January 15, 2026
Inspire360

#GameChanged: Introducing The Future of Trainer Education in Health Clubs

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For the past three years, the Inspire360 Global Fitness Newsletter has been your trusted source for insights, innovation, and inspiration in our ever-evolving industry. Throughout that time, we’ve listened to your feedback, talked with top industry leaders, and analyzed the challenges facing fitness professionals and health clubs today.

One thing has become crystal clear throughout this time: the way trainers access education, particularly within health clubs, needs to change.

Since our beginnings in 1982, the landscape of fitness has transformed dramatically. Yet education has not kept pace: fitness professionals still struggle to access modern, high-quality, diverse, and affordable education that truly moves their careers forward. 

One-dimensional education has left professionals without the diversity of skills required to serve today’s members. Sheer quantity has been mistaken for more value when, in reality, impact comes from curated, credible, and intentionally designed learning.

That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce Inspire360 Club—a game-changing education hub designed to give fitness professionals who work in health clubs access to an industry-defining world-class ecosystem of learning.

We’ve quietly been rolling out Inspire360 Club behind the scenes, and the results have been incredible. Trainers are re-engaging, and education has never been more accessible or exciting.

The impact has been undeniable, and the industry’s powerhouses are rallying behind it.

ACE, TRX, EXOS, Eleiko, Certified Functional Strength Coach (Mike Boyle), Oxygen Advantage, Gray Institute, ProNatal, Human Motion Associates, Jim LaValle, Mental Wellbeing Association, and many others are coming together to provide CEC courses, specialty certifications, and exclusive club discounts to Inspire360 Club users.

Inspire360 Club changes the game by offering:

  • AI Assisted Learning: Learn smarter with Inspire360 AI–your built-in learning companion. As you take a course, AI is right there to answer your questions and deepen your understanding without you ever leaving the page.
  • A Microlearning Approach: Traditional long-form courses often go unfinished. Our microlearning model breaks education into powerful, bite-sized lessons that fit into real schedules, helping trainers actually complete courses, master skills faster, and retain what they learn.
  • CECs from All Major Agencies: Get unlimited CECs from all major agencies with courses spanning over 50 categories, including personal training, functional training, corrective exercise, program design, nutrition, equipment training, and group fitness.
  • Specialty Certifications: Advance your career with specialty certifications designed to deepen your expertise and expand your impact with clients. Certifications including breathwork and oxygen optimization, stretching, stress resilience, and myofascial movement, and many more, help you stand out while delivering more effective, well-rounded coaching.

Inspire360 Club empowers fitness professionals to learn what they want, how they want—anytime, anywhere. It's the best of fitness education under one powerful platform; pairing elite-level content with the latest in micro-learning and AI-assisted technology.

Momentum is building—and clubs that move first are already seeing the impact.

If you're curious how other clubs are leveling up staff education, reach out to Ravi at ravi@inspire360.com to say hello, share what you’re working on, or schedule a first look at the Inspire360 Club platform. We would love to chat with you.

Together, we can reshape the way fitness professionals learn, grow, and thrive in this new era.

Let’s uplevel the industry together. #GameChanged

Keep Inspiring,

Kathie & Peter Davis

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Thanks for Reading!

This newsletter was brought to you by Kathie Davis, Peter Davis, Ravi Sharma, Dominique Astorino, and the Inspire360 team.

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Want to get this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up to receive the Inspire360 Global Fitness Newsletter here.

Blog Posts
Clear
Aug 3, 2020
Course Sales
How to Create an Online Course that Sells

How to Create an Online Course that Sells

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Online learning may be entering its golden era. More and more students and learners of all ages are taking advantage of the opportunity to learn and earn certifications and credentials online to meet academic requirements, for professional advancement, to learn new skills, and to meet personal goals.

A good online course can help you earn more money, build brand recognition, and scale your business or institution while establishing yourself as an expert in your field. With so many courses already on the market and new ones launching every day, creating a high-quality course with valuable and unique content is the key to cutting through the clutter and getting sales.

Here’s a guide to help you design a top-shelf online course that sells.

What the Best Online Courses Have in Common

Every course is different, even when they’re in the same niche. However, some do a much better job of offering their students a rewarding learning experience and the tools they need to get the most out of distance learning.

Here’s what some of the most successful and profitable online courses have in common:

They’re Well Paced

The best online courses and learning experiences appear effortless to the end user and have a natural rhythm that moves the course material along and builds in a logical order. Each lesson or class module should contain enough information to keep students engaged and challenged, but they shouldn’t be so jam-packed with information that the lessons are cluttered or difficult to follow.

