Description
Course Overview
Creating an online course can look simple from the outside, but producing a course that students actually enjoy, complete, recommend, and purchase requires much more than recording a few videos.
Course creators need to make decisions about content, structure, video and audio quality, presentation, exercises, marketing, student communication, intellectual property, pricing, and long-term course management.
40 Tips on Making a Great Online Course by Chris Haroun is designed to help aspiring online instructors avoid common mistakes and build courses more efficiently. Rather than focusing on a single technical tool, the course provides practical advice based on the instructor’s experience creating and teaching online courses.
What Will You Learn?
The course covers a broad range of online course creation topics, including:
- Video production
- Audio quality
- Recording equipment
- Editing software
- Storage and backups
- Preparing to record
- Course topic selection
- Teaching with authenticity
- Course structure
- Exercises and activities
- Slide design
- Quality control
- Course images
- Course titles
- Course trailers
- Presentation and delivery
- Voice strategy
- Entertainment and engagement
- Course promotion
- Advertising
- Student communication
- Handling negative reviews
- Automated messages
- Answering student questions
- Copyright
- Trademarks
- Course piracy
- Course sales
- Udemy rules
- Teaching on other platforms
- Course profitability
- Course-to-book conversion
- Translation and captions
This makes the course considerably broader than a simple “how to record an online course” tutorial.
Understanding the Online Course Creation Process
One of the central ideas behind the course is that creating an online course does not have to be unnecessarily complicated.
New instructors often spend too much time worrying about equipment, editing, software, slides, and production quality before they have even determined what they want to teach.
The course encourages instructors to focus on the fundamentals:
What should I teach?
Who should I teach?
What will students be able to do after completing the course?
How can I make the learning experience useful and engaging?
These questions should come before investing heavily in production equipment.
Choosing What to Teach
One of the first challenges for a new instructor is deciding what course to create.
You may have several skills or areas of expertise but not know which one has the greatest potential as an online course.
The course encourages learners to recognize that almost everyone has something valuable they can teach.
Potential course topics could include:
- Programming
- Marketing
- Finance
- Photography
- Design
- Business
- Personal development
- Fitness
- Career skills
- Software
- Hobbies
The important consideration is identifying a topic where you can provide meaningful value.
Teaching From Your Experience
A strong online course should provide more than information that students could easily find elsewhere.
Your experience can become part of the course’s competitive advantage.
For example, instead of simply explaining a concept, an instructor can discuss:
- Real-world mistakes
- Practical examples
- Lessons learned
- Common misconceptions
- Industry experience
- Case studies
- Practical exercises
This can make a course more valuable and authentic.
Course Structure
Course structure is one of the most important aspects of online education.
A disorganized course can make even excellent content difficult to follow.
The course recommends adding structure to individual sections by explaining:
- What students will learn
- Why they are learning it
- How they will learn it
This provides context before students begin a lesson.
A well-structured course should feel like a journey rather than a collection of unrelated videos.
Adding More Exercises
Another important lesson is the value of exercises.
Watching a video does not necessarily mean that a student has learned the skill.
Practical exercises encourage students to apply the information immediately.
Depending on the subject, exercises could include:
- Workbooks
- Spreadsheets
- Projects
- Coding challenges
- Quizzes
- Assignments
- Case studies
- Real-world scenarios
The more opportunities students have to actively apply what they learn, the stronger the learning experience can become.
Designing Better Slides
The course discusses the principle that less can be more when designing presentation slides.
New instructors often make the mistake of putting too much information on every slide.
Overloaded slides can:
- Distract students
- Reduce readability
- Encourage passive reading
- Make presentations feel monotonous
Instead, slides should support the instructor’s explanation rather than simply displaying the entire script.
Simple visuals and concise points can often communicate an idea more effectively.
Video Quality
Video quality matters in online education, but new instructors can easily spend too much time and money trying to achieve cinematic production quality.
The course provides practical advice for improving video production while saving time.
The goal is not necessarily to build a professional movie studio.
Instead, instructors should focus on producing videos that are:
- Clear
- Consistent
- Watchable
- Professional enough
- Easy to follow
This is particularly useful for beginners who are working with limited budgets.
