How to Sell Courses Online and Make Over $100K (2022)

Are you looking for ways to make money without already having an audience? If so, then selling digital products with a few tricks may be the perfect solution. So in this post, you'll learn how to sell courses online and make over $100K online.

Yes, you read it right. You can make this much money or more by selling digital products like courses with no audience and investment.

There is no need to worry about things like shipping and inventory with digital products. You can create them with minimal effort and $0. Plus, you can reach a global audience with ease.

To be honest, it's not as simple as it sounds here. But it is true, and you can do it! All you need is a tremendous amount of effort, which is worth it.

What is a Digital Product?

A digital product is a non-physical product that exists in the digital world. It can be anything from an ebook, an online course, or a software program to something that can be downloaded or accessed online.

Do Digital Products Sell?

With nearly everything available for free, it's easy to question the viability of digital goods in selling. But the fact is that digital products do sell. They sell because they offer value that people are willing to pay for.

The customers or users buy the knowledge, time-saving, or convenience that the product offers. The free stuff may not be as organized, reliable, or comprehensive as the paid product.

For example, an ebook on “How to Sell Courses Online and Make Over $100K” may offer more value than a blog post because it should be comprehensive. And a complete video course would be more detailed than just the ebook.

Hence, people are willing to pay for it.

The great thing about digital products like courses is that there are no limits on how much you can make from selling them.

How to Sell Courses Online in 2022

Now that you know what types of digital courses are in demand let's look at how to sell them. First, I'll give you an idea of promoting online courses. Then, I'll share my experience of selling them using YouTube and a blog.

Sounds great? Let's get started.

1/ Brainstorm Your Ideas & Define Your Target Audience

Before you start promoting your digital product, you need to have a clear idea of what you're selling. That means brainstorming your ideas and doing some market research.

Think about everything you could sell. Once you've figured that out, consider your target audience. Riches are in the niches! So niche down and define your best customers or clients.

For example, when I first started offering and promoting courses via YouTube and Udemy, I researched before starting technical Computer Science courses. And my video about IIS (Internet Information Services) still ranks number one on YouTube.

What you can do:

• Go to YouTube Keyword Tool
• Enter the primary keyword.
• And search for the right keywords to target.

The tool provides you with all the keywords related to the primary keyword. Keep repeating the process by changing the primary keyword. After that, you need to validate your ideas.

2/ Validate Your Idea

Validating your idea in the market is probably the most critical step in the journey of selling online courses. You could have the best product globally, but if there's no demand for it, you won't make any money.

That's why it's so essential to validate your idea before you start promoting your digital product.

What you can do it validate your ideas:

• Write down all the ideas.
• Assess the market size.
• Research for the search volume.
• Do a survey or interview.
• Test your product or service.

When I promote courses or any digital product on YouTube, I research it on TubeBuddy or Morningfa. me. These tools give me a clear idea about the search volume, competition, and more. For the blog, I jump on Ahrefs or SEMRush to do research.

3/ Create Your Course to Sell Online

Once you've validated your idea and know that there's a demand for it, it's time to create your digital course. Creating it can be a bit daunting, but it's doable. And the great thing is that you don't need to be an expert to create one.

If you're unsure where to start, I'll share over 15 digital product ideas that you can create and sell online.

4/ Launch An Affiliate Program

Affiliate programs are a great way to promote your digital products like courses. And the best thing is that you don't need to spend any money on advertising. You can simply pay your affiliates a commission for every sale they make.

If you want to create an affiliate program, I recommend using Tapfiliate or Easy Affiliate plugin. These online tools make it super easy to set up an affiliate program.

Or you can also promote your digital courses on platforms like:

• ClickBank
• Impact
• ShareASale
• Podia
• SendOwl
• BigCommerce

And the list goes on. 

5/ Launch Your Online Course On the Right Platforms

The most common way to sell digital products is through your website. You can create a sales page for each product and use an e-commerce platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Big Commerce.

This is how you can sell digital products using WooCommerce. 

I created my platform, H-Educate Academy after I validated the potential of my courses on Udemy. So I have used third-party platforms and my website to sell my digital courses. Both have pros and cons!

6/ Drive Traffic Through Digital Marketing

You have brainstormed about a digital product, validated the idea, created it, and launched it on the right platform. So good so far! But don't stop!

Now it's time to start promoting your product and drive traffic to your product page. There are various digital marketing channels that you can use to promote your products:

• Email marketing.
• Influencer Marketing.
• Content marketing (YouTube, blog, podcast).
• Paid advertising (Google Ads, Quora Ads, and more).
• Social media marketing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn).

