Anyone who reads this blog already knows that there are many ways to earn passive income. Often, they involve leveraging your expertise to provide customers with valuable content. Creating an online course is one of the more popular methods. Although you should always manage your expectations when pursuing a passive income strategy, some online courses yield millions of dollars in revenue a year.
Does it take time to create one? Yes. Passive income, after all, is a bit of a misnomer. Creating a stream of easy cash initially requires some work and time. However, if you’re willing to put in the effort, you could eventually earn a lot of money on the side without lifting a finger.
Part of the necessary work involves basic preparation. Your online course is more likely to succeed if you simply know what you’re doing when you create it. That’s why you should review these points first. While this is by no means a comprehensive guide to creating an online course, it will help you to better understand what you must do to design one that attracts customers.
Choose the Right Topic
A brief search reveals there are already online courses on a wide range of topics. Due to the Internet, people can now learn to draw, invest, cook, and much more, all without having to actually attend classes.
That’s why online courses are so popular. They provide people with an opportunity to develop new skills in a convenient manner.
That said, not all online courses succeed. Those that do share one key trait: they offer genuine value to customers.
An online course needs to teach people something practical and useful. For instance, it’s easy to understand why a course on investing in the stock market as a beginner could yield a large volume of sales. Many people want to earn money by buying and selling stocks, but they may not know how. Such an online course would thus cater to a large customer base.
On the other hand, an online course that’s too niche-specific might struggle to find an audience. For example, perhaps your family has passed down several recipes that you have all enjoyed over the years. If those recipes share a common theme (they’re from the same cuisine, easy to make, and cater to specific diets, etc.), you might succeed in creating an online course that teaches people how to make them. However, if the only trait that these recipes share is that “My family likes them,” people might not be interested. You need to put yourself in the mindset of the customer when choosing a topic for your course.
It’s also important to choose a topic in which you have actual expertise. An online course needs to be rooted in a genuine understanding of the lessons being presented. This doesn’t simply ensure that the course provides customers with value; it also helps to attract customers. People are more likely to purchase a course if they know that its creator has relevant experience.
Determine How Your Course Stands Out
Again, there are many online courses already available. Their topics often overlap. That means it can be difficult to get noticed when others may have already covered your topic. Gaining momentum and catching up with your competitors is difficult when they have a head start.
Determining how you will distinguish your course from others is crucial to your success. A simple—but not necessarily easier—way to make it stand out is to review similar courses that are already popular and create one that is far more thorough and up-to-date. That said, you need to actually be able to create a superior product if this is your strategy. That may not be possible if you don’t have the expertise.
Thus, the way in which you go about distinguishing your course may depend on your topic. To return to the cooking example, perhaps you’ll find out there’s an unfilled niche: cooking lessons for college students with small budgets and limited access to cooking supplies. Putting a twist on a popular topic (while ensuring there is still an audience for it) is a smart way to get noticed.
Plan Thoroughly
Once you’ve settled on a topic, don’t make the mistake of jumping into the process of creating your lessons. This may result in a lack of focus. Customers pay for online courses because they supply valuable information presented in a concise, thorough, and organized format.
Yours
needs to do the same. In order to avoid designing a course that seems
scattered, you should create an outline first. This will help you to organize
your thoughts more effectively, which is the most important point to keep in
mind.
Once again, a course can absolutely deliver substantial passive income. It’s
more likely to be successful if you make preparation one of your top goals.