Get ready to sell online courses like a pro. Are you underestimating yourself for not getting the sales and achieving the goal of making your online course successful? It is not that your content or teaching skills are not exceptional, but the audience may be unaware of you. With content marketing, you can quickly get out of your comfort zone and market yourself to a massive audience. This can make a huge difference with students passionate about specific topics or products you offer, generating leads for different sales funnels.
Content can come in many forms, including blog posts, whitepapers, and videos. Content marketing is also called digital or web content marketing (WCM). Content marketing aims to create and distribute valuable, relevant, consistent content to attract, acquire, and retain a clearly defined audience.
Why You Should Promote Your Online Course With Content Marketing
Indeed, content marketing is one of the most powerful ways to generate leads, increase brand awareness and sell online courses. It includes the strategy of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract, acquire and retain a clearly defined audience.
In almost every industry you can think of, from manufacturing to retail, from health care to education, customers need to understand the value of your products and services. Likewise, businesses need to provide valuable information about their products or services to attract and retain new customers.
Similarly, content marketing is a massive part of a successful online course, but more is needed. You must create a comprehensive strategy that incorporates all aspects of your business, including social media, email marketing, and more.
The Number One Way To Sell Online Courses – Content Writing
If you aren’t blogging and have an SEO content marketing strategy in place on your eLearning site, this should be your number one priority. Not only is content marketing the most basic way to market your online course, it is also one of the most effective resources.
By simply adhering to SEO guidelines and adding valuable, optimized content to your site you can have a significant increase in website traffic, which you can redirect to your course landing pages. In turn, this will give your website and courses greater visibility. The more people that know about your course, the more people you will be able to sell to. Paired with effective landing page copy and a well-designed website, content marketing becomes a pillar of your online course’s success.
We know that not everyone is a writer or has the time to create content on an ongoing basis, so if you need help getting started, reach out to our content writing experts. We will not only build out a strategy for you but will help you write and publish the content on your site!
10 Other Ways To Sell Online Courses
If it’s your business, you’re always focusing on growth — so why not consider making your course sales go up with content marketing? How do you do that, though? We have written this article to help you out with some valuable tactics you can use to increase your online course sales.
Create A Lead Magnet
Lead magnets are a great way to start building your course sales. They are small chunks of content that you can offer up for free and then sell to get people on the path of becoming your student. For example, if you are teaching a course on how to build a website, you might create a PDF or e-book for a free course, a webinar, or other resources that includes information about how to start a blog or create an online store.
The idea is that when someone downloads your lead magnet, they are more likely to drop their contact details and information. Consequently, they are interested in taking your class because they already have some interest in what you teach.
However, when you publish your lead magnet, ensure it is short and sweet so people can handle it quickly. It should also include an actionable call-to-action so people can easily take the next step towards taking action on what they learned from the resource.
The next step is to create an email list. The best way to do this is using MailChimp or AWeber. These tools allow you to send out emails and manage your list quickly. They also have many helpful features that will help you start creating content that people want to buy from you.
Once you have an email list, it is time to build content for it!
Using Social Media
Social media is the most powerful way to sell online courses and generate increased leads and sales. However, not only that, but it also enables you to interact with the audience and get their feedback to make your consumer’s user experience better. Social media is about creating a community around your business and sharing content with your followers. It is also about being social — sharing relevant content with the people who follow you.
You can use many different platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
In particular, Facebook is a great place to promote your course when there is an active community of potential students. You can use Facebook to build relationships with these people and encourage them to join your online course. You can also use relevant Facebook groups for this purpose.
In addition, creating an Instagram page and posting stories consistently is another effective way to promote your online course. You can upload captivating course-relevant stories and run ads to gain the attention of your target audience. Besides, consistently posting on your Instagram feed about significant updates of the relevant industry your course belongs to can lure users into following you. Thus, it enhances your recognition by offering industry knowledge and information courses.
LinkedIn is also a great place to promote your courses. You can create a LinkedIn profile and make it strong by connecting relevant industry profiles interested in learning. In addition, it is a great way to build connections with other professionals, which can help you grow your business and get more leads. Besides posting blogs or articles related to your course topic, you can also use LinkedIn to find guest speakers who could be featured in your courses.
Twitter is yet another popular social media platform for businesses and freelancers. You can use it to share news and events with your followers, and you can also use it as a marketing tool to promote your courses. When you share posts on Twitter, they will appear in relevant search results and be seen by people with similar interests. Ensure to include hashtags in your posts and create relevant tweets for the people in your niche to prompt them to retweet!
