Where to Sell An Online Course

If you have knowledge, a process you want to share, and have ever wondered how to monetize that expertise, this is for you. I’m discussing where you can sell an online course to turn your expertise into a passive money-making machine for you and your business. There are lots of different places to sell a course, and the best option will be different for everyone- that’s why I'm covering a few different options. 

The first place you can sell your course is to big companies

Believe it or not, big companies buy courses for their employees. Earlier in my career, I was the VP of learning for a fortune 500 company, and we purchased courses all the time from small businesses. From my perspective, this was a win-win, because when my course design team was busy,  we could simply leverage a ready-made solution that didn’t require any more time- only money. This is an angle you can leverage with these companies- as they usually are shorter on time than on money. 

There are a few pros and cons I’d like to address about this options. 

PRO's

• You can sell multiple “seats” to one client- almost like an upsell. They’re buying this as an asset for their employees, and chances are more than one person will be attending. 

• You can literally upsell them! 

• Corporate clients make you look really good, and add big-ticket names to your client roster. This will only add to your credibility! 

CON's

• This method requires a longer sales cycle because of corporate red tape, but in the end there are much larger sales at one time.

• Your course will need to be specific enough to solve a real problem that they're having. 
• This is a great solution if you’re open to doing a little more footwork up front and have patience. 

You can also sell courses on course selling websites

Udemy, Coggno and Skillshare are just a few online resources that will sell your courses for you. While they take a bigger cut, they also share their leads with you. This can be a great pushing-off point if you’re brand new to course creation! 

A few pros and cons about this option: 

PRO's

• They’ll help you make sales, as they also stand to make more from your sales. 

• It’s pretty beginner friendly if you’ve never created a course before. 

• It’s also good for marketing yourself and establishing authority in your niche. 

CON's

• You don’t have as much control over your content.

• You have to pay them a good portion of what you earn.  

While owning your own audience is always optimal, this alternative allows you to drum up sales without having an audience yet. These platforms allow for total strangers to find your course and make a purchase from you. 

What’s not to love? 

Third, you can sell your course on a hosting platform

These websites consist of Kajabi, Thinkific, and countless more alternatives. The main difference between these platforms and the previous platforms are that these ones only host the course for you- but they don’t sell it for you. 

That means you’ll need to have your own audience to promote your course to before you can expect people to see it, let alone buy it. 

Like the other selling options, this also has some pros and cons. 

PRO's

• This allows you the most control over your education business

• Lot's of flexibility in your business model

CON's

• This method could take a while to become profitable if you don’t already have an audience to promote things to

• Learning curve to know how to sell a course   

This is probably the best choice assuming you have an audience. If you don’t yet have your own emailing list, I’d suggest growing it before testing this method. 

Depending on where you are in your course creation business, one of these three options for selling your course will make sure you’re able to get some traction as you grow. Whether you’re a beginner in course creation or already making six figures in sales, you can implement one, two, or all three of these methods to expand your online education business to new heights!