If the pace is too slow, students will get bored and may abandon the course. On the other hand, if the lessons are crammed with too much information and don’t flow in a logical order over the duration of the course, the material may be too difficult to absorb and retain.

A good online course is like climbing a staircase: it builds in difficulty and intensity over time and offers a clear and achievable path of progression for the students.

They Offer Students Valuable Content Worth Paying For

This one might seem like a no-brainer, but with so much online content to choose from (much of which is free), the best online courses offer a unique and valuable learning experience that students can’t find anywhere else.

No two online courses are created equal, and the internet is cluttered with mediocre and bad content designed to increase email list sign ups, build personal brands, and of course, make money. Those are all valid and legitimate goals, but the finished product should deliver and be worth each student’s investment.

Your courses should genuinely give something of value to your students. The knowledge you are sharing should be actionable. Likewise, while leaving breadcrumbs to future courses is totally fine (and even advisable!) you shouldn’t gate your courses so hard that students feel that they have to trudge through hour after hour until they get to the real good stuff.

They Offer Multimedia Integration

Learning curriculums have come a long way over the last few decades, both online and in the real world. Technology has made it possible for students of all ages and backgrounds to access educational materials from around the world, on their own time and schedules.

In order to attract and keep online learners engaged, the best online courses take advantage of technology to offer their students a modern and integrated experience that includes everything from written course materials and workbooks, to video, audio, podcasts, digital presentations, and more.

To increase your sales and student engagement, make your online courses as dynamic as possible.

They Offer Self-Directed Learning

Flexibility and the opportunity to learn and take classes around personal schedules and across time zones is one of the main advantages of taking an online course. Unlike in-person lectures and blended workshops, online courses allow students to fit the material into their own schedules, and to refer back to the course material as needed to review and absorb the material.

They Don’t Reach a Dead End

If you’ve ever taken an online course before, you’ve no doubt experienced the infamous dead end. You’re moving through the course, getting genuinely excited about what you’re learning. You’re making good progress, and everything is clicking.

But that thing you’re really excited to learn — the proverbial carrot on a stick pushing you through the course — always seems just out of reach. But surely, you’re about to get to it, right?

Just when it finally seems like you’re getting that golden bit of information, you suddenly reach the end of the course. If you want anything else, you’re going to have to sign up for another course.

Suddenly, your entire online learning experience can feel a bit like a bait and switch.

For people developing online courses, strategies like this are common — folks will tell course creators to “space out” quality information, and to constantly tease value. While this sort of thing will certainly sell courses, it’ll also burn out many of your students, causing them to go elsewhere. After all, you’re not creating loyal followers who are buying your courses because of the value within them — you’re essentially just stringing them along until they realize that they’re part of a game.

Like we said — your courses should have inherent value — that’s why people should be rushing to sign up for them (and when they finish one course, why they should be immediately signing up for another). Don’t trick people — just create good content.

They’re User Friendly

Intuitive design and clear and easy to follow navigation are especially important for online courses. Even tech savvy students will get frustrated and struggle if there are issues like cluttered, confusing design and navigation.

Students of all levels should be able to clearly visualize and understand the course layout and how to move through the material. A table of contents that clearly outlines the course material and how to find it is a must for a good online course.

Responsive Design

Not only are modern students and learners no longer limited to a traditional classroom, they’re not even limited to a desktop computer. Responsive design accounts for the fact that people access content and shop on mobile platforms, so your students need to be able to access their course materials across multiple platforms including smartphones and tablets.

Reliable, Working Technology

Creating the content for your online course is only the first step. Once you’re ready to launch and start selling your course, you’ll need a good platform to host it and process your orders (you need to get paid after all!)

A learning management system (LMS) is a one-stop shop for creating and selling online courses.

Inspire360 offers everything you need to get started, from an easy to use website builder for your course with responsive design elements, to the e-commerce tools you’ll need to collect payments and deliver your content to your customers.

They’re Dynamic and Engaging

Online learning takes effort and discipline, even for the most dedicated students. When you factor in the many distractions already competing for people’s time and money on and off the internet, your online course will have to be dynamic and engaging enough to make people buy it and complete it.

Include Resources for Additional Learning

Good online courses are comprehensive and give students a good return on their investment. On the flip side, courses that are too dense and overloaded with information can be difficult to digest and navigate in a way where the learner can fully process and retain the information.

One way to add value to your online course without making it unmanageable is to include a resources section that includes material or links to information that people can research and refer to in their spare time. Offering bonus material can also be a great incentive for pre-sales, rewards, and to build your email and subscriber list.

