Video hosting sites like YouTube have been around for a while, but it was not until recently that video creators could generate revenue through this technology. Initially, YouTube was a great platform for making money, with a low barrier of entry for new creators. As the platform grew in popularity, competition and production standards increased, making it harder for newcomers to stand out, get views and ultimately make money.
If you are already making content on YouTube, we are here to inform you that there is a better method to make money than relying on YouTube ads alone. Surprisingly, it is all about utilizing the video content that you already have. How? By offering online classes!
Online courses are a new way to monetize your video content since they are an excellent tool for creators who want to earn money from the knowledge they have gained while creating their content. These courses are often free, but some include paid options as an added benefit for students who want to take advantage of them.
You can offer courses from your channel using a user-friendly platform such as WordPress. This blog will share everything you need to know to get that all started. So let us jump right into it and look at some advantages of selling online courses compared to monetizing just the YouTube channel!
YouTube vs. Online Courses
In the past, one of the significant challenges when selling online courses was that they were difficult to deal with. However, this has changed with the emergence of e-commerce platforms such as Udemy, Teachable, and others. The following are some advantages of selling online courses compared to monetizing just the YouTube channel:
- While YouTubers confront a hurdle to monetization, it is typically 4000 hours of view time with 1000 subscribers. However, operating your online course allows you to generate money from the start, even before you are monetized on YouTube. Whether you have one student or one thousand, each person consuming your content will be paying for your valuable knowledge and work.
- If you have an online course, you have greater control over how you advertise it and improve your earnings rather than having to deal with YouTube’s algorithm recommending you to more or fewer people.
- By presenting your work on your platform, you may avoid many of the issues YouTubers experience, such as having your content removed due to censorship or being accused of infringement owing to music in the background.
Monetize Video Content with Online Courses
So you want to monetize video content outside of Youtube, but, where do you begin? Building an online course is not as difficult as many video creators make it out to be, especially if you are already good at creating content and have some pre-recorded videos to get you started.
You do not have to be a trained teacher to create an online course — anyone can learn how to do just about anything by watching videos. Also, you do not need special skills or knowledge of programming languages like HTML or CSS. All you need is a WordPress website and access to some free video hosting sites.
Creating a WordPress Site
You need to set up a WordPress site and transform it into a learning management system (LMS) using the LearnDash plugin – one of the most popular LMS solutions. Well, it may seem a bit intimidating, but navigating these tools is pretty straightforward, and we are here to show you exactly how it works:
The first thing you will need for your website is a domain name. There are several places to purchase domain names, including Google Domains, Namecheap, and GoDaddy. However, while choosing the domain name, ensure that:
- It is simple, short, memorable, and not too familiar. The ideal length of a domain name is 2-3 words or less.
- It must reflect your brand name and contain relevant keywords to your business to help users find you.
Following the purchase of a domain, you will require hosting. So hosting is renting a server or a portion of a server that allows you to run your WordPress site using the LearnDash plugin. We will utilize Pressidium as our hosting provider because it is very reliable. We have used it ourselves, and they provide various options ranging from $21 to $500 per month. Therefore, a $21/month plan is ideal for beginners!
However, choosing a reliable hosting provider that provides a high-performance, scalable infrastructure with support services is essential. A good hosting provider will have the following characteristics:
Capacity – The right amount of server resources to handle your site traffic.
Reliability – 24/7 support with no outages and 99% uptime.
Performance – Fast and reliable website performance that does not slow down your visitors.
Support – Server-level support when you need it most, like when you experience a problem with our services or your website goes down unexpectedly.
Installing LearnDash LMS
Next, we need to install LearnDash on WordPress, and to do so, we need its subscription. LearnDash is an LMS that lets you utilize WordPress as a course or content development tool, which is fantastic. The annual fee is $200, with a 15-day money-back guarantee. So you can give it a go and get a refund if you do not like it.
Here is how to install it:
- First, go to your WordPress dashboard, scroll down to Plugins, and then add New.
- Now you have a zip file for the LearnDash plugin; unzip it, click Upload Plugin, choose your zip file, double-click it to open, and let it install.
- Then, a prompt will allow you to enter the license key for that one-year subscription.
- Once done, you will have the LearnDash LMS tab right under the WordPress Dashboard button for your access to build the courses you need or want.
- Creating A Course with LearnDash
LearnDash is straightforward when it comes to creating a course. It gives you the tools to create an interactive course with all the bells and whistles you need for a successful teaching experience. You will be able to create quizzes, polls, and assessments that students can use to track their progress throughout your course.
So, now that you’ve installed the LearnDash plugin on your WordPress site navigate to Courses and click Add New. This enables us to create a course and then lessons beneath the course. Call this course “Masterclass: Knot Tying,” for example. Then, save the draft to ensure that everything is consistently saved.
In addition, you can add lessons from the Dashboard subarea. Go to Lessons and click Add New to add a couple of different lessons one at a time. For example, name this lesson “fisher’s knot,” and we may continue adding a few classes one at a time.
However, the second option is to return to your course and select it. Now you can add lessons by clicking on Builder. Here, we will name this lesson “Row knot,” and then you may put a couple more here, such as “Flat knot.” Aside from introducing a new lesson, you can also add quizzes at the bottom.
In the case of our lesson example, we treat each knot as a separate lesson with its video.
Adding Videos to Your Course
There are many ways to add videos to your online course via LearnDash. It allows you to upload videos from your computer through video hosting sites like YouTube and many other ways. Since we already have content on YouTube, we can take those exact content and publish it on our new WordPress site.
