Has this ever happened to you while on your entrepreneurial journey?

You see a great subject line, click through, and spend time reading the article only to discover that it's way too basic or far too advanced for you.

Frustrating, right? I’ve often felt the same way!

And then, recently, it became super obvious how often this happens. Let me tell you what I mean...

Before social distancing hit, my husband and I began planning a cross-country RV trip. It was to be our first.

I was so excited; we both love to travel!

We’ve sat idly by the last several years watching the annual RVing adventures of my sister-in-law and her husband https://millerluckycharm.blogspot.com/.

We decided we were done being jealous. It was time to give it a try for ourselves.

Before rushing out to spend a good chunk of our savings on a rig, we decided it would be a good idea to rent for the first trip just to make sure the RVing life is really something for us. 

We were going to fly to Minneapolis, pick up the RV, and then stop at as many interesting places as we could along the route back home to Arizona.

We booked the RV, jumped up and down like little kids a few times, and then sat down to plan our adventure.

We started strong. How hard can this be, right? We’ve planned tons of trips. But the further along we got the more we discovered things we definitely didn’t know. 

I Just Want MY Golden Nugget

Who knew there are length restrictions on certain highways? The pros tell ya not to drive more than 330 miles a day but that sometimes gets you driving in circles to reach some of your top destinations.

And it turns out there is a really important difference between black and grey water. Not to mention something known as dry docking; we thought that was boat storage - not so much.

One delivery pizza, a large veggie tray, a few Moscow Mules, and 9 hours later our original jumping up and down enthusiasm had turned into more of an ‘Eeek…we might have bitten off more than we can chew’ feeling.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 my husband and I had to cancel our inaugural RV trip. But I’m so grateful for the experience of planning that trip. Because in the process I had an epiphany.

The Epiphany

As I was researching, I was running across articles with "way above my novice head" information and then others that left me saying, “Yes. I know how to pack a suitcase. Thank you. I’m way past that."

I was spending too much time reading through content desperately searching for the golden nugget of information that applied to me.

In my frustration, I thought, “I just want one website that says” 

• If you’re a beginner, click here.
• Got a few trips under your belt, click here.
• RV every year? Click here.

I wanted a site that offered me the ability to find content applicable to where I was at in my RV-life journey.

That got me thinking more. It wasn’t restricted to this RV thing. I felt that way whenever I wanted to learn how to do just about anything from how to use Photoshop to creating an online membership program! It's certainly been something I've noticed on my own entrepreneurial journey.

The Struggle Is Real

This is the information overload age. We get so much thrown at us from every direction.

Being the productivity expert that I am I pondered on how much precious time we are all spending while we struggle to consume content that is either way over our head, or stuff we already know.

And then it hit me…does Virtual A Team content do that? 

Calling a meeting

I called a team meeting and asked our experts, “Do you think we help our clients use their time more productively by guiding them to content that applies to where they are in their personal entrepreneurial journey?”

Collectively we decided the answer was no, we don’t. We all agreed that it is frustrating to spend time reading an article only to realize at the end there was nothing in it that was applicable to us.

Let the brainstorming begin! The team was invigorated by the challenge and felt like this could be a game-changer for our clients and subscribers. 

We went back through blog posts since the beginning of Virtual A Team time. We publish blogs weekly that answer your questions about:

• Growing your business
• Marketing
• Personal growth
• Productivity
• Sales
• Social media marketing
• Management
• Building a team
• And of course, outsourcing

We answer critical who, what, when, where, and why questions.  Lots of how-to tips. ‘Are you ready to implement this?’ tips and, ‘these are the best tools out there’ tips.

But we realized that one size does not fit all.

Just like the difference between myself, a novice RV enthusiast, and my well-seasoned RVing sister-in-law, Virtual A Team has clients in the early stages of their business journey and others who are much further along in building. And both are searching for their respective ‘click here’ buttons.

It was so clear to me and the team what needed to happen. We needed to become the kind of resource like the one I was searching for.

We set out to build something that would help our readers easily find the content that meets them where they’re at in their entrepreneurial journey.

KNOWING YOUR STARTING POINT

Are you ready? Ready to hear what Virtual A Team built? We believe it is going to help inform and educate you in the best possible way.

Ok, it all starts with knowing where you’re at on the entrepreneurial journey map.

Rest Stop 1: “I’m going!”

You’ve decided to embark on your journey. You grab your backpack, fill it full of your dreams, and set out to revolutionize the world. You’re building and creating your framework. You know there is growth potential here, but you’re most likely struggling to know just where to start. There are so many decisions and you don’t know where to get help, or possibly in what areas you could use some help.

Rest Stop 2: “I can do this!” 

You’ve gained some experience and tools. Your backpack can no longer hold everything, so you’ve upgraded to a duffle bag. It’s full of lessons learned, new systems, connections, and knowledge that is helping you continue your travel toward huge success. The future's looking bright and full of opportunities. But you’re feeling the weight of the bigger bag. You start thinking, “Yikes! I could use some help.”

Rest Stop 3: “Are we there yet?” 

