Are you looking for ways to make money without already having an audience? If so, selling digital products with a few tricks may be the perfect solution. So in this post, you'll learn how to sell courses online and make over $100K online.
Yes, you read it right. You can make this much money by selling digital products like courses with no audience and investment.
There is no need to worry about shipping and digital product inventory. You can create them with minimal effort and $0. Plus, you can reach a global audience with ease.
It's not as simple as it sounds here. But it is accurate, and you can do it! All you need is a tremendous amount of effort, which is worth it.
What is a Digital Product?
A digital product is a non-physical product that exists in the digital world. It can be anything from an eBook, an online course, or a software program to something that can be downloaded or accessed online.
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| Digital Products |
Do Digital Products Sell?
With nearly everything available for free, it's easy to question the viability of digital goods in selling. But the fact is that digital products do sell. They sell because they offer value that people are willing to pay for.
The customers or users buy the product's knowledge, time-saving, or convenience. The free stuff may not be as organized, reliable, or comprehensive as the paid product.
For example, an eBook on "How to Sell Courses Online and Make Over $100K" may offer more value than a blog post because it should be comprehensive. And a complete video course would be more detailed than just the eBook.
Hence, people are willing to pay for it.
The great thing about digital products like courses is that there are no limits on how much you can make from selling them.
How to Sell Courses Online in 2022
Now that you know what types of digital courses are in demand, let's look at how to sell them. First, I'll give you an idea of promoting online courses. Then, I'll share my experience selling them using YouTube and a blog.
Sounds great? Let's get started.
Brainstorm Your Ideas & Define Your Target Audience
Before promoting your digital product, you must know what you're selling. That means brainstorming your ideas and doing some market research.
Think about everything you could sell. Once you've figured that out, consider your target audience. Riches are in the niches! So niche down and define your best customers or clients.
For example, when I started offering and promoting courses via YouTube and Udemy, I researched before starting technical Computer Science courses. And my video about IIS (Internet Information Services) still ranks number one on YouTube. {alertInfo}
What you can do:
- Go to SEMRush
- Enter the primary keyword.
- And search for the right keywords to target.
The tool provides you with all the keywords related to the primary keyword. Keep repeating the process by changing the primary keyword. After that, you need to validate your ideas.
Validate Your Idea
Validating your idea in the market is probably the most critical step in the journey of selling online courses. You could have the best product globally, but you won't make any money if there's no demand for it.
That's why validating your idea is essential before you start promoting your digital product.
What you can do it validate your ideas:
- Write down all the pictures.
- Assess the market size.
- Research for the search volume.
- Do a survey or interview.
- Test your product or service.
When I promote courses or any digital product on YouTube, I research it on TubeBuddy or Morning. These tools give me a clear idea about the search volume, competition, and more. For the blog, I jump on Ahrefs or SEMRush to do research.
Create Your Course to Sell Online
Once you've validated your idea and know there's a demand for it, it's time to create your digital course. Making it can be a bit daunting, but it's doable. And the great thing is that you don't need to be an expert to create one.
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| How to Sell Courses Online |
If you're unsure where to start, I'll share over 15 digital product ideas you can create and sell online.
Launch An Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs are a great way to promote your digital products like courses. And the best thing is that you don't need to spend any money on advertising. You can pay your affiliates a commission for every sale they make.
If you want to create an affiliate program, I recommend using Tapfiliate or Easy Affiliate plugin. These online tools make it super easy to set up an affiliate program.
Or you can also promote your digital courses on platforms like:
- ClickBank
- Impact
- ShareASale
- Podia
- SendOwl
- BigCommerce
And the list goes on.
Launch Your Online Course On the Right Platforms
The most common way to sell digital products is through your website. You can create a sales page for each product and use an e-commerce platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Big Commerce.
I also share many free limited-time courses on this website. You can check HERE.
I created my platform, BountyBlade, after validating my course's potential on Udemy. So I have used third-party platforms and my website to sell my digital systems. Both have pros and cons!
Drive Traffic Through Digital Marketing
You have brainstormed about a digital product, validated the idea, created it, and launched it on the right platform. So good so far! But don't stop!
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| Drive Traffic Through Digital Marketing |
Now it's time to start promoting your product and drive traffic to your product page. There are various digital marketing channels that you can use to promote your products:
- Email marketing.