Audio Quality
Audio can be even more important than video.
Students may tolerate average visual quality, but poor audio can make a course difficult to watch.
The course therefore includes practical advice for improving audio quality and reducing unnecessary production problems.
Important considerations include:
- Microphone quality
- Background noise
- Room acoustics
- Recording environment
- Consistent volume
- Audio monitoring
A simple recording setup with good audio can often outperform an expensive setup with poor sound.
Recording Equipment
The course discusses technology and equipment required to create online courses.
This is useful for beginners because there are countless microphones, cameras, lights, screen-recording tools, and editing applications available.
A new instructor can easily become overwhelmed.
The broader lesson is to avoid purchasing expensive equipment before understanding what is actually required for your course.
Your equipment should support your teaching rather than become the focus of the project.
Computer and Editing Software
Course creation often involves some form of video editing.
The course discusses computer and editing considerations that can help instructors save time.
Depending on the type of course, editing requirements may include:
- Cutting mistakes
- Removing pauses
- Adding transitions
- Adding slides
- Improving audio
- Adding graphics
- Exporting videos
For instructional courses, excessive editing is often unnecessary.
The objective should be to make the lesson clear and engaging rather than perfectly cinematic.
Re-Recording Versus Over-Editing
One particularly useful idea is the difference between re-recording and spending excessive time editing.
New instructors can sometimes spend hours trying to fix a short recording through editing.
In some situations, it may be faster and more natural to simply record the section again.
This can improve both productivity and the final presentation.
Storage and Backups
Course creators should also think about file management.
Online courses can involve:
- Raw video files
- Edited videos
- Audio recordings
- Slide decks
- Images
- Scripts
- Course resources
- Project files
Losing these files can create a major problem.
A reliable backup system is therefore an important part of professional course creation.
Preparing Before Recording
Preparation can significantly reduce recording time.
Before pressing the record button, instructors should know:
- What they are teaching
- What examples they will use
- What slides are required
- What exercises students will complete
- How the lesson fits into the overall course
A clear lesson plan reduces unnecessary retakes and editing.
Delivery and Presentation Skills
Good content does not automatically result in good teaching.
The way information is presented can dramatically affect student engagement.
The course discusses:
- Presentation style
- Voice
- Energy
- Authenticity
- Delivery
- Engagement
Instructors should aim to sound natural rather than simply reading a script word-for-word.
Voice Strategy
Voice is an important part of online teaching.
A monotonous presentation can make even interesting material feel boring.
The course discusses strategies for improving vocal delivery.
These can include:
- Variation in tone
- Appropriate pacing
- Emphasis
- Pauses
- Energy
- Conversational delivery
The objective is to make the instructor sound like a person teaching rather than someone reading documentation.
Authenticity
Authenticity is another major theme.
Students often respond better to instructors who appear genuine and approachable.
Being authentic can mean:
- Sharing personal experiences
- Admitting mistakes
- Using natural language
- Showing personality
- Avoiding unnecessary corporate language
An instructor does not necessarily need to act like a professional television presenter.
A genuine teaching style can be more effective.
Edutainment
The course also discusses the concept of edutainment, combining education with engaging presentation.
This does not mean every lesson needs jokes, animations, or flashy graphics.
Instead, the idea is to make learning enjoyable enough that students want to continue.
Engagement can come from:
- Stories
- Examples
- Questions
- Demonstrations
- Humor
- Exercises
- Real-world problems
- Surprising facts
The best approach depends on the subject and target audience.
Course Quality Control
Before publishing a course, instructors should review the complete learning experience.
Quality control can include checking:
- Audio
- Video
- Slides
- Spelling
- Links
- Exercises
- Resources
- Navigation
- Lesson order
- Technical accuracy
Small errors can reduce the perceived professionalism of a course.
A final quality-control process can catch problems before students encounter them.
Course Image, Title, and Trailer
Creating the course itself is only part of the job.
Students need to discover the course and decide whether it is relevant to them.
The course therefore discusses important marketing assets such as:
- Course title
- Course image
- Promotional trailer
These elements form the first impression of the course.
