4 simple steps to choose your course topic and finally launch your course

Are all the ideas in your head stopping you from creating your course?

Creating online courses and digital products can be a great way to generate additional revenue in your business, and free up more of your time time while making an impact on a larger audience. But if you’re a coach, consultant, service provider, or industry expert, you might be wondering where do you start when you’ve got dozens of ideas swimming around in your head? Or, asking how you condense all of your ideas into just one course? 

Depth before Breadth

A former client of mine who I admired as a mentor, once shared a piece of wisdom with me. She told me that the key to success as a person of influence in your industry, is to go for depth over breadth. And the same thing is true for creating courses. 

You want your online course topic to go deep, rather than wide. Why? Because that’s where transformation happens. In the depths, not in the shallows. If your course topic is too wide, you risk ending up with a generic course that doesn’t solve a problem for anyone. This means your course will be very unlikely to be a success. 

So, how do you narrow down your course ideas and choose one deep course topic that will result in impact, and therefore success for your audience and for you? I’ve identified 4 steps you can take to narrow down your ideas to finally launch your own course. 

4 simple steps to choosing your course topic

Step 1. List all of your existing areas of knowledge and expertise

Get out a pen and paper, a whiteboard and marker, or a digital notepad, and write down all of the topics or areas of expertise you operate in. 

For instance, if you are a fitness coach for women you probably bring together many different facets of fitness. For example, weight loss for women after menopause, weight loss after pregnancy, functional strength training, nutrition for weight loss, and nutrition for gut health. Seeing everything you do on paper will help you get a bird’s eye view of your areas of expertise. 

Step 2. Choose one

Of these different areas of expertise, which one brings you most joy, and gets the best results for your clients? You want to pick an area that you have been successfully offering your clients for a period of time because it’s already proven to work. 

You also want to choose one based on what you have the time, energy, and motivation to create. You don’t want to end up spending months creating a course based on an offer that your clients don’t already love and that you don’t enjoy offering. 

Taking the fitness coach example, let’s say it’s weight loss for women after menopause. Great, you’ve chosen one idea from all of your ideas. But, we still need to narrow it down further for it to be an effective course topic. 

Step 3. Identify the knowledge gap

The next step is to identify the gap in existing knowledge. What questions are your people asking about your chosen topic? Think about the number 1 question or challenge your clients have when it comes to your chosen topic. What do they struggle with the most based on your experience with them? If you’re not sure, ask! Reach out to your audience and ask them “when it comes to [x], what do you struggle with the most? 

For example, “When it comes to losing weight after menopause, what do you struggle with the most?” You can leave it open-ended or provide 3-5 answers for them to choose from. Asking will allow you to hone in on what the main problem or gap that your course will then fill. Remember, depth over breadth! 

Step 4. Define your course topic

Once you’ve identified the knowledge gaps by asking your audience, you’re then in a more empowered position to define your course topic!

For example, if the most common response to the question above was “losing my belly fat”, then your course topic could be narrowed down to “How to shift belly weight after menopause”. Now you’ve gone from half a dozen course ideas, to one broad course idea, to a defined course idea that fills a gap that your audience is asking for. 

Final thoughts

If you’re wondering if your chosen course topic is too narrow, remember, depth before breadth. Identify one specific problem, solve it with transformational results, do it well a few times over, and then branch out to another new topic. It’s important that you establish your credibility and expertise as a course creator in one niche so that you can become a trusted authority. Then you can start adding other courses to your repertoire, building your online course business one course at a time.  

Note: This process is iterative. You may not land on the perfect course topic the first time around. So, do it again. You may go through a few iterations until you settle on your course topic. 

Want to create your course without the confustion and overwhelm? I’m here to help! Download the Course Alchemy Guide to learn about my 12-Week 1:1 Course Consulting program. Before starting my business, I spent more than 10 years as an educator, and 5 years years doing online learning design for higher education institutions and industry specialists. Learn more about me here.