Many people every day are searching online to find information and learn new things. This need for information and instruction has created a great opportunity for you to get paid for your knowledge with online courses.
Some people have done this by creating a blog or writing books. online courses are another method of selling what you know. Online learning is expected to reach more than $240 billion by 2021. (Global Industry Analysts)
Many people don’t think they know enough about a topic to teach it, but the truth is, you don’t have to be an expert to create and sell an online course. You simply need to know more than most.
The topics you can cover are vast including art or photography, personal development, music, gardening, cooking, marketing, technology, and more. Many people have grown their income and their brand with online courses.
Before you start creating your own online course, it helps to look at the pros and cons.
Pros
Several new online course platforms are available to sell your course. Also, many of the tools and equipment needed to create a course are very simple to use, with professional-quality results.
You can create courses to sell as an addition to your existing business. If you offer a service, you can design and offer an online course for people who would rather learn and do the work on their own instead of hiring a freelancer.
Creating and selling online courses can offer you a passive income stream. You only have to create a course once, and then you can sell it over and over. Additionally, because your course is online, you can have students from all over the world without any additional effort.
Cons
Quality online courses usually offer students a variety of content delivery methods such as text and video, which can take time to create. Users expect to be able to have the course in a format to access on their phone or laptop, with video and audio files.
When designing your online course, you’ll need to choose an online service to host your product. This could be your own website, or it could be a hosted service such as Udemy.
Attention! Keep in mind that if you choose Udemy or a similar site, you don’t “own” the market or the platform, Udemy does.
Like all other money-making ventures, your success depends on the need for your course, and your ability to attract your target market. It’s worth putting the time into keyword and trend research to focus on what’s trending now and what people want to buy.
How to Create an Online Course
- Choose a Course Topic
Make a list of things you know about. Maybe it’s a skill related to your job (i.e., how to use Evernote or how to be productive working at home). Do you have a hobby you can teach others about, such as golf, fishing, yoga, etc?
- Do Market Research
You don’t want to spend a lot of time creating a course that no one will buy. Many people might want to know about your topic, but the question is; are they willing to pay to learn it? Before you invest time in your course, research who the best buyer for it would be, and whether or not they’re ready, willing and able to buy it.
- Outline Your Course
If you’ve determined there is a market willing to buy your course, the next step is in determining what you’ll put in the course. By the nature of a course, the content you provide should go deep into the topic and cover all important aspects.
A course isn’t like a blog post, which often just skims the surface.
To help organize your course, think in terms of modules and lessons. A module would be the overall subtopic, with the lessons providing the details of that subject.
For example, if you have a course on starting a home business, you might have a module on business plans. Your lessons in that module would include “How to determine your USP” and “How to identify your target market.”
- The Methods to Deliver Your Lessons
There is an expectation that online courses will offer a variety of teaching methods, such as text, video, worksheets, checklists, infographics, audio, and anything else that delivers information.
The trick is in determining what format is best for what you’re trying to teach. In some cases, you might offer two methods for one lesson. For example, if you were teaching a course on how to use a software (Windows), you might have both a step-by-step text instruction and a video tutorial on how to install and set up the software.
- Create Your Lessons
It is the most time-consuming aspect of creating an online course. You need to create a logo that appears in all lesson content. Proofread your text lessons and watch your videos to make sure there are no errors.
- Determine How You’ll Sell Your Lesson
You can create a website or blog to host and deliver your lesson. There are membership site scripts and WordPress plugins that can help you set up a system for selling and delivering your course.
You can use an online course service, such as Udemy or SkillShare. Pay from these sites varies. For example, Udemy’s instructor pay depends on how the sale was generated (through its marketplace, an affiliate, or directly from you).
The benefit to these resources is that you simply upload your course and the sites take care of selling it to their members/market, including payment processing.
The downside is that they own the market and platform. Plus, you’re competing with other course providers, which can mean the need to reduce the price of your course. (Competition)
Also, you can sell your course on more than one platform. Even so, be sure to read the terms of service before offering your course on multiple platforms.
- Market Your Course
Important Tip. You need to promote your course. Even using a service like Udemy, in which students can find you by perusing the Udemy marketplace, you want to do your own marketing.
Start by creating a marketing plan that includes who your market is, where you can find them, and how you can entice them to check out your course. Great course marketing options include social media, PPC advertising, and article marketing. There are many other free and low-cost marketing options as well.
Creating and selling online courses can be quite lucrative if you’re able to provide a great course and reach your target marketing. Plus, with easier to use and more affordable resources to host your course, there’s no reason to avoid becoming an online instructor.
While it can take time to create your online course it can become a profitable source of passive income for you.
P.S.
How to Make Money Online
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