10 Small Tricks that will Increase your Online Course Sales
Creating an online course involves a lot of work—many hours of being glued to your computer, editing your content and recording videos. However, the work doesn’t stop there. People need to know about your course for you to earn some revenue from it. Unfortunately, this is never a movie where the “built and they will buy” approach works. You have to promote your course to make sales.
Here are some proven tricks that you can leverage to boost your online course sales.
1. Offer A Free Mini-Course
A free mini-course gives your potential clients a risk-free way to learn more about what you are offering before they decide to buy the main course. The best way to do this is to take a few sections or basic concepts from the main course and publish them in your mini-course. You can then invite anybody who has interacted with the mini-course to purchase the main course for a deeper insight on the topic.
2. Blog About Your Course Topic
Blogging about your course topic will show your audience that you understand the topic. And believe it or not, this is one of the things that can easily convince your audience to buy your course. Additionally, as you create more content around your course topic, there are high chances that you will rank for more related keywords. This translates to more search traffic and ultimately more opportunities for people to find and buy your course.
3. Start a YouTube Channel
YouTube is ranked as the second most visited search engine after Google. Millions of people watch YouTube on a daily basis and starting a YouTube channel can help you rank high in the search results of many search engines. Publish helpful videos about your course topic and include a link to your course for more visibility and sales.
4. Include Testimonials On Your Course Sales Page
Most people aren’t comfortable with being the first person to try a product or service. As such, they will try to find out whether others have purchased your course before and had a positive experience. This is where testimonials come in. Add a few testimonials and reviews on your sales page to entice your prospective clients. If your course is new and no one has taken it yet, allow a few people to take it for free in exchange for unbiased testimonials.
5. Build an Email List
Some people need to hear from you several times to decide whether or not they should purchase anything from you. By building an email list, you will have an opportunity to earn the trust of your subscribers by sending helpful tips and resources that are related to your course topic over time. When you eventually present your course to them, they are more likely to buy it because you had provided a lot of value upfront.
6. Start A Podcast
Another simple way to increase your online course sales is to start a podcast around your course topic. Every person who listens to your podcast is likely to enroll for your online course, especially if your podcast provides a lot of value to your audience. And by sharing your podcast on platforms like Stitcher, iTunes, and Google Play, you have a good chance to reach thousands of people for free. This will even provide more exposure to your course and brand in general.
7. Host Webinars
Besides a podcast, you can host a few webinars for people who are interested in your course topic. Webinars can position you as an expert in your field and help you build trust among your audience before you ask them to buy your course. The experts at Client Engagement Academy highly recommend hosting a few webinars before sending out the offer for your course.
8. Provide Tiered Pricing
Tiered pricing has been proven to work with a wide range of digital products and services. Essentially, it involves offering different packages of your course to cater to more audiences and ultimately boost your sales. For instance, you might offer a basic version of your course for $100 and a premium package for $200. The premium package may include more perks like live Q&A sessions, private community, and live support among others.
9. Optimize Your Social Media Profile
Update your social media bios to reflect your area of expertise and the course that you are offering. Include a link to the course sales page or website so that your followers and people who may be interested in the course topic know where and how to buy the course.
10. Get into an affiliate program
Reach out for influencers in your field to help you promote the course by becoming an affiliate. This simply implies that they will promote your course and get a portion of every sale you make via their affiliate links. The best affiliate networks that you can start with are CJ.com, ClickBank, JVZOO and ShareAsale among others.
Bottom-line
Marketing your online course is a big commitment and isn’t different from other types of marketing: you need to build relationships, be consistent and clear about your offers, and offer your audience value. As long as you follow the above 10 small tricks, you won’t go wrong!