also buy one on Amazon or Newegg.

Find a Niche

There is a saying, all the content that you want to talk about has already been talked about. So, how can you add your take to it? Respin it as per your need. That’s what every newscaster, producer, program anchor does. In fact, if you have been through a few YouTube videos, you will know that most of them are talking about the same thing, but just adding their own flare to it.

So, you just have to find a niche that you are passionate about and start podcasting.

Smart Passive Income blog owner, Pat Flynn, has been making over $2 million just by podcasting about how to make money PASSIVELY!

Here is a proof of his earnings.

Source: Smartpassiveincome.com

The reason he is earning so much? Because he found an untapped niche and podcasted on it for more than five years consistently. So, you also have to find an untapped niche or even a sub-niche that you are passionate about but people aren’t talking about it.

Make a Monetization Model

Once you have found a niche for your business, create a monetization model to that you can use to make your podcast lucrative. Because if it isn’t profitable you may lose interest in producing more of the content.

On an average, most podcasts will become profitable in a year or so – when they become known in the market.

But a few people can actually make their podcasts profitable even before they start promotion. Take gaps.com owner, Glen Allsopp. Even before starting a podcast, Glen started selling his podcast slots. He was selling a single 30 second slot for $50. First 40 people he reached out to said they weren’t interested. But the 41st person bought slots in two episodes, making him $100 in just 11 hours. Read about his full experiment here.

The crux of this story? Think out of the box. Think some ways in which you can actually earn even before your start podcasting. This will not only keep you motivated, but it will also keep you financially satisfied.

Create a Calendar – Add Epic Content

While recording podcasts is easy, creating meaningful podcasts is hard. Period.

Think of ways in which you are actually helping people. So, select ideas that work and keep them on a single topic. For example, you may like to podcast about ‘Google Monetization Methods.’ So, your ideal topic series should be somewhat like:

Intro to Google Monetization Methods
How to Run an Adsense Blog
Start Your App Account and Monetize with Admob
Create a YouTube Channel and Monetize it
Can You Monetize Google Smart Speaker?

So on and so forth…

If the topics are more in-depth, you can break them into chapters and series so that your audience can listen to them one by one.

You may need to create cover art for your podcast as well.

Find a Podcast Hosting (List of top 5)

Here is a list of the best podcasting hosting services. Most of them are completely free.

Google Play: Google play offers podcast hosting service in a selected-few companies. You can get the full list of companies available here.

Apple iTunes: Apple iTunes offers complete podcast hosting service. In fact, you can also monetize your podcast with iTunes. Read more about its details.

Podbean: Podbean is another great service that lets users host at least 5 hours of podcasting content for free. The service also allows distribution of podcast content on multiple services.

Soundcloud: Soundcloud is completely free. In fact, it is an audio social media sharing site where you can add your podcast for free. However, you will have to distribute it to other places yourself.

Amazon S3: You can also host your podcasts on Amazon simple storage service. But storage service isn’t free and you will be charged $0.023/GB.

Get Started!

That’s all you needed to know about starting your own podcast. Now it is time you get started with making your first podcast. Start marketing it and learn along the way.

How To Market Your Business Using Social Media

By Leigh Burke on April 17, 2019

(Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium.com)

The effective use of social networking sites can significantly help your company to improve its public image and make it more accessible to your clients. Having public profiles accessible to your clients and potential customers gives your business a chance to interact with its customers like never before. The use of social networking sites will significantly improve the reach and visibility of your business and services, at little or no cost to your business. You will have more chances to introduce new products and services, while simultaneously being able to receive feedback on whether the ideas are working or not.

Here’s a guide on marketing your business using some specific platforms:

Instagram

Set Up Your Instagram Account
Sign up on the Instagram app (It comes as a personal Instagram account).
Switch to a business account (Go to settings in your profile and tap ‘switch to business profile’, add your contact information and tap ‘done’).

Create A Strategy

Define Your Target Audience
Figure out who already buys from you.
Do your research and understand what kind of contents your audience wants from you.
Find out how they interact with other similar brands and your competitors.
Set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely) goals related to business objectives. Goals could be in term of numbers of likes, follows, and comments.
Commit to a regular posting schedule.
Achieve Maximum Visual Aesthetic For Your Brand (Instagram is all about visuals)
Go for a consistent visual look. (consistent colors and filters, visual aesthetic among contents).
Take and post amazing photos.
Edit your pictures like a pro (or get a pro to do it).
Write compelling captions.
Grow and Engage Your Audience
Engage and follow similar Instagrammers.
Use Instagram tools correctly (hashtags, stories, tags, e.tc).
Respond to relevant comments and mentions.
Use Instagram Influencers and Ads to promote your business.
Promote your account on other channels.
Track your progress.

Twitter

Get Started
Pick a nice twitter handle to username related to your business name.
Choose a captivating profile picture. (Your business logo is best).
Pick an eye-catching image for your header photo (Pictures of; your product, your team or a one relating to your brand personality).
Create a cool and descriptive bio. Use brand related keywords.
Build Your Community
Follow and engage with people (your customers, informative users, colleagues, related influencers, related businesses).
Post! Post!! Post!!!
Post short and sweet things.
Post more frequently. (The more you tweet, the more engagement you get. Thrice a day at spaced intervals is good).
Optimize the timing of your tweets (Know when your target audience will be online to check tweets. Timing is very important. Tweets are seen within seconds of posting before expiration).
Balance your self-promoting and non-self-promoting tweets. (A 1:3 ratio will do).
Have Great Customer Service
Have great listening ears.
You can have a separate handle for customer service.
Keep on tweeting to build your community, reputation, influence, and brand.

