Online courses has been an excellent way to make money online, especially with the Coronavirus restricting physical lectures in most parts of the world. You can easily make money teaching online.
All you need to get started is to focus on your area of interest, gather enough knowledge about the subject of your choice and start making money. There are a lot of people waiting online to buy your courses. But is it that simple?
This article will provided you with the guide you need to make money from online courses and how you can get started.
- How Much can you Make Selling Online Courses?
- Which Course is Best for Online Earning?
- Which Course is Best for Work From Home?
- How to Make Money From Online Courses
- How can you Promote Your Online Course?
How Much can you Make Selling Online Courses?
The e-learning market was worth $107 billion in 2015, $190 billion in 2018 and is expected to exceed $300 Billion by 2025. Investing in education and lifelong learning is an emerging trend among both old and young.
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Online courses have come to fill in the gaps of knowledge. A lot of people seem to prefer the comfort and flexibility of their own homes, avoiding the complexities of commuting to physical classes. But, how much can you earn from your online courses?
This varies a lot from instructor to instructor. You will have to consider a lot of factors that affect your potential revenue.
The price of the course: Are you selling a 5$ or a $500 course? This makes a huge difference on how many people you need to sell your course to make your revenue goals.
Your audience: Do you have an email list? Any social media followers? Do you have a YouTube channel with subscribers? Do you have access to partners and their network? The bigger, more engaged network, the more customers you can expect to get. If you are starting out right now, building an email list is the first step to your new online course business.
Marketing and sales experience: Have you done this before? If you already have an online business and have sold products before you are at an advantage and should expect a higher conversion rate from your audience.
Current customer loyalty: How loyal are your customers? Are they coming back for your new products or disappear? Do you have an engaged customer base?
If you are just starting out, all of the above can be learned, but you should expect a slower start than a seasoned entrepreneur.
Now, how can you calculate your potential revenue? You will need to calculate the:
Revenue = Number of your Audience x Conversion Rate x Price of the Course
If you don’t have an audience yet, you can make some hypothesis based on how many people you expect to reach out. Will it be 100 or 200 or 1000 email subscribers?
Conversion rates for online courses depends on the subject, the price and your capability to attract and sell to the right people. You can think of conversions as:
Low conversions: 0.1% to 1%
Medium conversions: 2-5%
High conversions: 6-10%
You can run the calculation on all three conversion rates 1%, 5% and 10% to see different scenarios and set your goals based on them.
Then, if you want to see if you are making a profit, you will need to subtract the expenses. Luckily, online courses do not cost anything per additional customer, but might have production or marketing expenses. This is how to think about it:
Profit = Revenue – Production costs (fixed) – Marketing expenses – Other related costs
Now, you can really calculate if your course can be profitable, how much work you need to do and how much money can you make selling online courses!
Which Course is Best for Online Earning?
If you want to make online with your courses, it is important for you to know the right course that will make you money. Although, most online courses have proven to be lucrative, there are some courses that earn money than others. We will look at some of these courses now.
Data science
A few years ago, the data science field didn’t really exist. But now every company is drowning in data, so every company needs someone to make sense of it all. People who have the requisite skills are hard to come by.
Those who understand data science and are able to explain what it is often command enviable salaries. If you have a background in any kind of science or math, upping your skills to fill this role and redefining yourself as a data scientist could boost your earnings considerably.
At EdX.org, you can earn a MicroMasters in the subject. Not ready for that sort of commitment? Take an intro class at Alison for free to see if digging data is your destiny.
Digital marketing
In the digital age, everyone needs to market what they do online. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a book, a class, a restaurant meal, or your embryonic ability to program in SCALA — you have to manage Google ads, search engines, social media, and everything that goes along with reaching web customers.
If you are the one at work who can do this, you will rule. And, fortunately for you, you can learn a great deal for free in Google’s bite-sized classes on digital marketing in the Google Digital Garage.
Learn a language
Learning a language can increase your earnings in just about any field. It might also make you smarter. Studies have found that people make better decisions when they consider their options in a language other than their native tongue.
