So lately there’s been a lot of talk all over social media about making money with digital courses. Basically, if there is something that you have a talent for that may benefit a certain niche or audience, you can create a how-to, digital course, and share it within that niche. Next, you will set your price, sell that digital course and earn a nice chunk of change. Let’s say you sell a digital course for $200 to five people in one day. That is a $1000 dollars, clear profit.
Now, you might say to yourself, “What could I possibly share with people that they would pay $200 to know about?” Well, don’t sell yourself short! These days you can’t even scroll through Pinterest or Instagram without seeing “Masterclass in this…” or “Learn how my Etsy shop earned $5000 in 5 easy steps,” and on and on. Let's do a little exercise here. Stop reading this AMAZING blog post for a minute and ask yourself, “Is there something that people continuously come to me for; advice, support, something that adds value to their lives?” Have you been successful in losing weight with a new eating plan? Do you have jewels of wisdom to offer a new mom who may be struggling with breastfeeding her new baby? Go ahead…take all the time you need to think about it and maybe even jot down a few things that you are knowledgeable of and/or do well, anything that you think would be beneficial to others.
As always , I write my blogs based off of life experiences. So, I asked myself the same question I’m asking you. “Name something that people come to me for that adds value to their lives.” My answer came rather quickly! Within my niche, which is art licensing, I am asked all the time, "Can I use your artwork commercially, to sell on my t-shirts or other products. This question is usually followed by, “Great, so, how do I do this?” Creating my first digital course in the arena of 'how to license artwork' was a subject I knew a lot about, and I had tons of valuable information to pour into my course creater. I must admit, I really did enjoy putting this course together. I just kept pretending that I was the person who would purchase this wealth of knowledge, and I imagined what type of information would make me say, "Yes! I needed to know that!" Putting yourself in place of the persons for whom you are creating your digital course, will help you step into a mastermind mentality, and present throughout your digital course, the best of yourself. The fears and inhibitions that come along with questioning the worthiness of the course material will dissipate as you make yourself your ideal customer.
My next step was a ‘soft launch’ of my digital course just to see how many people responded. This soft launch, taught me A LOT about algorithms within social media platforms like Instagram. Hardly anyone ‘Liked’ or responded to my shiny, new digital course. So, after cursing the algorithm gods, I was like, “Yolanda, how is anyone going to know about your digital course unless you share with your audience that you care about their concerns and that you are working on a solution that they will absolutely LOVE!” So, after having this nice conversation with myself, I started posting questions on social media that were geared towards my niche. Questions like, “Would a digital course in selling print-on-demand products, like t-shirts and mugs be of value to you?” Or, “Are you looking for artwork to add to personal gifts or products in your Etsy shop?”
Next, I created a blog where I asked the same questions and I included examples like this one you see below of my BLOOM design on a t-shirt.
As I am writing this blog, I am in the process of re-launching my digital course through my email list and I can't wait to share my results with you! If you don't have an email list, I can't express to you enough, how important it is to have emails of those who subscribe to your blog, website, or social media account; yes, even Instagram offers account holders the option to have paid subscribers. Pretty cool!
Lesson here: Once you know what you want your digital course to be about, a course that you believe will add value to another person's life, business, etc., start posting content specifically for your target audience; content that will engage your audience and prompt them to comment back. I've found that posts that include quiz type questions or a rating scale, makes it fun for people to leave their feedback and opinions. You can find some great poll and quiz templates on Canva!
You can also engage with your audience through blogs. Blogs are so simple to create these days! The one you're reading now is powered by Wix, and trust me, I am NOT tech savvy, so if I can run a blog, anyone can. Seriously, all I did was create a Wix account, and they have tons of free website and blog templates fully functional and ready for you to launch. They have amazing graphics you can use in your blogs as well as marketing tools to help you get your blog in front of as many eyes as possible. The goal is to create a dialogue with your star audience, encourage them to subscribe to your blog, social media account, website, etc., and start building that e-mail list! Now, you have a growing community that will find interest in your digital course. When you feel the time is right, pull out that e-mail list and share your digital course launch date with your subscribers, as well as on your social media platforms. The only thing left to do now is LAUNCH!
But wait, Yolanda. How do I format my digital course? I’m glad you asked!
I am currently using this very easy-to-customize ‘Course Creater’ template. I love the color pink, so I was naturally drawn to this particular template. This course creator is very user-friendly and you don't have to be tech savvy...Thank God...to know how to use it. You can also find some pretty amazing course creator templates on Canva. Canva is free to use but you can also purchase a Pro membership with Canva.
Yes, I’m so glad I didn’t give up after my soft launch flopped! Honestly y'all, when it comes to e-learning, digital course creation, whatever you want to call it...I'm hooked! I get so much joy from sharing experiences I’ve had and lessons I’ve learned with other people. If you want to learn about engineering, you pay for a school course…right? Why not expect the same for a course in crocheting, prepping keto meals, painting with watercolor, etc. I now see course creation, as a new and exciting journey that I am looking forward to learning about, as well as utilizing to help grow my business. I'll keep you posted and I hope you share your experiences and successes with me!
Keep creating,
