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Whether you’re great at cooking or coding, weaving baskets or computing with spreadsheets, there’s an opportunity for you to reap decent returns from your interests or passions by teaching them to a global audience. The following are steps you can take to do that.
Identify Your Expertise and Audience
As we’ve already hinted, you’re going to be teaching a specific subject to your audience. Think about where your passions lie. What skills or knowledge do you possess that others would be eager to learn? Once you’ve identified your niche, it’s important to understand your target audience. What are their needs, goals, and interests? Your aim should be to create a course that recognizes and addresses the pain points of people in your audience.Research Your Market
Don’t dive into your chosen market without understanding what works in it. Look for existing courses in your niche to assess demand and competition. You should also analyze their content, pricing, and delivery methods to identify gaps you can fill or areas where you can differentiate yourself. Feel the pulse of your target audience by engaging them through surveys, forums, or social media to gain insights into their preferences and expectations.Plan Your Course Content
When you understand your expertise and target audience, your next move should be to outline your course content. Break down your subject matter into logical modules or lessons, ensuring that your learning experience has a clear structure and is cohesive. Incorporate multimedia elements such as videos, slideshows, quizzes, and assignments to keep your students engaged and facilitate learning retention. In addition, establish learning objectives for each module to guide your students’ progress and measure their success.Choose a Platform for Course Delivery
A big part of determining how to make money from online courses is settling for a particular learning platform through which you’ll deliver your courses. There are numerous options available: Udemy, Teachable, Thinkific, Selar, Kajabi, Kobo Course, etc. Evaluate each platform based on its ease of use, customization options, pricing, and marketing features to determine which one suits you best.Sign up for the Connect Nigeria daily newsletter
Create Great Content
A lot turns on your ability to serve up high-quality educational content. It’s not just about the material you’re presenting (although that’s important too). It’s also about how you deliver it. So, invest in high-quality production equipment and software to ensure professional-looking videos and materials. As we’ve emphasized, your lessons should be engaging and enlightening, and deliver value to your students. Use your personality and teaching style to establish a connection with your audience and make the learning experience enjoyable.Set a Competitive Price
Pricing is something else you have to nail if you’re going to succeed at this. This often requires that you research what’s being charged by instructors in your niche. The goal here is to decide what kind of rate would be appropriate for your lessons. You want to keep your pricing competitive to attract learners, but not so low that you shortchange yourself.Market Your Course
You’ll give yourself some extra room for success if you build up your identity as an expert in your field on as many channels as possible. This includes social media, discussion forums, blogs, and anywhere else on the web that people in your potential audience visit regularly. As your profile on those platforms grows, you may then point interested persons in the direction of your online courses. For even better results, consider building a full marketing funnel that guides the public from being interested in what you have to say, to paying to learn through your courses.Continually Review and Revise Your Content
The feedback you get from your audience will be valuable. They will rate your lessons, and probably make comments about it on the platform you’re using. Try to gain as much insight from these things as possible. Users of your content could give suggestions that will greatly improve your material and its delivery if implemented. So, don’t take their responses for granted.Register to attend the CN Business Mixer
Final Words
We’ve laid out how to make money from online courses—the steps you should take, and the results you’ll get from them. If you follow them closely enough, you’ll begin reaping a decent income from online courses in good time.Got a suggestion? Contact us: editor@connectnigeria.com