Learn a second language! You will be smarter and richer. The harder question is which language to learn. If money is your motive, experts say you will get the biggest pay bump by learning German and the smallest by learning Spanish.
But this all depends on the supply and demand in your field and location. In some parts of the U.S., a lot of people are fluent in both English and Spanish, which means there is no supply problem. But if your workplace needs to communicate in Spain, learning German won’t help. Once you decide which language to try, the actual classes are fun — and free — at Duolingo.
Project management
According to jobs site The Ladders, understanding project management is a fast track to earning 20 percent more money than the average employee. It’s not easy, though, as you know if you have ever tried to herd kittens.
Passing the test that gets you the official certificate is a challenge you’ll want to study up for. At EdX.org, you can earn a MicroMasters in the topic or get your feet wet to see if this is for you with one overview class.
At Coursera, you can get the official Project Manager Certificate after taking a 6-month specialization class, or just find out what it’s all about with the introductory class.
Conflict management
According to online learning site Udemy, the top soft skill employers are seeking is called “conflict management.” You may be looking around your workplace and nodding in agreement right now. If you are seeking a promotion or hoping to make yourself so invaluable that you can ask for a raise without fear, this may be the skill to cultivate.
Companies spent $359 billion in paid hours in 2008 on mitigating conflict. Most recognize this is a necessary part of getting things done with humans. But they do care about how conflict is handled, especially if it leads to productive outcomes. Be that guy. The consiglieri everyone turns to for resolution.
SAS
SAS is a statistical analysis software. And, according to Payscale, knowing how, why, and when to use it could get you a significant pay bump. You might think you need to work in finance for this to matter. Apparently, that’s not so.
Even people working in marketing and other fields were more valued, and earning more, after they got nerdy and learned to analyze some data. You can do a series of courses on SAS programming at Coursera for $49 a month.
Which Course is Best for Work From Home?
Most companies put emphasis on certain skill-sets and others prefer prior experience when hiring for work from home positions. To make matters worse, you may meet scammers promising you quick riches but their real intention is to rob you of your hard-earned money.
You don’t have to go through all the trouble because there’s an easier way. Experts have come out in large numbers to create awesome work from home courses that can help you land your dream job in 30 days or fewer.
There are hundreds of course creators claiming to teach you how to make money from home, but we have narrowed it down the ones with the best track record. So, let’s have a look at the best courses for work from home.
1. Medical Transcription, Coding, & Billing From Home
CareerStep teaches medical transcription (which requires certification). You can get the training you need online in order to get certified through CareerStep.
They also offer training in medical billing & coding among other industries. They are a very reputable online school that will teach you typing skills, medical terminology, grammar and punctuation, anatomy and pharmacology, medical record types and formats, and productivity tips.
You will also be allowed to practice on authentic doctor dictations and patient records after you’ve completed the basics.
While this is a pricey course, Career Step’s training programs are approved by many industry specific organizations. Career Step offers payment plans as well to help you afford your tuition, and military spouses also receive certain financial benefits.
Course Price: Starts at $2999 (payment plans + financial assistance for military spouses available).
2. General Proofreading
If you’re great with spelling and grammar, then a home-based career in proofreading could be the ideal option for you. Proofreading is a very in-demand skill, and it’s possible to make a living (or better than just a living) offering your services as a proofreader to clients who desperately need them.
In General Proofreading: Theory & Practice (created by Caitlin Pyle), you’ll learn many things about how to get going with your own proofreading business, including:
- A general introduction to proofreading
- Types of markets to specialize in, industry terms that are used
- Proofreading basics
- Proofreading methods
- Building a website for your services, creating a resume, setting your rates
- How and where to find clients
- Working with your clients successfully
- Staying productive in your new business
You also get several great bonuses — handbook of misused words, freelancer tax guide, and some books on mastering your mindset to become successful. And more!
Course Price: $497 at the base level.
