Technology has taken over our lives. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it depends on certain aspects.
As long as we use technology for our benefit, it is all good. Now since everything is going online, so is learning. And when I say learning, it’s not limited to schools only. It includes all forms of learning and skill development.
From science to cooking to art, you name it! It is easy, and convenient and almost anyone can learn anything from the comfort of their home.
If you are someone with the skill, who wants to share it via this medium while making money, creating online courses is the perfect way to do so. You can easily sell online courses and generate revenue while helping the people who need that skill.
Today there are hundreds of sites providing online courses. Anything you want to learn is available at the tip of your fingers.
So if you are one of those who are providing knowledge on these online platforms or you’re planning to start making your own course, how do you choose the perfect topic for your online course?
Here we are going to discuss why you need to choose an online course topic for your online course and how to do it. So let’s get started.
Why do you need to choose a course topic for your online course?
In this time and age when everything is turning online and wired, online courses are in great demand. Everyone is now in search of online courses that can not only help them in honing their skills and learning but are also available to them from the comfort of their home.
Currently, the online learning industry is worth $325 billion. So it’s a good time to share your knowledge and make a living.
As rightfully said by Albert Einstein – “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”
Knowledge is a big market so once you decide to become an online educator, you need to decide on a perfect course topic for your online course.
But why do you have to do that?
Creating an online course is easy but the most difficult part is when it comes to selling that course. You need to choose an online course topic that is in demand. Choosing the perfect online course topic is a vital step because it will prevent you from wasting time and energy of creating a course that nobody wants.
Making this decision early on can help you make a proper plan and understand exactly what needs to be covered in the course. It will make you firm and sure of what you are going to provide, which will attract willing students and how much competition you need to face.
Having a perfect course topic can get a load of people lined up ready and waiting for the day you launch your services.
How to choose a course topic?
Now that we know why you have to choose a course topic for your online course, it’s time to know how to do it. Choosing a course topic can be an easy task if you know your grounds and skills.
The course topic you choose is entirely in your hands and can be pretty much anything which you have skills for. While there could be endless possibilities, choosing the right course topic is a determining factor in an online course’s success.
To start with, you need to evaluate your niche, and whether it appeals to both you and your audience. You need to make sure that it is something that’s in demand and people want to learn about.
Here are some tips to choose the perfect course topic:
1. Know Your Area of Expertise
The topic for your online course should be something that you’re already knowledgeable about or are willing to gain knowledge by learning thoroughly. Either way, you must be passionate about the subject matter you are going for in your online course.
You are in your brainstorming phase right now, so put everything you got on the table and evaluate the matter.
Try and think about what you do the best, and what people come to you for advice on. Such topics usually create the most successful online courses.
These are a few questions you need to ask yourself:
- Do you know enough about the topic?
- Can you answer any query on this topic asked by your students?
- Do you have proof to show to your students that you’re an expert in this topic?
- Will you be able to explain the topic in detail in your course?
Learning them enough should be easy for you and in no time you’ll be able to become a great teacher on that subject matter. Take help and advice from your trusted sources. See what suits you the best.
2. Identify your audience
Imagine yourself creating a course on such a topic that no one is interested in. Do you think people will even read your course? Of course no!
Before getting to work, identify your audience. You need to know the demand for the topic. Ask your trusted sources, friends, family, or even colleagues to know what they think of the course topic you are going with.
You can even create polls and surveys on a list of topics you have in your mind just to know which topic people are more likely to get engaged with.
If required, make a small sample or tutorial and conduct surveys to see what performance it gives out.
Follow up on social media or via email, asking your audience if they liked the tutorial and if this type of material is something they’re interested in seeing more or not.
3. Do a competitive analysis
In addition to this, you must conduct some online research into your chosen course topic. If you find other online courses that are similar to or about the same subject matter, it can be a great sign.
If you have competition, it means that people find the topic relevant and helpful for them. It’s also a good idea to create an online course that can comfortably fit into an existing, tried-and-tested space.
See which courses are doing good and which are failing. It will give you an insight into what’s in demand and what’s not.
