Ahead, we’ll show you how to sell training courses online, so you can go from a bright idea to selling courses so valuable, you can charge a premium for them. All it takes is five easy steps.

You’ll be launching before you know it.

How to Sell Online Courses — Step 1: Crack Your Course Topic

The first step to selling courses online is to come up with a compelling course topic. In other words, what will your course actually be about? And what will your participants get out of your course?

The best course topics follow three guidelines:

They’re unique. When it comes to course topics, stay away from being too general. You should be able to clearly picture who this course serves and what results or transformation they’ll get from mastering this topic.

They’re exciting. The best course topics aren’t just fun. They also have the power to motivate your students or participants.

They cover something your participants can’t learn on their own. When it comes to selling courses online, your topic can’t be something that your potential students could simply Google.

Once you have your topic in mind, you might start wondering if you’re the right mentor for the job. Maybe you don’t consider yourself an “expert.” Fortunately, you don’t have to be.

While you can be an expert in your course topic, it’s not a big deal if you aren’t. Plenty of people sell courses online based on personal experience with the topic at hand. Other people are motivated to sell courses online because they want to learn more about a subject, and master it alongside their students or participants.

But at the end of the day, where you’re coming from is less weighty than you think. The most important thing is that your course topic helps your participants achieve a goal, master a topic, or otherwise get them where they need to go.

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How to Sell Online Courses — Step 2: Hone In On Your Ideal Student

Speaking of your students, remember when we said you should be able to clearly picture who this course serves?

We meant it. As you start figuring out how to start selling online courses, you’ll likely realize that your course topic and your ideal student are intertwined. And what’s more, is that the investment you make in understanding your ideal member will reap major rewards.

To understand more about the kind of people you want to attract to your course, think about what goals they’re looking to achieve, and what obstacles are holding them back from getting there. What are they Googling about this topic? Why can’t they find the answers? And what can you teach them about this topic?

Understanding what your students look like, and why your course topic is important to them, is the key to delivering the results that they’re looking for. As such, visualizing your ideal participant lays the groundwork for you to sell courses online—especially if those courses are going to be successful.

How to Sell Online Courses — Step 3: Start Building on A Platform Where Your Course Will Thrive

The next step to selling courses online? Choosing a robust online course platform where your course can thrive.

Not so long ago, you had to collect bits and pieces from different platforms and providers to get an online course off the ground. A robust course required different places for web hosting, website design, content and video hosting, and quiz and survey tools. Then you’d have to rely on another outside source to actually sell your course online: an app to process payments, and then another few apps to integrate your course with your email, website, or social media so that you could market your course to the right people.

Today, there are a few white label online course platforms on the market that offer some combination of the above, but most of them lack the final, missing piece: a space to build and grow a community where your participants have the opportunity to engage with each other. Because as it turns out, giving your participants a chance to master a topic together, and enabling them to connect with and learn from each other isn’t just crucial to their success. It’s crucial to your course’s success too.

That’s why the best platform to sell courses online is Mighty Networks. It’s the only website builder that lets you sell courses online, build a course community, and charge for your courses all in one place.

With Mighty Networks, you also get:

The tools to easily create and organize lessons and dynamic course content

The ability to charge for courses and collect payments securely

Access to Zapier, for easy integration with your website, your CRM, your email and more

Multiple ways to connect your students, from polls to direct messaging

Access to your course and community on the web, iOS, and Android

Once you’ve chosen a platform, the next step to selling your courses online is to figure out how to price your online course.

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How to Sell Online Courses — Step 4: Settle on a Price (And Don’t Undersell Your Value!)

A lot of people create and sell courses online that deliver results and transformation to their ideal participants. And they undercharge for it.

There’s no exact science to figuring out how much you should charge when you’re selling courses online. But if you can figure out how valuable your course content is to your ideal members, you can settle on a price that reflects that value. Ask yourself a few questions:

Without your program, how else would your ideal student get results?

If your Ideal Member were able to build a new practice and get the results you offer, what could it mean to them?

What price would make it worth it to you?

You’ve created a course that helps participants achieve a goal that they couldn’t get to on their own. And there’s a lot of value in that. So much so that you can and should price your course at what it’s worth (which is probably more money than you’re comfortable with).

For some creators, that will mean a one-time fee of no less than $499. For that price, your potential participants will know that your course is packed with tons of value and that they’ll be able to get the results they need.

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How to Sell Online Courses — Step 5: Prepare to Launch

Once you have all of the above together, the next step in selling courses online is to make your course stand out. You want to make sure that your ideal participants can find it.

There are a couple of ways to do this.

If you already have a following, start with that existing audience, and use whatever tools you have at your disposal. Have an email list? Start an email campaign. Have a ton of social media followers? Post regularly about your new venture. Make sure everyone knows that you’re selling an online course, who it’s for, and why it’s unique.

If you don’t have a following in place, you can still get the word out that you’re selling courses online. Reach out to your professional and personal networks via email, text, and over the phone to tell them what you’re doing. Ask for referrals. Tell everyone what you’re building, and who it’s for.

Sell Online Courses From Your Own Website with Mighty Networks

Selling courses online is easy when you have a clear vision, a framework for pricing, and the right platform behind you. And with Mighty Networks, you get the tools for all the above.

Whether you’re an expert, have experience with a topic, or just want to learn more about a subject, learning how to sell courses online can be a way for you to share something important with the world.

What kind of course will you create?