How to Create and Sell an Online Course

Business

August 24, 2021

Want to work less and make more money?

No, this isn’t a scam! We’ve all heard about the elusive passive income, and those next-level entrepreneurs who somehow make money in their sleep. Chances are, it’s part of the reason you decided to start an online business in the first place. So how can you make it happen?

If you want to make passive income, there’s no better way than learning how to create and sell an online course. And today I’m spilling all my juiciest tips for how to do just that!

You’ll learn why online courses are the perfect addition to any service-based business, how to build a course from the ground up, and how to set up your marketing and funnels so you can sit back and watch the sales roll in.

If you’re looking for a way to diversify your income, or just want to make money in your sleep, read or watch below!

How to Create and Sell an Online Course: 5 Things to Consider

Rather than going into the step by step process of how to create and sell an online course, I want you to picture the following five areas we are about to go over as a wheel that keeps turning, with one area flowing continuously into the next. Each one is equally important when it comes to creating and selling your course.

Also, before we get started, there’s something I should clarify: Passive income does not mean not doing any work. Passive income means you no longer have to trade your time for money. It’s the difference between being paid x amount of dollars per hour, and making a one time investment (ie. creating a course) that continues to earn money month after month.

So yes, there is some work involved in learning how to create and sell an online course. But once you’re up and running and see those first payments coming in, I promise it will all be worth it!

Phew! Not that we got that out of the way… here are the five factors you need to consider before creating and selling your online course.

1. Identify your audience.

One of the biggest misconceptions about passive income is thinking you can get started right out of the gate, without first building up your audience. Let me tell you why that’s not a great idea: You need to have an audience to achieve passive income.

My recommendation is to start your own service-based business FIRST before branching out into passive income and online courses. Here’s why: As a service-based entrepreneur, you only need a few clients per month to make a sustainable income (depending on your prices).

Courses, on the other hand, are built to serve the masses. If only one or two people purchase your course, chances are you won’t make enough money to cover rent that month. Starting a service-based business also allows you to build trust with your audience, so when you decide to start offering courses, your audience will be more likely to buy.

This doesn’t mean you need millions of fans and subscribers, but you do need a good-sized following before you start to see any profit from online courses. If you’re ready to dive into course creation and don’t have that audience yet, I recommend you either:

Start out by offering services (read this post for inspo), or
Take a few months (minimum) to build up your audience while you work on creating your course.

Want help growing your audience? Check out my free guide to gaining 100 new ideal client followers every single week!

Get the free guide!

2. Create your course.

Now the fun part! Learning how to create and sell an online course can be overwhelming, so let’s break it down into a few key elements:

What specific problem does your course solve?

In order for people to buy your course, it has to solve some sort of problem. Be as specific as possible here! Think about what type of person would purchase your course and what specific problems they’re dealing with.

Think about it: Are you more likely to purchase a course that promises to teach you everything under the sun about online marketing OR a course that will teach you how to make $10k a month on Instagram alone? Not only will the first course be more work to create, but it also doesn’t promise to solve a specific problem.

P.S. You can check out that Instagram course here by the way 😉

Identify the process you will use to achieve transformation.

At the center of all online courses is transformation. What framework will you use in your course to take people from A to B? How will you create an environment that allows them to learn, absorb and then apply the information in your course?

Tip: Consider different learning styles when creating your course material. Incorporate different media and try a mix of audio, visuals and video.

Build your course in reverse.

Start with market research to validate your idea BEFORE you start building your course. You don’t want to waste months creating the perfect course that solves a very specific problem and then realize…oh, no one really has that problem.

Next identify the transformation you want people to achieve during your course. Go ahead and do a brain dump here, just to get all your ideas on the page! Once you have your transformation, work backwards to find the process that will achieve that end result.

A word of caution here: Don’t include everything from your brain dump in the course itself. One of the biggest mistakes I see with online course creators is trying to pack too much information in. They think they’re being helpful, but really they’re just making people overwhelmed.

What happens when your students get overwhelmed? They’ll give up on the course, they won’t see results, and they won’t recommend it to their friends.

Tip: If you’re unsure about whether or not to include something, ask yourself, Is this information essential to the transformation?

Be intentional with your course content.

When it comes to actually creating your content, there are tons of different options: slides, videos, workbooks, online resources. Think about the best possible way you could deliver this information, and what will give your students the best learning experience. Don’t just create a slideshow because that’s what everyone else is doing!

3. Set up your tech.

I recommend using a course hosting platform like Kartra, Kajabi or Thinkific. The benefit of using these platforms is that it makes things simple for you: All you have to do is upload your course content. Then when people purchase, they receive a login to the course hub and instantly have access to all of the material.

Tip: Be professional but not a perfectionist! Try a beta run of your course in Facebook groups and ask for feedback before you invest in a course hosting platform.

4. Marketing your online course.

Validating your course.

Before you dive into marketing, you need to be crystal clear on who your course is for. Knowing your ideal client will help you market and position the course successfully. Here are some questions to consider in your research:

What problems does your ideal client have and how can your course solve them?
How can my content speak directly to those problems in order to attract ideal clients?
Why do they desire this transformation?

Tip: A great way to validate your course at any stage is to use beta testers (whether you’re working with an idea, an outline or a full draft version), and offer them a free or discounted version of the course in exchange for feedback.

If you’re looking for people to test your course, come say hi in the Laptop Lifestyle Entrepreneur Facebook group–we’re always happy to help!

Launching your course.

Don’t wait until the last minute to start marketing! You should be building hype months in advance (before the course is even finished). Send your audience teasers, show them the behind the scenes process, and give them a sneak peek of what’s to come. By the time the course launches, they’ll be primed and excited to buy!

5. Build brand awareness.

Now you know how to create and sell an online course, it’s time for the final piece of the puzzle: Building brand awareness. This is what all of your hard work has been leading to. All of your research, content creation and marketing will have hopefully paid off and led to a successful course.

The next step is your course becoming a go-to product. At this stage, you’ve built a reputation for yourself and your course, and have new customers coming in every month from word of mouth alone. You’ve built trust with your audience: You don’t just claim to get results, you have PROOF of the transformation your course provides.

Brand awareness isn’t something you can achieve overnight; it’s something that builds over time and you need to work on continuously. But keeping it in mind from day one and staying consistent with your marketing will set you on the right path!

Final thoughts on how to create and sell an online course

Learning how to create and sell an online course is the perfect addition to any online business. It can expand your income streams, or let you cut back on hours without losing money. It may not be as easy as it looks online (no promises you’ll become a millionaire overnight), but it is 100% possible to have new money arrive in your bank account while you’re chilling on the beach or out hiking a volcano.