Once you have decided to launch an online course, you might be brimming with the course topic ideas. With too much going around, it’s not easy to find the perfect online course topic. This is an in-depth guide on how to Validate Your Online Course Idea that gives you pure profit & passion.
Too much effort goes into launching an online course. Hence, it’s absolutely imperative that you enjoy what you are teaching. Furthermore, it’s tempting to choose a popular course topic, that might not be a profitable course topic for you.
Table of Contents
Here are some essential steps that swear by to provide you with the steps to Validate Your Online Course Idea:
Step 1: Know Your Passion
Stir clear on the topics that you are passionate about and know a great deal about it. Relishing on a topic that you are passionate about would make all of the work less like a chore and more like a passion project.
Hence, to find the perfect online course topic, sit back and create a list of things you are passionate about. The topics that you are most interested in and invested in. This whole idea will tempt your learners into better interaction and engagement.
Your enthusiasm will shine through the content you create. Jot everything down in your journal and just get along with the next steps.
Related: 7 myths about selling online courses successfully- busted
Step 2: Know Your Strengths
Supplement your passion by knowing where your strengths lie.
You might be passionate about something but not too good at it to teach. As an instance, you could be passionate about content development but not savvy with writing content. Consequently, it won’t be a good idea to teach this topic.
You certainly don’t need to be an expert at what you teach. A work in progress is totally acceptable. But comparing your strengths with your passion would be a sweet spot. You would excel at the training you provide while getting better at it.
Choose a subject you possess knowledge of and find a spot that interests you.
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Step 3: Know Your Risk-Readiness
You need to stay aware of your risk-readiness. Creating an online course selling business require financial investment, emotional investment, and investment of your time. Keep your priorities and your current standing in check before committing to one.
Your online course topic should be in alignment with your risk-taking capabilities. Online courses are surely a less risky venture. Still, you need to ask yourself about the budget and stay put within it.
Once you are ready with the topic where your sweet spot lies, decide how ready you are to risk executing your goals.
Gain clarity of the budget and the resources you have. You must know how to optimize it to the best of your abilities.
Related: How to passively sell your online course
Step 4: Know Your Target Audience
I have mentioned it again and again in my several posts on how essential it is to know your target audience.
When you have a defined target audience where you are familiar with their demographics, socioeconomic status, and psychographics, it’s easier to tap them. Merely finding the perfect online course topic won’t suffice. If you are unable to identify your target audience, the sweet spot might not be that sweet after all.
You need to be sure of the demand for the course topic you wish to sell. Do some research. Look for other course creators who are teaching in your domain. Get to know how they are performing. Having a market for your course is an absolute necessity. Without having it, you will find yourself in an unsuccessful course selling rut.
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Step 5: Know Where You Fit
This short and simple step just polishes your perfect online course topic idea.
After everything that you have gathered in the previous steps, find out one niche idea that you would be going forward with. You can start with broader topics too.
But, if you are new at teaching it’s a good idea to get a headstart with something that you will slay without a shadow of a doubt. Eventually, you can move to related topics too.
But for the starters choose a niche where you can rule with your content.
Just put all the puzzle pieces together in this step!
Related: Why branding is important for your online courses.
Step 6: Choose Your Platform
This is the final step to choosing a platform to create and sell your online course.
You first need to get an idea of all the options available out there. You must choose a branded course platform where you can launch your online course through your own domain name.
If you are aiming to create a profitable online course, hosting it on your branded platform is an absolute necessity. You must be having full ownership & control of your content, sales & students’ data. This is the minimum basic requirement. You should not accept anything below this while choosing a course hosting platform.
Create your online Course website within minutes
In a Nutshell
Learning has come a long way. From the traditional classroom setting, it has got expanded to digital platforms at a faster rate. Online courses are so popular so days for obvious reasons. The online education industry is on the boom.
While finalizing a profitable niche for launching your online course, here are the essential points to keep in mind:
- Begin with the course ideas that you are passionate about. This would ensure your honest investment in your course.
- Figure out the ones where you are an expert of. The skills that you can teach others.
- Calculate your risk. Earmark the budget within which you have to operate.
- Define the target audience for your chosen course topic and know where to find them.
- Invest in a course hosting platform which allows you to use your own domain name. You can choose Graphy which also allows you to launch branded mobile apps.
- Arm yourself to adapt to change. The market keeps evolving and so does your target audience & the subject you teach. Stay educated & stay put.
Now that you have got your course idea, it’s time to validate it.
Have you got what you think is a great online course idea, but are wondering if there is really a market for it? Worry not! We have got your back. This article gives the top 7 killer ways to validate your online course idea.
Every course creator faces this question of uncertainty while deciding on the online course idea. It’s a confusion worth addressing before launching an online course.
If you haven’t concluded on a course idea until now, here are 6 steps to find your perfect course topic.
“Validating” your course idea simply means taking prior steps to be confident that there is a market out there that are willing to purchase the courses on the topic that you are offering.
Once you have a tentative online course idea in front of you, technology will help you validate it.
