Could Online Classes Be A New Source Of Revenue?

Capitalize On Your Unique Expertise

Everyone is an expert at something. But did you know that you can generate revenue for your business by sharing your expertise? The online education industry is projected to accumulate more than $305 billion by 2025. Make sure to claim your piece of these billions by developing and marketing your own online classes.

Why Should Your Business Offer Online Classes?

There are plenty of reasons businesses invest in e-learning. Online classes can act as an extension of your existing business. You can offer courses that dive deep into a specific industry topic that your business deals with on a regular basis. For example, if you offer a home repair service, you might create an online class that teaches a specific skill for those who would rather learn how do the work themselves. This way you can still generate leads from people who prefer not to hire out a service.

Additionally, online classes are an unlimited commodity. Once you develop an online course, people will continue to buy it over and over. It will not run out of stock or incur more costs as demand grows. It remains a digital asset to your business, one that is affordable and easy to distribute.

The most popular reason for creating online classes, though, is their ability to generate revenue and act as a passive stream of income. Because your content is presented online, you can garner  participants from any country or time zone with no additional effort. Suddenly, your audience grows exponentially. You can reach more people with your company’s message. You can even use your online class as part of a funnel system to lead customers to your other services. This lucrative versatility is what makes online classes so popular among businessowners.

What Does It Take To Create An Online Class?

1. Choose a Course Topic

If you’re not sure what your online class should focus on, try making a list of topics you know about. Consider the things your friends and family asked you to help with or the skills you’ve developed in your career. Determine what you’re an expert at, and think about how you can teach that to others. Keep in mind that classes with clearly-defined outcomes that may help the student earn more money tend to be more successful.

Another way to generate course topic ideas is by asking your audience directly. Send out a survey with a list of possible topics and ask your customers to vote on them. You can also use social media to get direct feedback. Create a poll or ask for your followers what they’ve always wanted to learn about. Use the most frequently mentioned ideas to pick your course topic. This is a great way to gauge your audience’s interest and build anticipation for your new offering.

2. Do Market Research

You could choose your favorite topic in the world, but that won’t mean much if no one is interested in learning about it. You don’t want to invest your time and money to create an online class that won’t sell. It’s important to research your potential buyers first. You can do this by sending out a survey asking your audience if they would be willing to purchase your online course. Another option is to pre-sell your course. This is a very clear way to demonstrate the demand for a topic while also generating revenue up front.

3. Design Your Course

Designing an online class can can seem like a rather daunting task. However, with the help of instructional design experts like The Mauldin Group, it’s never been easier. We provide instructional design consulting and development that is customized to your needs including: facilitators, learners, goals and budget. The Mauldin Group can take your course topic and effectively design and implement an online learning program around it. We do this by following our 5-step instructional design model known as ADDIE. This stands for:

• Analysis – The analysis phase is when we work with our clients to identify their instructional needs and goals.
• Design – Next, we’ll work with you to establish the instructional elements such as lesson plans, learning objectives, assessments and training tools.
• Development – Then we build the program’s technological foundation, as well as any hard copy instructional materials.
• Implementation– The implementation phase is when we make sure the instructors understand everything they need to know regarding the curriculum, testing procedures and final evaluations.
• Evaluation – Lastly is the evaluation stage. Just like an instructor needs to evaluate the learning of their students, we need to evaluate the performance of your online courses.

This model streamlines the instructional design process, making it quick and easy to begin offering your own online classes.

4. Market Your Course

Marketing for business education can seem tricky, but they key is understanding your target audience. When trying to successfully market your online class, you need to understand the buyer’s journey. Each customer goes through a series of stages that lead them to purchasing your online courses. The first stage is called “Awareness.” This is when a customer becomes aware of a problem they would like to solve. Then they begin to look into their options by researching and exploring what solutions are available to them. This is called the “Consideration” stage. When they’ve gathered enough information to satisfy them, the customer moves on to the “Decision” stage. In order to attract as many buyers as possible, you must market to them at every stage . Consider using social media marketing, PPC advertising, and SEO to cover each step of your customer’s journey.

The Mauldin Group Knows About Marketing For The Education Business

The Mauldin Group team is experienced in creating an eLearning environment that engages learners and improves company profitability. We help our clients to build eLearning courses that are instructional and easy to navigate. Using a very extensive skill set, we can design an instructional design solution that is engaging, dynamic and encourages learning. Find out how we can  by visiting our website or calling 866-438-7756.