7 Reasons to Create Your First Online Course

By: Justin Ferriman • May 16, 2019
Filed Under:

Creating your first online course can have a significant positive impact on your business and career.

Online courses offer a number of advantages to you as an industry professional. They will help you to stand out from your competitors in your field, grow your business through course sales, and bring in potential leads for other services that you offer. Not sure if creating an online course is the right choice for you? Consider the following:

1. Online courses give you access to engaged, interested buyers.

When you create an online course you are creating a valuable tool and resource for your potential customers. For those who are on the fence about doing business with you, they can take the course as a way to “test the waters”. If you deliver a quality course then they will view you as more trustworthy and knowledgeable – essentially securing the sale of future business.

2. Online courses can give your business a passive income stream.

Once it’s created, your course only increases in ROI over time as more people purchase (or sign-up) to take it. Sure you will need to keep the information current, but the work involved with maintenance of the material is minimal when compared to the initial creation process. It should be said that there is a hefty upfront time investment when creating an online course, but your hard work will continue to pay off for years to come.

3. Online courses help establish you as a thought leader.

No matter your profession, standing out from the competition is incredibly important. One lucrative way to do this is to become a thought leader and having an online course allows you to do that. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge to your target audience. Again, this establishes your credibility and makes it easier for your potential customers to trust in your other services.

4. Online courses allow you to reach more potential customers.

This one is a bit obvious but worth mentioning. Unlike traditional services (or even live training events) an online course increases your reach. If your customer base is within your community or region then it might become saturated. However, with an online course it’s possible to grow your potential customer base on a much larger scale level.

5. Online courses are an inexpensive solution to education.

Classroom training can be quite expensive for both you and your attendees. By comparison, you can reach a larger group of people with less investment through an online course. No need to spend money on shipping anything, printing books, hotels, or renting space. It is also more convenient to those that take your course because they can do it on their own time, from home.

6. Online courses give people a chance to connect with you.

With an online course you provide more people with an opportunity to connect with you in your area of expertise. Some will be those who invested in your course, but you will also find that your professional network will grow as you will be seen as a thought leader in your industry.

7. Online courses are becoming standard method of learning.

The truth is if you do not offer an online course then you may be unable to compete as well in your field. Today, the digital landscape is about educating rather hard selling.  If your competitor offers a course in your field and you don’t then you stand a good chance at losing potential customers.

Get in on it now before it is too late!

Investing the time and effort into creating an online course will help set you apart from your competition. You can reach a larger audience and at the same time build your professional network. But only if you take action and put in the work right now! If you wait and your competition starts creating impressive online courses then yours will get lost in the crowd. Reap the benefits of taking the initiative now. Yes, it will be hard work but it is work that will pay you back again and again.

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