It’s been a tough journey and there is a lot more to carry now. You tried holding on to the heavy bag but soon realized you couldn’t carry that alone. You’ve tossed that duffle bag to the curb in exchange for the helpful rolling suitcase with pivoting wheels. You’ve lightened your load. You’re walking tall and can see your destination again. You’ve given away a few hats allowing you to spend more time in your zone of genius.

Rest Stop 4: “Go ME!” 

After leaving the last stop you realized that if you could lighten your load even more, you could go that much further. You gave away more hats and the tasks that were draining your energy. You’ve offloaded enough that you can continue your journey carrying only a briefcase. You have a team. You’ve tested and proven that you have what it takes to grow a successful business and the results show. You have more time to focus on new ideas and passions while supporting the teams that will keep the business traveling towards huge success.

To find out what Rest Stop you’re at, take the quiz …

What online appointment scheduling app do you recommend?

That’s one of the most frequently asked questions I see in Facebook groups.

And it’s always good to get recommendations but recommendations don’t provide you with details.

I use Acuity.

Calendly is my favorite.

I switched to vCita from Appointy.

The responses leave you with no more information than doing a quick google search for online appointment scheduling apps.

Whenever you are choosing a new program to use in your business, it’s best to do a comparison of the features and benefits. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know until you start looking at all the details.

Unfortunately, that can take a lot of time. So we’ve done the work for you!

What to Consider When Reviewing an Appointment Scheduling App

Let’s jump in and review the top 5 online appointment scheduling apps recommended for coaches and other solopreneur business owners.

In this comparison, we are going to cover 9 of the most common features you might be looking for. These include price, calendar integration, group class scheduling, reminder emails, invoicing, phone apps, email system integration, # of appointments/people and website integration.

Price:

This one is pretty obvious. What is the price for the appointment scheduling app based on different levels.

Calendar Sync:

Does the app sync with your Google or another type of online calendar? This can be a two-way sync. First, does it limit the offered time slots based on the appointments on your calendar? Second, does it add the scheduled appointments to your calendar?

Group Class/Event Scheduling:

If you offer group classes, group coaching or other events that include more than two people, this may be a beneficial feature for you.

Reminder Emails:

Does the system automatically send out a reminder email to your meeting attendees to increase the chances of them not missing the appointment?

Invoicing:

Does the online appointment scheduling app have a built-in invoicing feature so that you can charge clients immediately upon them signing up? If not, you may need to set up a work-around such as having them visit your invoicing page first and then, upon completion of payment, redirecting them to your online calendar.

Phone Apps:

If you tend to do a lot from your phone, having an app might be a requirement for the program you use.

Download our Ultimate Guide to Delegating Here for More Tips & Tools on How to Delegate as a Solopreneur

Email System Integration:

While almost all calendar systems can integrate with email programs via tools like Zapier, it might be worthwhile to you if you can choose a program that already integrates with the tools you use.

Number of appointment types/people:

While you may be a solopreneur and only need to schedule appointments for yourself, do you have different types of appointments you want to set up? Maybe you have an appointment for your discovery calls and another for your actual coaching appointments. Or, maybe you even have calls scheduled for your podcast show and ones for “virtual networking meetings”. If you have different requirements for different appointments, you’ll want a tool that accommodates those requirements.

As an example, I don’t schedule with anyone other than my team on Mondays and I don’t schedule with anyone other than clients on Fridays. That means my prospect calls will only be scheduled on Tuesdays through Thursdays.

Website Integration:

And finally, does your chosen appointment scheduling app integrate smoothly with your website? If you want to offer times directly on your site, you may want one that plays well with the type of website you have. As an example, if you visit my Contact Us page, you can see how the calendar is built right in. As soon as you select a time, it will take you out to the actual appointment scheduling app to complete the process.

Other tools may have pop up bars or certain features. If you are specific about how you want it to look on your site, you may want to research that first.

There may be other factors you want to consider based on your specific business needs.

Let the Comparison Begin

While it’s not good to compare yourself to others, comparing one program to another can help you make a more informed decision.

Acuity

Acuity seems to be the most commonly recommended tool out there so we’ll start here.

Price

Emerging Plan: $15/mo (1 Calendar)

Growing Plan: $25/mo (6 Calendars)

Powerhouse Plan: $50/mo (36 Calendars)

Calendar Sync

Acuity offers 1 or 2-way sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Yes, you can schedule group classes or events using Acuity.

Automatic Reminder Emails

You can set up reminder emails on any of the paid versions of Acuity. You can also set up reminder texts on the Growing or Powerhouse plan.

Invoicing

Direct invoicing from Acuity is not available. However, Acuity does integrate with Quickbooks, Freshbooks, and Xero for invoice creation.

Phone App

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android to let you edit your availability and manage your appointments when you are away from the office.

Third Party Integrations

Acuity integrates with a variety of other apps and programs either directly or through the use of a service like Zapier. Please see this list to determine if your programs are included.

Website Integration

There are a number of sites that allow you to integrate Acuity directly. However, tools such as pop-ups and booking bar are somewhat limited without having a knowledge of advanced coding.

The Numbers

With Acuity, you can have an unlimited number of appointment types and individuals scheduled on any of the paid accounts. What is limited is the number of different calendars available.