- Influencer Marketing.
- Content marketing (YouTube, blog, podcast).
- Paid advertising (Google Ads, Quora Ads, and more).
- Social media marketing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn).
In my case, I've used them all except for influencer marketing. I've written blogs, created YouTube videos, and run paid ads to drive traffic to my product pages.
But YouTube has been the most successful channel for me. It has allowed me to reach a wider audience and sell more courses online. But I never pushed anyone to buy my system whatsoever!
I want to help my audience reach their goals, and that's it. If they like my content and find it helpful, they will buy the course themselves. Courses are not the only things I make money with; I also display ads and do affiliate marketing.
Scale Your Business To Make Over $100K
Don't just settle! Be hungry and scale your business.
When I started, I had zero dollars investment, zero subscribers on my YouTube channel, and zero viewers on my blog. And now, I have made over $100K by selling online courses via YouTube and Udemy.
If I can do it, you can too! {alertSuccess}
The key is validating your idea, creating a quality product, launching it on the right platform, and driving traffic. These are some tips and tricks to reach the goal faster than ever.
- Create a high-ticket digital product.
- Analyze the important metrics to act accordingly.
- Slowly expand to more digital marketing channels for promotion.
- Never stop to analyze, test, and improve.
- Always collect reviews and testimonials.
When I started selling courses on Udemy, I focused on giving value to my students. I wanted to help them reach their goals without any fluff. That's how I created a quality product that people loved.
Digital Products Ideas: 15 Different Types
The digital items you should pursue depend on your specialty or interest. It could be anything you're good at or have some valuable insights about.
But don't worry, you can go for it even if you don't have expertise. All you need is substantial interest and the ability to sell it.
Let me share the top 5 digital product ideas that are always in trend and a good fit for almost every niche and interest.
- Online Courses.
- eBooks.
- Software and tools.
- Done-For-You Templates.
- Social Media Templates.
- Videos or audios.
- Written Templates for email or resume.
- Checklists.
- Spreadsheets.
- Icons.
- Fonts.
- Graphics like logos, infographics, or illustrations.
- Animations and digital arts.
- Overlays
- Editing presets
And the list goes on. But I'll cover only the top 5 most demanded digital products in this post.
1/ Online Courses
This type of digital product is becoming more and more popular. It's a great way to earn a passive income because you can create it once and sell it repeatedly.
People are always looking for new skills, so there's a significant demand for online courses. The key is to create a course that's helpful and comprehensive.
It should also be exciting and interactive enough to keep people engaged. You'll have no problem selling your course if you can do that.
2/ eBooks
This is one of the most classic types of digital products. And it's still selling like hotcakes in 2022. Its popularity is that it's easy to produce, and people love reading.
An eBook is a great way to share your knowledge on a specific topic. And the best part is that you can make it as long or short as you want.
It can be anything from a few pages to an exhaustive guide. The key is finding a niche market willing to pay for your eBook.
3/ Tools & Software
You can create and sell software products if you have some technical skills. This could be anything from a simple app to a complex program.
The great thing about selling Software is that you can charge a recurring monthly fee. That means you can make passive income from it every month.
4/ Done-For-You Templates
This digital product is becoming increasingly popular because it's so convenient. People are always looking for ways to save time, so they're willing to pay for templates they can use for their business.
You can create templates for anything from social media posts to email newsletters. The key is to ensure that your templates are high quality and easy to use.
5/ Social Media Templates
Social media is a massive part of people's lives nowadays, so it's no surprise that social media templates are in demand. You can create templates for any platform, from Facebook to Instagram.
The key is to create visually appealing and easy-to-use templates. People should be able to edit them quickly and make them look good.
Summary: How I Made Over $100K By Selling Courses Online
When I started selling digital products in 2017, I made only $18 monthly. But with consistent work, I made $5000 in a single month, totaling lifetime earnings of $95,153 on Udemy and $25000 on BountyBlade.
Initially, I just uploaded the right course on Udemy. It didn't explode there, but I slowly started getting attraction.
And when I did, I realized I should start my platform for launching courses. So I create a YouTube channel and blog to share the link to my lessons.
I started with sharing my knowledge about Computer Sciences and then gradually shifted towards other areas to help my audience reach their goals.
