3 Ways To Sell Your Courses

By: Justin Ferriman • June 21, 2016
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tips-imageOnce you have finished your online course you are probably eager to start making sales.

If you have been starting the marketing process early then your initial sales will be easy to come by, but not everyone is in this position.

While it certainly is ideal to begin getting the word out about your eventual course sooner rather than later, not everyone has started this way.

You have a course, you have a website, but you have no sales. It’s okay, you are not alone.

There are many ways you can promote your course.

Let’s look at some of the more popular methods.

Blogging

Pros

  • Doesn’t cost you anything but your time
  • Many resources available on finding topics to write about
  • People share articles they like which results in free promotion
  • Helps with search engine optimization

Cons

  • Results are not instant
  • Takes dedication over an extended period of time

Blogging is a great way to get the word out about your course. You don’t want every post to be about your course but instead to provide value as it relates to the industry of your course. This is how you can get people to share your article, great for “soft selling”.

There are many resources out there about blogging. Remember that it takes time to build an audience. This method isn’t for you if you’re looking for instant results.

Communities

Pros

  • Very easy
  • Doesn’t cost you anything but your time

Cons

  • Takes time to build trust
  • Reach is limited

Chances are that your course is for an industry that has various online communities available.

Participate in these forums and include a link to your course in your signature. These can be standalone forums or on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn groups,

This is easier than blogging because you don’t need to think of articles, but the potential reach is also not as great as it is for blogging. You also miss out on any SEO benefits.

Paid Advertising

Pros

  • Instant results

Cons

  • Takes time to learn
  • Requires financial investment
  • You can potentially lose money

If you know what your target audience is interested in then you may try out paid advertising. While there are many places to pay for ads, it’s probably best to start with Facebook as it has an active audience and has been proven.

Paid advertising takes financial investment and there is no guarantee you will make money. In fact, you will probably lose money initially as you fine-tune your ads. However, once you have the process figured out you can scale-up!

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter