Back to School: How to Use Your Expertise to Sell Online Courses

The web design and marketing lifestyle comes with its fair share of uncertainty.

Having a flexible job is great, especially if you work remotely! The luxury of being able to work in your pajamas on a Tuesday afternoon? Unbeatable. Plus, it’s exciting to work on different projects from week to week.

But when it comes to your income, uncertainty is a little less fun and a lot more stressful.

You know that to stay financially secure, it’s vital to diversify your revenue streams and not to rely on any single source of income. (While the term whale client might be adorable, the reality is anything but!) But it’s easier said than done, right?

I totally get it. You’re at full capacity looking after your clients and tending to the day-to-day running of your business. Finding the time to even think of finding new avenues for income – let alone actually putting the wheels in motion – can feel pretty impossible.

Until now! Thanks to the wonders of ✨online learning!✨

You’ve got a whole host of experience, expertise, and skills from your time in this industry. Why not use all of those assets to create an online course and sell it to people who can benefit from your wisdom and advice?

Here’s why you should:

Reasons to start selling online courses about setting up a web design company

1. Monetize your experience: You’ve put in the time and effort. So why not benefit from your years in online business? You don’t need to upskill or go back to school to level up your income. Creating online courses is a fantastic way to increase your income by working with the skills and expertise you’ve already got.
2. Establish yourself as an expert: Selling online courses isn’t just good for your bank account. It’s good for your reputation, too! By showcasing all your knowledge and insights in your online courses, you can really establish yourself as the industry expert that you are.
3. Expand your reach and impact: By starting an online course business, you’re opening yourself up to a huge new audience. In fact, 98% of US organizations have now embraced online learning, so there’s already a massive market to tap into!
4. Opens up scalable avenues for income: As your agency grows, so does your need for larger income streams to accommodate your growth. Becoming an online course creator is a fantastic way to generate scalable income. Once the course is out there, it’ll stay available for more and more people to purchase without any additional production costs or need for ongoing service!

That all sounds pretty good, right?

But before you start panicking about the sheer amount of work you’d have to do to create and sell online courses, don’t!

It does take a bit of time and hard work in the beginning. But once you get going, you can reap all these benefits and more without too much ongoing effort!

How to create and sell an online course for new website developers

1. Identify your area of expertise

Before you update your LinkedIn profile bio to the esteemed title of online educator, you’ll need to identify the particular niche that you’re best suited to.

What area of digital marketing do you have the most experience in? Do you have any particularly unique insights from your years in the industry? What kind of audience will relate to you the most?

Ask yourself these important questions before you create your first online course. Once you’ve got a clear idea which direction to take, you can start thinking about course content, using these insights to help you draft your first course outline.

2. Plan your course content strategically

While you might have a wealth of knowledge in the web development arena, teaching might not really be your forte.

But don’t worry! Unless you want to offer fully-interactive lessons in a virtual classroom, you won’t have to lecture live, in real time. 

Instead, all you have to do is create interesting and engaging course material and structure it in a way that guides your learners through at an appropriate pace – slow enough to be accessible, but fast enough to pose a healthy challenge!

And that’s half the battle: creating courses of genuine value that offer a fun and engaging user experience. Focus on quality first, and the rest will come.

3. Find the right online course platform

If you want to create and sell a successful online course, you’ll need to find the right course platform – or learning management system (LMS) – to host it.

Effectively, your LMS is your online course creation partner, an all-in-one platform to create interactive online courses and engage with your online learners. Look for one that you’ll be happy to use long-term, and that can deliver the results you’re hoping for.

With so many platforms out there all claiming to be the best, finding the best online course platform can be really overwhelming. Just the thought of beginning your search can be enough to put you off.

Shameless self-promotion: If you’re looking for recommendations, then let me introduce you to LearnRight! User-friendly, high-spec features, scalable solutions, and second-to-none service, it’s the simple solution to all your LMS problems!

*Ahem* on to the next point…

4. Market your course 

With the level of expertise your online courses showcase, they actually serve as pretty powerful marketing tools for your digital agency themselves. But you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and pull out all the marketing stops to get them to that point in the first place.

You may have to put your digital marketing efforts to the test to land your first few course sales, but you know by now that strategically promoting your online courses across all channels will always be worth it in the end.

Find your people – here at The Admin Bar!

People want to feel like they’re joining a network of other online learners, and that they’ll be fully supported throughout their entire online learning journey. That’s why, to see lasting success, it’s important to create a sense of community around your online course.

Right from the word go, from social media marketing to segmented email campaigns, make sure to promote that sense of belonging and togetherness around your online course brand. With that – and the other tips outlined above – you’ll be able to sell courses online to the right audiences in no time!

For now, why not join The Admin Bar Facebook group to connect with a community of like-minded digital agency owners and freelancers? We’d love to hear about your experience in the industry, and we’re always happy to offer our thoughts, insights, and advice if and when you need it.