YouTube

Create a YouTube business channel.
Make a research on your target audience.
Make a research on your competition. Learn from them too.
Learn from channels you love. What captivates you?
Upload and schedule your videos
Post videos related to your business.
Use captivating captions.
Make your videos fun and engaging.
Optimize your videos for SEO and get more views.
Build your subscriber’s list.
Engage with people in the comment sections.
Optimize your YouTube channel to attract followers.
Utilize YouTube Ads to create awareness for your business.
Work with YouTube Influencers.
Keep on learning and adapting.

Facebook

Create an official Facebook account for your business.
Set up your profile. Keep it professional but also fun-looking.
Know your target audience and what they want.
Blend in. Become a part of the community.
Don’t try to hard sell.
Create a human voice.
Post frequently, captivating, engaging, business-related posts.
Make sure to encourage and reply to comments.
Post attractive pictures and videos too.
Let your post end up promoting your business, one way or the other.
Have fun.
Get interactive with contests, surveys, games, offers. You can create them to improve awareness too.
Build good relationships with Facebook users. Your customer is nearby.
Promote your Facebook page.

LinkedIn

Create a rock-solid profile.
Connect with everyone. The larger your expanded network grows, the more opportunities you get.
Customize the links to your website.
Post valuable content.
Post high-quality, captivating, business-promoting videos.
Set engagement targets.
Create a posting schedule.
Liven things up! It’s LinkedIn but you’re not a robot.
Give recommendations to others. The more you give, the more you’ll receive.
Join and own business-related LinkedIn groups. You can easily spread your message, create awareness, connect with potential customers and partners.
Connect your account with Twitter for more engagement.
Put up your company profile in the company page section.
Focus on your search ranking.
Build a good reputation.
Market your business, brand, and product.

Medium.com

Create a profile with your business name.
Add links to your other social media platforms and websites.
Study your target audience and what they want.
Post quality, attractive business-related contents.
Publish regularly
Create a posting schedule.
Cross-link between contents
Follow people who like your posts.
Build up your network.
Request for sharing of your posts to increase awareness.
Attract email leads.
Brand your business.

Following these steps, you’re sure to be able to market your business, solidify your brand and move your business to the next level. Use these social media marketing strategies and see what happens. Good luck!

How to Edit Photos in Adobe Photoshop

By Leigh Burke on April 14, 2019

Adobe Photoshop was first launched in 1988 by Adobe Inc. and since then along with other Adobe products, Photoshop has become a stellar photo-editing tool.

With its amazing features and diverse use, there is no doubt that mastering Photoshop in one day is not possible. But starting off with a few basics is not as hard as it sounds.

When I first heard and wanted to learn Photoshop I almost got goosebumps thinking it is a tool that can only be used by masters or genius or artistic people and it is no child’s play. But then I quickly realized that even masters start from the bottom and learning one step at a time can take you a long way.

So here’s a quick tutorial on a few commonly used features with which you can start off your photo-editing journey on Photoshop.

1 – Remove Background
There are many editing tools and each tool can be used for more than one purpose.
But here I will tell you the easiest and cleanest way to remove a Photo Background without a trace using Pen tool.

Open the image>file>open
Go to left pane>pen tool
Unlock the layer
Zoom in the image by pressing CTRL and Plus ( +)
Start making a selection using pen tool by connecting pen dots. To complete selection connect the last dot with the first pen dot.
After making a selection with the pen tool, right click, a new window will open, press make a selection and hit enter
Open a background image or create your own in another window
Go to Rose image>Edit>Copy
Go to Background window>Edit>Paste or drag the rose to the other window
Press CTRL + T to select the image to adjust.
Resize Image by simply dragging or dropping the image and keeping pressing SHIFT while you resize. Pressing SHIFT will help to keep the pixels to their original state.

2 – Remove Unwanted Objects
With Adobe Photoshop you can easily remove unwanted objects or spots without ruining the picture.

Open Image
Go to the left pane
Press Spot Healing Tool
Unlock the image Layer
Press or mark the areas on the picture you want to remove

3 – Adjust Brightness and Contrast
Add color adjustments and make your photo look more beautiful. You can adjust brightness and contrast and make your raw photos look fantastic.

Add color adjustments and make your photo look more beautiful. You can adjust brightness and contrast and make your raw photos look fantastic.

Go to right pane> add an adjustment
Press Brightness and contrast and adjust by moving scale pointers
Press Balance colors to adjust color levels

4 – Add Filters
Adobe Photoshop gives a range of photo filters from its existing gallery. You can also download additional filters from the web. To add filters:

Go the top ribbon>Press filters
Go to filter gallery, choose from the existing list, or download from the web

5 – Create and Add Watermark
Watermark adds credibility to your work. You can create your own a watermark with Photoshop and apply to your photos by following the below steps below:

Go to file>new
Adjust size,width, and resolution
Click transparent background
Go to left pane>text
Add watermark text
Select crop tool and crop the text
Then go to edit>define brush preset>ok
Paste/drag the watermark on the picture in the other window