TimeTrade

TimeTrade isn’t as commonly recommended in the solopreneur business world but it’s the one Virtual A Team uses and recommends. It is often marketed to larger businesses but has an individual plan that is much less expensive than the competition.

Price

Individual Plan: $78/Yr ($6.50 per user/mo)

Business Plan: $149/Yr ($12.42 per user/mo)

Business Plus Plan: $300/Yr ($25 per user/mo)

Calendar Sync

Timetrade offers 1 or 2-way sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Available but not in one of the preset plans.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Customizable reminder emails are available in any of the versions. Text messaging is an add on service.

Invoicing

Direct invoicing from TimeTrade is not available. However, we’ve set our TimeTrade up to be linked after payment is submitted rather than the other way around.

Phone App

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android to let you edit your availability and manage your appointments when you are away from the office.

Third Party Integrations

TimeTrade integrates with a few programs directly and many more through the use of a service like Zapier.

Website Integration

Timetrade provides embed codes to add your online calendar to your website or app.

The Numbers

With TimeTrade, you can have an unlimited number of appointment types and individuals scheduled.

vCita

When I started out with online appointment scheduling apps, I started with vCita. It definitely has some advanced features not available in the other programs but those features come with a hefty price. That’s because vCita offers more than just online appointment scheduling. You can use it for events, customer relationship management, and more.

Price

Scheduling Only: $15/mo

Essentials Plan: $29/mo

Business Plan: $59/mo

Calendar Sync

vCita offers 1 or 2-way sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Available on all plans.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Available on all plans. Text messages are also available for an additional charge.

Invoicing

The Essentials level and above includes billing and invoicing.

Phone App

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android to let you edit your availability and manage your appointments when you are away from the office.

Third Party Integrations

Integrations are available in the Essentials Plan and above.

Website Integration

Website widgets are available in the individual plan and above.

The Numbers

With TimeTrade, you can have an unlimited number of appointment types for up to 300 clients. If you wish to have additional team members, they charge an additional $15 per month.

Calendly

Calendly is often recommended as a basic starter system. It’s inexpensive and easy to use. I just happen to have a personal issue because I can never spell it right! 😉

Price

Basic Plan: Free

Premium: $8/mo

Pro: $12/mo

Calendar Sync

2-way sync is available with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Calendly offers group events on all paid plans.

Automatic Reminder Emails

All plans offer notifications. Calendly offers custom notifications on paid plans. Text messages are available on Pro plan.

Invoicing

You can’t directly invoice with Calendly but the Pro plan includes integration with Paypal and Stripe.

Phone App

This one might be a deal breaker. At the time of this writing, there is no phone app available for either iOS or Andriod. The company says they are working on it.

Third Party Integrations

On the paid programs, you can use Zapier to integrate with other programs.

Website Integration

Calendly offers an API that can be used to integrate with various websites.

The Numbers

With the free program, you can have one appointment type. This is not limited on the paid versions.

YouCanBook.me

YouCanBook.me is not as often recommended but still offers some good options for those just getting started with online appointment scheduling apps.

One feature it seems to have that many of the others do not include is appointment duration variation. You can set a minimum, average, and maximum times for booking.

This program also allows you to set appointments as tentative requiring your approval, a nice feature if you want to have more control over your calendar.

Price

Basic Plan: Free

Paid: $10/mo/per calendar

Calendar Sync

2-way sync is available with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook (this one is still in beta at the time of this writing).

Group Class Scheduling

YouCanBook.me allows you to take more than one booking per time slot to allow for groups, meetings or events.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Paid plans allow you to customize your calendar appointment and reminder emails.

Invoicing

Integrates with Stripe to add a payment form to your booking request form.

Phone App

This is another program that does not currently have a mobile app. The company says their website is fully mobile responsive.

Third Party Integrations

On the paid programs, you can use Zapier to integrate with other programs.

Website Integration

As with most other options, YouCanBook.me can be embeded onto a website using code. It does not offer a direct integration.

The Numbers

With the free program, you can have one appointment type. This is not limited on the paid versions.

Appointy

We can’t forget Appointy in our review. This is another often recommended option when people ask for online scheduling app recommendations. However, it also falls into the higher price point category. Let’s see how it stacks up for the extra cost.

Price

Basic Plan: Free

Growth: $29.99/mo

Professional: $59.99/mo

Enterprise: $99.99/mo

Calendar Sync

2-way sync is available with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook (via iCal) on Paid versions.

Group Class Scheduling

YouCanBook.me allows you to take more than one booking per time slot to allow for groups, meetings or events.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Paid plans allow you to customize your calendar appointment and reminder emails.

Invoicing

Appointy appears to offer one of the best options if accepting prepayments for services is important to you.

Phone App

Available for both iOS and Andriod

Third Party Integrations

You can use Zapier to integrate with other programs.

Website Integration

Appointy offers several options for integration onto a website or even your Facebook page.

The Numbers

Appointy’s pricing is based more on the number of staff than the number of appointments or calendars used. If you are primarily a business of one, then the Growth plan will probably be sufficient for you.

Which appointment scheduling app do you like?

While some people say that all programs are about the same, that’s only partially true. If you have specific needs that a program doesn’t meet, that make doing business with them very frustrating. After reviewing some of the top features of online scheduling apps, there are some clear differences.