A strong title should communicate the subject and value clearly rather than attempting to be clever or vague.
Promoting Your Online Course
Marketing is another major component of successful online course creation.
A great course can still struggle if potential students never discover it.
The course discusses promotional strategies and maintaining consistency in course promotion.
Promotion can involve:
- Existing audiences
- Student communication
- Course promotions
- Email lists
- Social media
- Platform-based marketing
The most appropriate strategy depends on the instructor’s audience and platform.
Advertising Your Course
The course also discusses paid advertising.
For beginners, advertising can become expensive quickly if campaigns are launched without a clear understanding of customer acquisition costs and conversion rates.
Before spending heavily on advertising, instructors should understand:
- Target audience
- Course conversion rate
- Customer acquisition cost
- Average revenue per student
- Lifetime customer value
This is particularly important for instructors building an independent online education business.
Communicating With Students
Student communication can have a major impact on the overall learning experience.
The course discusses communicating with students through:
- Welcome messages
- Thank-you messages
- Responses to questions
- Promotional communications
A student who feels ignored is less likely to have a positive perception of the course.
Good communication helps build trust and encourages engagement.
Handling Negative Reviews
Negative reviews are inevitable when selling online courses.
The course provides guidance on dealing with negative student feedback.
Instead of reacting emotionally, instructors should look for useful information.
A negative review can reveal problems involving:
- Course difficulty
- Audio
- Video
- Organization
- Missing content
- Student expectations
- Course description
Constructive feedback can be used to improve future versions of the course.
Answering Student Questions
Student questions can reveal where learners are struggling.
Instructors should pay attention to recurring questions because they may indicate that a lesson needs:
- Better explanation
- Additional examples
- More exercises
- Improved instructions
- Additional resources
In this way, student support can become a source of continuous course improvement.
Automated Welcome and Thank-You Messages
The course also discusses automated communication.
Automated messages can help instructors:
- Welcome new students
- Set expectations
- Encourage course completion
- Thank students
- Provide useful information
Automation can save time while maintaining communication with a growing student base.
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Creating an online course also involves intellectual-property considerations.
The course introduces the distinction between:
Copyright: Protecting original creative content.
Trademark: Protecting names, brands, and identifiers associated with goods or services.
Understanding the distinction is important for instructors who want to build a long-term education brand.
Protecting Your Course
Online courses can be copied or distributed without permission.
The course discusses piracy and intellectual-property protection.
Instructors should understand what parts of their course may receive copyright protection and how intellectual-property rights work in their jurisdiction.
For specific legal situations, professional legal advice is preferable to relying solely on general course guidance.
What to Do If Your Course Isn’t Selling
This is one of the most useful sections for aspiring course entrepreneurs.
If a course does not sell, the first reaction should not necessarily be to create another course.
Instead, analyze the existing product.
Potential areas to evaluate include:
- Course title
- Course thumbnail
- Description
- Target audience
- First few lessons
- Student reviews
- Course activities
- Learning outcomes
- Marketing strategy
Small changes to positioning and presentation can sometimes have a significant effect.
The Importance of the First Lessons
The beginning of a course is particularly important.
Students decide quickly whether a course is relevant and engaging.
The opening lessons should therefore:
- Establish expectations
- Demonstrate value
- Explain the learning journey
- Create momentum
- Give students a reason to continue
If students consistently stop watching after the first few lessons, that can be a useful signal that the course introduction needs improvement.
Should You Quit Your Job to Teach Full Time?
The course also addresses the possibility of becoming a full-time online instructor.
This is an important topic because course revenue can fluctuate significantly.
Aspiring instructors should avoid making major financial decisions based on a short period of unusually strong sales.
A sustainable approach involves analyzing longer-term revenue trends and understanding expenses before treating course creation as a full-time career.
Teaching on Multiple Platforms
The course discusses teaching on platforms beyond Udemy.
There are advantages and disadvantages to distributing courses across multiple platforms.