3. Bookkeeping
This is a course teaching you how to work from home, starting a virtual bookkeeping business. This course was created by Ben Robinson. He is an experienced CPA who has done this himself and is teaching you how to do it from his own experience.
One thing you may not know is that you do NOT need a degree or past experience to learn to do bookkeeping. If you opt in to the free training (intro course), you will learn:
- If bookkeeping is a fit for you.
- What tools are needed to run your business.
- How to generate repeat clients
Full Course Price: $2997 with 3-payment plan, or $2697 ($300 discount) if you pay in full. There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
4. Become a Professional Blogger
It was created by Ruth Soukup of Living Well, Spending Less — someone who currently receives over 1.5 million page views per month on her blog.
Elite Blog Academy is a guided course with twelve different units covering everything from creating awesome content to effective marketing for your blog on Pinterest and Facebook. It’s designed to take about 12 weeks to complete (one unit per week), but you’re free to work at your own pace.
There is a 100% money-back guarantee if you take the course and don’t see results.
Course Price: $897 (payment plan available).
Note this blogging course is only open once per year, usually in the spring. However, you can get on the wait list to be notified at the time it opens back up.
Elite Blog Academy also offers lots of free downloads (no strings attached) for aspiring or brand new bloggers, and we have listed some of these for you below. Download one or all of them.
- 7 Sure Ways To Boost Your Blog Income Overnight
- 120 Awesome Blog Post Ideas
- Secret Blueprint For Blogging Success
- The Small Business Bootcamp
5. Work at Home as a General Transcriber
For many people, general transcription is the ultimate non-phone job. It’s flexible work that you can do anywhere, anytime, without having to actually interact with other people. This makes it ideal for people in situations where phone jobs just aren’t possible.
TranscribeAnywhere has a self-paced eCourse providing video tutorials, worksheets, and printable PDF cheatsheets to turn you into a transcription pro, enabling you to land jobs and clients with ease and start making money! And best of all, their mini-course is FREE with no obligation to purchase the full course after you’ve gone through it.
And if you would prefer to specialize in legal transcription, there is an entire course offered for that as well.
Course Price: $597 (pay-as-you-go options available).
6. 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success
This is a virtual assistant course created by Gina Horkey. Virtual assisting is probably one of the most popular work at home career ideas out there, and there’s a lot of demand for good VAs right now. Also, it’s possible to earn $30 or more an hour as a virtual assistant running your own business!
This course details everything you need to know including:
- How to start
- Services to offer
- What to charge
- Tools to use
- Where to find clients
- and much more!
Course Price: $498 (Payment plan available).
7. Voice Over Artist
This is a very interesting and in-demand at-home career idea! Voice over artists are needed for more than you realize. You can get paid to do voice over work for web videos, radio ads, television ads, telephone surveys, audiobooks, and much more.
Julie Eickhoff has created some comprehensive training to help you get going. She’s been doing voice over work successfully since 2011, so she knows the industry inside and out.
With her e-course, you’ll learn:
- Choosing and preparing a place to start recording
- What equipment is needed to get you started recording
- Skills needed
- Where to find the work
- Running your business
- Doing the work
- Setting your rates
Julie will also give you a voice review after you’ve completed the course, plus you will get invited to join the Facebook group to connect with other people (and Julie) who are attempting to break into this industry.
Course price: $297 (Payment plan available).
8. Freelance Writing Success
This is a freelance writing course created by Gina Horkey who currently earns well over $4,000 a month as a freelance writer. The course is done entirely through your email and contains actionable information based off her own business plan to teach you how you can be successful and achieve similar results.
You will learn to:
- Choose the right niche
- Find clients
- Pitch yourself
- Set your own rates
- Source writing jobs
- and much more!
Course Price: $197
How to Make Money From Online Courses
Online education is a burgeoning market, but with all the competition, finding your way toward earning a profit off an online course can be difficult. In fact, many would-be educators wonder if it’s even possible.
Well, we believe it is. To get you started, here are 7 proven ways to make money selling courses online.
