You have an idea for creating an online course. It's a good one, too! But it's not enough to just have a digital class idea... you need to know what your audience wants and needs. This article will help you figure out how to decide on an online course topic that your students.
I've also include a step-by-step downloadable guide that you can work through to establish the hook that will help you stand out from all other online classes and really reach your idea audience!
After you’ve decided on an idea for an online course, how do you know that it will actually get enrollments? You don’t want to put all of your time and effort into creating a course that nobody wants to buy.
Luckily, there are ways to validate your online course idea before you start making it.
By doing this,
- you can gauge interest
- build an audience that wants to buy your course, and
- confirm that you have a profitable idea
How do you choose the best online course topic?
1. Ask Your Audience
If you already have a following, then you have a group from which you can gain insight. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have. What matters is that you have an engaged group that is interested in what you have to offer. Because of this, most will be very willing to give their feedback on your course idea.
Send out a post, email, or blog letting them know that you are considering releasing a course on your specific topic choice. Let them know what types of information the course would include, and ask them if they think it’s something they would be interested in. Listen to what they have to say and make a note of any helpful feedback you get.
2. Estimate Demand through an Online Search
Another easy way to validate your online course idea is to estimate the demand for the topic. You can do this by looking into the keywords for your course. First, do a few searches of your topics in the Google Keyword Planner. Look at the results for both your primary keyword and the other relevant keywords that appear. This keyword tool will give you an idea of average monthly searches for the keyword and competition for the keyword.
Ideally, you want a topic that has a high amount of monthly searches and low competition. Don’t just go for the low-hanging fruit of a highly-searched topic. If competition is high, you will have to spend a lot of time and money trying to rank well for the keywords, and there is no guarantee you will beat out the competition. Instead, aim for something with a healthy mix of both.
3. Reference YouTube
If you are a visual learner and you have something you want to learn, you don’t search on Google; you search on YouTube. People who learn things from YouTube videos tend to overlap with those willing to buy online courses to learn something new. Therefore, this is a great place to gauge interest in your topic.
First, do a quick keyword search for the topic of your online course. Then, check the total number of views for the top results of that keyword. If they have a high number of views, that’s a good indication that there is interest in your topic.
4. Search Online Course Marketplaces
Similar to Google Keyword Planner, Skillshare and Udemy have Marketplace Insights, which allow you to search course topics. On insights pages, you search the topic you are looking to create a course around. Udemy gives you data around the amount of demand, the number of courses about the topic, median monthly revenue, and top monthly revenue for courses on that topic. In addition to this, they provide the search trends across the year, top keywords, and other topics to consider. At a quick glance, you can get an idea of the level of demand for your course topic.
Don’t be too discouraged by the number of class on course marketplaces, as you will likely not be competing on the platform. This is just to get an understanding of interest on another course website.
While checking the analytics of sites like Google, YouTube, and Udemy are important, nothing is more important than the feedback of your audience. At the end of the day, these are the people supporting you and showing interest in what you do. You know your niche better than anyone. Use the knowledge you gain from all of these sources to help support your decision on your topic.
