how to write an online course and sell it

How to Create an Online Course That Sells In 6 Steps

1. Find a profitable course idea and validate it. Before you get into the creation mode, make sure your idea is actually...
2. Create a rough course outline. You have a feel for the topic, you've done your research, and you know people may be...
3. Sell your course before you create it. This is the second biggest...

Full Answer

How to create and sell a profitable online course?

Validate Your Online Course

• Validate By Asking. A simple way to validate a course is to survey your existing audience. With a software like Typeform, you can create a really engaging survey.
• Pre-Sell Your Online Course. You may also want to consider pre-selling your course. ...
• Launch a Pilot Course. After her pre-sale experiment, Dorie sent out another email to her broader audience. ...

How much can you make selling online courses?

The data shows that:

• 27.9% of schools on the platform have earnt over $75,000 (total revenue over time)
• 14.7% have earnt between $50,000 and $75,000
• 39.4% have earnt between $25,000 and $50,000
• 17.9% have earnt under $25,000

How much should I Sell my online course for?

The biggest question many people have is “how much is my car worth ... too. There remain, of course, many ways to sell your car online. But with just a little preparation, and by following these common-sense tips, you can get the best return when ...

How can we sell online courses and make money?

• Easy-to-use platforms have simplified online course creation
• You can offer courses that complement your existing business
• Create passive income by re-selling the same online course continually
• Use an online course to lead customers to your other product offerings
• Online availability brings in clients from all over the globe

Can anyone sell an online course?

The best news is that anybody can create and sell online courses. All you need is some knowledge and the ability to speak on a subject with passion. Kajabi is everything your online business needs. All in one place.

Can you make money selling online courses?

Are Online Courses Profitable? Yes, they are. Online courses offer one of the best business models to digital entrepreneurs. The demand is rising and people are more than willing to pay for them, and they are one of the top ways to make money online.

How much money can you make creating an online course?

Your online course could earn anywhere from a $0 – $50k+ per month. Many course creators will earn $1 – 5k/month and there are numerous examples of online course teachers earning $10k – $50k per month.. There are lots of factors that will determine how much you can earn by selling online courses.

How much should I charge to create an online course?

It can cost anywhere from $200 to $10,000 to create an online course. The main source of expenses is the labor involved, followed by the equipment and software. If you are creating the online course yourself and not paying someone else to do it, this means that other than your time there are very few expenses involved.

How do I publish a course online?

0:366:17PUBLISH YOUR ONLINE COURSE - Step-by-step - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipRecord your lessons in this step you screen recorded your slide presentation. As you delivered yourMoreRecord your lessons in this step you screen recorded your slide presentation. As you delivered your lesson content edit your videos this step has you removing unwanted mistakes.

How do free courses make money?

5 Free Courses You Can Use To Make Money Almost ImmediatelyTyler's YouTube WordPress Course. Everything I know about WordPress came from Tyler Moore. ... Hubspot Academy's Content Marketing Course. ... Selling Used Items On eBay and Amazon. ... 4. Facebook Advertising Basics. ... Teachable Course Bundle.

How do I become a course creator?

Here are the multiple steps involved in starting a career as an online course creator:Step 1 - Market research.Step 2 - Understand your student.Step 3 - Create free content.Step 4 - Understand SEO.Step 5 - Create a sales funnel.Step 6 - Build a brand.Step 7 - Build a community.Step 8 - Validate your course ideas.

What online courses are in demand?

Top Trending Online CoursesData Science. ... Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. ... Big Data. ... Business Intelligence. ... Cloud Computing. ... Project Management. ... Software Development. ... Full-stack development.More items...•

What makes the most money selling online?

Top 7 Ways to Make Money OnlineAffiliate Marketing. You may already know that affiliate marketing is one of the oldest online moneymakers out there. ... Selling on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Cragslist. ... Blogging. ... Niche E-commerce. ... Your Own YouTube Channel. ... Selling E-books. ... Develop Apps.

How many types of online courses are there?

Eighteen types of Online Courses. Before you start creating an online course, it is good for you to know what type of course it is you want to create. We have researched several online courses and concluded to specific activity patterns, each of which correlates to a particular course type.

How much will the elearning market be in 2025?