Now that you know WHAT to look for in online appointment scheduling apps and have seen how some of the top programs compare, have you made a choice?

Did we miss your favorite app? Did we forget a feature that’s important to you? Let us know!

And, if you are ready to implement an online scheduling app in your business but need some help, schedule a call with Virtual A Team. We are here to help.

There comes a time for many coaches and speakers when they want to leverage their time more effectively. For some, that means creating an online course to share their knowledge with more people at one time.

I recently had a client join Virtual A Team because she wanted a way to make more money with less effort. She had a large audience and needed help getting the most out of her time. However, the whole process was out of her zone of genius.

Once you begin to think about creating an online course, the actual steps get overwhelming VERY fast. There are, like, a MILLION different choices to make and many of those choices are in areas you probably have little to no knowledge in. After all, your business isn't building online courses.

What is an online course?

An online course is a class, skill, or system taught via online tools such as videos, video calls, emails or other digital presentations. The instructor and the students are not in the same location. And sometimes, the information is prerecorded and consumed on demand rather than a predetermined schedule.

Online courses can be free with a goal of generating leads for the business. Or they can range in price from less than $20 to several thousand dollars.

Do you need an online course?

It’s easy to hear about the huge launches and the great success of online courses and think that’s the quickest path to easy money.

You may be feeling burnt out working with one-on-one clients and want to share your wisdom with a greater number of people. And online courses seem to be a simple and practical way to reach those people.

Until you start digging into those success stories and the work behind them.

Behind the Scenes

Online courses ARE an excellent way to reach more people in a shorter period of time. But, what often goes unanswered in the success stories, is the work that led up to those successes.

There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help determine if creating an online course makes sense for you right now.

1. Are you finding enough one-on-one clients to sustain your business? If the answer is no, then you will struggle to fill an online course.
2. Do you have a system you use with your clients that is easily duplicatable? If you tend to wing it with each client, then you don’t have a system to your approach yet, without a system, then you are the product and that can’t be duplicated in an online course.
3. Do you have enough money or skills to invest up front to get your course launched before the cash starts rolling in? You’ll either need to DIY your course set up or pay for it in advance of your launch. And, it may take more than one launch to recoup your costs. Are you prepared for that risk?

Deciding whether or not you are ready for an online course isn’t always easy. If you’d like to discuss the possibility of incorporating an online course into your business, schedule a call with Virtual A Team.

The Guide to Creating Your Online Course

Once you’ve decided to create your online course, there is a LOT of work that goes into it. I often have clients tell me that they never would have thought of all the steps it takes.

Depending on your budget and time frame, you may not do ALL of these for the first launch. You can use the information to go back and update your program later.

Before we get started, download the Complete Checklist to Online Course Creation and Launch now to have it handy.

Planning stage

The first step in creating your online course is planning.

Before you even begin to create your course, it pays to know that it is something your audience will want.

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending time and money to create and launch a program only to have no one show up.

Design and Develop Content

Determine Your Goals

What will be the primary goal for this course? Is it to generate leads? Will it funnel your audience into a higher price point product such as an inner circle or one-on-one coaching? Or maybe this is your top tier “signature” program?

Study Your Market

Find out what your market wants. Use Facebook groups, Amazon book reviews, polls and surveys to learn what your ideal target audience is looking for.

Study the Competition

What is your competition doing? What seems to be working for them? Can you expand on that or offer a different take?

Take your time doing the research, it will make or break your success.

Identify One Problem with One Solution

Once you’ve completed your research, identify the one problem you want to solve and the solution you will offer. This may have a very different answer depending on what your goals are for the program.

A coach who offers tips on how to be more effective in their video marketing may start out with a free online course walking people through how to purchase, set up and use the right equipment. The problem is where to start and her solution is to provide the step-by-step for getting started.

The next problem her clients face may be what content to create. She offers a low price point online course teaching them about the 5 types of videos used for business marketing.

Ultimately, her new clients land in either a signature course designed to help them overcome their fears of being on video or a one-on-one coaching program designed to help them get the most out of their video marketing efforts.

Outline Program Content

Now that you have your problem and solution, it’s time to outline the content of your course.

No matter what format you choose to present your content, you’ll need an outline to get started.

A few things to remember as you sit down to write your program:

• Each module should be a mini training with a beginning, middle, and end.
• Each module should have a win. What can the students implement after completing that module?
• Keep modules short enough not to overwhelm. If a module is longer than 45 minutes, students may never come back to finish the course. In fact, if you can break modules up into segments of 15 minutes or less, that is even better.
• Title modules with a hook. Make each module title something students will want to dive into. “Module 2 - Equipment” isn’t nearly as enticing as “Module 2 - What to buy based on your budget.”
• Set Action Steps to help your students implement what they’ve learned.

Once you’ve completed your outline, you can begin crafting the course based on how it will be presented (video, audio, text-based, slides, etc…)

Choose Value-added Items (bonus items)

As you write your course, keep in mind optional bonus items. Some suggestions for bonuses include:

• Content that was originally part of the course but was removed for various reasons.
• Prerequisite topics that will help the student get the most out of the course.
• Templates that help students take action faster.

