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by Karl

How to Sell Online Courses ($50,000+ Seller Shares His Secrets)

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How to sell online courses

How to Sell Online Courses ($50,000+ Seller Shares His Secrets)

Home / Learning / How to Sell Online Courses ($50,000+ Seller Shares His Secrets)
How to sell online courses
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Hey, online course creators. Welcome to my complete guide on how to sell online courses.

This is a REAL guide on how to actually sell online courses based on how I made $50,000+ from a single course. That includes designing your course, developing marketing assets, and marketing the product itself.

Every other guide to selling courses online that’s ranking for this term is soulless, corporate, and written by someone who has never once marketed a course in their lives.

Not this one.

The problem is that course platforms like Kajabi, Thinkific, and Udemy will purposely hide information from you or even give bad advice so you’re forced to use their product.

It took me years of mistakes and countless hours learning from marketing experts how to do this, so if I were you, I’d listen up.

In this guide, I walk you step-by-step through how I create online courses and how I marketed my SEO course to reach the level I’m at today. Including:

  • Selling online courses basics like creating your own website
  • Which online course platforms are best
  • How to design and create an online course
  • How to price your course
  • How to make a killer course sales page
  • How to launch and grow an online business
  • How to leverage communities and Facebook groups to grow your business
  • Simple ways to market your course for free
  • How to build a sales funnel and combine it with email marketing to add rocket fuel to your sales

Let’s jump right in.

The Basics: How to Build a Profitable Online Course

How to earn money from selling your online course

In case you’re new to this game, I want to cover some of the absolute basics about finding the right idea, how courses work, what gear you need, and finding a course platform.

Why?

Because selling online courses starts with making an online course that people actually want to buy AND tell all of their friends about.

Happy students are how you make money. If you don’t want to make something genuinely helpful and fun to watch, go sign up for Udemy and waste your life away fighting the rest of the rejects.

It’ll also help to cover some of the basics to make sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row before pumping money into selling it. You don’t want to start sinking money into a S*** course that nobody wants to buy.

Moving along…

Step 1 – Find the Right Subject Matter

Expert online course building that sells

Look, let me level with you.

If you aren’t already an expert on any subject, then you aren’t ready to make an online course.

Facts.

You can’t just wake up one day and think, “Hey, let me see where the gap in the market is and build a six-figure course on it!”

That’s all internet lies. I don’t know a single successful course creator who hadn’t already put years of sweat into their topic. So, we’re going to skip over the “but which topic should I even make a course on?” BS. Because that’s exactly what it is.

What I can help you with is taking your area of expertise and honing in on a particular area.

Drilling down into a niche-within-a-niche makes it easier to tailor content to your target market, create a better course, and market it to your audience.

When I first made my SEO course, I had to figure out exactly which type of course I wanted to make. Everyone and their grandma has an SEO course these days (SEO for grandmas actually sounds like a great idea…).

So, I had to take it a step further. What type of SEO? SEO for whom? SEO and (insert another niche here).

These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself:

  • Which audience within my niche is underserved?
  • What is my unique take on my area of expertise (SEO for dummies or SEO in 30 days)?
  • Which particular skill within my expertise needs its own course (the ultimate keyword research course)?
  • Do I have a particular style I can teach to people (high-value links only – an SEO course for elite SEOs)?

Successful online courses almost always have a unique angle.

Here are a few examples to follow:

  • The Affiliate Lab: How to create an affiliate SEO site from scratch and flip it.
  • Web Copy Masterclass: How to write unique product reviews that convert.
  • How to Create Your First Website: Web design for complete beginners.
  • Vegetable Gardening: How to grow healthy vegetables at home and cook them in your own meals.
  • Yoga With Adrienne: Fast, simple yoga for people with busy schedules.

Long story short: Take your area of expertise, drill down to a specific niche, and then find a unique angle (for busy people, for dummies, for home use, for big teams, etc.).

Step 2 – Outline and Organize Your Content

Structure and organization are key factors when creating online courses

My first course had no structure. It was basically just 60 videos, each with its own tip. I didn’t even organize anything into modules. I just kind of advice-vomited 60 ideas into Teachable and hoped for the best.

