Q: “I’ve just developed my first course and I’m eager to promote it! However, I have almost no list. Should I use Facebook ads to drive traffic to my sales page? Or should I create lead magnets and get signups for my list?”

A: This question comes from one of my favorite sources … an online forum.

The person who asked this question has a great deal of knowledge to share. Her course deserves a wider audience. So what can she do?

(1) List building is something that goes on all the time, in the background of what you’re doing.

It’s like going to the gym to work out. You don’t reach a level of fitness where you say, “Now I get to stay home!”

But your workout gets easier and more pleasant. You discover what you enjoy (weights? yoga? barre?). You discover what you’ll do only if you’re surrounded by fellow students in a class, so you keep going even if you’d love to be anywhere else (for me, that’s yoga).

As your list grows, you discover where you’ll get the best rewards.

You’ll figure out how to compose your landing page to increase signups (and it doesn’t mean following a formula – I’ve had 50% and higher signups with rule-breaking versions. I’m working on a webinar and course to share the details – watch this space and let me know if you’ve got landing page questions.

You probably won’t stop list-building till you’re ready to say goodbye to the business and retire to the Caribbean (where you’ll be so bored you’ll be back, guaranteed).

(2) If course creation will be a core strategy for your business, look for joint venture partners.

Find people who serve the same market you do. And get ready for some serious copywriting.

First, when you write to a potential JV partner – especially someone you barely know – you’re selling your offer. You’re persuading that person to take a chance on you.

Ideally you’ve paved the way. You’ve commented on their blog posts and LinkedIn articles. You’ve bought their products. You may have promoted their products as an affiliate.

They’re going to ask, “Where’s the sales letter?” If your copy seems lame, you’ll probably get a “No thanks.” If it’s well-written and credible, you’re more likely to get a “yes.”

(3) Write a convincing sales letter before you write the course content.

The idea is to write the sales letter first and then design the course to fulfill the promises of the sales letter. Your sales letter becomes your guide to course creation.

Writing a sales letter forces you to consider the benefits of your course. What is most important to include?

Once you write the sales letter, you realize you need to provide key benefits in your course. You can set up the curriculum and write the content to deliver those benefits.

That way you’re not backtracking to plug in the benefits that weren’t included the first time around. You have a ready-made outline.

I offer a step-by-step, soup-to-nuts online course on course creation. Click here and use the code OCT40 to take $40 off the list price.

Unlike most courses, this one helps you create marketable courses, so you avoid the dilemma of the sad forum participant. You’ll discover how to market your course as you create it.

If you’d like even more support, I can help you create your course with one-on-one consultation. I’ve spent a good part of my life creating courses – as a university professor and online – and I can make your course creation easier. We’ll start with your sales letter, which is more than worth the price of the course. Currently, it’s on a very special intro price and you’ll get the course free too. Learn more here.

A few years ago I got a brilliant idea for a summit program, the kind where you invite well-known people in your field to join you. The idea was so good, I had no trouble enlisting people to join. I ended up with a star-studded lineup (well, stars of the world of digital marketing).

A couple of days after I’d signed up the last speaker, I decided to write the sales letter. That meant I had to figure out what people wanted to learn about.

That’s when I realized that writing the sales letter for a program was the first step, not the last.

A few hours (or days, in some cases) spent on listing features and benefits, recognizing the big benefit for the headline, and figuring out the word pictures that turn into compelling bullet points.

And the way to get this done, you don’t stare at a blank page. You look outside for backstories, not inside for inspiration.

So let’s say you want to create a program to help business owners develop courses. You might look around the Internet to see what people are looking for.

Here are examples of backstories you might get.

Story 1 — The Overwhelm

From a Facebook group:

“How do I keep track of everything I need to do online? It looks like I’ll need — product(s) to sell — landing pages — software to hold the products safely — software to take money for products when people buy — thank you pages — follow up pages.

“How do I keep them all straight? And where do I start?”

Story 2 —“Getting It Out There”

On another Group, someone posted:

“I want to create products. But some classes teach how to create the product and some teach how to market the product. How can I learn both?”

Story 3 — “How to hit the jackpot”

Finally, many people get stuck before they start with the question: “How do I choose a topic for a product? I feel I don’t know anything.

“And if I choose the wrong topic, I’ll end up doing a lot of work for nothing.”

Now, if you’re going to create a course, you’ll answer one question for a short course. You’ll answer two or three in a more comprehensive course.

That’s what I did in my course, 5 Step Profitable Course Creation.

And if you’d like to know more about reading your client’s mind, download my FREE guide when you click here.