How To Create A Money-Making Online Course

We’ve all heard about the rise of MOOCs and online learning platforms.  But is there a way for individual professionals to create their own online courses – and actually make money? You can’t simply expect to slap something up online and watch the dollars roll in, but with effort and strategy, online courses can become a revenue engine and powerful lead generator.

That’s been the case for Lili Balfour, a financial advisor for startups. She’s created six courses on Udemy, including How to Crowd Fund a Million Dollars and Finance Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs. Some of her courses are as short as 30 minutes, but most run between 2-3 hours; she sells them for between $47-$197. The courses have given her an opportunity to spread her message more widely. “The goal is to help entrepreneurs understand finance in a fun way,” she says. Here are the key questions she’s answered in the process of creating and selling her courses.

How much will I make?

The average instructor brings in $7000 from Udemy courses, though there is a wide range of outcomes. I’ve met one instructor whose class earns him only $60 per month, but elite instructors – generally those with very large followings on social media who can mobilize their own audience to buy – can generate six figures annually from their courses.

How long does it take to create a course?

Creating an online course can be a substantial time investment. “In my opinion, it takes about the same amount of time as writing a book,” says Balfour. “Of course, if you’ve already written a book and are doing a course about it, it takes a fraction of that time. If somebody is coming in with their own content, such as blogs and workshops they’ve already created, they can probably sit down in one weekend and create a 2-3 hour course.” But if you’re still nailing down your material, budget your time accordingly.

What are the technical skills required?

Balfour did all the filming and editing for her courses by herself. But it wasn’t easy. “The most difficult aspect is the video editing,” she says. “Like most people, I didn’t initially understand how to shoot video the right size, how to export it, upload it, and fix the noise.” She used the screen recording and video editing software Camtasia, which she describes as “pretty user-friendly, but it did take time.” All of her videos are screencasts – videos of her computer screen – but if you’re planning to do a “talking head” style video, you may want to hire a professional crew. “Those are more complex,” she says, “so I’d suggest you go into a studio and get good lighting and audio.”

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About Blogging...

How To Make A Living From Blogging

There are well over 100 million blogs worldwide – and most bloggers have fantasized at one time or another about how to make a living from their writing. Traveling the world, creating posts from anywhere, and raking in passive income might seem like a dream – but Matt Kepnes, who blogs as “Nomadic Matt,” has made that his reality since he began traveling the world in 2006. Here are his five tips for people who aspire to make a living by blogging.

Take the long view. If you’re expecting an immediate windfall from blogging, says Kepnes, you’re going to be disappointed. “You should assume that you’re not going to make money in the beginning.” It took him about 18 months to earn enough to live off his blog, though his expenses were reduced because he was often traveling in less expensive locales. “I wasn’t making a ton, but some months I made up to $8,000, and some months I made $1,000,” he recalls. It took him about six years of blogging to earn enough to hire employees for his team. Don’t give up if you don’t gain traction immediately, he says, but re-evaluate periodically. “In a year, if…you’re just getting nowhere, then you need to reconsider what you’re doing. Even after six months, if you’re not really growing or making connections, maybe it’s an issue that you’re spending your time poorly.”

Get clear on your niche. In any field, whether it’s travel or business or tech, there are a lot of competitors.  Kepnes says you have to ask yourself what you can offer that’s truly unique.  If you’re a travel blogger, “Maybe you just want to talk about fly fishing in Alaska, or things to do in Istanbul. The narrower you can be, the easier it is to be an expert.” And once you’ve established your credibility, you can make connections with other bloggers in related fields by offering to do guest blogs about your specialty.

Create multiple revenues streams. If you’re not making money after you’ve been blogging a while and have built up a readership, there may be another problem. It could be, says Kepnes, that “You’re not giving your readers an opportunity to buy a product to support you in some meaningful way. You’ve got to give your audience an opportunity to buy. ”  That could come in the form of creating e-books, offering products via affiliate links, creating online courses or mastermind groups, and more.

Forget advertising. Don’t count on advertising as a major revenue source, says Kepnes – at least until you become a blogging juggernaut. “I don’t really think advertising is something that people should pursue. It’s not valuable. Your time is not well-spent pursuing a $100 a month banner [ad]. Make your own product and sell that, and make $1000 a month. When you become top in your field, people are going to approach you” with advertising deals. Until then, don’t bother.

Build a community.  A powerful way to build a following is to enable readers to connect with one another.  Kepnes has created a forum on his website for travelers to trade ideas and tips, and is launching “a PO Box where people can send us postcards that we’ll highlight on the website and on the Facebook pages.” He also praises the power of reader Meetups (he’s held them in various cities across the globe), and “community accountability,” in which readers (or the blogger) can write about a goal (such as losing weight, saving each month, or taking a long-delayed vacation) and others will encourage them and hold them to it.

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