Validate Your Online Course NOW!
Search Engines are always a good place to start. Google, especially, has become one search engine giant that can very well answer what people want. If you want to use them effectively, you first need to have clarity of the value your courses will be providing. Once you are clear on this part, type out the keywords that your target audience might be typing in order to discover your courses or courses similar to yours.
Sell Courses Online
Please understand that your prospects are not necessarily thinking to buy an online course. They just have a problem that they want to learn how to solve. Hence, run all sorts of keywords without using the word “course” too.
Keeping that in mind, compile a list of 5-7 short keywords that your target learners might be typing in order to get results associated with your course.
YouTube
YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, being the most popular video search engine. If you are selling paid courses on your topic, there must be hundreds of YouTube videos already that would be trying to teach them that or a part of it.
Run your keywords here and find out:
- How relevant to your online course idea are top 20-30 results?
Pay attention to the related videos that show up on the right of the page. You can get some good insights into the institutes or the solo teachers who are already directing learners into the online course through their YouTube channel.
- Are there any actual courses already available?
Now, you can add “course,” “lessons,” etc to your search term to generate more results on your specified topic.
Amazon Kindle
Take help from absolutely free tools. Amazon is, undoubtedly, a well-known place to buy anything under the sun. If your course topic is popular, you can find its traces in the form of books. As a matter of consideration, buying has become possible by a powerful search engine that searchers on Amazon to seek knowledge.
The Kindle eBooks on Amazon are certainly valuable for course entrepreneurs. It contains a huge number of e-books published on niche topics by knowledge entrepreneurs.
Hence, type out your keywords into the Amazon search bar, then select “Kindle Store”. The results would show the offerings related to your course idea.
Related: Earn six figures by launching your first online course
Udemy
Finally, you must search on the site that is quickly transforming into the Amazon of online courses. Udemy, Coursera, etc are such marketplaces where you must run your keywords search once. Honestly, I am not a big fan of selling courses on marketplaces like Udemy as they quickly turn into low-priced commodities. But, it is undeniably one of the greatest sources of market intelligence. After all, all the people visiting them are interested in online courses.
Hence, before you proceed ahead you must try out your keywords here once.
Analyze how many courses turn up on your targeted keywords and the ratings they have got. Check the number of people who have bought those courses. It’s beneficial to look at the nature of the content too. From the courses, you can pretty much derive a fair idea on how to position your course too.
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Quora
Quora is an immensely popular question and answer site. It has become a one-stop solution to all the questions under the sun. Quora is a big deal. If you have a course idea, consider doing your searching activities here. I find it most valuable, like thousands of entrepreneurs, learners, and common men.
You can type out your targeted keywords and look at the different kinds of questions, blogs, spaces associated with your topic. You can follow your industry leaders, the important questions, spaces as well as track them easily.
Blogging
There is an overwhelming emphasis on social media, video, or other forms of communication these days. However, I continue to believe that a strategically carried blog is one of the most valuable assets an online course entrepreneur can have. If you ain’t an accomplished blogger as of yet, there are plenty out there already. By looking at their content, figure out the posts which are more popular and are related to your topic.
- The posts which have attracted the most visitors.
- Posts who got shared infinitely.
- Which has garnered overwhelming response/comments.
- What readers have to say about the blog.
In a nutshell, if a topic succeeds at generating significant activity on your blog, just have belief and stay confident about the topic of your choice.
Why you must start selling online courses now.
Analytics
In order to track what is happening on your blog, you must have Google Analytics installed on your Website which is absolutely free. Pay attention to the content on your blog or in other areas of your site which is attracting the most traffic.
Through google analytics, you can find out the places on your blog where the most audience gets drawn to. You can find out the time taken by a user to check out your blog etc.
Create your online course website now.
If you haven’t already decided, I’ll help you out with the exhaustive list of top 8 niches for online courses in 2020.
This compiled list would help you uncover the most profitable and popular online course idea. These niches have relatively low competition and huge demand too.
You can either decide the niche for yourself through this step or use this list to take inspiration or both.
The idea is to choose a vast topic first and then dive deep down into it while selecting a section where you are an expert.
With that being said, let’s take a look into the top 10 Best Niches for Online Courses in 2021.
1. Computers and Technology
In the era of globalization & digitization, it’s an absolute necessity to become proficient in operating tech in numerous forms. While technology is a vast subject, you can choose your target audience at your convenience.
You can teach your audience how to use basic gadgets as well as how to write codes. Depends upon how tech-savvy are you and which one do you want to teach. Technology is not limited to being a tool that enhances our life but also an astounding avenue to build businesses.
Technology niche you could choose from:
- Website building
- Basic/Advance learning on operating gadgets
- Machine learning/AI
- Operating systems
- App development
- Robotics
- Cyber Security
2. Business & Entrepreneurship
Let’s own it. Indian start-up ecosystem has seen an unprecedented boom like never before. This has given an eccentric rise to the number of self-proclaimed business gurus and coaches who teach you how to monetize your hobbies. The current circumstances make business & entrepreneurship one of the best niches for online courses.
