There are many Internet Marketing courses for sale online today. It is a very competitive arena and many courses have a cartload of bonuses hitched to them that can persuade the very last dollar out of your pocket.
It is not possible to know the level of difficulty involved in any of these courses from the outside and many of them are glossed up to sell to the unwary.
I have done a few online courses now in internet marketing and most have been disappointing, either because promises were made in the initial sales pitch which, being green at the time I fell for (there is no quick way to earn money online) or there was information missing, or the support was not up to scratch.
Is the teacher of the course in integrity?
I feel that the most important factor in learning online falls at the feet of the person who is delivering the course. There are many so called teachers out there but teaching is a skill and a good teacher who is able to impart knowledge and support a student through a course to success is somewhat rare. Being a successful online marketer who has quit their day job and derives a lucrative income from their business does not mean they can actually teach others how to do it in a comprehensive way nor know how to be really supportive of a fledgling newbie.
A lot of thought needs to be put into offering a course online. The course becomes a representation of the teacher and his knowledge. Just making videos and a offering a manual is not enough. The information needs to be thoroughly clear. If a fail proof course is offered, then it needs to be exactly that. In one course I did recently, the teacher tells his students that if they need information that is not included in the course, it is better to find out for themselves rather than ask and that the ones who will succeed online are the ones who do just that.
This is just a cop out and totally out of integrity. It is like buying a DIY kit online and only receiving half the instructions and the manufacturers telling you that you lack intelligence if you can’t work out the construction by yourself. Would you then feel apprehensive ringing them if you couldn’t work it out?
What this conveys is that the course is missing valuable information, which the writer could not be bothered to disclose. This is very frustrating for the learner as the reason they pay money to do an online course is because they want to be taught the things they don’t know by someone that does.
The responsibility of the course provider
If you were ever lucky enough to have a mentor/teacher at school who was so passionate about the subject they taught that they wanted everyone to succeed, then you will remember how dedicated they were to the task and how much time they put in to helping their students.
People who develop courses online and then put them out into the mainstream for sale don’t have to be scrutinized by a national standards board. There is no one to check them to know if what they have written is comprehensive, has suitable outcomes or has delivered the correct information and covered the necessary elements to make for a successful course.
Anyone can offer an online course and hide behind incompetency at the risk of the unwary buyer. A business person who has been successful at his craft is not necessarily a competent course writer or teacher. I think people who offer courses on line have a huge responsibility to those who buy them and need to listen carefully to their students/clients when they have struggles with the information. Feedback will let the teacher know what is or isn’t working.
A 10 point checklist before you sign up
In order to help people to decide on a course, I have created a checklist that you can ask the prospective teacher before buying. No doubt you will have questions of your own to add but this list will provide the basic questions you need to ask.
- Is the course completely comprehensive and does it include all information needed for an absolute novice to understand?
- Is this course fully supported by a moderator or team who can answer questions in a clear and concise way?
- What is the time frame given for a moderator to respond to a request?
- Is this course presented in a variety of media? e.g. video, written manual, webinars, workshops etc.
- Is the teacher committed to the student’s success and in what way will he/she support the student?
- Does the course owner have a mission statement and are you able to access it before purchasing the course (very important)
- Can you be provided with testimonials from past students? (not videos taken from attendees in the middle of a workshop who are hyped up at the time)
- Check out the credentials of the person offering the course e.g. their Facebook fan page or ask around in online forums
- Ask about their money back guarantee.
- It is good to ask all of your questions via email or Facebook messages so that you have your answers to these in writing
The best source of information is from people who have actually done the course. You can Google for forums or reviews of the course.
You have a right to question the person presenting the course, after all you are paying them to teach you, and they have to provide to you what they have promised. Often amongst all the glitzy copy advertising the new you beaut course of the year is pumping out, the promoter fails to tell you what he proposes to offer you personally as a learner of his course. A major oversight that you are now aware of.
