Asides from regular courses and other digital products, mini courses are a great way to kickstart your career as a creator. These topic-specific courses can be a powerful tool to build your online business and establish you as an expert in your field.

In this article, we talk about everything you need to know about mini-courses and how to successfully create one that is effective and profitable.

Let’s get started!

What is a Mini Course?

A mini course, as the name implies, is a short online course that takes less time to complete. This means that if a regular online course takes 3 hours to complete, a mini course should be between 1 hour and 1 hour 30 mins.

Oftentimes, it is used as a growth tool and to explain a particular topic in detail. That is why content in a mini course is usually a section from a regular course, or written independently niching down to a particular topic.

For example, a nutrition coach may decide to create a full course on the right foods to eat to lose weight, and then create a mini course on a one-week food timetable. An ads expert may create a full online course on how to run ads and increase traffic on your site, then create a mini-course on how to write effective copy for ads.

Generally, mini courses are a great way to launch your presence in the market. This means you do not necessarily need to have a regular online course yet. You can start with a mini course.

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Why You Should Create a Mini Course

There are several reasons to create a mini course, from wanting to experiment with your audience, to creating a revenue stream. In all of these here are major reasons you should create a mini course.

• To know if your online course topic is profitable
• To have first-hand experience of how to market your online course to people.
• To learn the process of making money online
• To cater to a segment of your audience who needs more detailed teaching about a particular topic from you.
• To make your audience feel heard by creating a mini course that answers their questions.

Benefits of Creating a Mini Course

There are lots of benefits of creating a mini course and that is why lots of creators have a mini course.

The benefits of a mini course include;

#1. To build an online audience

One of the benefits of a mini course is that it helps you to build an audience. Creators who want to build and nurture an online community can use a mini course as a lead magnet or offer it as a gift to members of the community. Additionally, it helps your audience perceive you as an expert in your industry.

#2. To explain a topic in detail

If you keep getting questions for more explanations about a topic, you may want to consider creating a mini course about it.

Mini courses help you solve the demand for a topic before investing time into a much larger course.

If an audience enrolls in a mini course, there’s a higher chance they’d enroll in a much larger course because they’ve received value initially.

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#3. To test the waters

When starting out, a mini course is your best option to note the reaction of your audience. Life is in stages, they say. As a beginner, it is often advised to start small. From creating an ebook to creating a mini course, then launching a full course, writing more ebooks, and subsequently setting up a coaching site. Starting small is a good way to test the waters and find your voice in the industry.

#4. Start making money

Starting from the bottom requires lots of patience and time, which a lot of creators do not have. One way to boycott this is to create a mini course.

With a mini course, you can grow your online audience, nurture them and direct them to enroll in your course.

Remember, content for your mini-course is usually repurposed from another content or focused on a particular topic. So it’s easier to recommend it.

How to Create a Mini Course

Here’s how to create a mini course that is valuable to your audience.

#1. Choose a course topic

The first step to creating a mini course is to identify what you want to talk about. What topic can you teach wholeheartedly even if you were unprepared? Since it’s a mini course, you don’t need to have vast knowledge of a skill or process. You just need to be able to teach a topic.

If you’re starting from the beginning, find out topics for which people come to you for answers. E.g: if your friends always prefer you to take their pictures, you may want to consider creating a mini course on “How to take the Perfect Pictures With Your Iphone.”

If you have started already, get to know the topics your audience wants you to talk about often and create mini course from it.

#2. Get to know your target audience

Now that you’ve chosen an ideal topic for your course, it’s time to identify your target audience. Get to know a particular group of people who are eager to learn the topic you’ve chosen. It may be a segment of your audience, not necessarily everybody.

When you identify them, you can start by putting out content around the topic to see how well they react to it. Afterwards, you can launch your mini course.

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#3. Research

Before you create, research. Search your preferred topic on Facebook, Instagram, Quora, Pinterest, Google, etc. Get to know what people are saying about it and how you can come in differently.

Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun. So, there’s no need to fret when you see other content about a topic you’ve chosen. Instead, examine these content to know what angle is missing and how you can make up for it.

#4. Solve a problem

Next is to create a course that solves a problem. Focus on a topic, teach the hell out of it and ensure it solves a lingering problem for your audience.

That’s the entire point of creating a mini course. To enable you to focus on a particular thing and comb it inside out.

#5. Keep it short

Again, it’s a mini course for a reason. So, keep your list short and direct. Also, the topic you choose should be able to stand alone as a full course and provide maximum value, such that your audience would be willing to enroll in more courses from you.

#6. Outline the content

Let your audience know what to expect from your mini course. The best way is to look at the result your students will get after taking the course and work backwards.

Here’s an example of content outline from Teachable;

How to shoot video on mobile:

• General
• Framing
• Zooming
• Lighting
• Audio
• Tips
• Gear
• iPhone
• Built-in camera
• Apps like Filmic Pro

This way, your students know what to expect from taking your course.

See How to Successfully Launch an Online Course

How to Launch a Mini Course

Here is a checklist to follow before you launch your mini course.

#1. Pricing

Pricing works in a tricky way for mini courses. Firstly, if you don’t have an audience, a mini course can serve as a lead magnet.

So instead of putting a price to it, you can set it up for free and use urgent words like “for a limited time” to drive your audience to it. This way, you are creating a false narrative for your audience, which, if you ask us in this case, is good for business.

Next, if you have an audience, you can set a fair price for your mini course as a way to provide value to your audience while earning from it.

Lastly, if you already have an online course and are using a mini course to test a new topic, then go ahead to charge what you think is right.

In the end, your mini course price comes down to three things.

• What you’re willing to charge
• What your audience is willing to pay
• How valuable your mini course is

Learn How to Price Your Online Course to Make More Sales

#2. Sales page

Next thing after pricing is your sales page. A place where you’d drive traffic to, and convince your audience to enroll in your course.

A sales page is your best bet for highlighting the value of your online course in detail and selling your audience the transformation they’d get when they enroll in your course.

Learn How to Create an Effective Online Course Sales Page

#3. A sales funnel

A sales funnel is a structure that allows you to attract and enroll students in your course. It is a marketing concept used to describe the processes your customers go through before finally making a purchase.

The model uses a funnel as an analogy to describe the various stages of the customer’s journey. Usually, the top of the funnel is the largest part of the funnel where all your customers are directed to.

Then the bottom of the funnel is where customers who buy from you are placed. Whatever happens in the middle of the funnel determines if your customers will move down the funnel or away from it.

More so, as the prospects pass through each stage of the funnel, it indicates a stronger interest in the product.

Learn How to Build an Effective Sales Funnel to Sell Your Mini Course

#4. An Email List

If you don’t have an email list, you may as well use your mini course as a list building tool.

As social media platforms become more constrained with how they choose to show your posts (even to your followers), email marketing becomes the most direct way of communicating with your audience. Plus it’s free and it’s easy to use.

Read this post on How to Grow Your Email List From Scratch

#5. Social media accounts

Have social media accounts set up across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, and Pinterest to promote your course.

How to Promote a Mini Course

With your mini course checklist, you’re ready to launch your course. The next stage is to market it.

Here are a couple of marketing strategies for your online course.

#1. Guest blogging

This involves writing similar topics about your course on other websites targeting the same audience.

#2.Social media marketing

This involves talking about your course online and linking it to all your social media posts.

#3. Influencer marketing

Talk to influencers in your niche and have them promote your course.

#4. Paid ads

Run ads across Google and all social media to target more people and get more people to see your course.

See 3 Effective Ways To Sell Out Your Course Using Facebook Ads

What’s Next?

Now you’ve created your mini course, the next step is to host it on Selar. With Selar, you can host your courses and enjoy unlimited storage.

You can host unlimited videos, drip content, set up your affiliate marketing channels, issue course certificates, structure your curriculum and all the tools you need to successfully manage your students.

Here’s why Selar is trusted by over 40,000 course creators.