Likewise, handouts and other materials can add to a perceived feeling of value.

Accommodate Multiple Learning Styles

Everyone doesn’t necessarily learn in the same way. While some people excel in classroom settings designed around the traditional structure of lectures, reading, and writing (known as verbal or linguistic learners), this is just one of several learning styles.

Some people are surprised to learn that there are as many as seven or more different types of learning styles which include:

Visual learners - Who learn and process information best when it is delivered through images and video.

Verbal/linguistic learners - Who learn and process information through text/vocabulary.

Auditory learners - Who learn and process information through sound/music/melodies.

Kinesthetic (physical) learners - Who respond to movement and take a “hands on” approach to learning.

Logical learners - Who respond to logic and use a mathematical approach to understand and process information.

Social learners - Who work well and thrive in groups.

Solitary learners - Who prefer to work independently.

Online courses are ideal for combining multiple learning styles in a single course. Using multimedia tools in your online course that include video, text, and audio will let you reach a broader range of students.

They Evaluate and Measure Student Progress Throughout the Course

One of the challenges that many online course creators face is monitoring and evaluating student progress as they make their way through the course material.

Incorporating quizzes, tests, and evaluations helps to measure how well students are doing in the course. They can also make the content more fun and interesting for students, and build engagement with the course material and the instructors.

Provide Certification and Credentials

Whether someone buys an online course for professional development or personal advancement, course certifications and credentials, add a layer of credibility and authenticity to online courses.

Our platform allows course creators to offer certificates and certification programs. We also support continuing education credits for credentialing institutions and agencies.

Creating and selling an online course has never been easier. As more and more people make the shift to remote work and distance learning, the demand for online education will only continue to grow.

Our learning management system, Inspire360, provides all of the tools and functionality you’ll need to get started, from course creation to hosting, selling, and certifications. Contact us or request a demo today for more information.

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Jul 16, 2020
Education
What is a Learning Management System?

What is a Learning Management System?

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The current global health crisis has shone a spotlight on the crucial role that online learning courses and platforms play around the world, for people from all walks of life. As lockdowns and stay at home orders make it impossible for people to keep up with their daily routines for anything but performing basic and essential errands, more and more people are going online for everything from taking a yoga or meditation class, to learning a new skill.

Health and wellness companies, professionals, coaches, and educators have an unprecedented opportunity to bring their services and expertise to eager and captive audiences around the world. Whether you’re looking to launch a new course, grow your existing audience base, or upgrade your program credentials with professional certification, now is the time to make the leap.

All Online Courses and Workshops are Not Created Equal

Technology has made it possible for just about anyone to film a class on their phone and post it on YouTube, but quality and safety will vary significantly. Investing in high-quality production and a professional, organized online platform will be key to enticing consumers to pay for your courses.

A learning management system or other course creation software offers course creators the tools and technology to market and sell on a professional platform.

How a Learning Management Systems (LMS) Works

A learning management system (LMS) consists of software that allows educators and organizations to deliver educational and training content to its users, and also administer certifications. An LMS is a one stop shop for successfully launching, managing, tracking, and certifying online classes and education programs.

The most successful and engaging courses consist of a mix of high-quality content including video, audio files, slide presentations, tests and quizzes, and written content like e-books and articles. Content distribution and the ability to track engagement and completion of the programs is one aspect. An LMS also makes it possible to sell tiered access to your courses and content ranging from weekly, monthly, or yearly subscriptions and memberships.

The LMS is the engine that drives successful and profitable online learning programs. Thanks to technology, the software is available to companies and educators with modest budgets to larger and traditional learning institutions.

What to Look for in a Learning Management System

Your LMS isn’t just a delivery system for content. It’s also a full-scale sales and marketing engine that allows you to scale up your courses and offerings over time. Here are some of the main features of comprehensive learning management software:

A Robust Content Delivery System

Delivering course content is one of the biggest challenges many online educators and course creators face. Unlike a standard website, online courses are interactive and have a number of moving parts beyond hosting, especially for highly interactive and multidimensional content.

An LMS takes all of the guesswork, stress, and technical considerations out of the equation by offering a central platform where you can create, store, sell, and deliver your content in a secure and branded environment.

The difference between a bare-bones content delivery system and one that’s full-featured is noticeable for both educators and students. When content isn’t delivered to students in a manner that’s easily accessible for them, no one is going to be happy.