Define the Structure

Online courses come in many formats. It’s time to decide how your’s will be structured.

Will it be presented live with everyone in attendance on each call? Or will it be available ongoing so anyone can join at any time (Evergreen)?

If it is Evergreen, will modules be available all at once so students can go through at whatever pace they choose? Or will the content be dripped to them over time?

Select the Tech

This is where a lot of solopreneurs get stuck. It's easy to look at your options for tech and feel totally overwhelmed. Let’s break it down into parts to make it a little easier to understand.

Evergreen Platforms

If your course will be evergreen, you’ll need to choose a platform to present your content. The platform is the place your content will be housed for access by your students.

Some platforms are designed to help you sell your course. These often take a percentage of your sale. Other sites allow you to keep your full sale price but charge a monthly hosting fee. There are also a few that can be purchased one time and hosted on your own website.

For a review of several online course platforms, check out www.learningrevolution.net

Live Platform

If your course will be presented live, you will want to choose a webinar or teleseminar platform such as Zoom, AnyMeeting, or even Facebook Live within a private group.

Autoresponder

Your autoresponder will send emails to market your program. It can also send onboarding and reminder emails once someone has signed up. We recommend using a program that can handle automations. Our favorite is ActiveCampaign but you may also consider something like ClickFunnels.

Affiliate Program Software

Affiliate programs are a great way to get others to promote your online course. For each program they sell, they get a certain percentage or flat rate. To track these sales, you will need an affiliate program such as Post Affiliate Pro.

Landing Page Software

You will need a sales page for your program. Sales pages are also often called landing pages. There are many options for landing pages. In fact, it’s even feasible to simply create a page on your existing website. However, if you want something that is designed to help convert to sign-ups, then consider one of the following options.

• OptimizePress for Wordpress - This premium plugin for Wordpress has a one-time purchase price instead of an ongoing subscription cost.
• ClickFunnels - Because ClickFunnels offers both the email and the landing page options, it's more of a one-stop-shop. You can also take advantage of the affiliate program software at the higher tier option.
• Your Email Marketing system - Most email marketing programs such as Mailchimp often have the ability to create basic landing pages.

Payment Processing Software

It’s time to collect some money! Payment processing can be as simple as a link to your Paypal account or a more complex online shopping cart. Consider what you have now and what may come with the systems you already have in place.

Need help deciding on the right set of tech tools for your online course? Virtual A Team is here to help. Schedule a complementary strategy session today and we will help you review your options.

Presale Stage

Once you’ve settled on the design for your online course, you’ll need to move into the sales and marketing phase. Each time you start to market your course, it’s called a launch. You may “launch” your course many times or you may launch once and continue to promote it regularly.

Launch Goals

Your launch goals will depend on the purpose of the course.

If this is a free course, your goal may be to get X number of new subscribers. If it’s a premium course, your goal may be to hit a certain number of sales.

Determine the Price

There’s a lot that goes into finding the right price for your course. Some questions to ask include:

• Is the course size limited? If you will be doing a live training and want to limit the number of students, that may increase the price you charge.
• Will you be offering scholarships or early bird registrations? If you offer discounts of any sort, consider raising the final price to compensate.
• Is this a limited time only program? If your course won’t always be available, that also puts a premium on the price.

Other things to consider when pricing your program will be what bonuses you offer, whether or not you will be offering payment plans, and are there any guarantees.

Set Your Dates

It’s important to know your dates when planning out the calendar.

When will your launch sale take place? When will the program actually begin?

Use those to determine the due dates for the following actions.

Gather Testimonials

Testimonials can be very beneficial in helping to sell your course. If you’ve already run this program or a similar program, consider reaching out to past participants to get their feedback. A great testimonial looks like this:

Before taking this program I (state the struggle or challenge that caused you to seek help)... And now that I have completed the program I (state how the program helped you to overcome the challenge and what life is like now).

If this is the very first time you’ve done this program, consider a free beta program with a handful of close contacts. Allow them to take the program for free in exchange for feedback and a testimonial. Their feedback can help you to determine if any tweaks to the content need to be made and the testimonial can be used in your next launch.

Create Themed Graphics

Just like your business has a brand, your course will too. You’ll need special graphics to complement that brand.

• Social media promo graphics (for Facebook, Instagram, etc…)
• Landing page graphics for your sales page.
• Graphics for the emails (a header image, etc…)

Be sure to delegate this task so you can focus on what you do best.

Set Up Onboarding Forms or Agreements

Some programs will require specific agreements or forms to be signed prior to participation. If you have questions you want your students to answer, you can use online form tools such as Jotform or a plugin for Wordpress such as Ninja Forms.

For things like non-disclosure agreements, consider using a tool like HelloSign.

Create Sales & Thank You Pages

How you design your sales page will depend on personal preference and some trial and error. Some people still feel that long-form pages (a sales page that relies heavily on written content) convert better than short form or video based pages.

However, the skill of the copywriter has a lot to do with this. If you aren’t hiring a professional copywriter for your page (and you aren’t one yourself), we recommend sticking to the short form pages.

