The most frequently asked question I receive from people who
want to create and develop their own e-mail workshops, eCourses
or tutorials is how to pick the most suitable topic to develop.
Julie D. Raque is a business and personal coach who runs Matrix
Coaching Services (http://www.matrixcoachingservices.com) and
she once asked:
"...In day 1 of creating a workshop, you instruct us
to pick a topic and then develop an outline. I have
brainstormed several topics that I know in the long
run all will be workshops. What I need help is in
deciding which one to pick.
"Here's my dilemma My first thought is to pick a
topic that will be somewhat easy for me to do. It
being my first workshop, I didn't want to choose a
difficult topic. Is this the right thinking? If so,
it narrows it down to 2 topics. Following that decision
is another one to make...how long to make the workshop.
Do certain lengths of workshops work better than others?
Meaning, does a 3-week workshop (one lesson per week)
work better than a 12-week workshop?"
When you're only starting out in developing your first e-mail
workshop, picking which topic to work on is the first of the many
decisions you will make along the way.
If you came up with a long list of possible workshop topics
during your brainstorming session, you might end up confused and
undecided of just what you want to develop first.
It's always best to ask yourself:
~ Which topic are you most comfortable with?
~ Which topic can you develop quickly?
~ Which topic do you have contents or resources
available already?
~ Which topic do you think will be in demand and
will generate immediate interest?
It's not wrong to pick the easy topic and develop it first the
same way that it's not wrong to pick the hardest topic either.
Instead, ask yourself which of the topics you came up with will
create the highest level of interest or response in your niche.
You can also do a quick survey on your site visitors or e-zine
subscribers. Give them a list of topic and ask them to cast
votes. Give them an incentive to vote. Offer a gift after they
respond to your survey. Do a random drawing at the end of the
survey and award a prize an e-book, a freebie, a special
report, special access, etc. to the winning respondent. Based
on their votes, you'll have an idea of what e-mail workshop
topics will be useful for them and profitable for you to develop.
However, if you decide to create the easy topic first, you can
use it to your advantage: use that easy topic to generate interest
for the more difficult topics you will develop into e-mail
workshops later.
What about workshop length or duration?
Generally, it's best to conduct e-mail workshops no more than 4
or 5 weeks. You have to take into consideration how many workshop
participants you can take in one run and how much time you will
be able to devote to guiding and being available to them.
The length of your e-mail workshop will depend on your topic and
outline. Unless you want to offer an intensive and in-depth
course that could stretch for 12 weeks, it would be better (and
easier on you and your participants) to offer shorter workshops
that you can conduct anywhere between 3 to 5 weeks. Break down a
big workshop into smaller workshops, or make your workshops
progressive (e.g., beginner, intermediate and advanced e-mail
workshops on the same topic). Your participants can take the
succeeding workshops if they're interested to learn more.
About the Author
Create... Release... PROFIT! from your own e-mail workshops,
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