Assignment, Quizzes, and Exams for Certification

Depending on the type of course offering, most learning environments need a way to track and quantify student progress, for the educators as well as the students. This is especially important when you’re offering certification programs, which can offer your courses a level of prestige as well as personal fulfillment for your students.

Learning management systems provide tools to create custom assignments, progress reports, testing, and reporting so that you can quantify how well your students are doing, and adjust your learning materials as needed.

Collaboration

The ability to collaborate with other learners and educators is crucial — especially in the health, fitness, and wellness niche. The collaboration tools in an LMS allow course creators to craft communities of dedicated learners to enhance the experience for the students and also allow for brand recognition and growth in the process.

The concept of working and learning online together has become especially important, so having a platform that allows students to learn and grow with ample available communication tools is paramount. Someone may go to a live workshop to work on their personal fitness and knowledge base, but the connection to other learners and instructors is also part of the appeal. Tailored collaboration tools make it possible to replicate a community spirit online.

Progress Tracking

Static content like blog posts, articles, books, and even standard videos differ from educational content in that they are usually designed to share general information or entertainment. Once they’re out in the world, the metrics used to qualify whether the content is successful or not is typically limited to analytics data like traffic and general engagement.

With an online course, the engagement doesn’t end when someone purchases the product in most cases. Course creators need tools to measure how their students are retaining the content and progressing through the course, which is something a Google analytics or basic sales report can’t really capture.

Course creators also need feedback. While some are happy with just delivering content to their clients, the best creators will want to perfect their content. Knowing how many of your clients are making it through your courses is key to that — otherwise you simply won’t be able to see what’s working and what isn’t.

Customization and Branding

Even the best and most exclusive content, products, and services come down to the packaging. This is especially true for online health and wellness courses and programs competing with all of the content that’s already available on the internet as well as the new information coming online every day. Branding, marketing, and e-commerce tools are one of the best features of a good learning management system.

Likewise, consistent branding is important for the overall experience. If your LMS doesn’t allow you to customize it to fit your branding, it can be jarring for customers that have to leave your site and head to the LMS. Without a smooth transition, the process won’t look professional — and might deter some clients from purchasing courses.

The Benefits of Using Learning Management Software to Sell Your Courses

Managing all of the aspects that go into creating, launching, and selling an online course without the right tools can be challenging and frustrating. It can also cost you money. With so much content to choose from, online learners and consumers are constantly bombarded with more content and information than they know what to do with.

Even if millions of people are looking for or need the information provided in your course, they may never find it because they don’t know where to look, or the packaging doesn’t convey the quality and value of your programs.

Here are some of the many benefits that online educators and course creators find from leveraging the tools available through a learning management system:

Create a centralized hub for your courses and educational content

Whether you’re offering a single course or workshop or have an entire library of educational content, you’ll need a dedicated “storefront” to manage every aspect of creating, promoting, selling, and running your courses,

Provide tiered levels of access to your courses and content

Offer monthly or weekly passes, bonus content, yearly subscriptions, make the course materials available all at once, or drip the content according to schedule or calendar. An LMS allows you to control the levels of access and availability for all of your courses to give your students a range of choices depending on their needs and circumstances.

Save money on course and web development costs in the short and long term

Producing and selling high quality, multidimensional health and wellness courses and learning programs can be time consuming and prohibitively expensive if you try to do it on your own. An LMS streamlines the experience to make it more efficient and cost effective.

Allow students to learn and progress at their own pace

One of the benefits of taking a course online is that it offers students flexibility to work at their own pace and according to their own schedule. People will be more likely to invest in a program they know they’ll actually use and benefit from.

Revise, update, delete, and add course materials and content as needed

Another benefit of online learning is that it allows for highly customized content that can be expanded or changed as trends and information becomes outdated or improved. An LMS allows you to make changes and updates on the fly, and to offer a constant source of fresh content and information.

Integrate courses with social media for greater reach

Social media integration is an easy and cost-effective way to build community and buzz for your courses as students share their experiences with their own networks.

Other benefits of investing in an LMS include:

  • Convenience
  • Customization
  • Create a modern, multimedia learning environment
  • Streamlined monetization, marketing, and e-commerce tools

The good thing about a learning management system is that they can offer a simple, pared down set of tools for smaller or new course developers that are still growing their brand. On the other end of the spectrum, they can be customized and built out to offer enterprise level solutions as well.

With the right LMS, there really are no limits to what you can do with your educational content and programs.

The Inspire360 Difference

Our tools are unique in that we focus exclusively on the healthcare, wellness, and fitness space with over 35 years of combined experience.

