There are plenty of ways to earn money online. You can earn money by selling online courses. This is one of the creative ways where you can share your knowledge, skills, and experience while earning money in return.
In addition, the market that you can reach is not limited to your local market. Selling online courses can reach a global audience. Follow these steps if you are interested in starting this business.
Decide on your niche
A niche is something that you will specialize in. This is a representation of a smaller segment of a huge chunk of the target market. This must be something that you are particularly interested in. This should also be something your target audience would be interested in.
According to Freedom Bound Business, there are 15 profitable niches for online courses that you can try.
- Business and Entrepreneurship
- Computers and Technology
- Home Improvement
- Arts and Crafts
- Fitness
- Travel
- Education
- Writing and Content Creation
- Personal Development
- Coming of Age and Career
- Entertainment
- Politics
- Beauty and Makeup
- Lifestyle
- Stress Management
You can also try other niches such as:
- Creativity
- Pet care and training
- Arts and crafts
- Musical instruments
- Martial Arts and Self-defense
- Self-help and meditation
- Photography
- Cooking
- Business and Finance
Before deciding on your niche, you can consider these factors: your passion, expertise, knowledge, and experience.
Research the market
It is essential to identify and understand your prospective target markets. By doing market research, you can identify your competitors. Moreso, you will have a better understanding of their marketing strategies and price offer. Thus, you can formulate your unique marketing style to stand out from the rest. By doing market research, you will know your unique selling position once you have studied your market.
There are plenty of ways you can do market research:
- Surveys – offline, online, mail or phone call
- Social media listening
- Customer Observation
- Focus groups
- Available data – online and physical forms such as magazines and books
- Interviews
- Field trials
- Purchased data
- Sales data analysis
Create high-quality and engaging content
As they say, ‘content is king.’ You have to make sure that your content will stir the interest of your market. The attention span of people these days is short. Creating high-quality content can help you get traffic to your website where online courses are sold. Make sure the content is original and easy to understand. Do not bore your audience with just one medium. Use different media such as videos, reels, photos, and texts, or a combination of them all.
Get the word out and promote your course
No one will sign up for your course if they don’t know that it exists. Leverage the power of social media platforms to promote your course. You can also use other forms of advertising such as email marketing, and podcasts. There are things you can offer to gain interest in your offering.
- Offer a discount on early-bird buyers
- Offer a preview of the course on a limited time
- Offer free access on early birds with limited slots and time
Sell your online course
Once everything is ready. Check out various websites where you can sell your courses. Some of the sites include:
- Udemy
- Coursera
- Skillshare
- Digital Class
- Thinkific
- Teachable
- Ruzuku
- LearnDash
- Podia
- Kajabi
Other platforms include:
- Mighty Networks
- Memberful
- Udacity
- Alison
- Fiverr
- SkillSuccess
- Cyber U
- Plural Sight
- Linkedin Learning
- Domestika
- AppSumo
- BitDegree
Keep in mind that these platforms offer different features and pricing. Study each of them or a few of them before signing up. You may also want to consider creating your website where you can earn money selling courses online.
Stay connected with your students
The feedback coming from your students is an important part so you can better improve your online course. Make sure that you stay in touch with them once they make the purchase. You can also add a feature to your website, if you decide to have one, for comments and support sections.
Addressing their queries promptly is essential to getting positive reviews. This will also be beneficial in attracting more students to purchase your online course.
How much can you earn selling online courses?
There is no fixed or standard amount on how much you can earn selling online courses. It varies
depending on several factors. The factors which can affect your earnings include:
- Niche
- Course Quality
- Marketing and promotion strategy
- Pricing and Fees
To earn money selling an online course, you have to consider the following:
- Niche: Some niches are more in-demand than others. In this case, more students are wanting to purchase the course. Since the demand is high, you can place a higher price rate on your courses. The study of which niches are in demand if you want a higher return for your online courses.
- Course quality: Be consistent in creating high-quality content. A high-quality course will drive more interest and generate positive reviews. This will also be advertised via word-of-mouth positively. On the other hand, poorly made content will result in backlash and negative feedback which would hurt your reputation.
- Marketing and promotion: Investing in effective marketing and promotional strategies. If you don’t have experience in this field, seek the assistance of a professional.
- Platforms and fees: Be mindful of your pricing. Make sure that your online course pricing is not too high compared to your competitor.
It’s challenging to provide a specific estimate of how much money you can earn selling online courses. Do not lose faith if the sales are low when you are just starting. In some cases, it takes a while before any business jumps off and you start generating a decent income.
Selling online courses takes time for research and marketing. Contrary to popular belief, it is not an easy and short way to earn money. But with hard work and patience, your online business can be lucrative in the long run.