Analyse your competitors’ courses properly and note down what they are missing out and include those in your topics. Read the reviews of those courses and see what students are expecting in the course while buying it. Include the same in your course so that you can bring your competitors’ students to your course.
Once you are done with the research and have a clear target audience in mind, you are ready to choose an online course and start with its marketing. This is because you’ll know exactly who you’re looking to reach and which type of content they want to consume.
4. Use the reference of YouTube
YouTube acts as an online course platform for visual learners. So, don’t miss out on an opportunity to target visual learners as well.
People who learn from YouTube tend to overlap with those who are willing to buy online courses. Hence, YouTube is also considered a great place to gauge interest among the visual learners.
All you have to do is, go to YouTube search and type the keyword your topic contains. Then see the views and comments on the top results. If you see a good number of views, it means your topic is an interesting one and can attract a lot of buyers.
5. Search online course marketplaces
There are various marketplaces where you can search for different course topics. Just like Udemy offers a marketplace insights where you’ll get all the information needed to choose a topic.
The marketplace insights will provide you the data around the amount of demand, top monthly revenue of that particular course, number of courses available in that topic, and other various factors.
Don’t get discouraged by the demand on courses in the marketplace because you’re not going to compete on the same platform. This is just to get an idea of how well your course may perform when it comes to the market.
The best course-building platform to get started
Now that you understand the importance of choosing the right course topic, it’s time to start creating courses and making money.
But which platform to choose?
CourseFunnels is the perfect online courses platform with integrated marketing that is best for you to get started on this journey. With this platform, you can create amazing courses & training with Udemy-grade customer experience.
You can use any form of communication here, as this platform supports video courses using video of all kinds. It already has A/B testing & split testing tools that will help you get more revenue.
Here are some ways through which it can help in building courses:
- It includes profit and conversion boosting plugins that save $100 per month.
- It includes free training on how to create and market courses using CourseFunnels.
- It has insightful sales and leads analytics that can help you keep track of your students and sales growth.
- You can interface in 17 languages.
- It has SEO Friendly features.
- It already has multiple course themes and templates, along with readymade course sales templates for you to modify.
- It includes a Drag & Drop landing page builder that lets you build amazing landing pages without any coding knowledge.
- It lets you modify any part of the course membership.
- You can create mini landing pages with full control.
- You can promote products, create lessons and webinar invitations
- It has easy to use interface
- You can get comments and feedback on your lessons with full control over it
- It provides rich interaction with in-built comments, reviews, and questions in-built.
- You can get public course reviews that you can show off and it will help you with your growth and planning as well
- Its zapier integration lets you take your data anywhere you want on auto.
- CourseFunnels will also generate certificates for your students on course completion.
Here are all the features, CourseFunnels provides:
- It integrates every popular payment system, CRM & Autoresponder.
- The powerful course creation system
- Commercial license and multiple users
- 15 Courses per domain
- Deep analytics, reporting, and in-built autoresponder
- Free sales-boosting plugins
- 17 Languages and a year of free update
- Integrated landing page and funnel builder
- Complete student’s communication platform
- More than 5 readymade templates
- Powerful member’s management system
- GDPR compliant and supports all popular payment systems
- Zapier Integration and 24/6 Support
- Readymade courses to sell
- Support for all pixels & 3rd party plugins
- CourseFunnels marketing training
Here’s the pricing of CourseFunnels:
- Elite monthly payments at $24 only
- Elite yearly payments at $67 only
It is a tried and tested platform and is currently being used by millions of customers. So what are you waiting for?
Wondering how to create a course using CourseFunnels? Here it is..
Conclusion
Going for an online course business is a big and smart decision. It has so many perks and it is in trend right now. So choosing a perfect course topic becomes crucial.
This choice has to be perfect as your whole business plan depends on it, and so do the hopes of your audience. There is a bit of psychology and motivation involved in this subject so after going through all the steps listed above just trust your instincts and go for it.
What are your favorite online course topics? Which online course do you think is the best? Tell us in the comments below!
Thanks for reading