The whole elearning market is expected to exceed $300 Billion by 2025, and that includes both individuals and corporations spending more and more into online learning. There has never been a better time to join the growing industry of eLearning. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.

What is professional training?

Professional training courses serve in building knowledge, skills, and competence in a group of individuals or a team. Companies are used to promote job quality, efficiency, and effectiveness while also motivating employees to make a formal commitment to growing with the institution and being more productive. Corporate training is a main use case of professional training courses and this course outline template.

What is a demonstration course?

Demonstration courses consist of a series of videos where an instructor demonstrates specific skills to students online. Workshop courses usually fall in arts & crafts, painting, sewing, fitness, content creation, anything that shows the instructor demonstrating something new that students try to imitate through observation.

What is a mini course?

Mini-courses are short to consume summaries (teasers) of a full-sized course. Like presell and orientation courses, they serve as teasers that make students enroll in a course. However, in contrast to the other two categories, Mini-courses provide real educational value: A full summary of what will be taught in the full-sized course .

What is a presell course?

Presell courses serve as a storefront of an upcoming course. They can rapidly validate a course idea and start building an email list of your potential students before officially releasing a course.

What is a good idea to reuse your blog?

Besides, you already have the people interested in following you. You can easily record and sell online speeches and workshops; you have already been doing. Turn your training into a profitable online course!

How to help prospects appreciate your course?

Identifying benefits derived from learning outcomes will help prospects quickly appreciate the value of your course. Use bullets with benefits for each part of your course. Also, include images of your course content to give prospects an idea of what they are getting.

How to generate the best results?

To generate the best possible results, you’ll need to track your success. Most online course platforms include analytics tools that help identify where your traffic comes from, how much traffic you get, and how much of it converts into sales . While these are valuable insights, add a layer of data to what your platform offers.

Why is email important for sales?

Traffic sources can vary, and email is one you should leverage. It’s a powerful tool for communication and can be used to drive warm traffic to your sales page. It also works as a great nurturing tool for people who is a sign-up for a lead magnet but never committed to the sale.

What is sales page?

Sales pages are meant to be highly effective tools for converting visitors into paying customers. To generate sales, your sales page has to be able to sell ideas, do away with fear, uncertainty, and doubt, and have a call to action that closes the sale.

What is funnel in marketing?

A funnel is a mechanism for attracting, educating, and converting strangers into customers. Funnels include various components such as traffic sources, sales or landing pages, order-taking tools (payment gateways), and communication devices (email for nurturing).

Is it hard to set up an affiliate program?

Affiliate programs aren't difficult to set up either. If your course is on a platform like Udemy, Teachable, or Kajabi, you have automatic access to an affiliate suite of tools These tools may include an affiliate dashboard for tracking sales, traffic, and payouts.

What is an online course?

An online course is a class which is conducted over the internet. Unlike traditional in-person classes, you simply set up and record the content once, and then people access it whenever and learn at their own pace, while you earn a passive income. Setting up and selling an online course is more straightforward than you might think.

What determines the price point of a course?

Your price point depends on multiple factors, including the length of your course, how much you invested in it, the competition, and the outcome value for your audience. The most common pricing methods are:

What is webinar in business?

A webinar is a live online workshop or presentation. People can tune in from anywhere, and these types of events are known for their high conversion rates. You could launch a webinar related to your niche, and at the end, have a call to action for people to join your online course.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is where people can promote your online course, and they will receive a small commission from referrals (aka, everyone who signs up through them).

What is a sales funnel?

In fancy terms this is called a “sales funnel”, but this just means that there are phases to how you’ll catch their interest and guide them towards buying the course.

What is the best way to record video?

Camera: To record high-quality video content, you need to avoid your computer camera and invest in something nicer. Some smartphone cameras have excellent filming quality, but to be on the safe side, you may prefer to invest in a reasonably-priced camcorder or webcam. Microphone: Quality audio is also a priority.

Is email the best channel to attract and nurture your audience?

Email is still the best channel to attract and nurture your audience. You can use automation to magically send emails at the perfect moment, and send more targeted campaigns with segmentation and personalization.

Why do people invest in online courses?

Investing in education and lifelong learning is an emerging trend among both old and young, and online courses come to fill the gaps of knowledge. People tend to prefer the comfort and flexibility of their own homes, avoiding the complexities of commuting to physical classes.

