Creating and selling online courses is an effective strategy to promote your business. It’s because this method gives your venture more opportunities for growth on top of traditional marketing.
More importantly, it helps you earn money passively over time as more and more people avail your course. Take my case for example. I have established three online courses for promoting my other businesses.
There’s the Service Animal Registry of California (SARC), PRO CHEER LIFE™, and Landlord Prep™. I have to tell you that it’s one of the best decisions I ever made because it grew my portfolio as a solopreneur.
You can do the same by following the tips you’ll find below. But first, we need to discuss more reasons why you should sell your expertise and things you should put on your checklist before writing your first lesson draft.
Why Build An Online Course?
1. You get to express your passion and share it
Doing what you love, getting better at it, and sharing it with the rest of the world is one of the greatest rewards for an adult. It also gives greater purpose in life. By being an online educator, you can do all of these things.
Try to imagine yourself as an orchidologist. Wouldn’t you be happy to create content about beautiful exotic flowers and have other people learn from what you know?
2. You’ll gain students, loyal customers, and profit
As you build more expertise, you’ll also invite more students to learn from you. These students will pay for your courses and eventually become loyal customers if they find that your content can change their lives for the better. When done right, selling online courses lets you earn from $10k to $50k/month. Here’s a list of courses in that earning category with the instructors that teach them.
3. You’ll discover your unique selling point
You won’t always be unique when it comes to choosing your online course. There will be others who will teach the same topic as yours. However, this is a good opportunity to find out what makes you a good teacher compared to others.
It may be because you have a calm voice or the way you present your lessons in an understandable way. Either way, you can use this as a strategy for doing business in the real world.
Before You Build An Online Course, Consider These
1. An in-demand niche
It’s good to choose a topic where there are fewer teachers/competition, more interested students, and the return on investment (ROI) is high. It’s also important that you have existing knowledge about the niche. Preferably, have a certification, diploma, or proof of expertise related to your chosen topic.
2. The resources you need
You cannot or will find it difficult to teach an online course without the necessary tools. These include a computer with a clear webcam, a fast and stable internet connection, and books you can use as references when needed.
If you plan to do your classes as pre-recorded sessions, you must know how to edit videos, use presentation software, and have a quality recording camera.
3. The best platform to sell your online courses
There are plenty of platforms to choose from for selling your online courses. There’s Kajabi – a tool with a simple user interface but with a fee. WordPress – free blog site where you have more freedom in terms of creating page layouts. YouTube – the best platform for video courses. You can also sign up for Udemy – where most online course creators go.
How to Build An Online Course
1. Test your idea
Promote your online course on social media. Invite your friends, relatives, and colleagues. Create an online poll about your course. If plenty are interested, start making outlines and lesson plans for your course.
2. Research your niche extensively
Even if you know a lot about your topic, it’s still better to research more new concepts about it. Try to see what other instructors have discovered or the methods they use. It doesn’t matter if some of your students already know about these concepts, what matters is that you present them in a unique and compelling way.
3. Create the course content
Once you have made your research, outline, and lesson plans, it’s time to create your lessons based on your drafts. If your lessons are text-based, write them. If they’re more on visuals, edit the video or create the presentation.
Most importantly, put a call to action at the end of each lesson. It can be a link directing to your store’s website or to a purchase page of whatever you’re selling.
4. Bring your course online
Proofread your work first before publishing or uploading your course on your chosen platform. It’s important that you test media upload on the platform first by creating an unpublished draft. Check if the images appear on your students’ screens. Listen to the audio if there are any errors. Watch the video if everything is really ok.
5. Sell your online course
After publishing your content, price it fairly on the platform you have chosen. Allow advertisers to appear on your pages for monetization or be an Amazon affiliate. Advertise your online course in forums found in Reddit or Quora. Keep your advertising relevant to the discussions. Using social media as an advertising tool is also necessary.
Please remember that while everything I have taught you here is all useful, it’s also better that you check more sources for a deeper understanding of how to create and sell online courses. The same advice applies to you getting better at being an online educator.
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