KEY ELEMENTS FOR CREATION OF A SUCCESSFUL E/COURSE

 Creating Your Online Business Model

An online business model is a plan of your business to do with your business online. It’s more than just an e/course model. While online business models can vary they do have their common elements. In this particular model there are nine key elements to do with creating an online business model.

Basically you can divide an online business up into three sections, the creative, and technical, and marketing sections. Each section has its different subsections with the subsections defining the main areas of operation for a particular department within the business. In turn the subsections have sub-sub sections which are in fact areas allocated to the various things to do with running that particular sub-sub section of the business.

Here’s a list of the nine key elements and briefly what they are:

About Your Business

Here in a paragraph or two you describe the industry you’re going into and a description of what basically this particular industry is—which case in this case it’s the online industry and supplying informational and education in the form of an E/course is what it’s about. In particular you might want to look at various things about the industry such as for example its current trends and what the e/course or informational industry is heading towards in the future.

Your Mission Statement

This needs to be simply a statement about who you’re targeting and helping, and what your goals are for the business, also it can be what you want to achieve and how you go about it. Basically you are on a mission to define your particular e/course aims and how you feel and the direction you want to give it.

Personnel

This particular element describes a list of the people involved in both your business and e/course creation which may be just you to begin with, and then further on as you develop your course and it gains momentum. This can refer to joint ventures with different partners and people you purchase materials from for your course and others who you outsource parts of your course to and then again others who provide services such as for financial and legal requirements for your business even if its online it still can be subject to some of the things as a brick and mortar business.

Research

This refers to initially looking into the popularity of your course in terms of what your particular niche is and generally finding out as much as you can about who you intend to sell to and the particular channels that would suit and the resources online which can give information regarding all the above. Research can be done initially at the start when deciding about starting online business up and e/course— and it also again in-depth when the marketing time for promoting and selling your e/course arrives—so having an idea about the type of channels and doing some earlier marketing research beforehand can help provide the direction and knowing of what to do and is required in that part of your online business when the time arrives.

Business/E-course Description

A business e/course description is a summary that helps to give you a better understanding overall about your business and e/course. It’s generally a couple of paragraphs only but it contains the necessary key word elements that will help people understand and the media with respect to publicity regarding what your course is about. It also helps define your business brand and by noting the benefits and features of the business product and service which in this case is your e/course and training. A good business description will describe what the business key elements are, and are something you can look at a glance and use the information to quickly know what each part of the business is about.

Financial

The financial aspect refers to a number of things, such as the actual start-up costs of what it cost to start an online business. An online business can initially be very little to start up by comparison to other types of businesses in the real world as there is only the need for hosting, and the costs of registering a business, and adding a bit of software or resources such as an email autoresponder provider and membership site software which is not that much, however as time goes on your business will take on extra growth which will call for adding extra resources such as extra software and outsourcing various parts of it which can all add up—still you can run it for very little compared to some big businesses.

It’s best when working out your financial plan to break it into parts such as for example the start-up and cash flow costs coming into and out of the business from e/course materials and return income, and a part that notes the overall financial picture of the return on investment and overall profit margin of the business. For a small online business e/course to begin with there’s not a lot to work out however the two above should be a part of the business initial financial plan.

Product Uniqueness

A products unique value comes down to working out ways in being creative to make your business (ie E/course) stand out and be noticed as original and also popular for its services and products. To determine and find out about product uniqueness it helps to look at other e/courses and see exactly what the cross section is that makes them original and from that add bits and pieces into your course which is lacking or is needed in regards to your niche. A product’s uniqueness also helps to ensure that there is an adequate outlet being expressed for discovery and inventiveness in your e/course.

Marketing

Marketing is a big and important area of any business. It covers everything from research to promotion and can involve the media and publicity of your particular products and service and in this sense when it comes to E/courses it’s looking for the ways to attract as much traffic and customers to your website and other avenues where you showcase your course to the public. Advertising is very much a part of marketing and so its costs will need to be considered in terms of setting an advertising limit and the education or learning part of it regarding all aspects of how you can market your course for maximum benefit. There are many channels online to research and find out about how to utilize the marketing services available and what you need to do regarding a strategy and working out a marketing plan.

A few of the other elements which I consider important are:

Spiritual Input

Although this is not considered in a mainstream business plan it is I believe a vital part of a business core values—and contributes to its success when a business owner is aware of how to implement spiritual values into their business, so that it benefits others and serves to give greater value to the business overall. This does not necessarily mean any religious connotations, what it simply means is awareness of how to use down-to-earth spiritual values of the business type, in business relations and building where good will and intelligence is applied wherever it is thought to benefit not only the business customers and clientele, but also society and human nature in general in so far as the business contributes and does its part to make the world a better place.

Personal development Plan

This obviously can refer to the owner personally and the people who work within the business, however it can also refer to the business in a larger sense in terms of how improvement and personal development principles can be applied to the business and utilized for making a business grow and in achievement of its goals and success. Having a personal development plan for a business can really move the business along and invite opportunities and growth that are based on bettering the business and in an e/course, your student’s aims.

If you like to find out more about how to create an online business model and e/courses then by all means have a look at Your E/course Blueprint