How to Make Passive Income Selling Digital Courses Online
If you are looking for a side hustle to generate an extra stream of income, selling digital courses online is a great option. You do not have to be tech-savvy to start selling a course online. The process is relatively simple and inexpensive. All you need is a website to host the course and a topic you wish to teach.
So, how do you make passive income by selling a digital course online? This article will help you learn the process. So let’s get started.
How to Start Selling a Course Online?
You can start selling the course by following the steps mentioned below.
Step # 1 – Choosing a Subject/Topic
The first step in selling a digital course online is to choose a topic or subject. You have to ensure to pick something that people would want to buy. You can start by researching the biggest challenges people face in today’s world or a given subject.
For example, you have expertise in game coding and want to sell a course teaching game coding. The first question you must ask yourself is “the challenges people face when learning to game code,” You can create a step-by-step guide or how-to guide for beginners, intermediate and expert coders, etc.
Step #2 – Selecting a Hosting Platform
Once you have decided what course you wish to sell, it is time to pick up a website or platform that allows you to sell a course. Most course hosting platforms have a step-by-step automated guide to help you create a course from scratch. The steps will guide you from starting the course, creating chapters, and doing voice overs all the way to publishing the course and making it go live.
Some of the most famous online digital course selling programs include:
- Udemy
- Teachable
- WPLMS
- LearnDash
- Thrive Themes
- Kajabi
Any of these platforms are perfect for starting selling your digital course in a matter of hours. However, you can even create your personal website and start offering courses. This is great for maximizing your passive income because you will not have to pay any commission or fee to a third-party website.
Suppose you are interested in creating your own website and start generating passive income by selling digital courses online. In that case,
Bluehost is an excellent service to help you begin hosting your website.
Step # 3 – Pre-selling is an Option
You can start selling your course even before you build one. This is known as pre-selling, giving you an edge to gauge the success of the course you wish to sell. The purpose is to sell your course as an idea at an unbelievable discount to ensure that people are going to like your course and actually buy it.
This is the best way to validate that your course is going to generate passive income. Pre-selling saves you tons of money, time, and effort before you dive in. Of course, you would not want to build a course for months that no one wants to buy.
Step # 4- Building the Course
Now that you know about the course, what topic you want to sell, and where you want to sell it. The next step is to start building your course. This is the simplest process nowadays. First, you have to choose if you want to offer a text-based online course or a video-based digital course online.
You are the expert and knowledge, and it is up to you how you want to transfer this knowledge to the students, such as through texts or videos. Just make sure to offer detailed knowledge as this will help you build credibility, and people enrolling in one course will be more interested in other courses you offer in the future.
If you are an industry expert, you can create tutorials, guides, and lectures for specific topics within a subject. Another way is to create a generic course to deliver valuable information about a subject to beginners or higher-level students.
For example, you are in the finance sector. You can create courses such as “Finance for Beginners,” “Introduction to Finance,” etc. Similarly, if you want to teach finance to professionals, you can create courses such as “Finance for Executives,” etc.
That said, do not create a lengthy course as this will put people off. Remember, people searching for online classes are after quick access to information to help them learn faster. Therefore, do not create a course with 40 hours of video content. Yes, it may look like a full-on professional course, but not many will have that much to dedicate to a computer screen, especially when they are working professionals.
Step #5 Go Live and Start Earning Passive Income
Once your course is ready, it is time to publish and make it live. Once your course goes live, the websites such as Udemy will start promoting your course. This way, you will start earning passive income without having to be online. You can continue to go to work while people buy your courses online and you receive the payments.
In case you are hosting a course on your personal website, you will have to take care of the promotion. You can do so by sharing it on social media or indulging in a bit of paid advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Your family and friends can be your biggest supporters and aid. Ask them to share your online digital course within their network. A Referral goes a long way and can help you start gaining momentum. Once your course starts to sell, ask people buying your course to leave good reviews.
The accumulation of reviews will encourage other buyers on the platforms or your website to enroll in your course. The more traffic you get to your course, the higher your course’s sales rate will be.
Conclusion
Generating passive income is easier than you can imagine. You can write a book, sell photos, and run a Laundromat, but all of these require extensive effort. Some passive income sources may take time to generate a considerable amount of income.
On the other hand, an online course is a trend because people tend to stay home during the pandemic and search for courses at reasonable prices to hone their skills or learn something new. If you are an expert in a specific subject, why not use it to your advantage by creating and selling digital course online to make passive income.
