The Art of Online Course Creation | Helping Experts Build Impactful Courses That Get Real Results

Shannon Boyer | Online Course Strategist
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Weekly

The Art of Online Course Creation is the podcast for experts, coaches, and entrepreneurs who are ready to build a high-quality online course: not just a course that exists, but one that actually gets results. If you have real expertise that you want to turn into an online course your students will finish, rave about, and get real results from, you're in the right place.If you want to create an online course that does more of the heavy lifting for you in your coaching business so that you can spend more of your 1:1 time with clients actually coaching, personalizing, and troubleshooting, you're in the right place. Your host, Shannon Boyer, brings a master's degree in education and 25+ years of experience as an award-winning curriculum and course designer. She takes the guesswork out of online course creation by breaking down the strategies, frameworks, and design decisions that separate courses people complete and implement from courses people abandon. Each episode covers the real work of building a course that delivers: validating your idea, designing for transformation, choosing the right platform, building your audience, and creating an offer that sells because it actually works. Subscribe to The Art of Online Course Creation and start building the course your expertise deserves.

  1. Oct 6

    #72 Video Marketing for Course Creators: Build Your Personal Brand Without Sounding Scripted with Steve Gast

    You know video could help people connect with you, trust your expertise, and ultimately buy from you. There’s just one problem: the second you hit record, you stop sounding like yourself. Suddenly you’re thinking about the script, the lighting, the teleprompter, your ums and ahs, where to look, what to do with your hands, and whether you sound “professional” enough. In this episode of The Art of Online Course Creation, I’m joined by video and personal branding expert Steve Gast to talk about how experts, coaches, consultants, and course creators can use video more effectively without turning content creation into another full-time job. We explore why video can build a different kind of relationship with your audience than written content, why highly polished video is not necessarily more persuasive, and what happens when your desire to sound professional actually gets in the way of connection. We also get into video sales letters, or VSLs, including the important role they can play once someone moves beyond your social content and starts seriously considering working with you. Then we bring the conversation directly into online course creation. Steve shares how the same principles that make marketing videos effective can help course creators become more engaging teachers on camera, even when they are recording lessons alone in a room. In this episode, you’ll hear about: Why video is such a powerful relationship-building tool for expertsWhat to talk about when your expertise alone isn’t enough to make compelling contentHow to make video creation fit into your actual life instead of building your life around content creationThe difference between top-of-funnel videos and the videos that actually help move someone toward a purchaseWhat a video sales letter is and the job it should be doing on your website or sales pageWhy scripting every word can sometimes make a strong marketing message less effectiveHow to sound more natural and confident on camera without abandoning structureWhat course creators should think about when recording their lessonsHow to make prerecorded teaching feel more like a conversationThe shift that can make hitting the record button considerably less intimidatingWhy becoming better on camera has far more to do with practice than perfectionIf you’ve been avoiding video because it feels awkward, time-consuming, overly technical, or impossible to do without a script, this conversation may change the way you approach the camera. If you already use video regularly, it may also help you reconsider what your videos are actually supposed to accomplish. Connect with Steve Gast Steve’s website: https://stevegast.com Authority Cam: https://www.skool.com/authoritycam Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  2. Sep 15

    #71 Why You're Spinning and How to Get Your Online Course Unstuck

    Reorganized your course outline three times? Keep adding lessons because your students "might need it"? In this episode, Shannon Boyer explains why spinning in circles on your course is not a discipline problem -  it's a boundaries problem. Drawing on her 25+ years as a curriculum designer, Shannon shares what professional course designers do before they build anything: set the parameters. You'll learn why expertise itself is what makes an unbounded course impossible to finish, the three questions that give your course edges, and the simple test that reveals whether your answers are real parameters or just hopes. In this episode, you'll hear about: - Why capable experts are the most likely to get stuck spinning, and why it's not their fault - What course parameters are, and how they turn week-long content decisions into five-second ones - The "who is this for" answer that feels specific but isn't (and the test that exposes it) - The overlooked third question that quietly doubles the size of your course A one-page exercise to try this week before you build anything else Ready to set your parameters properly? Download the free Course Clarity Blueprint - the first exercise Shannon gives every paying client. It walks you through answering all three questions before you design, create, or sell your course. Get started on your course creation journey in the Course and Community Build Lab, Shannon's interactive and supportive online community.  Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  3. Aug 25

    #70 Using Merch to Strategically Expand Your Brand and Sell More Courses with Barbara Hobart

