You’re reading this because you’re likely considering selling your own digital course, either one that you created or found online, to make money. Maybe you hope to fund your travels or purchase new equipment. Whatever your reason, this article is for you. Here are some key facts you need to know about the course you’re thinking about selling.
The Current Market For Online Courses
As you’re probably aware, the world has changed a lot in the last few years. The way we learn and the resources available to us have transformed. However, despite all the changes, the demand for online courses has soared.
In fact, according to HubSpot Blogs’ 2018 Digital Course Salesestimate, there were 166.7 million digital course downloads last year. That’s over half the entire world’s population who wanted to learn something!
What’s more, the course demand seems to be increasing.
As one would expect, the popularity of online courses varies by subject. Here are some interesting stats from the DSC research:
- English has the highest demand for online courses, with 47.9 million downloads, followed by German (20.2 million), French (17.2 million), and Spanish (13.5 million).
- Biology has the lowest demand for online courses, with 21.7 million downloads, followed by Mathematics (23.4 million), Physics (27.4 million), and Chemistry (28.8 million).
- The demand for digital courses varies significantly by country. In some countries, such as Korea, Brazil, and Mexico, there’s a massive demand for digital courses. In other countries, such as the U.S., U.K., and Canada, digital course sales are declining. What’s interesting is that countries with high incomes and high internet usage rates, such as Korea and Mexico, have the highest level of digital course adoption. For instance, in Mexico, 76% of people aged between 15 and 24 use digital resources to learn something new.
- In terms of gender, digital course demand is fairly even between men and women. However, those who took Math and Science-based courses in 2016 were more likely to be men, and those who took Literature and Creative Arts-based courses were more likely to be women.
- The demand for online and digital courses increases with age. People aged between 35 and 54 are most likely to take a digital course. Younger generations are more interested in traditional courses, such as those that they learn in school. This is likely because schools around the world have shifted towards “learning by doing” and “student centred learning.” These types of teaching methods, which focus on student engagement, require fewer teacher-led instructions and more hands-on learning. As a consequence, schools are struggling to maintain student engagement in a world where the “traditional” classroom is becoming less common.
Overall, the demand for online courses seems to be growing, as evidenced by the increase in the number of course sales each year. What’s more, the market is still very open. There are many niches and topics that people are pursuing online, which means there’s bound to be something for everyone.
How Do You Want to Profit From Your Course?
There are many ways to monetize an online course. However, you should consider how you want to make money from your course before you put it up for sale. You don’t want to commit to a business that may not be financially viable in the long-term. Also, you want to avoid getting stuck with a lot of content that nobody is paying for.
For instance, if you’re planning on advertising your course on YouTube for brand awareness and potential customers, you’ll need to create a commercial grade video to make that happen. If you want to sell your course to businesses, you’ll need to create a different, tailor-made version of your course for each buyer (which is a lot of work).
If your aim is to fund your travels, you may want to consider trying to sell your course to people in your destination country. Nations with robust online courses markets, such as the U.S. and U.K., may not seem like the best places to sell your course. However, there are plenty of wealthy travelers who will pay good money for a course that promises to teach them something new about the destination country.
So, how do you want to profit from your course? Consider the options and decide which one makes the most sense for you. If you do decide to go down the course sales route, be realistic about your chances of success. There are many competitors out there who are just as eager to sign up new customers as you are.
The Pros And Cons Of Online Learning
Now, let’s consider the advantages and disadvantages of online learning.
Advantages:
- There are several hundred million users across the world who are easily accessible and potentially receptive to your message.
- You don’t necessarily need the traditional classroom setting to teach. You can conduct almost all of the teaching, including the content creation, from the comfort of your own home.
- Classrooms can be easily oversubscribed, which can make it difficult for some students to get a place. This is less of a problem with online learning, as there’s generally no capacity issue.
- With the right mindset and planning, online learning can be highly effective. Several studies have shown that distance learning can be just as, if not more effective than face-to-face learning, especially in helping students retain information and build long-term memories. It also has the advantage of being more cost-effective for the learner.
- Even though the information is usually freely available online, there’s still the issue of credibility. It’s not exactly easy for customers to discover your site if you’ve never done any marketing before or if your site looks sloppy or untrustworthy. Having a separate, professionally-looking site will greatly increase your credibility with customers. Designing a website that looks great is not as easy as it seems – there’s a lot of practice and testing that goes into it. You can’t just throw up a few web pages and have them look perfect. You need to create something that’s both functional and beautiful. And you need to do it all by yourself.
- The information is usually more in-demand and has a higher pay-off than that which is available in books. If your course is based on a highly sought-after subject, it may be worth considering creating a separate site for it.
Disadvantages:
- There’s no face-to-face interaction, which is often cited as one of the major factors that make learning more effective. You miss out on observing body language, gaining trust, and establishing connections with your students. The lack of socialization can make it more difficult to establish a trusting relationship with a student, which may in turn affect the student’s engagement with the material. Without this engagement, it can be difficult for the student to assimilate and retain the information.
- In a distance learning scenario, there’s no way for the teacher to monitor the student’s progress. This means that the student is essentially on their own, which can make it easier for them to lose focus or fall behind. In addition, there’s no way for the teacher to provide immediate feedback or assistance if the student encounters any difficulties.
- Even though the information is usually freely available online, there’s still the issue of credibility. It’s not exactly easy for customers to discover your site if you’ve never done any marketing before or if your site looks sloppy or untrustworthy. Having a separate, professionally-looking site will greatly increase your credibility with customers.
- If your aim is to fund your travels, you may want to consider trying to sell your course to people in your destination country. There are many wealthy travelers who will pay good money for a course that promises to teach them something new about the destination country.
Hopefully, the above points helped you understand what is meant by the term “online course.” There are many different kinds of courses, both traditional and non-traditional, that you may want to consider selling. Regardless of which route you decide to take, be sure to consider the various pros and cons before taking the plunge. And don’t forget, if you’re serious about turning your hobby into a profitable business, then you may need to consider looking into getting some professional help. The best thing you can do for yourself is to prepare for the challenge and learn as much as you can along the way. Good luck out there.