Don’t be like me…

Students want short, digestible videos in a logical structure from top to bottom. This is how all learning works. It’s like learning a language. You don’t just learn a new word every day then, voila, you’re fluent in Spanish or whatever.

You start with the basics, move into more advanced grammar, and then into specialized situations. And finally, one day, hasta la vista, baby.

The same goes for your course.

Start with an overall goal like my students will be able to get a full-time job at an SEO agency. Work backward from there. Which skills do they need? List them all out. Then build them into blocks from basic to intermediate to advanced.

Each module should be broken down into separate sections, and both sections and modules should have introductory videos explaining exactly what you’ll cover and the outcomes.

You need users to get little wins along the way or they’re going to get bored and watch YouTube (clicks back over to poker highlights…).

Step 3 – Get the Right Equipment and Software

Use best software and equipment

There’s no reason to buy a HD camera and video editing software for your first course. In fact, that’s probably against your best interest.

Most course creators give up because they take the hard road and try to make a feature-length movie on their first go-round. That’s not how it works.

You don’t need to film in the Caymans sipping a Mai Tai to sell courses. Some of the best, highest-ticket courses are just screen shares. My first course was.

Students care about the value of the content more than the production value. Just record your screen, teach, and get on with it.

And take it from me, if this is your first course, you won’t have any idea how to produce an amazing, visually stunning course anyway.

Just focus on making a valuable course first. Save the Hollywood stuff for your next course.

You only need a few things:

  • Screencasting and editing software: Just get software that can record your screen and audio at the same time. I used Camtasia. It’s great for beginners and can handle your screen, audio, and even video at the same time. You can edit the videos directly inside Camtasia too. All these articles recommending Final Cut Pro are out of their minds. We aren’t making Game of Thrones. This is online courses.
  • A good mic: A simple lavalier/lapel mic will do just fine. You could get a more advanced studio-style mic like the Yeti, but it’s not necessary. I used a lapel mic and the audio came out fantastic.
  • A good desk lamp: If you are showing your ugly mug, get some dang lighting, please. I hate feeling like I’m watching some evil mastermind’s ransom video where the instructor’s face is hidden by shadows.

Step 4 – Price Your Course Properly

Incentivize potential students with incredible course prices

Pricing is always a dicey subject, but I’ve learned something extremely valuable over the past few years:

You’re much better off sacrificing money in the beginning because you’ll make it up 10-fold down the road.

What I mean is that you might lose out on money by underpricing your course, but you’ll make it up exponentially by getting more students, adding them to your email list, and growing your following.

For example, you could price a course at $499. People will value it more and you’ll have fewer students to manage. But people will also expect more from it and expect more help from you.

They may even expect a hands-on community or coaching from you. You’ll also have a smaller email list because fewer people will buy (theoretically).

Conversely, say you price that same course at $299. Now, you’ll get way more people to buy it. $299 is comfortably within the impulse buying range for most working professionals.

See the benefit here? Now you’ll have more students, which equals more people to email other offers to, and more people to spread the word to their friends.

It’s a delicate dance.

My advice is this:

  • See how competitors are pricing their courses
  • Determine if you offer more or less value
  • Decide how you’ll position yourself. Are you an elite course? Then, go higher. Are you an introductory course? Then, go lower.
  • Experiment with pricing in A/B testing and see how much people are willing to pay
  • Remember my advice about going lower to grow your following

Step 5 – Choose the Right Online Course Platform

This was the first mistake I made. I chose Teachable off the recommendation of a friend.

Terrible idea.

The difficult thing here is that as a new course creator, you won’t know your platform sucks until it’s already too late. Once you upload videos, start bringing in students, and get some sales, it’s almost impossible to switch.

Your course platform will be your command center, and if it’s lacking features or limits you in any major ways, you’ll be handcuffed.

There are 3 industry-standard online course platforms. Pretty much everyone I know in the online course business uses only one of them. They each serve a specific purpose, so make sure to get the right one.