Offer Discounts For Your Online Courses
People love to save money! Therefore, they are more likely to purchase if you offer a discount on your course. If you want to sell online courses, a discount can have a positive impact on your sales. It can be a small discount, but it should be something that makes them consider purchasing the course.
We often see this done by a company that sells a product and then offers it for free or at a discount in exchange for reviews. This works because you are giving away something that would otherwise be considered valuable, so the people who get it for free will feel indebted to you and will want to give you their feedback.
The same concept applies to your courses — if you offer something of value but offer it at a lower price, people will be more inclined to buy it from you than from someone else.
An excellent way to do this is by offering an early bird discount or an exclusive discount for those who sign up before the end of the month or year. This can be especially effective if you have a limited number of seats available for your course or if it is a private training program.
Leveraging Podcasts to Promote Online Course
Podcasting has become more prevalent in recent years, and it is easy to see why. They are free, highly engaging everywhere, and can be used for learning and entertainment. In 2022, more than 80% of marketers invested in podcasts. Why? Because 62% of podcast listeners refer their friends and family to listen to the whole or a segment of it.
Therefore, podcasts can be a great way to sell online courses. Through them, you reach existing students and potential customers who might not otherwise have access to your course. If you have an existing audience, it makes sense to leverage that audience by releasing episodes of your podcast with relevant links in them.
There are two kinds of podcasts: audio and video. Audio podcasts usually have one host talking while others listen on the phone or computer. Video podcasts show people talking while images play on the screen. The most popular podcasts are video-based because they are easier for people to understand, making them more intriguing for the audience to watch!
However, the key to interest podcasts is discussing two industry professionals of the same niche (your course is relevant). These podcasts are all about addressing the problems of the consumers/students with their solutions instead of talking about the course itself.
In addition, the advantage of using podcasts is the opportunity to reach a large audience quickly since they are syndicated across multiple platforms, especially on YouTube. Since The pandemic has resulted in a natural increase in podcast listening, global consumption has increased by 42%. Therefore, not only it promotes your online course, but it also enables you to generate extra income out of those podcast viewers/listeners.
Using Guest Posting To Promote Online Courses
If you want to increase online course sales, then guest posting is one way to do it.
Guest posting or blogging is an excellent way to get your content in front of new audiences and build up a reputation as an expert in your field. It is the process of publishing an article on a website you are not affiliated with. The goal of guest posting is to promote your online course credibility and improve SEO by gaining more backlinks.
The first step in using guest posting to promote your online courses is identifying a relevant industry or topic. Then, find an authority on that subject and contact them to see if they would be interested in helping you create a guest post.
When you get the green light from the authority, send them an email letting them know that you would like to write a guest post. Ask them which topics they are interested in seeing written about, and give them a brief outline of what your post will include.
Include a link back to your website in your email so they can easily find out more information about what you have to offer and where they can find it.
Once you have their approval and have sent off the article, keep track of how many people click through your site to read it. You can also track how many people share it on social media to know how well your content performs.
Publishing Complimentary Content On Amazon Kindle
Amazon’s Kindle platform is the world’s largest seller of digital books and seller of e-readers, above Barnes & Noble. The platform has more than 150 million monthly active users who read an average of 30 minutes daily. This vast market can easily be tapped by authors looking to reach their target audience.
It is important to note that if you publish a book for sale on Amazon, you need to meet their eligibility requirements before selling your course there.
However, there are a few things that you need to consider before publishing your course materials in Kindle format. First, it is essential to have a book cover designed for your book in mind when creating your manuscript.
A good book cover will make readers want to buy your book, increasing sales dramatically. You can find many templates online that allow you to upload your image as the cover of your book. Make sure the photo looks professional and attractive so readers will want to buy it.
Besides, you must create compelling content (book description and intro) to strike your audience’s mind. Not only that, the content must be SEO-optimized to rank well not only on Amazon listings but also on Google SERPs. The only thing that matters when it comes to selling courses is the content marketing strategy behind it. Publishing on Amazon Kindle gives you access to an enormous audience and the ability to reach out to new customers looking for something specific (like your course).
Conduct Live Webinars with Other Online Instructors
Consider hosting a live webinar with other online instructors to increase your online course sales. This can be done by connecting with people who have taught similar courses and allowing them to share their experiences with others. In addition, you will increase your credibility as an instructor by having one of the best instructors help get people started in your niche.
This is a good strategy for you if you have a solid online presence, including multiple courses and an active social media presence.
