This is the first of a multi-part series on the many ways creators can make money online.
There are so many potential products and services creators can offer to their audience. This series aims to give you a clear understanding of what’s available, help you determine which products or services are the right fit, provide actionable steps for getting started, and introduce core marketing and sales strategies.
Digital Courses
Courses are a go-to starting point for many creators looking to monetize their knowledge and expertise. The popularity of courses stems from:
- Low barriers to entry for creation. Online courses can be made with little technical know how and at a relatively low cost.
- High profit margins. Course content that is highly popular or evergreen, can be sold repeatedly, long after initial publication.
- The ability to scale distribution easily. Online marketing options make it easier than ever to get a course in front of the right audiences, quickly.
However, online course do come with a few caveats:
- Highly competitive landscape
- Risk of low completion rates
- Marketing essential for success
Who Should Create Courses?
Courses work best for subject matter experts with an engaged audience. Before diving into course creation, make sure:
- Your audience is large and growing
- You can clearly identify a specific problem your followers face
- You’re positioned as the expert to solve that problem
Outlining Your First Course
When outlining your course, avoid dumping everything you know into it. Start by identifying the biggest problems your audience faces related to your niche. Choose just ONE core problem to focus the course on solving.
Build your course outline around tangible steps learners can take to solve that specific problem. Think in terms of how you’ll guide them from Point A to Point B. Resist the temptation to include everything you know – stay laser focused on the SINGLE problem.
If there are 13 distinct steps your learners need to solve their problem, do one video for each. This ensures your course provides maximum value.
Quick Wins
Structure your course to provide quick wins – high value tips and insights shared early and often. Don’t hold all the most valuable content for the end. Help learners see progress right away to motivate course completion.
Repurposing Content
Share snippets about your upcoming course on social media and in your email newsletter. Feature a highly tangible takeaway or transformation that your course will provide. This not only builds excitement, but encourages your audience to look into the course further and share with others who may be interested.
Once launched, repurpose sections of the course into blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters. This exponentially expands the reach of your content.
Pricing Your Course
How you price your course depends on multiple factors:
- Your level of authority or expertise
- The size of your audience
- The production quality of your offering
- The value of the problem you’re solving (it is urgent or difficult to solve)
For your first course, start on the affordable end. Price testing lets you find the sweet spot between maximizing access and making profits.
Once launched, coupon codes and bundling are an effective way to test higher price points.
Marketing Your Course
Here are some key consideration for getting the word out about your new course:
- Start promoting early – weeks or months pre-launch
- Highlight benefits and outcomes – not just course contents
- Emphasize the transformation learners will experience
- Leverage affiliates and partnerships to expand reach
- Repurpose course content across all your channels
Patience and persistence pay off. Most successful courses take multiple launches to gain traction. Keep nurturing your audience, refining based on feedback, and expanding marketing efforts.
Remember that your knowledge and expertise already contains everything you need to create products and services with life-changing value. The goal is to translate what you know into profitable offerings and get them into the hands of those who need them most.
In Part 2, we’ll expand on other income avenues like webinars, workshops, summits and live events.
Watch Part 1 in full on the Level Up Creators Podcast on YouTube.
