The benefits of creating (and selling) online courses

Now is the perfect time to get onboard this business trend

The world seemingly stopped, and it’s something none of us could predict (although there’s a tonne of conspiracy theories we won’t get into!).

So many businesses have been forced to rethink the way they operate. For businesses like mine who were already working in the online space, things remained relatively stable (which I’m so grateful for). 

But for many of my clients who are coaches and consultants, they felt the crunch. They could no longer create training events, meet with clients in person, run workshops and so on. 

They were left wondering what they should be doing to keep their business afloat.

I suggested creating an online course

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a massive surge in people wanting to do online courses. They’re either wanting to upskill or change their career direction due to job losses or the changing environment of their workforce. 

It’s grown so much in fact, that the online course industry is set to be $275billion by 2022! That’s huge. 

If you’ve previously run in-person workshops or events, now is the best time to swap these into virtual, online courses. You’ll find that with the right set up and marketing, you’ll probably sell more online courses than you ever did in person!

The top 4 benefits of creating an online course for your business

1. People love online (virtual) learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how popular online learning is. Yes, we are forced to do everything online, but the rise in sales of online courses has boomed more than in-person courses ever have. People are using this time to retrain, upskill and change direction, and online courses are making this easy for people to do. People can learn in their own time and can re-watch or re-read the content until they fully understand the topic. 

2. You’ll reach a global audience 

The beauty of online courses is that anyone in the world can gain access. It doesn’t matter about location and time zones as the training isn’t live (online courses are generally pre-recorded). You can advertise your course to a broader audience and even test the waters of an overseas market if you choose too.

3. You’ll make passive income for years to come

Once you’ve put in the hard yards and created your online course, it will become a passive income earner for you. You may have questions or assignments from students that you need to answer, but the majority of your work has been done. You may even find that students start asking you for more training, so you can create more and more online courses to suit your audience. Remember, they don’t always have to be massive courses. You can create smaller ones with a lower budget if you need to.

4. You cater to all learning styles

We all learn in different ways. Some people are visual learners, others need to read the material for it to sink in, and some could be a mix of both. Keep this in mind when you’re creating your online course. Most courses have a mix of videos along with workbooks, notes and a copy of the PowerPoint to help students learn how do best.

So, how do you create a winning online course?

You will need to be a bit strategic when you’re planning your online course. You need to know your audience and what they want. And if you don’t know what they want, ask them! Create free giveaways that are a sample of your course (or the idea you have) and see how well received they are. 

It will take some planning. If you already run workshops, you’re half-way there! You need to film some videos and plan out how you’ll present it to students. If you don’t already have training material, look at your blogs for inspiration. What did your audience love? What were you teaching? 

When you sit down and nut it out, you’ll find you have so much knowledge you can share with people.

Are you going to jump on the online course wagon?

If you’ve got an idea for an online course, or if you’ve already got training material that you need to change to suit an online course, CloudXS Digital is here to help you. We’re Thinkific experts and know all the ins and outs of setting up online courses that work. You come up with the content; we’ll make it look amazing online! 

If you’d like more information about how we help you build online courses, please visit the website. 

And if you haven’t already, please download your free copy of our online course planning template

Disclosure: Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I only promote services that I personally use and love. I will be paid a small commission if you use this link to make a purchase.

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