Seven Fatal Mistakes With Adding E-Learning To Your Business

Many speakers and trainers want to deliver their material on-line, but don't know how to do it effectively. Let's look at some of the most common mistakes I've seen speakers, trainers and other infopreneurs make when they start thinking about e-learning.

Mistake #1. Trying to sell to strangers.

If you're a successful speaker or trainer, it's tempting to think it will be easy to translate that success into on-line success. After all, your face-to-face audiences love you, so why shouldn't you expect a flood of sales on your Web site? Well, it's just not that easy. Your audiences know you, like you and trust you. Internet users don't.

Mistake #2. Casting your net too wide.

As a rule, the more narrowly you define your market, the more valuable your e-learning programs will be. Unfortunately, it's tempting to do the exact opposite, and create something that "everybody needs". The trouble is, when it's aimed at everybody, it's valuable to nobody. So aim for a niche market, and make that niche as small as possible.

Mistake #3. Not doing enough.

A few years ago, just having an e-learning program was a significant selling point. In those days, you could get away with just sending an on-line course by e-mail with just plain text. Now, clients and participants expect much more. A single e-course, webinar or e-book doesn't give you "an e-learning program". You need more - much more.

Mistake #4. Too much sizzle, not enough steak.

People take part in e-learning programs to learn. Sounds obvious, right? But this isn't always the case in face-to-face presentations - e.g. a keynote might be just to entertain, inspire or energise. This isn't true for e-learning programs. You can't get by with just pretty pictures and low-value content.

Mistake #5. Not taking it seriously enough.

It's difficult to create an effective e-learning program on weekends, tea breaks and while waiting for taxis. You really do need to plan it out carefully. One of my clients even took three full months away from his business to develop his e-learning programs. This move paid dividends, though - it's clearly the best in his target market.

Mistake #6. Not having a clear strategy.

This follows from the previous point. It's not enough to just spend time on it; it's also about planning it appropriately. And the strategy that works for your face-to-face presentations doesn't necessarily work for e-learning.

Mistake #7. Not doing it!

Finally, the biggest mistake I've seen is that most speakers and trainers don't have any e-learning programs at all. This is a serious mistake.

There was a time not so long ago that it didn't matter, but that's no longer the case. Modern clients, audiences and Internet users expect you to include technology - including e-learning - in your delivery. Just as they expect you to use leading-edge presentation technology, they expect you to use leading-edge e-learning tools as well.


So are you making any of these mistakes? Use this as a checklist to assess your readiness for e-learning.

Using other people's material (with permission)

When you're scouring the Internet for material, you'll find different phrases describing how you're allowed to use that material. Here's a list of the most common:

• Public domain: The material is freely available for you to use in any way you like – including changing it and selling it.

• Free: As it says, you don't have to pay! Unlike public domain material, though, you don't automatically have permission to change it. And the copyright owner might add other restrictions (e.g. Some free e-books can only be given away, while others can only be included in paid product bundles).

  Be sure the owner does have the right to offer it free, though. I've come across some Web sites that offer, say, a collection of clip art with the notice that they “believe these are free for you to use”. That's not good enough, and could get you in legal hot water in the future!

• Royalty free: This means you only pay once for buying the licence, but don't pay each time you use it (unlike, say, a radio station that pays a royalty every time they play an artist's song). All the material we're covering in this program is royalty free.

• Reprint licence: This is just the name given to the copyright owner's wording that spells out your rights in using the material. Generally, if you've “got a reprint licence” for something, it means you've got the right to pass it on freely – but possibly under certain conditions.

  For example, if I find an e-book that I think my clients will find useful as well, I'm happy to pay money to buy it, as long as it has a reprint licence, which gives me permission to pass it on to my clients. Without that licence, I only have permission to recommend it to them, and they then have to buy it themselves.