1. Charge up front
A one-off fee at the beginning of a course is usually the easiest for learners to understand—and the easiest to implement. It also fits in better with the model most of us have for paying for education. We’re used to paying for courses up-front. It’s easier to justify, and it’s less intimidating than an idea of a recurring payment that never ends.
Up-front fees also make it easier to sell more courses later on. When your learners are already paying a monthly subscription, they may hesitate to pay more because they feel they’ve already paid their dues. An up-front fee makes it easier set expectations about what users are paying for.
2. Offer the course for free, then charge for certification
This model was used successfully by Coursera to earn over $1 million in their first year. It seems counterintuitive, because you’re giving the “valuable” part of the course (the learning) way for free. But this can work to your advantage for several reasons:
- It builds trust. Learners can sign up for your course without worrying if they’re making a bad decision.
- You can quickly build an email list of interested people to market to.
- Certification has professional value—and that’s something people will pay for.
Given those benefits, charging for certification only could be the easiest way to sell your course online.
3. Charge a subscription
We’re used to paying for education up-front, like a tuition fee. But that’s not entirely true. Most of us are willing to pay recurring fees for ongoing lessons—music lessons, private tutoring, sports—so long as we believe we’ll continue to gain value from those lessons over time.
This applies to online learning as well. Learners hesitate to sign up for a subscription service if they think of their course as a once-and-done program. But creating an ongoing learning program that will keep your learners coming back indefinitely takes a lot more commitment from both you and your learners.
4. Use a tiered payment system
You don’t have to charge the same fees for every service. If you operate on a subscription model, you can have some levels be free, but then charge for “premium” functions. Similarly, you can offer free or reduced-rate introductory courses, and then start charging more once your learners get into advanced material.
5. Pre-sell your course
This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. In fact, whole sectors of the Internet are built on pre-selling products (see: Kickstarter and Indiegogo).
Pre-selling is a great idea for several reasons:
- You don’t have to guess about what your learners are interested in.
- You avoid the sunk cost fallacy, because you aren’t tempted to keep dumping resources into a course that won’t sell.
- You can use a free pilot lesson to test your idea and build up a subscriber list.
- You’ll have ample motivation to get your course made, without wasting energy anxiously wondering if it will work.
You don’t have to be shy about this, either. If you have an audience, go ahead and poll them about what course would be most useful to them. Then set up a fundraising campaign. If you don’t meet your goal, then don’t make the course.
6. Sell your online course for free—then funnel it into a product or service
Here’s another way to make money off of “free”: use your course as part of a sales funnel for something else. Maybe you have a side business selling a line of products. Create a course about how to use them. Or maybe you’ve written a self-help book: offer your course as a free perk to anyone who purchases it.
Better yet, use your online course to sell consulting services. You can set up a scheduling system online and hold private sessions with those who need one-on-one training.
Similarly, if you already have a significant online presence (you’re a blogger, you sell a successful product, you’re an online consultant), creating an online course is a natural extension of your business model. Using your platform to sell an online course is an easy way to make money off the thing you’re already doing.
7. Sell course licenses
Finally, some you can create content and sell licenses to companies that don’t want to create the course themselves. They handle the technical details, marketing, and customer service management. All you have to do is create the course and collect the annual licensing fee.
You’ll still have to market your course to the businesses and institutions that might want it, and you’ll have a longer sales cycle. But you’ll also get to charge more, and it can remove some of the management tasks from your schedule.
Of course, you may read all this and still be left wondering: will anyone want to pay for what I know?
A quick way to gauge the value of your course idea is to ask yourself: how often do people ask you for this information? If you’ve ever given a talk on a subject, pay attention to the interest levels of the audience. Did you field a lot of questions from the audience? Had you answered those questions before in other contexts?
Or, here’s another test: how many other people are offering similar courses? There’s a lot to be said for niche subjects, but it’s also true that if other people are offering courses in a subject area, it’s a sign of high demand.
If you’re still not convinced that you can make money selling courses online, test the waters. Give it away for free. See how people respond, and you may just discover you have a real money maker on your hands.
