Alexis Kestler
Hey there!
Selling online courses is an incredible way to monetize your knowledge and skills. As someone who‘s created and sold online courses myself, I want to share everything I‘ve learned to help you build a successful online course business.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll walk through how to sell courses online using one of the best platforms out there—LearnWorlds.
Why Online Courses Are So Valuable
Before we dive into the details, let‘s look at why online courses are such a smart monetization model:
You Can Make Money While You Sleep
Once your online course is created, you can generate income for months and years with little ongoing work. Online courses provide awesome passive income potential since automation handles most of the sales and delivery.
According to a study by the Online Learning Consortium, nearly 50% of higher ed institutions consider online courses as part of their long-term strategy—which means ongoing demand. [1]
You Can Change Lives and Make an Impact
Teaching and sharing your hard-won knowledge is deeply gratifying. When you create an online course, you get to share your expertise with students around the world and profoundly impact their lives.
82% of students who take online courses say they help them achieve their professional goals faster. [2] You provide the skills and knowledge to help people improve their careers, businesses, and lives.
You Can Work Flexibly from Anywhere
One of the best aspects of selling online courses is that you can work flexibly from wherever you want. You don‘t need to commute to an office or stick to a fixed schedule. You have the freedom to work when and where you want.
You Can Reach a Global Audience
Physical venues limit your reach, but online courses allow you to market and sell your offering to a practically unlimited global audience. Internet access is all people need to enroll in your course.
In 2020, the global e-learning market size was $250 billion. By 2028, it‘s projected to grow to over $1 trillion—a 300% increase! [3]
You Establish Yourself as an Authority
Creating courses helps cement your status as an expert in your niche. As an authority, it becomes easier to attract clients, get featured in the media, land speaking gigs, and build partnerships.
40% of people find online courses more credible than face-to-face instruction when assessing expertise. [4]
Why LearnWorlds is the Best Platform
There are many course platforms out there, but in my experience using several, LearnWorlds stands head and shoulders above the rest. Here are some of its key advantages:
Easy Course Creation Tools
LearnWorlds makes it simple for anyone to create professional online courses—no tech skills needed. Their intuitive drag-and-drop course builder allows you to quickly build high quality courses.
Customizable Course Sites
Every course includes a customizable website to market your offering. Choose from over 400 designer templates to establish your brand with a polished website.
Built-in Sales Engine
LearnWorlds gives you robust ecommerce functionality to sell your courses directly from your site. Flexible pricing, coupons, and 30+ payment gateways optimize monetization.
Marketing Automation
Sophisticated automation transforms visitors into students. Leverage email sequences, social proof popups, countdown timers, and more to boost conversions.
Branded Mobile Apps
You can easily create branded iOS and Android apps to accompany your courses through LearnWorlds. This expands your reach via mobile.
Community and Engagement Tools
Encourage student engagement through built-in community features like discussions, messaging, activity streams, and learning groups.
Phenomenal Support
LearnWorlds offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, and phone. Their stellar support team promptly resolves any issues that arise.
Let‘s now walk through the step-by-step process to sell courses profitably with LearnWorlds…
Step 1 – Choose a Hot Online Course Topic
Your topic is absolutely crucial to course success. Here are 8 tips to select a winning topic:
Ensure There is Strong Demand
Research topics related to your niche to confirm substantial demand and search volume. Tools like Google Trends and Keyword Planner help.
For example, terms like "social media marketing", "Python programming" and "fitness coaching" generate tens of thousands of searches per month, indicating strong demand.
Leverage Your Hard-Won Experience
What skills, expertise or knowledge can you share that would help others? The deepest courses tap into the instructor‘s experience.
For instance, a social media manager could teach a course on "How to Grow Your Instagram Following from Zero to 100k Organically".
Target Concrete Learning Outcomes
Choose a specific, focused topic that will clearly help students achieve tangible results like mastering a skill, solving a problem, accomplishing goals, etc.
A course that promises to "Become an expert Python coder in 8 weeks" is more compelling than a vague "Introduction to Python" course.
Identify Knowledge Gaps
Look for gaps where learners are seeking education but current offerings miss the mark. Your course can fill that gap with better information.
For example, many guitar lessons teach basics but lack content mastering complex playing techniques. An advanced course could fill this need.
Consider Trending or Emerging Topics
Sometimes hopping on trends, new technologies, or emerging tactics early allows you to capture demand before competition arises.
When live streaming video boomed, early courses on platforms like OBS Studio tapped into sudden high interest.
Follow Your Passion
It‘s hugely rewarding to create courses on topics you genuinely love. Your enthusiasm and energy will shine through and engage students.
For instance, a gaming enthusiast could teach a course on building a PC optimized for popular titles like Fortnite or Apex Legends.
Survey Your Audience
If you already have an audience, survey them to find out what topics they need help with or would pay to learn. This informs great course ideas.
Research Competitor Courses
See what courses competitors offer on your shortlisted topics and assess if you could create better content worth paying for.
Thoroughly vetting course topics from these angles will help you zero in on winning ideas most likely to sell.
Step 2 – Define Your Target Student Avatar
Defining your target audience—or student avatar—is crucial. When you get crystal clear on who you‘re serving, you can craft content and messaging that resonates deeply.
Here are the key student avatar elements to define:
Demographics
Pinpoint details like:
- Age range
- Gender
- Location
- Income level
- Education level
- Profession/industry
For example, your target audience could be "college-educated women ages 30-45 with household incomes above $100k living in the United States."
Goals and Challenges
- What outcomes or goals will your course help students accomplish?
- What challenges and pain points will your course solve?
For instance, your course may help entrepreneurs set up their first ecommerce website or overcome low conversion rates.
Prior Knowledge
- What pre-existing skills or knowledge are required for students to take your course?
- Are there any prerequisites?
This ensures you create lessons at the right level while managing student expectations.
Objections
- Why might prospective students hesitate to purchase your course?
- How will you address those objections?
Maybe your course is priced higher than competitors. You could mitigate pricing concerns by offering payment plans.
When you intimately understand your target students, you can craft content and messaging to align with their needs and maximize value.
Step 3 – Map Out Your Online Course Curriculum
A well-planned curriculum provides the structure and flow for your course content. Follow these tips:
Introduce the Topic
Start with an intro module that overviews key concepts, frameworks and tools students will learn so they know what to expect.
Organize Content into Sections
Break related lessons and topics into organized sections or modules. This facilitates learning through a logical journey.
For example, a "Become a Web Developer" course could have sections like "HTML", "CSS", "JavaScript", "Web Design", "Project Builds" etc.
Sequence Lessons Strategically
Arrange lessons to progress from easier concepts to more advanced. Build on and connect earlier lessons to reinforce retention and comprehension.
Combine Learning Formats
Blend lectures, readings, exercises, quizzes, discussions and multimedia together into your curriculum to optimize engagement.
Include Assessments
Incorporate graded assignments, quizzes, and exams to evaluate student progress, reinforce retention and prepare them for real-world application.
Summarize Key Takeaways
Wrap up each section by distilling the most vital takeaways, so students don‘t miss key points.
A strategic curriculum provides the blueprint for successfully guiding students from Point A to Point Z in their learning journey.
Step 4 – Set Up Your LearnWorlds Website
Once you‘ve chosen your online course topic and defined the curriculum, it‘s time to set up your LearnWorlds website.
Here are the steps to get your course site up and running:
Sign Up and Select a Plan
First, sign up for a paid LearnWorlds plan. The Pro plan starting at $79/month is best for serious course creators.
Choose an Eye-Catching Template
Browse LearnWorld‘s designer template library and select a template that establishes the look, feel and branding for your course site.
Customize Your Website
Use LearnWorlds‘ drag and drop builder to customize your template by modifying colors, fonts, layouts and other design elements to match your brand.
Set Up Your Payment Gateway
Integrate your payment processing accounts into LearnWorlds so you can accept payments seamlessly from global students.
Enable Student Accounts
Activate the option to let buyers create student accounts when they purchase your course for ongoing access to your materials.
With your polished LearnWorlds site set up, you‘re ready start creating amazing course content.
Step 5 – Create Engaging Online Course Content
Now for the fun part—actually producing the lessons and instructional content for your course!