What is needed to create a sales page?

A sales page requires two things, the copy and the design . To write the perfect copy, you will need to understand your audience, what they are looking for and how to convince them. We will be going through that below.

How to get your audience's opinion?

You can also: Get your audience’s opinion through email: if you have an email list, come up with an email advertising your course. Alternatively, send your list of ideas for online courses to your audience and encourage them to pick on a course subject through a survey.

Why is offering a free course important?

Offering a free course can work for your benefit as it can generate leads for expensive courses or a way to showcase your expertise. Don’t forget, it is the first point of contact to create rapport. We all love good communication, creating relationships and this sense of familiarity is what will help you sell more courses.

What does a good title mean for a course?

Ultimately, the title of your course reflects the name of your brand, your work or training, and can potentially describe you as the best-selling trainer in your field.

How much will the elearning market be in 2025?

The elearning market is expected to exceed $325Billion by 2025 (see above), with a yearly growth of 5% (Global Market Insights)! Becoming an online instructor means you could be earning from a few hundred dollars per year to a six-figure income.

What is the difference between learning goals and learning outcomes?

Whereas, ‘learning objectives’ or ‘learning outcomes’ tend to be more specific and more measurable in terms of what you expect your students to learn and be able to do once they complete the course.

Reasons to Create an Online Course

The main question to ask yourself is this: Why do I want to create an online course in the first place?

How to Create an Online Course That Sells Like Crazy

We can't promise that you'll become rich by creating an online course. But with the right tools, ideas, and tips, you can set yourself on the right path for success with making an online course.

How to Create an Online Course for Free

Although we don't usually recommend trying to create an online course for free, it is technically possible.

Any Questions About How to Create an Online Course?

We've talked about how to figure out a great topic, research the topic's potential, and formulate an outline. We also dove into the details of choosing a sales platform, creating your content, and marketing it to potential customers. Now it's time for you to go to work!

1. Find a profitable course idea and validate it

Before you get into the creation mode, make sure your idea is actually profitable and people would pay you for it. Most course creators skip this very crucial step because they are really excited about their idea — and they should be excited. However, they should not ignore data and actual market trends.

2. Create a rough course outline

You have a feel for the topic, you've done your research, and you know people may be interested in taking your course. Now it's time to create the course outline. Don't create the entire course yet. Just start with the transformation in mind and work backward from there.

3. Sell your course before you create it

This is the second biggest mistake most course creators make. After (hopefully) validating their idea, they jump right in and create video lesson after video lesson without having sold a single copy of their course. They work really hard for a few weeks or even months only to find out that they have created a product nobody wants to buy.

4. Run your beta round, create content as you go and refine it immediately

Once you have sold a few copies, it is time to create your online course. You can either teach your lesson live to your new beta students or you can create it week by week.

5. Create one core piece of content

The next step after you have found your profitable idea, validated it, sold your course, ran your first beta round and created your course content is to decide on one core piece of content to which you keep driving traffic.

6. Decide on your evergreen, long-term traffic strategy

You should also produce evergreen content that keeps driving traffic to those opt-in pages. This will be a long-term game, so work smarter, not harder. That automatically excludes social media platforms. Think about podcasting, blogging, maybe creating YouTube videos.

Written By

Tina Dahmen helps entrepreneurs gain more influence in their space and scale their businesses and online presences. She teaches them how to build digital products including online courses, masterminds, membership sites, coaching programs and more.

Is a domain name good enough for a website?

Keep the domain name you choose simple and relevant to your niche. As long your domain name makes sense for the range of courses you'll build, it's “good enough” to get started. In fact, the only rule you need to follow when selecting a domain name for your website is whether or not it can pass the Grandparent Test.

Does hover.com matter where you buy your domain name?

Hover.com. But it doesn’t really matter where you buy your domain name from because they all provide the same basic service. After creating a free account, use their domain name search function to make sure it’s available at an affordable price (usually around $10 USD) so you can pull the trigger on it.

Can you host a course on your website?

However, it’s not practical to host your course videos directly from your website. If you do, you’ll quickly burn through your hosting service’s monthly bandwidth limits and crash your site. To get around this problem, you’ll need to subscribe to a video hosting service.