Consider recording a 90 second to 3 minute video talking about why someone needs your course, what they will learn and what they can expect as a result. Use this video on the sales page and in social media marketing.

Thank you pages are great opportunities to share bonus material or upsell to VIP status. Don’t forget the thank you page.

Write Sales Autoresponder Series

These are the emails you will send to your existing email list promoting your new course. The number of emails will depend on the length of time your launch is underway. At a minimum consider writing the following:

• First email - the introduction to what you are offering.
• Second email - FAQ email answering the most common questions.
• Third email - outlining bonuses and/or early bird deadlines.
• Fourth email - First last chance to go out the day before or morning of the start of your program.
• Fifth email - Last last chance to go out just before the program begins.

Here’s another area where hiring a qualified copywriter can improve your sales results.

Write Onboarding Autoresponder Series

Once someone has signed up for your online course, what do they need to do next? This is where you can attach links to your surveys or non-disclosure agreements. It might also include any prerequisite homework or tips for getting the most out of the course.

Create Social Media Marekting Plan

At this point, you’ll want to start working on your plan for social media.

• Do you need images to share? Get those created.
• Will you do live videos to help promote? Write the scripts in advance.
• Are you going to use social media ads? Create the content and set up the strategy.

Use a social media calendar like the one at Hubspot to plan out your entire social media push. Use social media management tools like Smarterqueue to schedule your content in advance.

Create Blog Posts to Promote the Launch

If you have an active blog, one or two blog posts can help you to market your course. Topics that are beneficial include content that helps the audience prepare for the course (prerequisite type stuff) or case studies of how others have done in the course.

Create Affiliates/Partner Marketing Content

Who’s helping you to promote your course?

Whether you have a fully set up affiliate program or just have a few people who are happy to help you promote, you’ll get more out of their efforts if you create content specifically for their use.

You can repurpose much of the marketing content you’ve already created but be sure to rephrase it in words that fit who’s sharing it.

Package it together in a Google Drive or Dropbox folder that you can share with your partners.

Test Tech

I’ll say this one a few times. Run through a test with any tech you have set up so far. Have someone else receive all of the emails and test that the links are working and there are no glitches in your affiliate programs.

Sales

It’s time to SELL SELL SELL!

Hopefully, you took the time to get all of your sales materials together in advance. That will lessen the workload during your selling period.

Social Media

If you took my advice, most of your social media promotion is already scheduled. You simply need to go in and do your live videos and/or engage with the comments and questions received.

Blog Posts

Now that your blog posts are published, are there any social media groups you can share them in? How else can you use your blog posts to promote your sale?

Affiliates & Partners

If you have not already identified who will be an affiliate or partner to help you promote your program, now is the time. Identify 5 to 10 individuals whom you know would help share your program. Be sure they have a similar target audience to get the most out of their share efforts.

Send them an email and give them a call to invite them to participate. Be sure to give them access to the content you created to help them promote for you.

Call

No amount of social media or email marketing beats the phone call. As your launch date draws closer, pick a list of contacts to call and personally invite them to your offer. A great way to do this is to use the phrase, “Who do you know that would be interested in…” It takes the pressure off of them directly and still allows them to say, “ME! I’m interested.”

During your marketing and sales phase, consider these other 9 ways to market your event.

All Aboard!

Someone signed up! OMG, now what?!

Don’t go into shock. That’s what’s supposed to happen!

If your Onboarding autoresponder is set up properly, this is when that automation kicks in. Just keep an eye on it to make sure everything is going out as expected.

Ready, Set, GO!

You’ve worked on this for weeks (or months). You’ve successfully launched and gotten people to sign up. It’s now time to deliver a kick ASS program!

Just be sure to watch for and address any challenges as you go.

Review

The best programs get better with review. Take some time to send out follow up surveys asking for input and feedback. This is also a great time to ask for testimonials you can use in future promotions.

Take time now to review all feedback while the course is still fresh in your mind. Make details notes and plans for the next launch.

CELEBRATE!

It’s time to PARTAY! Did you meet your launch goals? Even if you didn’t, you’ve put in a LOT of work that will pay off down the line. Take some time to celebrate all of your hard work and effort.

Get the Checklist

There were a LOT of detailed steps in this article. Grab the checklist now and use it for all of your online courses.

Once upon a time, social media management was easy. You could occasionally throw up a link to your blog article and people would comment.

However, the scenario has completely changed now. Websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter are no longer making it easy to get engagement. They want to keep their audience on their own sites. In addition, they are making it harder and harder to get people to see your content without paying.

It takes a lot of effort to create the right social media plan and then to implement your strategy at the best time.

Taking advantage of this fact, many businesses (especially online ones) have taken to social media to advertise and drive more traffic to their websites. Unfortunately, the number of social media websites out there have increased exponentially and every one of them is a potential market that you can exploit.

So, how do companies, large and small, keep up with their regular posts on all these various media you ask? They use programs called Social Media Management tools. Essentially, these are tools that help you manage all your social media content together and plan which post goes online at what time. Thus, you will need to use these to keep up with the competition (or possibly beat ‘em too). Hence, we compiled a list of some of the best social media management tools out there.

Download our Ultimate Guide to Delegating Here for More Tips & Tools on How to Delegate as a Solopreneur

Why can’t I do it myself?