Follow these tips and best practices:
Record Concise Video Lessons
Videos are the most engaging online course format. Keep them focused at 5-10 minutes. Speak conversationally into the camera to build rapport.
Accompany Videos with Summaries
Provide written summaries highlighting the key takeaways from each video lesson for quick student reference.
Incorporate Multimedia
Blend videos with PDF cheat sheets, slide decks, live webinars, infographics, audio podcasts and more to stimulate different learning preferences.
Develop Assessments
Create practice exercises, self-assessments, and graded tests to evaluate progress and reinforce retention of course concepts.
Curate Complementary Bonus Materials
Enrich your core curriculum with bonus downloads like workbooks, datasets, templates, apps and other tools students can use.
Optimize for SEO
Use relevant keywords in titles, filenames, alt text, metadata so your content attracts search traffic.
Check Quality and Accuracy
Proofread all materials carefully for errors, typos or technical problems before publishing your content.
Creating polished, media-rich course content is the key to satisfied students who learn effectively. Invest time developing great lessons.
Step 6 – Promote Your Online Course
You‘ve created an amazing online course—now it‘s time to get the word out! Here are the top strategies to promote your course:
Leverage Social Media
Promote your course launch across platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Post teasers and discounts.
Run Facebook & Instagram Ads
Create paid ads targeted to your student avatar‘s demographics and interests. Drive them to your course sales page.
Build an Email List
Offer opt-in incentives to rapidly grow your email list. Send emails announcing your new course.
Recruit Affiliates
Partner with relevant bloggers, influencers and brands to promote your course as affiliates. Offer commissions for sales driven.
Land Joint Venture Partners
Strategically partner with complementary businesses who can promote your course to their audience in exchange for a share of revenue.
Get Featured on Relevant Podcasts
Pitch podcasters in your niche for interviews where you can organically mention your new course to their listeners.
Present at Industry Events
Look for speaking opportunities at conferences related to your field where you can establish yourself as an expert while spreading the word on your course.
Write Guest Posts
Secure guest posting spots on blogs serving your target audience. This raises awareness and links back to your website.
Publish Instructional Blog Content
Create free blogs and tutorials to offer value while demonstrating your expertise. Link back to your premium course for those wanting deeper training.
An aggressive, multi-channel promotional strategy will maximize your course‘s reach and student enrollments.
Step 7 – Deliver an Exceptional Student Experience
Your job doesn‘t stop when a student enrolls in your course. You need to wow them with an amazing experience.
Here are ways to delight your students:
Provide Clear Getting Started Instructions
Welcome students and provide clear, step-by-step instructions to access course materials so they can start strong.
Offer Stellar Ongoing Support
Respond quickly to any student questions, issues or concerns. Be readily available to support their learning journey.
Send Follow Up Emails
Check in periodically via email after enrollment to ask for feedback, share updates, offer assistance, and drive engagement.
Stimulate Discussions
Leverage LearnWorlds‘ built-in forums and social features to foster an active learning community filled with discussions between students.
Continuously Add New Content
Refresh your course regularly with new bonus downloads, expert interviews, updated lectures, relevant resources, and more value.
Reward Course Completion
Offer badges, certificates or rewards to students who complete assessments and finish your course—this incentivizes learning.
Providing 5-star support and student experience leads to higher satisfaction, completion rates and referrals. Online courses are a relationship business!
Final Thoughts
I hope this guide provided an in-depth overview of the entire process to create successful online courses with LearnWorlds!
Here are the key takeaways:
- Online courses allow you to monetize your expertise through high value content
- LearnWorlds is the premier platform for creating and selling online courses
- Choose hot topics strategically based on demand, trends, experience and passion
- Clearly define your target student avatar to craft resonating content
- Map out an organized course curriculum focused on concrete outcomes
- Setup your LearnWorlds site and payment processing
- Produce awesome course content incorporating a variety of formats
- Promote your course across multiple channels to maximize reach
- Deliver incredible ongoing student experiences that exceed expectations
The world needs more knowledgeable experts like you to create empowering education through online courses. You now have all the tools needed to share your experience and make an impact while generating a great income stream.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up for LearnWorlds today and start changing lives!
Wishing you tremendous success!
[Your Name]