Potential benefits include:
- Greater audience reach
- Additional revenue streams
- Greater control over branding
Potential challenges include:
- Additional administration
- Marketing responsibilities
- Content management
- Platform requirements
- Customer support
Creators should evaluate whether the additional workload is worth the potential benefit.
Turning a Course Into a Book
One particularly interesting idea covered in the course is repurposing course material into a book.
An online course can potentially be transformed into:
- Ebook
- Printed book
- Workbook
- Blog series
- Newsletter
- Podcast
- YouTube content
This is a powerful content-repurposing strategy because one knowledge asset can support multiple products and marketing channels.
Translation and Closed Captions
The course also discusses foreign-language translation and captions.
Captions can improve accessibility and make courses easier to follow.
Translation can potentially expand the addressable market beyond the instructor’s native language.
For international audiences, creators should also consider:
- Cultural differences
- Technical terminology
- Language quality
- Subtitle accuracy
- Local examples
Who Should Take This Course?
Aspiring Online Course Creators
If you are planning to publish your first online course, this is the primary audience for the program.
Subject-Matter Experts
Professionals with valuable expertise can learn how to transform their knowledge into structured educational content.
Udemy Instructors
Existing instructors can use the course to identify areas where their course production, marketing, or student communication could improve.
Coaches and Consultants
Coaches and consultants can learn how to package their expertise into scalable digital education products.
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs interested in building digital education businesses can benefit from the course’s focus on production, marketing, and monetization.
Who Should Skip This Course?
Experienced online educators may find the material too basic.
The course is not intended to provide advanced training in areas such as:
- Professional cinematography
- Advanced video editing
- Instructional design theory
- Learning management system development
- Advanced digital marketing
- Sophisticated course funnels
- Enterprise learning
- Advanced learning analytics
It works best as a practical starting point for new instructors.
Course Requirements
One of the attractive aspects of the course is its low barrier to entry.
You do not need advanced technical skills to begin.
You primarily need:
- A subject you can teach
- Basic computer skills
- A willingness to create educational content
- An interest in teaching online
You can develop more advanced production skills as your course business grows.
Pros
- Beginner-friendly
- Short and focused
- Covers 40 practical course-creation tips
- Includes both production and business topics
- Covers video and audio quality
- Discusses course structure
- Explains student engagement
- Covers course marketing
- Discusses negative reviews
- Introduces intellectual-property concepts
- Provides advice on improving poorly selling courses
- Covers course promotion
- Discusses content repurposing
- Includes translation and captions
- Updated relatively recently
- Useful for first-time instructors
Is 40 Tips on Making a Great Online Course Worth It?
Yes, particularly for beginners who are planning their first online course.
The course’s biggest advantage is its breadth. In a relatively short amount of time, it covers the entire lifecycle of course creation:
Idea → Content → Structure → Recording → Editing → Publishing → Marketing → Student Support → Legal Considerations → Improvement
This makes it more useful than a course that focuses only on video production.
It also encourages creators to avoid a common mistake: overcomplicating course production before validating the content and audience.
How to Get the Most From This Course
The best way to use this course is to apply each lesson to a course you are actually planning to create.
Before starting, define:
Course topic: What will you teach?
Target student: Who needs this knowledge?
Learning outcome: What will students be able to do after completing the course?
Course structure: What sections and lessons are required?
Production method: How will you record and edit?
Marketing strategy: How will students discover the course?
Then use the 40 tips as a checklist.
For example:
- Is my audio clear?
- Is my course structured logically?
- Are my slides simple?
- Do students have enough exercises?
- Is my course introduction engaging?
- Is the course title clear?
- Is my thumbnail professional?
- Do I communicate with students?
- Do I have a backup of my course files?
- Have I checked copyright issues?
- What will I do if the course doesn’t sell?
This turns the course into a practical online course creation checklist.
Summary
40 Tips on Making a Great Online Course by Chris Haroun is a concise and practical introduction to creating online courses.
Rather than concentrating exclusively on recording technology, the course covers the broader business and educational process behind building an online course. It addresses course planning, structure, exercises, presentation, video and audio production, marketing, student communication, intellectual property, course performance, and content repurposing.
Overview
SUPERB!
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.