    What if the thing missing from your course launch isn't another email sequence but something your student can hold in their hands?  In this episode, Shannon sits down with merch strategist Barbara Hobart, whose accidental invention of the world's first no-rewire decorative light switch cover (yes, really) launched a career that's since taken her from Hollywood writers' rooms to helping course creators, coaches, and membership owners turn branded products into real business tools. Barbara breaks down why "merch" doesn't mean cheap pens and mugs from a trade show tote bag — it means a physical brand touchpoint that welcomes new clients, reinforces your method, rewards milestones, and keeps your name on someone's desk long after your last email got buried in their inbox. If you've ever wondered whether a $27 course or a $3,000 program actually needs merch, whether international shipping kills the idea before it starts, or how to ask for a student's mailing address without it feeling weird — this conversation covers it. Whether your course is a standalone business or a small offer inside something bigger, this episode will change how you think about the physical side of your brand. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why "merch" isn't a category of objects — it's a strategy, and how that shift changes what you createThe real business problems merch solves that most course creators don't realize are merch problemsWhether your price point should actually change what kind of merch you send (a $27 course vs. a $3,000 cohort program)How to ask a student or client for their mailing address without it feeling awkwardWhy physical products can outlast and out-remember a digital lead magnet or PDFAbout Barbara Hobart Barbara Hobart spent 25 years as a television writer and producer in Hollywood before an accident with a can of sponge paint led her to invent the world's first decorative light switch plate cover that required no rewiring — launching a product company in England before she even knew the term "injection molding." Today, Barbara helps course creators, coaches, and businesses of every budget turn branded merchandise into strategic brand assets, guiding clients from concept through sourcing, production, and delivery. Connect with Barbara Website: barbarahobart.comSkool Community: Get Your Merch MadeComplimentary 15-minute discovery callBarbara on LinkedInGet started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  4. Aug 11

    #69 It's THIS Fear That Keeps Your Online Course Stuck

    There's a survey sitting in a draft folder right now that could tell someone exactly whether their course idea has legs. It's written. It's ready. And it's been sitting there for weeks because hitting send feels terrifying. If that's ever been you, this episode is for you. In this one, Shannon steps away from strategy and into the thing that actually decides whether your course ever sees the light of day: fear. The judgment, the criticism, the plain vulnerability of putting your work (and yourself) out into the online world. It's the reason so many capable, genuinely expert people freeze at the exact moment they need to be seen. Here's the part almost nobody tells you: not all of that fear means the same thing. There are two very different kinds, they come from two very different places, and if you treat them the same way, you'll stay stuck. One kind you push through. The other you should actually listen to — because it's trying to tell you something. Shannon shares the single question that reveals which one you're feeling, and how to keep moving forward without pretending the fear isn't there. In this episode, you'll get clarity on: Why the smartest, most qualified creators freeze right before they launchThe two hidden shapes this fear takes — and why they call for opposite responsesThe one question that tells you whether to push through or pauseHow to keep moving when being seen feels scary, without faking your way past itIf you've ever caught yourself thinking "it's ready, I just haven't sent it yet," press play. You're not broken, and you're closer than you think. Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  5. Jul 28

    #68 Should Your Online Course Be Live or Prerecorded? How to Choose the Right Format

    You were told you could just record a live session, chop it into pieces, and sell it as a course. It's faster. It's efficient. You get two things out of one effort. So why does the finished "course" feel flat — and why do your students quietly stop showing up? In this episode, Shannon breaks down one of the most misunderstood decisions in online course creation: live vs. prerecorded. They're not two versions of the same thing. They're two different formats, built for two different purposes — and when you treat them as interchangeable, your students feel the difference before you do. But there's a second layer here that most creators never consider, and it might change how you build your next course entirely: what if teaching live on purpose is the smartest way to create your best prerecorded course? Shannon shares the exact question a client brought to a recent coaching call — and the shift that turned a "good enough" membership into something far stronger. In this episode, you'll get clarity on: Why a recorded live session isn't actually a course (and what your students sense that you don't)The real structural difference between live and prerecorded teachingHow to decide which format your content actually needsThe counterintuitive way to use live teaching to build a dramatically better prerecorded courseIf you've ever been talked into "just repurposing" your live workshop, masterclass, or program into a course because it's easier, this is the more honest — and more effective — way to think about it. Press play, and rethink what you thought you knew about building a course your students actually finish. Free Resource to Get Your Course Started With Purpose: Course Clarity Blueprint Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  6. Jul 14

    #67 How to Get Course Sales From LinkedIn (Even With a Tiny Following) with Sam Rathling