Sitting at home working with a team around the world and running an online business might seem like an amazing idea. Unfortunately, the amount of work that needs to be done is still quite a lot, especially in the social media sphere. It isn’t the kind of work that you can just pass off to your intern either. There are two main reasons why you should use these tools: consistency and time.

I can remember when I was still bootstrapping my business and had more time than money. I felt like I could handle the social media without the added expense of a monthly fee for one of these services.

Unfortunately, the task quickly became a full-time job as more and more sites came out. Each site has different ideal times to post and different ways to post. It was getting to be too much to keep on top of it all.

Social Media Management Tools Help with Consistency

One of the keys to successful social media marketing is to be consistent with your activity. You can’t post every two years and expect your followers to stick around or engage with your content. But more importantly, you can’t post a ton of content on a single day and completely abandon the followers the next day.

This is when things started going downhill for me. I thought I could keep on top of it but it was often the first thing to go when I got busy. Then I’d try to play catch up and everything would come out at once.

Thus, you need to plan out your content and split it over a few days and different social media to attract as much traffic to it as possible. This works especially well if this is one of your cornerstone content driving all the boys to the yard.

Social Media Management Tools Save Time

In order to remain consistent, you would have to post the content regularly throughout the day on different social media sites as needed. However, you may not always be free during these times of peak traffic and that ends up affecting your consistency.

Furthermore, you may have more important aspects of your business to concentrate on at that point. Thus, when you have some free time, social media management tools allow you to schedule all your posts to be posted on different social media. The app takes care of the rest. This will help you save a lot of time in the long run.

Of course, employing a social media management tool also saves you the hassle of using multiple excel spreadsheets and keeping track of which post has been posted where. There are several other benefits depending on the tool as well. So without further ado, here are some of the best social media scheduling tools we have come across.

Smarterqueue

Smarterqueue, true to its name, allows you to select your queueing times much easier than other similar services. Moreover, it will automatically queue posts that are doing well (or if you want) without any effort from your side. It can also automatically set up a schedule for you based on your preferred posting times. Smarterqueue gives you the option to share directly from a website you are viewing using a bookmark which helps you save a ton of time. Great analytical software that comes with this is just an added bonus.

Social Media options

Twitter profiles, Facebook profiles, pages and groups, Pinterest, Instagram profiles (Using push notifications), LinkedIn profiles and pages

Pros  

• Allows you to re-queue good content multiple times automatically using several variations,
• You can post using a bookmarked link from any website,
• Has a Find Content feature that allows you to search social media platforms,
• You can import content from an RSS feeder,
• Excellent stats to review what posts are working,
• Easily reshare your best content.

Cons  

• Inability to reply to comments or messages,
• Post limit on every profile applied every day (but this number is high),
• App functionality is very limited.

Pricing 

Smarterqueue is priced rather reasonably making it our top recommended tool (and the one we personally use). The simplest option can be bought at $18 a month which allows you to control 4 social media profiles. If you want more, you can go for the business plan at $35 with 10 profiles or the Agency plan allowing 25 profiles at $82. A custom option is also available at $18 plus whatever add-ons you feel you need.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the classics when it comes to social media management tools. The UI is extremely simple and rather easy to use. There are multiple pages and you can open multiple columns (RSS feeds)  in each of these pages. Each column can represent a single aspect of some social media app out there, for example - the inbox from one of your Facebook pages. From these RSS feeds, you can schedule new content or manage your account to a certain extent.

Social Media options  

Twitter profiles, Facebook profiles, groups and pages, LinkedIn profiles and companies, Wordpress blogs, Instagram personal and business profiles (Using push notifications), Youtube channels and Pinterest Profiles.  

Pros 

• No need for additional installments - can be accessed from the browser,
• Engagement possible from platform,
• Provides suggestions for sharing content

Cons 

• Adding extra users proves to be quite expensive
• Comes with a tag saying “Posted by HootSuite”  

Pricing  

There are multiple plans available, but the most common ones are professional, team and business. This can cost you about $18, $95 and $652 respectively a month. There is also a customizable option that allows you to tailor the number of social media platforms profiles you want to access. The price would also change depending on the number of users you want to give access to.

Buffer

Buffer is a hot favorite in the industry when it comes to such tools. It has a great UI and frankly just a pleasure to use. This smart software will not only help you schedule your posts, but it will also post your content at the best times possible to get the highest amount of traffic directed to your site. It allows you to choose different preset posting times for all the different profiles you have. Then you can simply drag and drop in the calendar to adjust the times. You can also access the detailed reports to tweak the times your posts go online.

Social Media options  

Twitter profiles, Facebook profiles, and groups, LinkedIn profiles, and pages, Pinterest Boards, Instagram personal and business profiles (Using push notifications)

Pros

• Gives you suggestions on what kind of content to post,
• Chrome extension allows you to quickly share any link to your platforms, essentially allowing you to “collect” content as you go.

Cons

• The social media platforms are quite limited,
• No categories for posting,
• You can’t reply to your messages on the social media profiles

Pricing

While the free version allows you to access 3 social media profiles, the pricing starts with the “Pro plan” allowing you to access 8 profiles. The small business (25 social media profiles), the medium business (50 profiles) and the large business (150 profiles) are priced at $99, $199 and $399 respectively.