1. Kartra – The Best All-In-One Course Platform for Beginners

Choose the best online course platform example one

Price: Starting from $99/month

TL;DR: The simplest way to start selling courses online. Everything you need is in one place with no major restrictions. Kartra handles your videos, marketing, customer service, landing pages, and even customer relationship management (CRM) in one place.

Kartra is the gold standard for new course creators. Everything is super simple and there’s little to no learning curve. It does all of the following:

  • Host videos
  • Email marketing
  • Landing pages
  • Customer service
  • Customer tagging
  • Membership sites
  • Affiliates
  • Checkout optimization

As a beginner, this saves you from having to buy 10 different tools and duct tape them all together. Most new course creators get overwhelmed and just give up when it’s time to start marketing.

With Kartra, it’s all just a click away on one simple dashboard for less than $100 a month. The cool thing is that Kartra gives you all its key features even in the lowest plan, so you don’t have to upgrade until you're ready to grow.

If this is your first course, there’s a 90% chance you need Kartra. Everything else is more complicated and more expensive.

2. ThriveCart – The Best Option for Serious Marketers (And Cheap Too!)

Choose the best online course platform example two

Price: Starting from $495 LIFETIME

TL;DR: The best course platform deal in existence. ThriveCart lets you run an online course business for a $495 flat fee. Pay once and never pay again.

That’s a steal for a tool that hosts your videos, optimizes conversions, and drastically increases sales and customer value. It’s just harder to get the hang of.

ThriveCart is a learning platform and eCommerce checkout cart software for course creators who want to be in more control of their business. It lets you do pretty much anything, but the learning curve is a bit steeper.

ThriveCart has a few major advantages over Kartra:

  1. More conversions: ThriveCart exists to convert more visitors into customers. All the templates, forms, layouts, and features are designed specifically to make you more on every sale.
  2. More control: Kartra is dead simple, but once you’re in, you can’t get out. ThriveCart is less controlling. You can add anything you want, use any payment processor you want, easily integrate other tools and platforms, or set up just about any type of funnel you want. It just requires more work to do it.
  3. Pricing: Kartra is cheap, but nothing compares to $495 for life (or $690 with an upgrade). For about 6 months of Kartra, you get a LIFETIME of ThriveCart. Hell, even if it’s harder, you’ve got your whole life to figure it out.

If you don’t mind a learning curve in exchange for lower pricing and more control, ThriveCart is for you.

3. Kajabi – The Ultimate Online Learning Platform

Choose the best online course platform example three

Price: Starting from $149/month

TL;DR: Kajabi is the ultimate platform for coaches and course creators. It’s like Kartra on HGH. Kajabi gives you everything you need to plan, grow, and manage online courses AND build a thriving brand with your own app, podcast, and community.

Kajabi is for course creators who dream big. If you want to build an empire and control it from the ultimate command center, Kajabi is it.

Kajabi is more of a complete brand platform than a course creation tool. On top of all your videos, Kajabi also lets you make:

  • Your own complete website
  • A branded mobile app
  • Podcasts, communities, and memberships

It’s also got Kajabi University, the best online resource for learning how to create, market, and sell courses.

To put it simply: If you want to make a course or two, get Kartra. If you want to build a massive personal brand ecosystem, use Kajabi.

The Ultimate Online Course Digital Marketing Guide

Market your online course

There’s the easy way and the hard way to do this. I’ve already done it the hard way, and the hard way sucks. You’ll waste tons of time and money, and you’ll get nowhere.

If you want to do it the easy way, follow this guide step-by-step. If you don’t, everything could go wrong.

My Biggest Online Course Mistakes

  1. Not having any upsells in place (lost out on thousands of dollars in free money easily)
  2. Not creating a proper funnel (wasted tons of money on ads that didn’t convert)
  3. Creating a bland course page (nobody bought my course until I redesigned it)
  4. Choosing a terrible course platform (can’t even find words for how bad this was)
  5. Waiting 2 years to make a Facebook community (lost out on thousands in consultations and course purchases)

So, again. Do not be like me. Just do this right the first time.

Don’t ask me why I’m doing this. I don’t even know why myself. But for some reason or another, I’m going to give you a peek under the hood of everything I do to market my courses.

I normally charge for this stuff….

