There really is no better investment than investing in education. Learning something new is a way to enhance your opportunities for life. Which is why millions of people spend a lot of money each year trying to gain new skills and learn something new. It’s always been a big industry and now with the help of online platforms it’s accessible to everyone.
Portals such as Udemy, Coursera, Duolingo, and khan academy are helping people learn on the go. There’s a short course or webinar available on everything from mastering poker to becoming a criminal investigator.
Slowly but surely, learning is moving online and it’s likely to be a lucrative business for well-educated and experienced entrepreneurs with a knack for digital marketing. Here’s how you can create, sell, and make a profit on your own courses online:
About the Money
Like any other business, selling online courses is likely to take considerable time and effort and the payoff is uncertain. You could invest too much money and only see a couple hundred dollars back. But if you market the course well and create something of quality you could even make six figures a year. According to Udemy, the average instructor brings in $7000. That’s not bad if your course takes little to no time to create.
Creating
Creating an online course is often compared to writing a book. That’s because it could take months or a year before you create something that is simultaneously entertaining and educational. Lili Balfour, a financial advisor who’s had a lot of success selling such courses online, advises starting off with a blog or social media content. Once you have enough content, you can easily create a viable course in a few hours over the weekend.
Finding the Best Platform
WizIQ, Kajabi, Teachable, and Udemy are some of the most popular platforms. Each of them has its own unique features and advantages. There’s probably a lot of other lesser-known sites as well. Of course, you can also advertise directly and teach people on Skype. Tutoring online could be a quicker and easier way to get paid for sharing your skills.
Digital Marketing
No matter which platform you pick or what you want to teach, there’s no way you avoid the need for digital marketing. To make money selling online you need to know your way around content creation, SEO, MailChimp, Ontraport, Infusionsoft, Mixpanel, and other marketing apps. Alternatively, you could hire an agency to take care of it for you. Either way, people need to know about your course and enough of them need to sign up for this venture to be profitable.
Selling online courses is likely to become a much bigger industry. There’s no dearth of demand, but the trick is to create a valuable course and choose the right marketing techniques while keeping costs down.
