How to create profitable online courses in just 6 steps?

So you want to create profitable online courses? Well, you came to the right place. This article explains how you can achieve it in just 6 steps.

The world has turned into a giant marketplace where millions of transactions happen every second. In such a business-focused world, it has become imperative that every step we take has to churn out value. Not surprisingly, this applies to the e-learning sector as well – one of the fastest-growing businesses on this planet, especially after the pandemic struck. The beauty of this industry is the ability to amalgamate profit-making with knowledge sharing. It is a field that benefits every stakeholder involved in it.

If you are a teacher, you should take care that your efforts in producing quality content should never go in vain. Your course should be able to educate your students well and at the same time fetch you monetary benefits. With several emerging trends in online classes, experts have come up with various strategies that can help you sell your courses better. In this blog post, we will cover some of these techniques that can help you build a saleable course.

How to create a profitable online courses in 6 steps

1. Pick a subject you have expertise in

This always takes the numero uno position in any teaching journey. Be very clear about what you’re going to offer to your students. Make a list of the various subjects you intend to teach and prioritize them in the order of your expertise. Brainstorm with your friends and with subject matter experts (SMEs) who have extensive knowledge of the subject you are planning to teach. Three things are critical while selecting the topic for an online course –

• Passion
• Fluency
• Experience

You need to be passionate about your course topic and its contents in the first place. If you are not passionate, then the success of the course can get affected. 

Despite having significant experience in a topic, some might find it difficult to express it fluently. Hence fluency too has a vital role to play in the selection of topics. 

Sometimes you might have expertise in more than one topic. In such cases, measure the extent to which you are experienced on the subject. Being proficient in a subject means you are ready to face any kind of question that might be asked in your classes. 

There are a plethora of topics on the Internet and you can choose the topic that suits the above factors.

2. Identify what the students want

The primary purpose of any online course is to help students quench their thirst for knowledge. Though the topic selection process is purely based on a self-evaluation method, it should be able to satisfy the students’ curiosity. 

Students’ problems are vastly addressed on various web pages and discussion forums. Be a regular visitor to these pages to find out the problems that most of the students are facing in that subject. You might get a fair idea about the sub-topics that can have maximum impact in minimum time in your course. 

Selecting topics by this method will help you to satisfy your students’ curiosities thoroughly with your course. Prepare yourself on the subject by gathering information from various sources to finally develop the course.

3. Structure the course with an effective syllabus and a proper action plan

Choosing the subject and identifying students’ needs will be incomplete without the formulation of an attractive and effective action plan. The intention of developing an action plan is to clearly define the path in which the course travels and the key takeaways that the student gets in every milestone of the course.

Craft the syllabus with the utmost care by considering the various aspects that a student expects to learn from your course. Write down the subtopics that you intend to cover over the entire duration of the course. A breakdown analysis of the topic could come in handy while framing the syllabus. Here are some quick tips for you to help you create a profitable online course.

1. Set a course duration that will be quite ideal for the students to complete the course. This should be projected as a major factor while marketing your course.
2. Create appealing content that can capture the audience in large numbers.
3. Content should be original and non-plagiarised. This is important to make the classes interactive and also to increase student retention value.
4. Students always find it fascinating to learn new things in the form of a story or a DIY activity. Add more facts and case studies instead of just limiting the topics to theories and concepts. 

4. Create a sales page

The above pointers might act as a portfolio that can help you to sell your online course. But where do you sell the portfolio? That’s where your own sales page comes in handy. 

The sales page is the actual platform through which you can advertise your course to the audience and make them aware of your course. The sales page should be designed in a way that piques the curiosity of the visitors and makes them sign up for your course.

Copywriting is something that you need to explore here. If you are unable to write a compelling sales page, you can always hire experienced copywriters to do your job. 

For writing an effective sales page, there are 3 things that you should remember.

1. Identify the audience
2. Create content specific to the visitors
3. The content should address an issue that the visitors are facing

Write a one-liner that satisfies all the above points and that becomes your “Unique Value Proposition”.

Related post:- Why Course Sales Pages Are Important and 7 Best Practices

5. Set a Course price

Setting the right price for your course is very important and needs a lot of thought process and brainstorming. Many might not agree, but this is the ultimate deciding factor for most of the learners who are on the lookout for a course. After all, everyone looks for an excellent return on investment. 

Charging your course at a low price point might attract more audiences initially. But in the long run, it can decrease your course value. Charging a high price is also not a good option. 

The right price has to be fixed considering the competition of the subject you are teaching in the market. Some simple tips while fixing the price for your course include –

• Study the competition for the topic which you have undertaken to teach.
• Evaluate the value of your course considering the amount of effort you’ve put in, the costs you would incur for promotions, and your estimated profit.
• Resist the temptation to charge your course at a low price.

Further reading: How to price your online course: Key steps

6. Market your Course 

The final step is to market your course on the Internet. The immediate thing that might pop into your mind when you hear the word ‘marketing’ is social media. Yes, social media is helpful, no doubt. But that’s not the only channel to market your course. There are several other ways. Here are some of them – 

Campus ambassadors

Campus ambassadors are typically college students who can effortlessly blend with your marketing strategies. These ambassadors will work to promote your courses in their respective institutes by conducting various activities with your brand name added to them. All they look for in return are some goodies, or in your case, unrestricted access to some of your online courses. Though this is quite common with mega-brands such as Microsoft or One Plus, there is no rule that it cannot be incorporated in growing organizations like yours.

Email marketing

Email marketing is a tried and tested digital marketing strategy that is always capable of converting prospects into customers. Close to 99% of the customers have a habit of checking their emails regularly. Hence this medium can be definitely given a thought to attract students to your course.

Paid ads

Affiliate marketing and paying for your ads placed on other websites is also a good way to market your course. Facebook ads are a popular choice to market courses efficiently. Google Ads is another authorized platform for marketing. However, be wary of how much you spend on your ads. Initially start with a small amount and then increase the amount gradually when you feel that your ad is working.

Organic approach

If you are short on budget or don’t want to spend too much on paid ads, then an organic approach can also be considered. Power your course with SEO-rich content in the form of landing pages and blogs. Do not forget to embed target keywords into the blog that you feel are the most searched terms related to your course. Keep updating the content on your website and keep posting blogs regularly to rank higher in search engine results.

Further reading: How To Sell Your Online Courses Through Affiliate Marketing

What’s Next?

If you do not have the resources or time to incorporate all the above strategies, then you should subscribe to an LMS like Learnyst that offers an integrated platform to create, sell, and market courses online. 

The best part is that you can sell your course from your own website. Learnyst provides you a flawless experience to create and market your online course with DRM encryption. 

To have a feel of what the website looks like and how it works, Learnyst offers you a 14-day free trial. Sign up today and start your journey as an online tutor.