Agorapulse

Agorapulse allows you to take care of all your social media needs under one tab. You can reply to comments, inbox, and tweets seamlessly. Alternatively, you can assign it to your team members as well without worrying about two members replying to the same comment. You also have endless scheduling options for your posts allowing you to gain full control of your social media. Like all other tools on this list, Agorapulse also offers its own comprehensive analytics reports.

Social Media options

Instagram profiles (Using push notifications), Facebook profiles, pages and groups, Twitter profiles, LinkedIn profiles, and Youtube channels.

Pros

• Bulk uploading is possible,
• Extremely comprehensive analytics giving you demographics data too,
• Ability to engage with social media directly from the platform,
• It’s more than just scheduling, it’s full management.

Cons

• Pricing is on the higher end but provides a lot more features.

Pricing  

Agorapulse has multiple plans available for purchase. The most basic one - Micro, sells for $15 a month and allows you control over just one profile. The small and medium plans sell for $49 and $99 a month respectively. On the other hand, the large package will end up costing you $199 a month with access to multiple profiles. An enterprise plan can cost you up to $299 a month. However, if you opt-in for the annual subscription you can get hefty discounts on these prices.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is another great social media tool designed like Agorapulse. It allows you to check out various feeds and comment on them as well. Similarly, you can also reply to the inboxes across the different social media. You can set up multiple projects, depending on which blog you are working for or which site you want to promote. You can assign different tasks to your team members and monitor the status quite easily. Moreover, a feed showing you content related to your interests allows you to curate content more easily. Great analytics reports are just the icing on the cake.  

Social Media options

Instagram (Using push notification), Facebook profiles, groups, and pages, Pinterest, LinkedIn profiles and Twitter profiles.

Pros   

• You can create your own chatbots,
• Engagement from platform,
• Bulk uploading is possible.

Cons 

• The pricing is on the upper side,
• Designed more for agencies,
• Low uploading options.

Pricing   

The pricing of sprout social is almost criminal. The basic package starts at $99 a month per user. While the number of social media profiles you can use remain the same in consecutive plans, the analytics power increases. The highest package available is priced at $249 a month per user. However, there is an intermediate option at $149 too. Businesses can also choose to opt for the Enterprise bundle which allows you to customize your requirements and pay accordingly.

Tailwind

Tailwind is an amazing scheduler focusing on Instagram and Pinterest. With a browser extension, it allows you to post to multiple boards at the same time reducing your work tenfold. It also has a feature that automatically selects the best times for uploads and schedules your posts accordingly. Tailwind’s analytics sends you a detailed report weekly with traffic details and how your posts performed. It also introduces a feature called “Tribes” which is essentially a group on Tailwind full of people sharing content on a particular topic. These are great for curating content to your social media and having more of your content shared. The analytics also look into how you are performing in these tribes.

Social Media options

Instagram and Pinterest

Pros

• Browser extension available for sharing on Pinterest
• Ability to post to multiple boards together
• Posting to Instagram does not require a manual step

Cons  

• The number of social media options is extremely limited.

Pricing 

The price of this tool is rather average considering that you have to pay $10 for a month for just one profile - this can either be Instagram or Pinterest. So, if you want both Pinterest and Instagram, you’ll have to pay double. You upgrade for more tribes or SmartPins. Alternatively, you have a free trial which lets you pin up 100 posts with no time limit.

Coschedule

Coschedule is another favorite of social media marketers around the globe. It has a well-designed calendar which allows you to schedule posts with ease and assign tasks to your team members before the post is due to be shared. Coschedule integrates well with most other marketing software like google analytics making it an even powerful tool. It also has the option to re-queue posts which are doing well in getting the attention of your audience.

Social Media options  

Tumblr blogs, Facebook profiles, pages and groups, Twitter profiles, LinkedIn accounts, Google+ pages and profiles, Pinterest accounts, Instagram accounts (Using push notifications)

Pros  

• Amazing analytics that even checks the header of your social media post and suggests changes
• Wordpress plugin available allowing you to schedule posts directly from Wordpress

Cons

• Lacks the ability for bulk upload
• Extremely expensive for beginners to use  

Pricing

Coschedule offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card details required) for all its plans. Otherwise, it has 3 main plans with a range of choices within them. The individual plan can cost anywhere from $0-$49 a month. The business plan can cost anywhere from $60 to $1200 a month while the Agency plans can cost anywhere from $60 to $300 a month. Each of them supports different numbers of social media profiles and additional features.

Conclusion

When you are trying to choose social media management tool, there are a lot of factors like cost, features, a number of users allowed and even the social media platforms supported to consider. You need to decide which of these factors you care more about and accordingly make the right call for your business.

If you want, you can even use some of these tools together. One of my favorite combinations is to use Tailwind for Instagram and Pinterest and Smarterque for everything else. You can come up with a combination that suits you best.

So, get rid of all the excel sheets you had while queueing your posts. Just get one (or more) of these tools and let your life become infinitely easier. This way, you can focus on what really matters - growing your business.