• Resale licence: This usually means you don't have the right to copy the product, but you can re-sell it on the owner's behalf, and keep a share of the sale income. This can create a useful income stream, but it's not relevant for this program, so we won't go into this in any more detail.

• Private label rights: This usually means you have the right to take the content and re-publish it under your own brand. This most often applies to some e-books, where the author gives you the original Microsoft Word document, so you can edit it in any way you like.

• Master reprint licence: This means you've not only got permission to pass on the material, you've also got permission to pass on the licence.

  For example, if you're involved in network marketing, you might want a master reprint licence to an e-book, so you can not only pass it on to your downline, but they can pass it on to their downline in turn.

These various terms might have your head spinning. But in practice, it's just a matter of carefully reading the copyright owner's wording.

Membership Sites: What's In It for You?

What are the benefits of a membership site? I'll give you six key benefits here.

1. Recurring Income

If you're charging a monthly or annual subscription fee for your membership site, of course one of the biggest benefits is that it gives you a source of recurring income.

2. Market once

When you convince somebody to sign up for your membership site, you can then charge their credit card every month or every year over and over again without having to convince them to re-sign each time. Of course, you have to give them enough value so they won't cancel their subscription. However, the marketing only takes place the first time they sign up.

3. A vehicle for value

If you're an expert in your area, you're always finding new material - reading books and e-books, finding blog posts, finding articles, listening to podcasts, and so on. The membership site gives you a place where you can share that material with your members.

4. Build loyalty

Your membership site builds loyalty because the members remain as your clients and customers. I remember somebody saying once, "The only time clients hear from you is when you send them an invoice". Is that true for you and your clients? If so, a membership site is a wonderful gift to clients, so they look forward to hearing from you regularly.

5. Reward loyalty

Your membership site also rewards loyalty. Members get access to things that non-members don't.

6. Maintain relationships

A membership site helps you maintain relationships. You might consider giving all your clients - or at least your top clients - free membership, just so you can maintain that relationship with them.

Why create information products?

If you're a professional speaker, thought leader or expert, there are four key benefits to creating products.

New Income Streams

The first - and most obvious - benefit is that it creates new income streams for you, especially if you can bundle them together with existing products and services.

Message, Not Method

Your expertise is what matters, not the way that you get it out into the world. Your products are just another way of getting your message out into the world.

Multiple Formats

As a presenter, you focus on your main mode of delivery - a keynote presentation, or coaching skills, or facilitation processes. But what about the people who don’t come to your keynote? If they can’t hear you in a conference setting, how are they going to get your message? When you go to a networking function, you might wow someone by talking to them for five minutes but what do you do afterwards? Do you send them a business card or do you send them your book? If you’re about to go into a sales meeting to sell your first serve, what do you have as backup that you can offer them as collateral material?

Positioning

Finally, remember that products don’t always have to be sold. I get a lot of leverage from giving books to key clients, publishing a newsletter free of charge, and sending e-books to people as bonuses as part of my loyalty program.

So just remember the products you’re creating don’t have to be only for selling. You can get leverage from them in lots of other ways.

Structure Your Writing Using the 4MAT System

When you're writing to present information, it's tempting to jump right in and start presenting your facts and information. However, that doesn't engage the reader. Unless they are very interested in your topic, it's unlikely that facts alone will keep them reading.

Instead, use the "4MAT system", based on research by Bernice McCarthy into different learning styles, to present your material in a more engaging way. Some professional speakers, trainers and seminar presenters learn this system as a way of presenting their material. It applies equally well to writing.

The 4MAT System breaks down your writing into five steps:

1. Point - You state your main point or purpose in one sentence.
2. Why - Tell the reader why they should read on (in other words, describe the benefits of your writing)
3. What - Tell them the main points
4. How - Describe a process for putting your ideas into action
5. What Next - Tell them the specific action steps

It's called the "4MAT System" because of the four main questions you ask (Why? What? How? What Next ...?). I've added "Point" to the start of the list because it's useful to state your main point before launching into the other steps.