In my case, I've used them all except for influencer marketing. I've written blogs, created YouTube videos, and run paid ads to drive traffic to my product pages.

But YouTube has been the most successful channel for me. It has allowed me to reach a wider audience and sell more courses online. But I never pushed anyone to buy my course whatsoever!

I want to help my audience reach their goals, and that's it. If they like my content and find it helpful, they will buy the course themselves. Courses are not the only things I make money with; I also display ads and do affiliate marketing.

7/ Scale Your Business To Make Over $100K

Don't just settle! Be hungry and scale your business.

I had zero dollars investment, zero subscribers on my YouTube channel, and zero viewers on my blog when I started. And now, I have made over $100K by selling online courses via YouTube and Udemy.

If I can do it, you can too!

The key is to validate your idea, create a quality product, launch it on the right platform, and drive traffic. These are some tips and tricks to reach the goal faster than ever.

• Create a high-ticket digital product.
• Analyze the important metrics to act accordingly.
• Slowly expand to more digital marketing channels for promotion.
• Never stop to analyze, test, and improve.
• Always collect reviews and testimonials.

When I started selling courses on Udemy, I focused on giving value to my students. I wanted to help them reach their goals without any fluff. That's how I created a quality product that people loved.

Digital Products Ideas: 15 Different Types

The type of digital items you should pursue depends on your specialty or interest. It could be anything you're good at or have some valuable insights about.

But don't worry, you can go for it even if you don't have expertise. All you need is substantial interest and the ability to sell it.

Let me share the top 5 digital product ideas that are always in trend and a good fit for almost every niche and interest.

1/ Online Courses.

2/ eBooks.

3/Software and tools.

4/ Done-For-You Templates.

5/ Social Media Templates.

6/ Videos or audios.

7/ Written Templates for email or resume.

8/ Checklists.

9/ Spreadsheets.

10/ Icons.

11/ Fonts.

12/ Graphics like logos, infographics, or illustrations.

13/ Animations and digital arts.

14/ Overlays

15/ Editing presets

And the list goes on. But I'll cover only the top 5 most demanded digital products in this post.

1/ Online Courses

This type of digital product is becoming more and more popular. It's a great way to earn a passive income because you can create it once and sell it repeatedly.

People are always looking for new skills to learn, so there's a significant demand for online courses. The key is to create a course that's helpful and comprehensive.

It should also be exciting and interactive enough to keep people engaged. If you can do that, you'll have no problem selling your course.

2/ eBooks

This is one of the most classic types of digital products. And it's still selling like hotcakes in 2022. Its popularity is that it's easy to produce, and people love reading.

An eBook is a great way to share your knowledge on a specific topic. And the best part is that you can make it as long or short as you want.

It can be anything from a few pages to an exhaustive guide. The key is to find a niche market that's willing to pay for your eBook.

3/ Tools & Software

If you have some technical skills, you can create and sell software products. This could be anything from a simple app to a complex program.

The great thing about selling Software is that you can charge a recurring monthly fee. That means you can make passive income from it every month.

4/ Done-For-You Templates

This digital product is becoming more and more popular because it's so convenient. People are always looking for ways to save time, so they're willing to pay for templates that they can use for their business.

You can create templates for anything from social media posts to email newsletters. The key is to ensure that your templates are high quality and easy to use.

5/ Social Media Templates

Social media is a massive part of people's lives nowadays, so it's no surprise that social media templates are in demand. You can create templates for any platform, from Facebook to Instagram.

The key is to create visually appealing and easy-to-use templates. People should be able to edit them quickly and make them look good.

Summary: How I Made Over $100K By Selling Courses Online

When I started selling digital products back in 2017, I made only $18 per month. But with consistent work, I was able to make $5000 in a single month, totaling lifetime earnings of $95,153 on Udemy and $25000 on H-Educate Academy.

Initially, I just uploaded the right course on Udemy. It didn't explode there, but I slowly started getting traction.

And when I did, I realized that I should start my platform for launching courses. So I started H-Educate's YouTube channel and blog to share the link to my courses.

I started with sharing my knowledge about Computer Sciences and then gradually shifted towards other areas to help my audience reach their goals.

My YouTube channel had no subscribers, but I now have 700K. I had no viewers on my blog, but today I have half a million page views every month.

Watch this video about YouTube SEO if you want to improve your rankings on YouTube and sell digital products: