Early on I spent 150 hours to create my first course, recorded, edited, uploaded over days and then 2 days later It was live!  I was so excited and then refreshed, refreshed, refreshed finding the next day I had no students.  Seems silly now 5 years later, but there are ways to build hype, start marketing and gain a following before your course is live with little to no money.

Here's my short list of how to have students ready and eager to sign up before it's even live.

-Create a website.  There are cheap and even free options through sites such as Wix and Squarespace. Start collecting e-mails from potential students early on.

-Grow (or start) your social media following. Create new accounts (not your personal one) for your business; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.  I even have a Pinterest and Soundcloud!

-Use hashtags, if you are not savvy about this a simple idea is to go to your competition and see what they hashtag as a starting point.  I created notes with the list, so I can cut/paste when I post online fast.

-Gain Relationships: On social media, begin following those in your field, colleagues, and wherever your potential students are hanging out online. Many people join Facebook groups in their field and find this very helpful

-Interact, don't just post your own material. Share other posts, have genuine discussions, post (appropriate) memes and build genuine relationships with both potential students and potential referral sources that are two-way relationships.

-Be authentic! No one likes to have someone immediately sell you something or feign conversation to weasel into a sales pitch.  Engage in real conversations, answer questions and be a member of a group long before any sales tactics.

-Update your Linkedin and any professional sites with your new business name and plans. Join those groups as well and stay engaged in conversations.

-Set a launch date even if it's a few months out.  Build hype by adding to social media posts "5 days to go- home stretch!" Make sure this date is realistic, no one wants to be excited to start something tomorrow to find out it's not ready for 5 weeks. 

Interested to hear how others build momentum before launch. There's so much that one can do beyond hitting record to create a successful course. 

There are also many Udemty courses on this subject including ones by Phil Ebiner, Louise Croft and others that I have found very useful and some of this information is from.

Alicia