Free Courses
Overview
This month, we have Entrepreneur On Fire host John Lee Dumas in to share how he uses free courses to build his email list.
Key Points
- How John decided what content went into his "Free Podcast Course".
- The exact 4-pillar framework he used to create the curriculum that would provide the most value.
- What parts of the course John has changed on the fly, based on feedback from his audience.
- How he leveraged his existing newsletter, podcast and also a brand new podcast to promote the course.
- What call-to-actions he uses in the course to build his other lists and drive more sales.
- The exact steps that you need to take to create your very own FREE online courses
Detailed Summary
0:08-Bryan asks John “What do you do?”
0:10-John explains what he does
Podcasts 7 days a week of interviews he does with inspiring entrepreneurs
1:13-Bryan asks how John used Free Podcast Course to grow his list
1:38-John explains the thought process to grow his list with that
-They wanted to get better at the basics.
-EOF basics are free, valuable, and consistent content
-EOF had a couple of products that aren’t free. People just starting out couldn’t afford them. So EOF created a free product
2:41-John explains how he created his free product
-He filled in a gap that he knew his competitors would’ve filled if he didn’t step up and do it himself
-They’ve gotten over 17,000 subscribers to that course
3:59-Bryan asks John how he chose what went into the free course
4:06-John chose what was essential only
4:58-Bryan asks if there was any sort of framework John used
5:53-John explains how he did chose the essentials and the process of that
-John looked at Free Podcast Course as a start and end point: how to create your podcast and then what it would look like at the end. He backfilled based off those points.
6:33-John talks about the powers of 4 and how he used that to help create the course
The 4 pillars he used:
- Create
- Launch
- Grow
- Monetize
He then broke down each of those pillars 4 times
7:30-John and Bryan talk about choosing titles and subject lines
9:52-Bryan asks John how he promoted his course
-John used several avenues to promote, including his sidebar on his site, as well as in his email newsletter. He has it in his first Welcome email sequence.
11:00-John explains how he turned the course into a podcast
-The course shows up under podcast or podcast course search in iTunes, which is huge in helping get traffic to the course
12:15-Bryan asks if it’s worth doing the podcasts based on the results John is seeing. “Should I make an audio version of my course?”
12:35-John says 100% absolutely!
13:08-Bryan asks John to explain how his webinar, podcast, and courses all work together
13:20-John explains how great webinars are and how great they convert
-Live webinars are the best
14:33-John talks about how to get people to his webinars
-An email list is the best way to get people to webinars
15:02-Bryan asks John if there are calls to action in the free course
15:14-John explains how he has that set up
-Over the 15 day course, he sends about 20 emails. Each email has multiple CTAs
16:46-Bryan asks what is the best way to keep track of questions during an interview without looking like you aren’t paying attention
17:15-John suggests not doing video interviews
17:44-Bryan asks what the steps are to create a product like this
18:00-Step #1-Have a premium product ($500-$1000)
18:31-Bryan asks John to expound on how Facebook ads worked for him
18:39-John expounds on Facebook ads
-There’s a value adding a specific targeted person to a targeted email list
-There’s a lot of factors-refunds, cancellations, etc
-John is now using Facebook ads to drive people to his live webinars, which is a much higher immediate ROI
20:32-Step #2
Step #2-Identify the “core pillars” of that course
-For John, those pillars were:
-Create
-Launch
-Grow
-Monetize
21:20-Step #3
Step #3-Break those pillars down
21:43-Step #4
Step #4-Turn those lessons into email
22:45-John shares a strategy of how he gets people to share his course on Facebook
23:54: Bryan asks if there is a hard CTA at the end of the course
-Day 16-20 is video testimonials from the paid course to drive people to sign up
-John broadcasts to them to join a live webinar every 2 weeks
25:07-Bryan reviews how John created the free course from the paid course