The Beginner's Guide to Selling Online Courses

Creating an online video course is just the beginning. But how to sell it?

Boosting your online course sales can bring you an increase in your passive income and become a significant new source of your capital.

There is an excellent potential for making money from online courses. You can find courses that cost anywhere from a few bucks to a couple of houndreds, depending on the topic.

How much you can get from your online course depends on skills, content quality, course value, and last but not least the work you do to develop your market and sell your courses.

That can result in a couple of hundreds a year to six figures, and more...

Clear communication and informing your audience is a base for boosting online source sales.

Listed below are some things to consider before you publish your course.

Knowing what courses are popular now makes it easier to choose the best topic for you to teach.

The online course industry is growing in many categories. Below is the list of the main ones:

• Art & Creativity
• Web development
• Health & Fitness
• Business

If you want to find out what courses are the most popular in each category, read our article with details here.

There are many factors to consider when creating a course for selling online. From building a choosing the right place to host your online course to pricing your course.

How to choose a platform

What's the right platform to sell an online course? Different platforms offer different advantages.

Standalone Platforms

Standalone platforms like CreativeMindClass are open for anyone to create and sell a course.

Often creators start on social media with their video courses and with time when their audience grows, they switch to their own dedicated platform. It allows them to give online courses in a professional way and most matters like payments, invoicing and VAT rates calculations for digital services are handled by the platform.

A standalone (aka independent) platform is also great for offering a master class where you can show in a video tutorial how to learn things from you while you do it.

Market places

Some people offer personal courses directly from their brand websites, others use marketplaces like Skillshare.

Own website

There is a growing field of online courses and online course platforms and if you are struggling with choosing a platform for yourself we recommend checking out the review of Best Online Course Platforms which outlines the pros and cons of the most popular online course platforms on the market.

Of course, you can always place the online course on your own website.

Related article:

Online Learning Platforms

Online course platforms streamline the process. Stand-alone platforms like CreativeMindClass offer all the tools you need to develop, launch, teach, and manage an online course—so you can focus on selling.

It’s important that you are using an online teaching platform with all the right tools. Let's start with the platform choice and the setup.

It’s an exciting moment in a creator's life to make the decision on the platform to teach. The sweet feeling of a new beginning and a significant step forward in one's personal development. Now is the time to choose a platform on which to share your classes with the world.

You can choose from multiple online course platforms. CreativeMindClass is the best one for those who want to teach with a video.

• CreativeMindClass – Best for Building Video Courses
• Teachable – Best Overall Online Course Platform
• Thinkific – Best for Low Fees
• Podia – Best for Ease of Use
• Udemy – Best for New Course Businesses
• Skillshare – Best for New Course Creators
• Kajabi – Best Hosted Online Course Platform

Platform set up and the teaching space

Setting up for a successful online course starts with preparing your teaching space: website, landing page and bio.

Brainstorm on how you want to be percieved and then communicate it. Below is a website an landing page with bio of an illustrator, Riccardo Russomano.

Website

Here you'll show the essence of the entire portal, all your classes. Tell your audience what they'll learn briefly. For an easy start, we've prefilled the fields with some sample content. Change it to make the homepage yours, it's a draft so it doesn't need to be perfect!

Landing page with bio

On our online course portal you don't need to do anything extra to create a course landing page. You fill in your bio once and it appears on every landing page.

Filling in your bio helps students recognize you straight away. A super-essence presenting you as a course creator. A tip? It's like a social media Bio, simply tell people what you do best and add your photo.

Are you ready to set up your teaching space? GET STARTED - It's free!

If one image is better than a thousand words then a video is better than... well, infinitely better! So we recommend creating an online course in a video format and frankly, it is so common these days to sell a video course that we often don't even go into selling written online courses.

Master class provides in-depth knowledge and understanding of a specific topic.

Mini course is a short online course that takes up to 2 hours. It's often used as a teaser and it's perfect if you never created an online course before. A mini course a the best way to start with online courses, check the waters, and create an audience.

It can help you identify an interest in the topic you want to teach before you invest your time and resources in a much broader course. Also, it gives you a sort of warranty that your full-length course will sell.

A mini course can help you become a point of contact on a small topic in your field. You can read more about mini courses in the section below.

One-on-one courses i.e. live courses via Zoom, Google Classroom, and such.