Therefore, click the Edit button beside a lesson to add a video. Now click the plus (+) button. A menu will drop; type in YouTube on the search bar and select it. A new dialogue box will be added below the title of your lesson, asking you to paste a link to the content you want to display for the lesson.
So, for this example, we will take a YouTube video link and paste it into the dialogue box to embed it with the lesson. Consequently, it offers you a rich way of creating course content by having a video inside the course with a heading and a title, and some space to add a caption below – giving you many opportunities to intrigue viewers.
Now update your file before you leave and click Back to Lessons to take a quick view of the course we created with different lessons. Here, you can see the lessons we have underneath our course. Similarly, you can add YouTube videos to other lessons.
Make Your Course Intriguing and Interactive
The next step is to make your course engaging. You must include various activities and quizzes in your course to improve students’ experience and engagement.
This is where you will focus on making it more exciting and interactive for the viewers. You can create content that teaches your audience how to do something new or improve upon an existing skill set. The course should be a step-by-step process with clear instructions and feedback from the instructor.
Besides creating compelling content, you must also create a platform for these students to interact with you and other students. In contrast, your WordPress site is the platform through which you can offer students a highly engaging and interactive learning experience. You can do that in many ways, such as:
- Providing students with a structured learning management system where they do not get lost and stay aware of their learning process.
- Offer your students a discussion board/forum where they can ask questions, discuss any topic, and share their experiences, just like creating an online community.
- Promote gamification in your course to grab students’ attention in quizzes and activities.
- Provide your students instant feedback on their performance in any quiz or activity.
In addition, many intuitive free and paid quiz makers offer students a premium user experience of solving them. Most offer instant feedback to the students and educators on solving the quiz.
Finally, you must ensure that you are creating a fantastic learning experience for your students since you are using your YouTube content to offer it for a fee as an online course.
Pricing Your Online Course
The first step to pricing your online course is determining what customers are willing to pay. This includes studying your target audience and the demand for your course in the market. But indeed, you want to price your course so that you make enough money to cover the cost of creating it and then some.
However, the pricing of an online course is highly based on the number of hours a student requires to complete it. For example, if it is going to take six months, that is 36 weeks and 360 hours (6 x 12), but if it is two months and you are not sure how many hours they will need, then multiply by two. Then there are the costs associated with running an online course and marketing it. Finally, other factors, such as membership or licensing fees, could increase your revenue.
After considering all of these factors, you can come up with a rough estimate of how much your course will cost. Then you can adjust this number based on what other courses charge for similar services or topics.
Launching Your Online Course
Now your online course is ready to go live on the WordPress site you created using LearnDash LMS. So, as you can see, LearnDash is a highly intuitive platform for beginners. However, if this process still seems a little intimidating, you can hire the LearnDash Quick Launch service that we offer by handling the entire process of setting up the site and uploading your content in just a few weeks at a fixed price.
Promoting Your Online Course
With the course now live and ready to launch, you must ensure your online course is visible to your target audience. Here are a few tips for making sure it gets seen:
Performing SEO
SEO is just another word for search engine optimization. And while it’s certainly important that your course pages are found on Google, it s equally vital that they are seen by people searching for relevant keywords.
The best way to do this is with high-quality content and a well-written, engaging description. This will help you rank higher in Google’s search results and increase your chances of attracting traffic from users who click on those links.
Once you have the basics and your course is up and running, you can start optimizing it for SEO. Here are some tips:
- Use keyword research tools like Moz or Ahrefs to determine which terms will be helpful for your audience and how many pages should use them.
- Create content that suits your identified keywords — do not just publish anything! Make sure every piece of content you produce has an intended purpose and a keyword or two in its title tag or description.
- Leverage internal linking – this can help boost rankings because it increases the relevance of your pages within your site’s structure (which improves their search engine visibility).
Leverage Social Media Platforms
Social media is a great way to spread the word about your online course. It’s also an excellent way to engage with potential students and get them interested in signing up for the course.
One of the best ways to promote your online course is through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages. You can easily create profiles/pages on these platforms and start publishing content. But, first, ensure the content is compelling enough to impact viewers, creating curiosity in them to check more information about it.
In addition, you can use Facebook Groups to introduce your course to a relevant community of users. For example, if you have an event or seminar with your course content, you can post details about it in Facebook Groups or Events.
You can use social media to promote your online course in several ways:
- Tell your followers about an upcoming webinar or other events.
- Share valuable tips people can use in their own lives or businesses.
- Promote discounts and freebies you are giving away to people who sign up for your email list or buy your product or service.
- Share links to articles highlighting the benefits of online courses and training programs.
Run A Price Promotion
Price promotion is a great way to drive traffic to your online course. If you are promoting a freebie, it is easy to write about. However, if you want to make money, you need to offer value in return for your audience’s attention.
Offering a discount is one way to do this. You can provide something like 50% off or $50 out, or whatever price break makes sense in your market. Your goal here is not necessarily to get people to buy — though they might — but rather to get them engaged with the product and hopefully stick around long enough to become paying customers.
Monetize Video Content
By selling courses on your site while producing content on YouTube, you can maximize your earnings with your video content. They also allow you to offer premium products, build a community of fans and followers, and expand your audience reach. So what are you waiting for?
Get started with online courses with the help of our resources. Just remember that building and maintaining an online course platform takes effort. But it can pay off big time in the form of high income!
Ready to get started? Let our team of experts set up a site for you from scratch. The best part is that with LearnDash Quick Launch, it’s fast and affordable!