Hence, if you are someone who has made a mark on the business world or experienced entrepreneurship close enough to enlighten other people, this might be the one for you. Take advantage of the gig economy & startup ecosystems by coaching others on how to succeed one:
- Growth mindset
- Earn income from home
- Affiliate marketing
- Amazon FBA
- Business & entrepreneurship fundamentals
- Digital marketing
- Dropshipping
- Blogging
- Freelancing
- E-commerce
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3. Arts & Crafts
The E-commerce websites like Etsy and Amazon have given a platform to the artists to sell their creations online. If you are an artist or have a thing for one, you can launch an online course teaching others how to do it. Anyone with some specific skill set can start their own entrepreneurial venture.
These kinds of courses are helpful for individuals with no demographic or age or educational limitations. It sure requires an artistic flair, but also the knowledge to teach others. Create interactive courses as well as linkage towards commercial production to assure learners that it’s meant for both art & business both. You can teach live online classes, launch your online teaching app as well as create video lectures for extensive engagement.
Some course ideas include…
- Drawing & Painting
- Calligraphy
- Knitting & Sewing
- Digital art
- Photography and video editing
- Web & graphics design
- Game design
- Fashion & interior designing
- Animation
Launch your online study app NOW!
4. Health
With too many toxins around us, people are becoming more aware and conscious about their physical & mental health. Along with gyms & aerobics & Zumba centers, people are consuming online health-related content substantially.
Our life span has decreased owing to our sedentary lifestyle & polluted environment. Hence, we want to stay as informed as we can about the food we consume, our lifestyle, the ways our cognitive function works & more.
If you are a fitness freak or a science student or a health therapist, this could be absolutely fun & interesting to create. You can build your credibility by putting reliable & well-researched forms of course content out there. Ideally, your content should cater to the general public and not the science-inclined audience.
Hence, you could create a course about…
- Diet and nutrition
- Yoga & Meditation
- Meal planning & Vegan cooking
- Acupressure & massage
- Aromatherapy
- Herbalism
- Home Workout
5. Education
Interestingly, you can teach people how to teach online.
Sounds fun. Isn’t it?
If you have successfully launched a course online or gained some real-life experience about it, you can teach others how to do it too. E-learning is a vast subject. Above all, with a whopping amount of people launching courses online, it takes a lot to be successful at it.
Globalization has prompted learning to break barriers of formal education & cover interdisciplinary, cross-platform teaching methods.
Nowadays, teaching is no longer limited to teachers. It’s for everyone ready to make a mark in the world, helping people out, sharing their knowledge & earning some money. just for teachers. As a matter of fact, every other person has the capacity to impart knowledge.
Therefore, you can create a course about…
- Presentation skills
- Camtasia and Screenflow
- Online course creation
- Media training
- Instructional design
- Teaching English
- Starting a coaching business
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6. Writing and Content Creation
You must have heard the most popular phrase “Content is the King”. It indeed is. If you are blessed with excellent content development skills, you can help thousands of others who are struggling with the one. Digitization has given enormous growth to the demand of copywriters, content writers, content managers, etc. It has also given an enormous rise to just “noise” all around.
Hence, if you have a flair for content development that gauges the audience, people would love to learn from you.
Best Niches for Online Courses under content creation:
- Writing website copy
- Content marketing
- Blogging
- Book writing & publishing
- Fiction writing & storytelling
- YouTube video creation
- Podcast creation
- Search engine marketing
Create your online course website now.
7. Personal Development
What gives us name and fame in the modern world is no more limited to our degrees. Corporates, as well as societies these days, admire people equally for their soft skills and presentable personality. There is a constant struggle among the ones who haven’t paid much heed to it throughout their primary education.
Hence, if you are proficient in these skills you can teach others how to lift their market value too. As a matter of fact, these courses would be helpful for personal development, tackling everyday challenges, lowering stress, and building needed skills to live a happier life.
Therefore, the courses can be about:
- Time management and Procrastination
- Organization skills
- Goal setting
- Speed reading
- Life purpose
- Self-esteem and confidence
- Anxiety and conflict management
- Emotional intelligence
- Presentation skills
- Persuasion
- Networking
- Public speaking
Why you must start selling online courses now.
8. Entertainment
Entertainment is such a huge genre. Furthermore, it is no longer limited to pure consumption. In the modern digital community, people are consuming their own version of entertainment.
There is a huge hike in youtube videos creators, memes pages as well as cringe content. People are actually building careers out of it. There are a large number of people enthusiastic about learning how to create such media.
Ranging from social media platforms to video hosting sites, people are one click away from posting their own version of entertainment online. The television screen has become a thing of the past. Your course could offer the aspects of content production, distribution as well as planning.
Some course topic ideas you could consider:
- Video production and editing
- Filmmaking and Cinematography
- Phone photography
- YouTube marketing
- Whiteboard animation
- Facebook and Instagram marketing
- Live streaming
- Video marketing
- Personal branding
If you have been unsure of the idea, this guide would help you in getting clarity.