    Think LinkedIn is just for job hunters and corporate types? Think again. In this episode, I sit down with Sam Rathling, the queen of LinkedIn, to break down exactly how course creators can use the platform to build visibility, establish authority, and sell more courses without ever feeling salesy. Sam joined LinkedIn in 2005 and used it to land clients like Amazon before becoming a full-time LinkedIn expert. Today she helps businesses of all sizes turn the platform into a client-generating machine, and in this conversation, she makes the case for why course creators can't afford to ignore it. In this episode, you'll learn: Who LinkedIn is really for (hint: with 1.3 billion users, your audience is probably there)Why your profile (not your content) is the first thing to fix, and how to make it convert like a mini landing pageConnections vs. followers explained, and why second-degree connections are where your next client is hidingWhat social selling actually means, and why pitching in the DMs is the fastest way to failHow LinkedIn's new AI algorithm (360 Brew) changed the game, and why smaller accounts are now getting more reach than big onesWhat to post: carousels, video, storytelling, polls, and why your comments might get more impressions than your postsThe one metric to track (your SSI score), what it measures, and how to raise it in 90 daysSam's exact 20-minutes-a-day LinkedIn routine for busy course creatorsMemorable moments: Sam's VA had just 20 connections when a single post reached 250,000 impressions - proof you don't need a big following to make an impactOnly about 5% of LinkedIn's 1.3 billion users post consistently, which means the field is wide open for course creators"You're not going to go from being connected to someone today to selling them a course tomorrow." The nurture-first approach that actually worksResources mentioned: Sam's free community (100+ videos, weekly masterclasses, her best-selling book)LinkedIn SSI score checkerSam's LinkedIn tracking sheet (available in her free community)Sam on LinkedInGet started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  7. Jun 23

    #66 How Course Creators Can Use Summits to Build an Audience with Katya McEwan

    Online summits can do far more than grow your email list. Done well, they can help you build authority, create meaningful collaborations, and give potential clients a firsthand experience of your expertise. In this episode, Shannon speaks with intuitive business coach and experienced summit host Katya McEwen about what makes a summit valuable for the host, the speakers, and the audience. Katya shares what she has learned from organizing large online events, how speakers can stand out without over promoting themselves, and why the strongest summits focus on connection rather than information overload. They also discuss how to find speaking opportunities, what hosts are really looking for, and the planning decisions that can make or break the experience. Listen to learn how online summits can become a powerful part of your audience-building strategy, even if you are not ready to host one yourself. Katya's Skool Community - click here YouTube Instagram  Facebook    Freebie: $8K experiment: How I Generated $8580 on Skool in six weeks  Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

  8. Jun 9

    # 65 The Hidden Reason Teachers Join My Course Creation Program

    Why do so many teachers, former teachers, and education specialists still seek support when creating an online course? At first, it might seem surprising. After all, if anyone knows how to teach, it should be a teacher. But in this episode, Shannon explores why people with teaching backgrounds often understand something the online course world tends to overlook: good teaching, strong curriculum, and effective online course design are not the same thing. A course is not just a collection of lessons. It is not simply your expertise divided into modules. And it is definitely not just content placed on a platform. In this episode, Shannon unpacks the difference between sharing information and designing a learning experience someone can actually move through. She also shares why thoughtful course creators often feel stuck, not because they lack expertise, but because they can sense their course needs a clearer path, stronger structure, and more intentional decisions behind it. If course creation has felt harder than expected, this episode will help you see that the issue may not be overthinking. It may be that you care about creating something that works. Before you outline, record, or sell your course, download Shannon’s free Course Clarity Blueprint. This resource walks you through the three decisions every course creator needs to make before designing their course, so you can stop building from the middle and start with the clarity your course actually needs. Download the Course Clarity Blueprint HERE. Get started on your own course creation journey or learn how to make your existing course even better at The "Your Best Course" Build Lab, my interactive and supportive online community. To get started creating your own online course, check out my new freebie that will take you through the steps of choosing a topic that will be profitable for YOU. To book a call to discuss your options and see if working together makes sense.  Click here. 😊

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About

The Art of Online Course Creation is the podcast for experts, coaches, and entrepreneurs who are ready to build a high-quality online course: not just a course that exists, but one that actually gets results. If you have real expertise that you want to turn into an online course your students will finish, rave about, and get real results from, you're in the right place.If you want to create an online course that does more of the heavy lifting for you in your coaching business so that you can spend more of your 1:1 time with clients actually coaching, personalizing, and troubleshooting, you're in the right place. Your host, Shannon Boyer, brings a master's degree in education and 25+ years of experience as an award-winning curriculum and course designer. She takes the guesswork out of online course creation by breaking down the strategies, frameworks, and design decisions that separate courses people complete and implement from courses people abandon. Each episode covers the real work of building a course that delivers: validating your idea, designing for transformation, choosing the right platform, building your audience, and creating an offer that sells because it actually works. Subscribe to The Art of Online Course Creation and start building the course your expertise deserves.

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