Fact: Creating an online course is one of the most popular ways to scale your online coaching business, create more predictable income from month-to-month (see ya, income rollercoaster!) and ensure your business is sustainable over time.
(In fact, since 2020, even more business owners have started to pivot online and pour their knowledge into online course and digital products.)
But unfortunately, even the most value-packed, helpful courses aren’t guaranteed to fly off the digital shelves. (But wouldn’t that be nice?)
So, what can you do to give your course the best chances of reaching the people (and launch goals) you desire?
While other pieces of the puzzle totally matter–like your messaging, marketing and size of your audience, for starters–choosing the right topic to sell to your audience is where all the magic begins.
That said, we know how hard it can be to feel confident that your course topic will be appealing enough to the right people. Below, we’ve rounded up a few super helpful tips for choosing the perfect topic for your online course:
5 Ways to Choose The Perfect Topic For Your Next Online Course
1) Know Your Target Market’s Challenges–and Desires
If you’re already coaching clients, you likely know boatloads about what your ideal client wants–and what they struggle with. So, start there! Write down what kinds of problems or challenges your target market faces that you could solve with a course. Additionally, think about what kinds of new skills or knowledge they might be interested in learning. Is there a new app or program out, for example?
2) Know Your Niche
What does your audience already consider you an expert in? Whatever topic that may be, it’s going to be an easier sell than trying to create a course in a new niche or on a new topic.
3) Do Your Research (and Check Your Data)
As a business owner, you probably already have lots of data about what your audience would buy from you right at your fingertips. Pop into your Google Analytics and see what searches are leading people to your website. You can also see which social media the posts are getting the most engagement and/or saves. (Engagement isn’t always directly correlated to a topic they’d pay to learn more about, but it’s definitely an incredible starting point.)
In that same vein, you can send a survey to your audience or pulse your current clients! What do they wish they knew before working with you? What continued support do they wish they could receive from you after working together? Either option would make a great course topic. If you don’t have current clients, that’s fine, too–instead, scope out Facebook groups your people hang out in or search your niche or area of expertise on Quora or Reddit and see what questions people are asking.
4) Pick a Topic You’re Truly Passionate About
We’ve talked a lot about considering your audience’s needs and desires. But the truth is, if you’re not passionate about course topic, you won’t want to create it–let alone market it! Teaching (and selling) is much more enjoyable when you’re sharing a message or topic that you’re truly interested in and passionate about. That said, don’t be afraid to let your personal interests shine through in your course topic. What can you not stop Googling lately? What new skill did you recently pick up, or what app or technology can you not stop playing with?
5) Get Inspired by Your Competition
As the online course business continues to expand, you can find a course on pretty much every topic imaginable. That said, if you do a little research, you might also find that there is a big gap in what your competitors are offering. Is there a question or topic that seems to go unanswered often? Can you offer your expertise in course form to fill the gap?
What if you could stop stressing over finding the perfect course topic? CoachGlue offers a wide array of done-for-you courses, workshops and more that means you don’t have to worry about choosing the ‘perfect’ topic because we’ve done the work for you. Click here to check out our VIP Club.