Selling Online Courses: The Easy Stuff

Selling online course easy way

Ready to sell the S*** out of your first online course?

Let’s get it popping.

Step 1 – Write a Killer Course Sale Page

Sales page for your online course example one

First things first: Slap a conversion machine of a sales page up there.

99% of online courses just use a template page. DO NOT be one of these people. You need serious, conversion-focused sales pages that hook a reader’s attention and make a sale.

A template with a meh headline and some BS promises isn’t going to cut it.

I hired a legit pro to come in and write my sales copy and it completely changed everything. I went from a few sales here and there to a conversion rate close to 10%. That’s wild.

The Ideal Course Page Layout

  • A big headline: Say who your course is for and give it some oomph. People love convenience, greed, and time savings. Tell them they can master a skill, make money, or get a job fast even with no experience. The key here is to make your unique selling point shine. Is your course backed by real data? Is it a complete blueprint? Is it simple and fast? Is it made for complete dummies? Focus on your unique selling point, give it energy, and explain why it’s better.
  • A story: Tell them your superhero origin story. You were bitten by a radioactive spider in your garden and this gave you a green thumb that instantly turns dirt into healthy sunflower seeds…and you’re going to show them how…
  • Trust badges: Show badges of expertise, certifications, and outlets you’ve been featured on (more on this later).
  • Student testimonials: Get happy students to write or record testimonials describing their journey, the outcome, and where they stand now. “Before I was a total beginner, but now I’m a certified programmer making six figures a year!”
  • Benefits: What will they get out of this course? How will it make their lives better? Which headaches will disappear?
  • Features: What comes with the course and why are they better than any other online course’s features?
  • A peek inside: Show some screenshots of your course content. Just a few images of what comes inside the course or a preview video will do.
  • Bonuses: Add 2-3 bonuses and say how much their value is. Explain that these bonuses normally cost a ton of money but they’re yours FREE because you’re such a charitable person.
  • An appeal to emotion and logic: They can go on suffering, wandering the desert with no water, and hating their lives. Or they can buy this amazing course from you and never suffer again. And it’s at a discount for a limited time!

Step 2 – Upsells, Cross-Sells, Downsells, Left and Right Sells

Upsell your online course

Imagine getting an extra $200, $300, or even $500 just by asking for it. Seriously, all you have to do is ask for it.

Come on bro, the worst she can say is no.

It’s true though.

It drives me INSANE when online course entrepreneurs don’t have any upsells in place. It’s literally free money.

I should have done this from the beginning, but I had no clue what I was doing. Lucky for you, you get to learn from my mistakes.

An upsell, add-on, cross-sell, or down-sell is an extra offer made to the customer before they check out. They’re all slightly different, but they’re basically the same. You’re asking the customer, “Do you want fries with that?” before they pay.

An upsell could be a one-hour consultation with you or a 21-day paid challenge. An add-on might be an extra module of training videos or physical products.

For example, a gardening course add-on could be gardening tools sent directly to their door or your favorite mix of seeds (is this even a thing?).

Have these in place BEFORE you start running traffic to your site. This could mean thousands of extra dollars in your pocket with zero extra work. It’s the ultimate life hack.

Step 3 – Set Up Your Affiliate Program

This might not pay dividends until further down the line, but get it set up now.

The easiest way is to create a welcome email with key information that automatically gets sent to every new student. Inside that email, explain you have a “refer a friend” program. This is why choosing the right learning management system is so important.

Some platforms, like Teachable, are absolute trash that should be burnt and never spoken of again. Others, like Kartra or ThriveCart, give you way more freedom to make programs like these.

At the very least, you should encourage new students to contact you about becoming affiliates for your product. Make them a unique affiliate link and a coupon code, and get them to start spreading the word.

Reward the highest earners and keep track of underperforming affiliates.

When you notice that they haven’t made a single sale, send them tips about how to increase conversions or threaten them with physical violence (THAT IS A JOKE, DON’T HURT ANYONE).

Step 4 – Start a Facebook Group (Or Related Community)

Manage online communities

Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Facebook—do whatever floats your boat. Just get a group together.

