After years of immersing yourself in a specific topic, you want to be able to share the knowledge you have gained. For example, start an online blog with enlightening articles on a topic, give lectures, or focus on creating an online course! It has become increasingly popular to offer online courses. You don’t need a large course space, you don’t need to arrange lunch or coffee and reach a much larger audience than at on-site courses. Developing your own online course consists of several phases. What information do you want to share? What is the average price of an online course? What costs do you have to take into account when setting up a course?
In this article, we zoom in on online course pricing. Several factors affect this. What costs do you incur in the development of the course? What do other providers of similar courses charge? After reading this article, you will have a good idea of what your online course may cost.
Research Online Course Pricing
A first step in setting the price for your online course is exploring the market. Several websites are offering online courses. On the one hand, you have free courses via YouTube, for example. On the other hand, you will find various platforms on which paid courses are offered. For example, take a look at a platform like Udemy.
Course in a market with a large offer
When the offer of free courses on your subject is very large, you need to think in advance about how you market the course. You want to prevent everyone from interested in opting for a free variant. Only when you have the unique points of the course in view, you can get started with the pricing of this. Make sure it offers added value for interested parties to take a paid course on your subject.
Market with a limited range of courses
Is supply in the market limited? In this case, it may seem attractive to immediately ask a high price for the online course. However, remember that existing courses can be cheap despite the limited supply! Look at the average price of an online course on platforms like Udemy. It gives you a good idea of what you can ask for the course. Even when the range of courses on a specific subject is limited, it pays to look for the unique points of your own online course. It makes it easier to sell these.
Cost of developing the course
Do you have a good idea of the market, and do you know the average price of an online course on your subject? Time to move on to the next step! Here we look at the development of your course costs. Since this is an online course, you mainly spend a lot of time. For this time, you want a fair fee. Please note that you should not have recouped the invested time after a few sales. An online course is especially interesting because you only invest in it once. It means that you can recoup the invested time over a longer period. Provided that the subject is still relevant in a few months!
Consider marketing costs
In addition to the time you put into developing an online course, you will want to sell this course. You can choose to offer your course on an online platform, you can buy advertising space in search engines, or you can advertise on social media. Think of Facebook Ads, for example. The advantage of this is that you can appeal to the target group of your online course. Keep in mind that your first ad may not get instant results. So opt for a generous marketing budget, which gives you room to make adjustments.
Invest in a website for your course
Interested parties will not immediately choose to take your course based on an advertisement. Someone may want to know more about its content, read other people’s credentials, and so on. For this reason, it is wise to offer your online course through a website.
On the website, you can show a sneak preview of the course material, describe what the target group is and what the experiences of other students are. It helps you convince interested parties to take the online course. Include the development of the website in the costs of creating an online course. You can develop the website yourself, which takes time. An alternative is to have the website made, which also requires an investment.
How much can an online course cost?
Meanwhile, you have a good idea of the factors to take into account when setting the price of an online course. Follow the steps below to get a final price for your course.
- Step 1: Map out the costs for the development of the online course, the website, and the marketing campaigns in the first phase.
- Step 2: Research the average price of an online course on your theme.
- Step 3: Compare the average price with the expected cost of developing the course to see if offering it is profitable.
Other factors to consider
Besides the already described factors for determining the price for an online course, there are more points to watch out for. For example, do you want to offer students the opportunity to ask questions through your website? Use a chat or a contact form to do this. It will take time to answer questions appropriately. Take this into account in the determination of the price for your online course.
Please note that a course may be shared with friends, colleagues, and family members. For this reason, it is not unwise to assume that the number of sales will continue to decline over time.
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