Each of our clients is treated as a true partner and we work hand and hand with them to create an ongoing partnership that ensures they are successful.

Inspire360's all-in-one platform specializes in hosting online courses, certifications, workshops, and memberships and works with the best and brightest health, wellness and fitness companies, including TRX, EXOS, Schwinn, Yoga Journal, Dr. Jessica Peatross, Onnit, TriggerPoint, Mike Boyle, IDEA Health & Fitness Association, Spinning, and 200 others in the space to deliver and distribute their education online.

To get started, contact us to learn more about our features and services, or a demo today.

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Jul 6, 2020
Course Sales
How to Sell Online Courses in 2020

How to Sell Online Courses in 2020

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With the right partner, building online courses has never been easier.

No matter what your market is, there’s a huge audience out there that’s thirsty for the knowledge you’re trying to share. We’re in a golden era of online learning, and there’s no reason you can’t join in.

Yet, you aren’t the only one jumping into this market. What can you do to make yourself stand out, and how can you actually sell courses online in 2020?

Online Learning is Now the Norm

Online learning is not new, but it has evolved and become more sophisticated and popular with new and better technology, as well as market demand. Millions of people around the world have been learning to cook, sew, exercise, and speak new languages online for years. People earn some or all of their college credits online, and conduct global business over the internet on an unprecedented scale.

Due to the current global health crisis, more and more people are taking to online learning to brush up on their skills, stay on top of their health, and learn something new. This has created endless opportunities for online educators to build and reach new audiences on a local and global scale.

Like any online business, there are some formulas and best practices for creating, promoting, and selling an online course.

Online Course Sales are Exploding

There are numerous advantages to selling online courses. From brand recognition to revenue building, there’s never been a better time to create or build out your online course offerings. The market for high quality classes and workshops is constantly expanding as more and more professional and recreational activities become available online.

Even before the shutdown due to the ongoing global health crisis, the online learning space was already a booming market. According to industry data, the global online learning market is expected to experience over 8% growth and exceed $135 billion by 2025. The United States alone is projected to grow to over $157 billion at a rate of over 7%.

People are hungry for information, and for high quality classes and courses that help them to stay engaged from the safety and comfort of their homes. That’s where online learning courses and programs come in. But like every other product and service, most course creators and online educators have to spend most of their time marketing and selling their courses.

How to Create an Online Course

The most successful online courses are built from the ground up to succeed. You don’t create a marketing plan when your course is done — you build your course specifically to fit your marketing plan.

You should already be thinking about your ideal customer and how to sell your online course from the very beginning. That said, you need to create high quality, valuable learning materials and content in order to make your course profitable and to stand out from the competition.

Focus On the Central Idea of Your Course

If you’re thinking about creating an online course, you’ve probably spent some time thinking about the information and content you want to sell (and why).

Whether you want to create and sell a course catered to professionals or consumers, think about what you have expertise in and what people tend to seek out your advice for.

Start considering what makes your course special. Why would someone sign up for your course and not one of the many others? What makes your course worth the price of admission? You shouldn’t have to think too hard about this — it should be immediately apparent what your value proposition is.

If you’re building out a course designed to teach someone a specific exercise technique, for example, your focus shouldn’t just be on how good the technique is — it should be on what knowing it will do for your client. Will expanding their repertoire enable them to increase their income? If so, lead with that.

The benefits don’t have to be strictly economic, either — but you should always be mindful of precisely how your course is going to improve your client’s life.

What distinguishes you or your organization from your competition? What is the unique value that your online course or workshop will offer your students? What are your qualifications to teach or sell this particular class?

You don’t have to have it all figured out in order to get started, but thinking about what makes your brand unique will help you design a marketable course.

Research Your Market

Even if you’re offering a new concept in a narrow niche, one of the most important aspects of creating and selling an online course is to know your market and your competition inside and out. You also need to make sure that the market for your course is significant enough to create a demand before you invest the time and money into creating a course.

Arming yourself with research into your customers and your market will generate priceless insight and help you refine your ideas so that you can offer your students content and learning materials they can’t find with your competitors.

Design Your Course Content and Curriculum

Online courses run the gamut when it comes to design and types of content, but the best courses offer students a multifaceted experience that includes article and video content, and a way to track their progress, earn credentials, and collaborate with other students and their instructors.

Choose a Course Delivery Method

This can be the most challenging and frustrating aspect of the process. Creating a course is one thing, but you’ll need reliable tools and a platform to host, administer, promote, and sell your course. A learning management system (LMS) streamlines this part of the process so that you can focus on the creative and promotional aspects of selling your online course without worrying about the technical and backend requirements.