I prefer Facebook because you can easily make a branded niche group that doesn’t look like you’re trying to sell your course. That’s the best way to get sales.

My advice is to create a Facebook group in your niche but NOT related to your course. So, if you’ve got a yoga course, start a yoga fitness group. If you’ve got a gardening course, start a gardening group. But don’t make it obvious that it’s to sell your course.

Provide as much free value as you can. 1-2 authority posts per week will do fine. Share case studies, share student testimonials, and create discussion questions like “what’s your favorite vegetable to grow in summer?”

Once a month or so, you can throw in a promo for your course or share a student success story. For example, “Greta just lost 10 kg eating only vegetables from her garden. Read her story here!” Then, link to your landing pages with a coupon code for your course.

Boom. Money. Happiness. Moving along.

There's also way more advanced community platforms out there but you'll need those once you actually have a marketing and sales channel figured out, and some real students.

Step 5 – Invite Free Beta Testers

Beta testing is essential

I know the idea of giving away your baby (figuratively…please don’t abandon your children) sounds cringe, but hear me out.

You’ll want 5-10 QUALIFIED students to take your course before you rev your sales engines. There are a few reasons for this:

  1. You want initial affiliates to get the word out
  2. You need student testimonials to make more sales
  3. You need at least a few people to test it and see if it’s actually any good or not

Getting that initial feedback is a game-changer. It’s easy to be totally blinded by your own expertise and ego. This can lead to a course that’s more for you than for students.

I invited about 10 or so initial testers who gave me amazing feedback. I realized I had to add in some extra “bridge videos” to help lead from one section to another and cover a few topics I’d missed.

I also got heaps of testimonial videos from happy students that I shared in my Facebook group and on my course pages.

This 100% works. Get an initial group of students to test your course.

Selling Online Courses: The Advanced Stuff

If you really want to sell online courses, you’ll have to kick it up a notch at some point. Facebook, affiliates, and happy students will only get you so far in online business.

Before we get into how to really sell courses online, I have to warn you about the #1 mistake entrepreneurs make when selling online courses.

The #1 Online Courses Marketing Mistake

Read this carefully, my friend:

DO NOT start running ads to your sale page.

Don’t. Do. It.

Anyone who tells you to do that is either a complete idiot or a direct competitor…or maybe they have some personal vendetta against you for picking on them in high school.

It might work if you’ve got a super cheap course. But even then it’s dicey.

Even if you have a targeted audience, running ads directly to a “buy now” page is a money pit. And it’s super hard to track everything. You’ll be throwing money into something totally blind with no way to measure anything.

I don’t know a single successful online course creator who does this. Remember, this ISN’T EASY. You’ve got to put in the work.

Here’s what to do instead…

Step 1 – Start By Creating a Free Lead Magnet

Lead magnet marketing strategy for selling online courses

A lead magnet (or tripwire) is a free piece of value meant to demonstrate the main value of buying your course. You give a tidbit of free value, ignite that oh-so-sweet dopamine rush, and THEN, gradually sell them your course.

So, instead of running ads to your course pages, you should be pushing your lead magnet.

This could literally be anything of value related to your course.

Some simple ideas are:

  • A checklist
  • An eBook
  • Any type of helpful PDF document you can think of like a template

If you’ve got happy students, you could even do a case study describing the student’s journey and happy outcome either in a video or book form.

If you really want to put in some elbow grease, you can create a webinar using a tool like WebinarJam. Webinars are super high-value, but they’re a ton of work. If you’re selling a high-ticket course ($500), I highly suggest creating one.

Step 2 – Create a Stepping Stone (Optional but Recommended)

I once had lunch with a marketer for a dropshipping training program. He told me they were selling a $3,000+ course with hands-on training. NOT cheap.

It takes a lot of heavy lifting to get someone to go from googling “dropshipping course” to spending $3,000. Makes sense.

He wasn’t making any sales…until he had an amazing idea…

What if he instead sold a $9 eBook detailing why dropshipping was such a great business, how you could make a fortune, what you’d learn in the course, and student success stories? Now that’s a lot easier to sell.