How can you Promote Your Online Course
After you have succeeded in creating your online course, one of the major challenges you will face is how to get it to your targeted audience. No matter how good your online is, you can not make money from it if your audience do not see it.
Let us now talk about some methods you can utilize to help you promote your online course and make money from it.
1. Treat Your Online Course Like a Product Launch
Though your online course is a little different from other digital products, it’s still a product. It’s something you build, promote, and sell, right? So why would you treat it any differently?
But in the meantime, do yourself a favor and build a coming soon page. Using software like SeedProd, you can build a coming soon page that lets you generate interest in your online course and grow your email list before you even create the curriculum.
As you’re trying to figure out how to promote your online course, a coming soon page may not be your first thought. But it can be surprisingly effective. It’s also a great way to test if there’s a real need for your class, and it can be a good gauge for your market research.
Another benefit is that a coming soon page buys you time. You can build leads while testing out the perfect marketing strategy for selling online courses.
The point is that you should be treating your online course exactly like a product and, thus, you need to build excitement and hype around the product’s launch.
2. Talk About Your Course on Social Media
Regardless of which social media platform you use for your business, you should start announcing some teaser information about your online course early on.
But remember, as you’re growing your social media following, don’t make all of your content posts about yourself and your course. Use your various social media channels to deliver quality content to get your target audience interested in your course.
And yes, sometimes that content will come from sources other than you.
By consistently posting quality content on social media, you’re training your audience to check in with you on a daily basis. Then when it comes time to market your own online course, you’ll have a highly engaged user-base at your fingertips.
One easy tip is to create a private Facebook group for your students. It’s a free solution to build a community on a platform most people already use. Then as people in your group start connecting, they’ll tell their network about your class.
Hence why Facebook is often used by teachers looking to sell online courses.
3. Start a Podcast to Hype Your Online Course
Everyone and their mother has a podcast right now. And for good reason. Podcasts are an excellent way to show your knowledge about a particular topic.
As you’re preparing to release your online course, you can start a podcast as a way of self-promotion.
Podcasts can be one of the best ways to market and sell courses online. But remember, as you design your podcast’s content, you need to plan what information will be free and what will be included in the paid course.
You’ll have a lot of angry students if your online course is just rehashed information from your free podcast.
4. Run a Weekly Webinar to Connect With Potential Students
This is another great option for promoting your online course if you aren’t interested in a podcast. Running a weekly webinar can be similar to a podcast, but has a major benefit:
You don’t need to constantly think up new content.
Because a webinar is usually 45–60 minutes with a structured formula, you just need to nail your webinar script once. Then you can fine-tune it over time and even release pre-recorded webinar sessions throughout the week (assuming you have the right webinar software).
But how do you promote a class with a webinar? Simple.
Create a 45–minute presentation concerning a broad topic your online class covers. Touch on pain points of your target audience and deliver a clear call to action at the end. Then run ads to your webinar and you’ll soon see how easy it is selling online courses through webinars.
Read Also: Earn a Living as a Web Hosting Service Provider
Plus, when you start getting more attendees in your audience, the size of the webinar will add some valuable social proof to your presentation.
5. Pay for Ads to Promote Your Course
It’s true what they say. Sometimes it really does take money to make money. And learning how to promote classes online is no exception.
Because in total honesty, running some paid ads can be one of the best ways to advertise your class. This will, obviously, depend on your budget, but even a simple $10 Facebook post boost can go a long way.
There are a few benefits to using paid ads over organic content marketing. Paid ads are:
- Faster at getting results
- Easier to track in terms of success
- Highly targeted to your buyer persona
Finally
Online courses are a great way to make money online if you know the right way to promote it. We have discussed some tips that can help you make money from your online course, but this will only yield result if you are willing to put in the work needed.
So what should you do now? If you have an area of interest and you are ready to create an online course around it, now is the time to get started.
Use all the tips above to promote your online course after creating it and continue to make money from it.