Coaching courses are focusing on specific tasks or goals like business, yoga, or personal coaching.

Online course creation

We’ve already covered online course creation extensively in other posts, so I won’t go into great detail here other than to say that there are four major steps to consider.

1. Choose the right topic
2. Research the topic
3. Plan your course description
4. Write down goals and objectives
5. Create the course content

Related article:

Types of Online (Video) Courses

If one image is better than a thousand words then a video is better than... well, infinitely better! So we recommend creating an online course in a video format and frankly, it is so common these days to create a video course that we often don't even go into written online courses.

Master class provides in-depth knowledge and understanding of a specific topic.

Mini course is a short online course that takes up to 2 hours. It's often used as a teaser and it's perfect if you never created an online course before. A mini course a the best way to start with online courses, check the waters, and create an audience.

It can help you identify an interest in the topic you want to teach before you invest your time and resources in a much broader course. Also, it gives you a sort of warranty that your full-length course will sell.

A mini course can help you become a point of contact on a small topic in your field. You can read more about mini courses in the section below.

One-on-one courses i.e. live courses via Zoom, Google Classroom, and such.

Coaching courses are focusing on specific tasks or goals like business, yoga, or personal coaching.

Are you an expert in a particular field or do you have a unique skill set that you want to share with others?

Creating and selling an online course can be a great way to monetize your knowledge and experience. However, with the abundance of online courses available, it can be challenging to stand out and attract students.

How to sell your online course effectively?

From identifying your target market to providing excellent customer support, we'll cover all the key considerations you'll need to keep in mind as you create and market your course. Whether you're just starting out or have been teaching online for a while, this will help you take your course sales to the next level.

1. Identify your target market

Figure out the characteristics and needs of people who would benefit from your course. Consider factors such as their age, occupation, and level of experience.

Next, define your ideal student by considering their goals, challenges, and motivations. For example, if your course helps people start their own businesses, your ideal student might be someone who wants to turn their passion into a career but doesn't know where to start.

Clearly communicate the problem your course solves to attract students. For example, if your course is on social media marketing, you could say that it helps business owners increase their online presence and reach more customers.

Consider how your course fits into your students' existing knowledge and interests. If your course covers new material, you'll need to explain the basics. If your course is advanced, make sure students have the prerequisite knowledge. By understanding your students' needs, you can create a course that keeps them engaged.

2. Create a compelling course outline

To attract students to your online course, it's important to create a clear and compelling course outline.

This includes deciding on the online course topic you will cover, how you will structure the material, and how you will deliver the content. When determining the topics for your course, consider what knowledge and skills your ideal student needs to acquire. Think about the best way to structure the material, such as through modules, lessons, and exercises.

And decide on the most effective way to deliver the content, such as through video lectures, or written materials. By carefully planning out your course outline, you can create a course that is engaging and meets the needs of your students.

3. Determine your pricing and packaging

One of the key considerations when selling an online course is how much to charge and how to package the material.

Consider the value your course provides and set a price that reflects that value. You may also want to offer discounts or payment plans to make your course more accessible to potential students.

In addition to setting a base price for your course, you may also want to consider bundling it with other products or services. For example, you might offer a bundle that includes access to your course, a workbook, and a private coaching session.

By offering different pricing and packaging options, you can appeal to a wider range of potential students and increase your sales.

4. Promote your course

Once you have your course outline and pricing in place, it's time to start promoting your course to potential students.

One of the first steps is to create a landing page for your course on your website. This page should include information about the course, such as the topics covered, the format of the material, and the benefits for students.

You should also utilize social media to share information about your course and engage with potential students.

In addition, consider writing blog posts or articles about the benefits of your course, and reach out to relevant websites and blogs to see if they would be interested in promoting your course to their audience.

By promoting your course through a variety of channels, you can reach a larger number of potential students and increase your sales.

5. Provide excellent customer support

To ensure the success of your online course, it's important to provide excellent customer support to your students.

This includes responding promptly to student inquiries, offering additional resources or assistance as needed, and continuously updating and improving your course based on student feedback.

By providing timely and helpful support, you can help your students get the most out of your course and keep them satisfied. This can lead to positive word-of-mouth promotion, which can help you attract more students in the future.

To provide the best possible customer support, make sure to regularly check in with your students and ask for their feedback on how you can improve the course. By doing so, you can create a positive learning experience that sets your course apart from others in the market.