Then something amazing happened—a ton of people who bought the book ended up buying the full course.

See the magic there?

By selling a “step stone” product, you get the customer to make a very simple but powerful decision to pay you. You’re now eliminating all the timewasters who weren’t going to pay you from the beginning.

Now, you’re “speaking” to an audience full of people willing to get their credit cards out and do business.

The more expensive your course, the more you need a stepping-stone product.

Step 3 – Set Up a Full Funnel

ClickFunnels software for selling online courses

The end goal of online course creation is to have a complete sales funnel working 24/7 while you chat with other entrepreneurs about why trading time for money is so 1823.

Once you have a funnel working, you shouldn’t have to do much, if any, more work. Your only responsibility will be to monitor, test, and tweak this magic funnel and work on your next course.

The good news here is that you already have most of your assets in place already.

A simple funnel would look like this:

Lead magnet -> landing page where you capture email -> get email address -> sell main product -> upsells/add-ons

You’ve already got your lead magnet and main product, right?

So all you need is some funnel software like ClickFunnels (Kartra has a built-in funnel feature) and some extra assets.

  1. Start by creating a simple landing page for your online course lead magnet (keep it very simple—describe what they get with the lead magnet and get their email)
  2. Give them a deal of a lifetime. Once they download the lead magnet, hit them with a big discount on your course and say they’ll never see this price again
  3. Set up an email sequence to “welcome” new signups

Since email is super important, let’s cover that in its own section.

Step 4 – Set Up Email Sequences

It’s a well-kept secret that if you want to sell online courses, it’s all about the email address. It’s all in that beautiful little list.

The cool thing about creating online courses is once you have that list, you can pummel them half to death with emails over and over and over. Eventually, someone will bite.

I have about 500 highly targeted students on my main list. They’ve all already bought from me, so I know they’re open to more. Once a month, I send out a consultation email telling them an hour of my time is 40% off if they respond soon.

Some inevitably do. Free money.

But you aren’t there yet.

You need a sequence for your funnel. Successful online course creators NAIL the welcome sequence. There are a few things you need to do:

  • Tell an engaging story: Explain how you came to learn your skill and why you want to sell courses online.
  • Display customer success stories: Use the welcome email to showcase other students who’ve taken your online course.
  • Display expertise: Use one of your welcome sequence emails to show your skill in action. Show how you helped someone master a skill or make a lot of money. Remember, all your online courses should be based on a skill that you are an expert in.
  • Free value: Use at least one email to give some free tips that will help the reader improve in their desired area.
  • Make an offer: After you’ve given sufficient value and proof, hit them with an offer. Anyone who buys your online course should go into a separate nurturing sequence where you keep them around and occasionally offer more products and services. Anyone who doesn’t buy should be put into a separate email sequence where you sell cheaper products and services until they’re ready to buy your full online course.

Note: This is why I recommend Kartra to all beginners selling online courses. It has all of these marketing tools in one powerful package. You can build your entire marketing strategy without even clicking out of Kartra.

It covers email marketing, content marketing, blogging, upsells, sales landing pages, and nearly every other marketing tool (besides paid ads) for your digital course. It’s super beginner-friendly and makes building a marketing strategy 10x easier.

Step 5 – Get the Word Out

It’s time to put out the Bat Signal. Start shining that light for all Gotham to see. Let them know that your online course is on the market.

This requires a lot of legwork on your part, but I highly recommend that you DON’T outsource or automate this with some spammy outreach tools. People want real, authentic outreach messages in their inboxes. We’re all tired of the “Do yOU wANt 2 mAKe $$$ onLiNe?” BS.