In addition, a live webinar is an excellent way for you to connect with other online instructors, find out more about your competitors, and have a conversation with them about their courses. This can be done through various platforms, including YouTube and Facebook Live. It is also easy to start a live webinar from your website if you don’t have the means to host it in another venue.
The potential benefits of holding live webinars are numerous:
- You can use your existing email list to promote your webinar. You can cross-promote other products through social media and offer additional bonuses for those who register for the webinar using your unique link.
- It is another way to provide value for students who want more information about how they can earn money online as an instructor.
- You can expand your reach by reaching out to other instructors who may still need to learn about your product but would love to know more about it after seeing what you have created.
Moreover, you should also give away some content at the beginning of the webinar so that people who sign up for it get something extra. Finally, if there is any survey or quiz at the end of your webinar, ensure that all participants can answer it before they leave.
Leveraging SEO And PPC
You can use SEO and PPC to drive traffic to your courses, which will help you increase sales. SEO is the process of improving the visibility of your content on search engines like Google. This involves creating relevant content, optimizing it, and submitting it to get it indexed by search engines.
However, Pay Per Click (PPC) are paid ads that appear alongside organic search results on Google and social media networks such as Facebook.
SEO is the process of targeting specific keywords on your site to attract more visitors. The more visitors that visit your site, the more likely they are to purchase your course. Here are some ways you can leverage SEO to promote your online courses:
- Use SEO to optimize your website. Some of the advantages of an SEO strategy are increased visibility, better search engine rankings, additional traffic, mobile-friendly browsing, and overall providing a better user experience to visitors.
- Create a detailed course description with keywords and phrases relevant to your target audience.
- Include a list of related courses on your website and blog posts that feature one or more of those courses as well.
- Use social media to share content about the course on relevant platforms that may attract new students or leads looking for information about the topic.
- Add text links throughout your site to help drive traffic directly to sales pages where students can purchase access to the course material immediately upon completing registration (e-commerce stores such as Udemy are an excellent way of doing this).
Now let us take a look at how PPC works and how you can use it to market your online courses:
PPC allows you to promote your courses on Google search results and through direct links on other sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This means that someone searching for something related to your course will see your listing as one of their options. This can be very effective, especially if the person is looking for something specific about your course or knows a bit about it.
PPC also allows you to bid on keywords related to your course so that when people search for these keywords, they see your listing before any others. As an instructor, this means that if someone searches for “online marketing consultant” or “how to start an online business,” they will see your listing first!
If someone clicks through from one of those listings (assuming they are interested in what you are offering), they are taken directly to the page where they can enroll in your course!
Create YouTube Promotional Videos
Creating promotional videos on YouTube is a very efficient way to promote your online course and increase sales.
You can create a promotional video in just a few minutes and then upload it to YouTube for free. Now you can use these videos for social media posts, email marketing campaigns, and even blog posts on your website. It is one of the best ways to promote your course because it is much more effective than just sharing links in your social media feeds or sending out emails asking people to sign up.
However, to put things together in a promotional video of your online course, you must divide it into three parts:
- Part 1: Introduction – Talk about what the online course is all about, why it’s valuable, and how it will help you achieve your goals;
- Part 2: Overview – Show what exactly is covered in Part 1; and
- Part 3: Conclusion – Explain why they should buy this online course and how they can get started immediately!
Include A Free Short Course on Your Website
To sell online courses, including a free-mini course on your website is one way to find success. It is a short video that gives an overview of what is included in your online course and helps potential students decide if it is right for them. Not only that, but the freebie also builds some credibility.
It also serves as a great introduction to what you’re offering. For example, someone who wants a free mini-course on building an email list will naturally be interested in the entire course when it is available. You can also use it to highlight any special offers or discounts available.
However, you need to be careful to refrain from overselling people on this type of content because if they feel like they are being sold something that is not quite as good as what you say it is, they may decide not to buy from it you.
Therefore, your content should be designed to be:
- Easy to digest (the shorter, the better)
- Concise
- Focused on the topic at hand
- Engaging and entertaining.
Sell Online Courses
Find a topic with a large audience that has an inherent interest in learning about it. Market your content to educate your potential students on the subject and why they need to be educated on it. Keep your content short, visual, and easily digestible. Include testimonials and case studies in your content, as well as specific examples of how your content solved people’s problems specifically. Create a lead magnet as an opt-in bribe for future communications – e-books, offering courses, or something else entirely. Then get out there and start selling that thing like crazy!
In practice, get your hands dirty following the above ten methods to help create content that will attract more students to your online courses. With the right blend of value-based content, you can reach those who would otherwise never consider taking your course.