The 5 strategies listed below are aimed at helping your business increase online course sales and nurture meaningful relationships with your audience.

Inform your audience about your course, re-inform, and... inform again.

By educating your audience about your course you can attract new clients and strengthen your relationship with current students (aka increase customer loyalty).

The more you inform your audience about your course the more people know about its value and as a result, more people will buy your course and the courses you'll create in the future.

Strategy 1: Start from a mini course and increase the length

If you know already decided on the topic of your online course, the next thing is to think about the course length.

• How much time do you want to spend on creating an online course?

Defining how much effort you want to spend on your course creation helps you in setting realistic expectations and increasing the probability of the successful completion of this project.

If you are a busy creator you can start by creating a mini course. It also is a fantastic marketing solution for busy side-hustle creators who don't want to spend long hours preparing an online course.

If you know you have some time to spare go for a full-length course or a premium course.

The effort you put into your course creation correlates directly with the price you can ask for your course. If you put lots of heart into preparations, offer additional assets, and engage with homework that leads to increasing the value you provide to your audience.

Strategy 2: Boost the quality

You should also pay attention to your content quality: and how it is organized so that it is easy for people to find the specific information that they are looking for.

• Pick the right topic

Maybe you already know what you want to teach. But if you don't here are some questions that could help you in choosing the right topic for your online course.

• Are you an expert in something in your community?

If you have a gift or ability that people come to you for, that's the topic to teach.

• Have you ever bought an online course? Why do you buy it?

Choose a topic that people want to learn about. Creating a course on something that is not in demand might be fun at first but it simply won't sell.

Strategy 3: Set the right price

When creating an online course, sooner or later, every creator needs to answer the question: how much should I charge for my online course? The value-based pricing is something that creators often use in setting the course price.

Pricing a course it's something that needs to happen, and deciding on your online course price brings some level of discomfort. But putting the price tag on your skills doesn't need to be intimidating. We took a look at the prices of online courses to help you choose the one that suits you best.

• $10-$50 for a first online course or a mini course.
• From $100 starts a baseline for a full-length online course.
• $200-$350 is a premium price for a high-value online course.

Course creators' online course price range generally goes from a low price tag of $10 to a premium price tag of $350.

If you sell your online course on an external, stand-alone platform, the general rule is that your prices should be set much higher than the prices you see on the platforms that are grouping thousands of creators.

Related article:

Strategy 4: Communicate effectively

When you are done uploading content you need to decide on ways your audience can access your course and buy it. And that can be the most challenging part for course creators.

Strategy 5: Promote

Promote your course on social media and on your blog.

Building online content doesn't need to be expensive.

The cost of production of an online course could range from 0, when you put a course on a platform where you can host your course for free without any charges, to thousands whether you produced resources that you've chosen to use. You can record your course with your phone camera at home, invest in professional gear, or hire a video maker to film your course while you focus purely on the content.

5 Mits that Stop People from Creating their First Online Course

If you're thinking of making an online course, a lot of negative thoughts go through your mind. That can keep you in your comfort zone and stop you from giving it a try. The mits listed below are the reasons why people don't start with online courses.

Mit 1: I don't have enough money

Mit 2: I'm not an expert

Mit 3: I don't have enough time

Mit 4: There are so many people teaching what I want to teach already...

Mit 5: Everything is available for free

Mit 6: What if it doesn't work

Mit 7: I don't have the necessary technical skills

Get in the right mind set to create online courses. If you'd wait for the right mind set before you start you course, you'll never begin. Procrastination is a menthal block that holds you back.

Be positive and stay clear of mental blocks. You don't need thousands of dollars to build an online course.

State the negative thoughts you're having. It's good to acknowledge your feelings so you can replace negative thinking with a positive one.

Own it! Think about yourself as an entrepreneur. Don't think about yourself like you are someone who is just starting an online course. But act like you are already an entrepreneur and like it is ingrained in your personality.

You don't need advanced skills and it's highly unlikely that you are not going to bankrupt so put it out of your way.

Don't give up - Failure is a natural part of the growth process

The most common misconception about starting any project is everyone gets a success immediately and if not they are a failure.

The thing is that making mistakes, learning, and improving is a part of the growth process of any business and it applies also to creating online courses. Correcting your own mistakes will take you to progress even faster.

Successful online course creators give themselves the right to retry and start again with an error.