There are a few ways to do this. Here’s what I do:

  • Get published on industry sites: Google your niche (e.g., “gardening websites” or “yoga newsletters”) and start hitting the keys. All these sites are dying for fresh content. Publish articles or features on any site that will let you. Make sure to provide value by giving tips and telling your story. Then simply add a link to your online course at the end.
  • Get featured in industry reviews: Tons of online business sites publish “top 5 courses for (topic)” articles. You’d be surprised how many of these there are and how many open spots there are too. Contact each site and offer to give them an affiliate commission for featuring you in the top spot or anywhere on the list for that matter.
  • Do “ask me anything” (AMAs): Doing an AMA on a Facebook group, Reddit, or an industry forum is a great way for interested people to interact with you and ask questions about your course. Facebook group AMAs have worked wonders for me.
  • Consider making a free course: I knew it would come to this. I wanted to keep my least favorite part about online courses until the bitter end. Here it is…my confession. There is some value in creating a free course and putting it on Udemy or Coursera. Display some of your key value points in your free content, and preview what’s to come in your main course. Then, link to your main course with a coupon code for all users. Just don’t tell anyone I told you to make free courses.
  • Attend industry events: After reading 5,000 words about selling online courses, it’s easy to forget there’s a real world out there with human beings, birds, happiness, and the sun. But there is, my friend. There is. Go out there and attend industry events in any major city near you. Hand out business cards for your course website. Hell, maybe you can even give a talk if you ask nicely.

How to Sell Online Courses: Final Thoughts

Selling online courses is NOT easy. It’s simple, but not easy.

It all starts with creating a focused course for a market that needs teaching. If you create a great product, that’s 90% of the battle. Build it and they will come.

Selling online courses

Once you’ve got a great course, you should do the following. I know because this is exactly what I do for my own online course, and it’s working like a charm. If you want to sell courses online, here’s what to do:

  • Create upsells and add ons
  • Create an amazing sales page for your online course
  • Create a Facebook group for your online course niche
  • Create an affiliate program for your online course
  • Create a lead magnet (online business 101)
  • Use that lead magnet to get email addresses
  • Hit that email list with value emails until they’re ready to buy your online course
  • Get featured in industry outlets with a blog post and product reviews for “best online course for (niche)” search terms
  • Make profit and sip margaritas

You can’t build profitable online courses in a day. Take it step-by-step. Start with the easy stuff first.

Once you’ve got a group of happy students and good reviews, you’ve got all the ammo you need to really sell online courses. Use those reviews as advertisements and trust signals on your online course page.

You can do this. If not, you could always pay me to do it… I’m serious.

Good luck!

Selling Online Courses F.A.Q.

Q: What is the best place to sell online courses?

A: The best place to sell online courses is Kartra, ThriveCart, or Kajabi. If you want to sell courses online, they should include most, if not all, of the features you need to market your online course to potential customers. This includes accepting payments, building landing pages, and running marketing campaigns. You could consider something simpler for your online course like Udemy. They have a massive pool of potential customers, but if you generate revenue, they take a large percentage.

Q: How do I make a course and sell it?

A: You make an online course by having expertise on a subject, creating short, digestible videos divided into sections, and marketing your course online. You can do this all for just a few hundred dollars and generate some serious passive income. All it takes to generate revenue for a digital course is a course platform and some elbow grease. Of course, the best course sellers are also marketing experts with expertise on a popular subject. Creating and selling online courses may look simple, but it’s definitely not.

Q: Is selling online courses profitable?

A: Yes, selling online courses is extremely profitable if you have a great online course subject and make your online course properly. The reason that so many online education entrepreneurs fail is that their online training isn’t any good, and they don’t know how to create a marketing strategy that boosts course sales and earns passive income. Some online school entrepreneurs make hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars with online courses.

Q: How do I sell courses without having followers?

A: You sell courses online without having followers by growing that following via social media, a sales funnel, boots-on-the-ground hustling, paid ads, and free content to generate leads. If you want to sell courses online, you either need a platform with a large pool of potential customers or you need to build your own target audience with social media, lead magnets, free online content, consistent marketing efforts, and blog posts for search engines. Once you build a sales funnel for your online school, you can have a profitable course even without a following. The best place to start is social media.

Q: How to use social media to sell my online courses?

A: Social media is the best to start if you want to create and sell courses online. Social media groups are free and full of prospective customers. Join as many industry groups as you can on social media and start posting as much helpful advice as possible. You will eventually get a group expert badge if you contribute enough value. From there, you can link to your course on your social media profile page which sends them to your own website where you can sell your course material. If this is your first online course, social media will make all the difference in reaching your target audience free and fast.

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