If you want to build a profitable business and brand recognition with online courses, a learning management system is the way to go.

Selling Your Online Course

Even in a booming market, products and services don’t sell themselves, and online courses are no exception. Even the best online courses and content need an integrated sales and marketing strategy to generate buzz and ultimately get people to sign up. There are many ways to go about it, and the sooner you get started promoting your online courses, the better.

Here are some common sales and marketing techniques to help you get started.

Start Promoting Your Course Before It Goes Live

If you already have an email list and built in audience, you’re ahead of the game in terms of selling and promoting an online course. Pre-sales and promotions are a market tested method to generate buzz and start selling your course before it goes live. Another benefit of a pre-sale is that it can help gauge interest and the market potential for the course before it goes live (you can also offer a pre-sale before you’ve finished — or even started — creating the course).

Hype Up Your Audience

This goes hand-in-hand with the above tip. You should do your best to get people excited about the course before it even begins. Get quotes from people in past courses, find ones from people excited about this one. Offer up sales, encouraging people to sign up early, or to join your newsletter. If you’re able, even share tidbits of information from the class itself.

This kind of thing can make many folks feel like they’re annoying potential customers, but the reality is that continuously staying in contact with — and creating a sense of excitement — will sell courses.

Create Promotional Content to Generate Leads

Blogs, social media posts, e-books, promotional video, podcasts, and free mini-courses are staples of a solid content marketing strategy. When it comes to selling an online course, offering your audience useful and high quality content can boost your credibility, establish you as an expert in your field, and give potential customers a taste of what they can expect when they pay for your online course.

Consider Hosting Webinars and Livestreams

Modern consumers like to know who they’re buying from and whether the brands they choose to spend their money on share their values. Video information sessions, Q&As, mini how-tos, and “behind-the-scenes” videos are cost effective and easy ways to form a connection between your customers and your brand.

Collect Testimonials

Testimonials from satisfied students, colleagues, and thought leaders in your field provide invaluable social proof, especially when launching and selling your first online course.

Don’t count on people trusting you off the bat. Work for their trust. Reach out to them however you can, with whatever content establishes your credibility.

Create Landing Pages

A landing page is a powerful sales tool, especially for online courses. A good landing page can help you build your email list, introduce your course, and convert leads into sales. Unlike other forms of content marketing, landing pages are highly targeted and measurable, so they’re a great opportunity to test and refine your promotional strategy.

Don’t just stop at one, either. Consider creating one for each inbound traffic funnel. That means making one for each social media channel, one for paid search traffic, and one for traffic coming in through email marketing.

Grow Your Email List

Even in the age of social media, people still use — and trust — email marketing. According to data, email marketing generates approximately $38 in sales for every $1 spent, and has an astonishing ROI of 3800%.

Even better, not only do people still actively rely on email, but the number of active email users around the world is expected to exceed 4 billion by 2023. Unlike other marketing vehicles, email is also highly measurable and easy to test. An active and robust email list is golden for online educators and course creators.

As we’ve hinted at, you need to do what you can to build up your email list. Webinars, handouts, free classes — while it might feel like a lot of work (and it might seem like you’re giving away precious information), it’s an investment that will absolutely pay off.

Grow Your Influence

Guest blogging and publishing educational content on third-party sites is a great way to expand your audience, build name and brand recognition, and grow your email list.

Network on LinkedIn to relevant parties, keep tabs on folks in your industry that are actively blogging, and make sure you reach out to them. This can enable you to get quoted, which can raise your profile (and bring more people to your courses).

Don’t Forget SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is an absolutely massive field — and mastering it will directly increase your sales. That’s easier said than done, however. Our advice is to focus on the basics: ensure that your website has good, well-optimized copy that targets keywords relevant to your audience.

A complete SEO strategy will go well beyond just keyword targeting and content writing, but if you’re just starting out and you (or your team) doesn’t already have this experience, it’s a good idea to start slow.

Sure, you might not have the most optimized website of all time — but simply getting content up will absolutely increase your visibility.

Offer Multiple Payment Options

Giving your students a choice of multiple payment options when possible can make your course accessible and affordable to more people, and make it easier to justify the investment, especially in times of economic uncertainty.

Build a Community

Facebook groups are one way to build a community and network, and to share valuable information with your audience. Virtually every social media platform has some type of online community building capability.

A community can quickly become a profoundly powerful marketing tool. When people feel like they are part of something, they’re more likely to reach out to friends and colleagues to try and get them to join in.

