How To Turn Your Program Into A “Homestudy” Or “Evergreen” Offering

Lately, a number of clients have asked how they can take a “live” program and turn it into a “homestudy” program that people can purchase at any time.

It’s fairly easy to do, and today I am going to walk you through the steps to accomplish this, and some of the technology you can use to automate everything.

In setting up your homestudy program, you want to think about  the following 3 components.

1. Adjusting Your Sales Page

The sales page is the page where you promote the offering and where people can click a link or button to purchase the program.

With a homestudy program, you will want to make sure there are no start or end dates on the page.  I also recommend that you make it clear that they can start at any time. You can have language such as “start as soon as you register.”

If you are taking a program you ran “live” and turning it into a “homestudy,” then be sure to remove the mention of “live calls” or any other live components that are no longer applicable.  For example, you can change “live kick off call” to “kick off class audio recording.”

2. Delivering the program

I recommend that you automate the delivery of the program.  As your business grows, you don’t want to have to manually email new participants.

There are a few ways you can automate the delivery your program.

• Through autoresponder emails.
  In your email marketing system, you can set-up one or more autoresponders that link to documents, recordings, and/or videos.
• Using a simple password protected member page.
  In this case, you would send your participants to a webpage where they will be prompted to enter a password. Once they enter their password, they will get access to their Private Member Page where all of their materials, recordings, and/or videos will be hosted.
• Use a membership plugin such as Wishlist Member or Digital Access Pass (DAP).
  These are plugins that can be used on any WordPress site.  If you go with this option, each participant will have a unique username and password. Once they enter their username and password, they will get access to their Private Member Page.  This option will also allow you to “drip” content out to participants over time.  For example, if they signed up for a 3 week program, you could set it up so that each week, the participants get access to new materials and content.
• Use an online coaching or course delivery system.
  Systems like Ruzuku or Jigsaw Box allow you to drip content out, and include features such as forums.

3. Promoting your program

With a homestudy program that is always available, you can have a “live launch” where you promote it to your whole list, but you can also set your marketing up on auto pilot.

One great way to promote a home study program is to incorporate promotional emails into the autoresponder series people receive when they join your list or opt-in to receive your free gift. This way, you’re always promoting it, but you can simply set up the autoresponder and let technology do the work for you.

Now I’d love to hear from you.
Do you have a program you’d like to turn into a homestudy offering? Share what type of program you are thinking of offering and how you plan to deliver and market it. And of course, post your questions below so I can support you.