Community building isn’t effortless, though.

Ultimately, to keep a community running smoothly, you’re going to have to actively moderate your social groups, keeping them on-track and focused on your particular field. Getting people to join can also be a hassle, but we promise — the effort is absolutely worth it.

(As a note, though, you don’t have to have a large community to start selling courses — that’s one of the biggest course selling myths.)

Consider Buying Ads

Paying for ads on social media is not a silver bullet, and they can be expensive depending on your budget and target audience. If you decide to incorporate paid ads into your digital marketing strategy, don’t solely rely on them.

Many businesses fall into the trap of using ads to drive all of their revenue or traffic. While this method can work early on, you should try to transition to a more organic traffic strategy eventually. Over time, paid traffic streams tend to not be as reliable, and price fluctuations can damage your profitability.

Offer a Referral Program

Referral and affiliate programs are a great way to leverage your community and networks to drive sales for your online course. They also help to establish trust and brand recognition.

Offer a Certification for Completing Your Course

A certification can add prestige to your online course. Even online learners who take classes for personal enrichment might be more inclined to invest in a course that offers a certification and credentials they can share with their networks and prospective employers.

Likewise, in some fields offering a certification isn’t optional. If you’re offering a continuing education program of some sort, your clients will want to know precisely what they’ll be getting for completing your course. Make sure you tell them — and be as clear as possible as to what they’ll be coming away with.

Never Stop Refining and Testing Your Process

Finding the right mix of marketing and promotional strategies to sell your online course will require some experimentation and trial and error to see what works best, especially before your course launches. As your sales and brand recognition continue to grow, you can tweak and refine your strategy accordingly.

The Power of a Learning Management System

Our learning management system offers an all-in-one platform that specializes in creating, promoting, branding and scaling, online courses, certifications, workshops and memberships. You can also request a demo for your company.

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Apr 17, 2020
Education
Online Fitness Certification Structure Tips and Tricks

Online Fitness Certification Structure Tips and Tricks

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With so many certifications being delivered online these days instead of in person, it can be difficult to know how to structure all of the content.

Two things to consider when creating an online certification program include:

  • Aim to make the education compelling, just like you would if you were in a room full of people
  • Create high quality education, both from an education and a visual standpoint

One of the ways to create captivating online education is to combine a variety of content types. On Inspire360, there are a variety of content types to choose from including videos, webinars, audio, slideshows, articles, annotated images, evaluations, waivers, certificates, tests/quizzes, and more.

Below is an example of a well-rounded certification structure:

  1. Introduction: A brief look at what students can expect from the course.
  2. Background & Philosophy: A glimpse into why the students are going to learn this information.
  3. Video Content: Educational videos that make up much of the course.
  4. Articles: Written information that include information about the module’s topics.
  5. Quizzes/Final Exam: Multiple choice or open answer quizzes and tests throughout the program and a final exam at the end.
  6. Additional Resources: Resources may include FAQs, research studies, protocols, partner information and course handouts.
  7. Course Evaluation: Students rate various elements of the course.
  8. Course Certificate: A downloadable certificate of completion is offered at the end of the program

Interested in offering a health or fitness certification? Create and deliver your certification using Inspire360’s learning management system. Click here for more information on Inspire360’s system. And if you’d like more direction on creating your online content, email kelli@inspire360.com for additional guidance.

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Apr 9, 2020
Education
How to Create Blended Learning Workshops

How to Create Blended Learning Workshops

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Do you host live workshops? If so, you may want to consider adding an online component to your workshops to streamline your events. To meet workshop and event companies needs, Inspire360 has created a new blended learning Live Workshop Management system that handles all the administrative tasks so students can focus on having a seamless experience both in-person and online.

With a blended learning approach, a student’s experience taking your workshop can now look something like this:

  1. Student purchases the workshop through your custom Inspire360 platform
  2. Student is added to the roster automatically
  3. Student signs liability waiver and completes prep material on your platform before the in-person workshop
  4. Student attends the workshop
  5. Student takes the test (either online or in person)
  6. Student earns a certificate or certification (printed online)
  7. Student gets access to supplemental materials on your platform
  8. Student's certification auto-renews on expiration

As you can see, we call this “blended learning” because students are able to complete portions of the process both online and in person, creating a smooth experience from start to finish.

The Live Workshop Management system also takes on many unwanted tasks that someone on your staff is most likely managing now, creating more time for your team to focus on the education itself. Gone are the days of having to worry about sign-in sheets, printed-out liability waivers, and printed manuals.

Now with Inspire360, you can easily create liability waivers, certificates, roll call, handouts, and prep materials. You can even allow your host facility to set their own dates and locations for upcoming events! You can also provide students with follow-up activities such as course evaluations, reference materials, certificates, and assessments.

If you currently offer live workshops and want to streamline them, shoot us an email so we can see if there’s a fit at kelli@inspire360.com.

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Mar 9, 2020
Clients
Core Health & Fitness Releases Workshop Using Inspire360 Platform

Core Health & Fitness Releases Workshop Using Inspire360 Platform

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Inspire360 is proud to announce that the Schwinn Indoor Cycling Performance and Periodization Workshop is officially available as an online educational course.

Core Health & Fitness is a leader in developing and marketing advanced indoor cycling bikes, strength and HIIT training, as well as cardio equipment for the fitness industry with iconic brands such as Schwinn, Nautilus, StairMaster, Star Trac and Throwdown.

At Core Health & Fitness, they know how important instructor training programs and learning opportunities are to the indoor cycling community. In an ever-evolving industry, they know instructors want more content and opportunities to elevate their coaching skills that will in turn allow them to provide more for their clients and members.

In this new Schwinn Performance and Periodization Workshop, participants learn that METRICS are motivating, and POWER is King! Instructors will join Schwinn Master Trainers Keli Roberts, Jason Schneider and Janelle Veteri, and embark on a journey that will transform their coaching world. Expert riders indoors and out, the Schwinn team will make Functional Threshold Power (FTP) Training seem "fun" and provide the science of periodization to give instructors the resources to design and teach dynamic indoor cycling workouts that will produce the results members are looking for. Register now online and take advantage of an Early Adopter discounted price on this NEW workshop of $45!

Jeff Dilts, Vice President of Innovation and Product Development at Core Health & Fitness says, “We are extremely excited to expand the Core Health & Fitness online training platform with Inspire360. The launch of our Schwinn Performance and Periodization Workshop for indoor cycling has us even more excited to grow our programming partnership in 2020.”

Inspire360 empowers fitness and wellness companies to deliver beautifully branded online courses, certifications, workshops, and subscriptions. In addition to Core Health & Fitness, over 200 other world-class education companies including EXOS, TRX, BOSU, TriggerPoint, Power Systems, and Gray Institute use Inspire360 to deliver industry-leading education.

Jason Davis, President of Inspire360, said, “Schwinn always provides best-in-class education to fitness professionals and this workshop is no exception. Their course offers extremely valuable education for industry professionals to learn and grow from.”

Interested in creating your own courses, certifications, workshops or subscriptions? Email kelli@inspire360.com to request a demo of Inspire360.

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Feb 11, 2020
Clients
Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning Signs Onto Inspire360

Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning Signs Onto Inspire360

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Inspire360 is proud to announce that Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning has signed onto Inspire360 and is now offering the Certified Functional Strength Coach Certification exclusively on the Inspire360 platform.

Inspire360 empowers fitness and wellness companies to deliver beautifully branded online courses, certifications, workshops, and subscriptions. Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning has joined other world-class education companies including EXOS, BOSU, IDEA Health & Fitness Association, Freemotion Fitness, and TriggerPoint that also use Inspire360 to deliver industry-leading education to their customers.

The Certified Functional Strength Coach certification was developed with one simple intention: to revolutionize the fitness industry. CFSC gives coaches the tools to address situations as they occur in real time on the training floor.

Their mission is to raise the quality of the professionals in the industry by delivering the best educational experience possible. They are creating a skilled network of coaches that can deliver great demos, and provide clear and concise coaching cues, all within a systematic approach to programming.

“We are stoked to launch a new learning platform and an online version of our Certified Functional Strength Coach certification with the help of Inspire360,” says the team at CFSC. “Their expertise in online education allows us to deliver our education in a cleaner, more efficient and user friendly manner, without jeopardizing the high standards we hold ourselves and our members to. We’re proud of that. Moving our certification on to such a versatile platform will allow us to reach more people by offering online only courses to coaches around the world. We hope you join the other 6500+ CFSC coaches on a mission to elevate the fitness industry. Thank you Inspire360!”

Jason Davis, CEO of Inspire360, says “I’m so excited to have Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning on the Inspire360 platform. Their education is innovative and among the best in the industry. I can’t wait for more fitness professionals to have access to their education and I know coaches will gain valuable knowledge from their certification and courses. I’m looking forward to collaborating with them!”

Interested in creating your own courses, certifications, workshops or subscriptions? Email kelli@inspire360.com to request a demo of Inspire360.

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